Huddersfield Cricket League

The Huddersfield Cricket League is the premier cricket competition in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England.

The league has been in existence since 1891 with teams representing suburbs of Huddersfield and villages in the Huddersfield district area. There are now 41 teams in the league. Now there are teams from South Yorkshire and Saddleworth, as well as clubs that have joined the league from the now defunct Huddersfield Central Cricket League and former Central Yorkshire Cricket League.

A number of local players have come from the Huddersfield League to play for in the English County Championship, mainly for Yorkshire and have gone on to represent England. Other county players and international players have played club cricket in the Huddersfield League.

Member clubs

The league currently, as of 2024, is split into 7 sections, where club's first and second teams play.^[1]

Elland has won the most 1st XI competitions, leagues and various cups, with 42 trophies in the history of the league. Broad Oak with 32 trophies have had most success in 2nd XI competitions. ^[2]

Here are the clubs playing in the league during the 2024 season (they are linked to the locality where they are based):

Almondbury Almondbury Wesleyans Armitage Bridge Barkisland Birkby Rose Hill Broad Oak Cartworth Moor Clayton West Cumberworth United Delph & Dobcross Denby Denby Dale Edgerton & Dalton Emley Clarence Flockton Golcar Hall Bower Holmbridge Holmfirth Honley

Hoylandswaine Kirkheaton Kirkburton Lascelles Hall Lepton Highlanders Linthwaite Marsden Meltham Mirfield Mirfield Parish Cavaliers Moorlands CC Rastrick Scholes Shelley Shepley Skelmanthorpe Slaithwaite Thongsbridge Thurstonland Upperthong

Former clubs

Source:^[3]

• Bradey Mills
• Cawthorne
• Elland
• Friarmere
• Halifax
• Huddersfield
• Kexborough
• Linthwaite Hall
• Lockwood
• Meltham Mills
• Micklehurst
• Paddock
• Primrose Hill

Notable players

Many Huddersfield Cricket League players have gone on to play First-class and Test cricket.

Almondbury Eddie Leadbeater (1927–2011)[4] – Yorkshire Warwickshire and England Almondbury Wesleyans Gurman Randhawa - Durham Armitage Bridge Schofield Haigh – Yorkshire and England Robert Moorhouse – Yorkshire Fred Moorhouse – Warwickshire Broad Oak Charlie Roebuck - Yorkshire Steven Crook - Lancashire, Northamptonshire, Middlesex Gurman Randhawa - Durham Tony Palladino - Derbyshire Henry Cooper- Northern Districts, New Zealand A Cawthorne Nathan Buck - Northamptonshire Delph & Dobcross Arron Lilley – Lancashire Kyle Hogg – Lancashire Michael Smethurst – Lancashire Elland Richard Blakey – Yorkshire and England Ajmal Shahzad – Yorkshire, Lancashire, Nottinghamshire and England Emley Clarence Matthew Wood – Yorkshire Golcar Arnie Sidebottom – Yorkshire and England Holmfirth Allan Lamb – Northamptonshire and England Arnie Sidebottom – Yorkshire and England Ryan Sidebottom – Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and England Tom Craddock – Essex Max Morley – Durham (Max is more commonly known for winning the ITV 'Love Island' television programme in 2015) Honley Arnie Sidebottom – Yorkshire and England Craig White – Yorkshire and England Matthew Wood – Yorkshire Steven Crook – Lancashire, Northamptonshire, Middlesex Brett Randall- Northern Districts, Central Stags, Somerset Hoylandswaine Ryan Robinson – Durham Alex Morris – Yorkshire, Hampshire Zac Morris – Hampshire Richard Wilkinson – Yorkshire Kirkheaton George Hirst – Yorkshire and England Wilfred Rhodes – Yorkshire and England

Lascelles Hall Arnie Sidebottom – Yorkshire and England Matthew Wood – Yorkshire Lepton Highlanders Phil Mustard – Durham and England Linthwaite Barrie Leadbeater – Yorkshire (umpire) Chris Schofield – Lancashire, Surrey and England Meltham Ryan Sidebottom – Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and England Neil Carter – Warwickshire Paddock Chris Balderstone – Yorkshire, Leicestershire and England Percy Holmes – Yorkshire and England Willie Watson – Yorkshire, Leicestershire and England. Primrose Hill Ken Taylor – Yorkshire and England Scholes Peter Drysdale – Northern Districts Shelley Matthew Friedlander – Northamptonshire, Boland Mohammed Azharullah – Northamptonshire Shepley Darren Gough – Yorkshire, Essex and England Skelmanthorpe Ronnie Irani – Lancashire, Essex and England

Overseas professionals

Most of the teams have had professional players who have come from overseas. A few notable ones include:

Barkisland Tinashe Panyangara – Zimbabwe Tim Seifert - New Zealand Broad Oak Vikram Rathour - India Amay Khurasiya - India Golcar Atul Bedade – India Sonny Ramadhin (guest) – West Indies Holmfirth Tony Gray – West Indies Andrew Hudson – South Africa Honley Ian Harvey (guest) – Australia Kirkheaton Andrew Hudson – South Africa Lepton Sikandar Raza - Zimbabwe Linthwaite Deighton Butler – West Indies Vikram Rathour – India Lascelles Hall Garth Le Roux – South Africa

Marsden Atul Wassan – India Abdur Rehman – Pakistan Meltham Dilip Doshi – India Madan Lal – India Shahid Mahmood – Pakistan Paddock Mansoor Akhtar – Pakistan Gary Sobers (guest) – West Indies Rastrick Amir Sohail Pakistan Asif Afridi Pakistan Scholes Wasim Jaffer – India Shelley Muthumudalige Pushpakumara – Sri Lanka Mohammad Ramzan – Pakistan Shepley Trent Copeland – Australia Slaithwaite Pragyan Ojha – India

References

1. Huddersfield Cricket League Tables
2. Huddersfield Cricket League Roll of Honour
3. Huddersfield Cricket League Roll of Honour
4. Warner, David (2012). The Yorkshire County Cricket Club: 2012 Yearbook (114th ed.). Ilkley, Yorkshire: Great Northern Books. pp. 81–82. ISBN 978-1-905080-06-9.

External links

• Huddersfield Cricket League website
• The Cricket History of Calderdale and Kirklees – find out about Histories of many of the Drakes League teams