Richmondshire
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Richmondshire
CRICKET CLUB
T
here are records of a Richmond Club playing as far back as the 1840s
and in 1857 Richmondshire played a three-day match against “The
All England Cricketers” and there are records of Richmondshire
employing a professional from 1900.
Up until 1949 the club only played
friendlies and in cup competitions but
in that year joined The Vale of Mowbray
League in which they stayed until 1963.
In 1964 Richmond had an A and B team
playing in the same South-East Durham
League. From 1968 the club played in
the Darlington & District League, still
competed by our 4th and 5th teams.
While competing in the D & D
League the club had regularly lobbied
for a place in the North Yorkshire South
Durham League. In 1981 the club finally
gained admission to the B division and
in 1982 won that division; this was
repeated in 1983 when they also won the
Haith Cup and the Brunton Cup. That
year club stalwart Clive Layfield made
his debut at seventeen with an innings of
66 not out. Clive is still a regular player
at various levels up to the 2nd team and
at the moment having scored a lifetime
35,438 runs for the club, which includes
40 centuries and taken 722 wickets.
In their first thirteen years in the B
division they won the title five times. In
1994 the club finally gained admission to
the A division as a result of the demotion
of Billingham Synthonia. That year the
club recruited Pakistan test player Ijaz
Ahmed as their professional and in 1995
won the A division title.
In 1996 Ijaz was replaced as pro by
Wayne Larkins recently retired from
Durham for two seasons during which he
scored 3356 runs at an average of 61.01.
At the end of the 1997 season the league
was reorganised into five divisions with
promotion and relegation. Sadly, the
club suffered the fate of relegation to the
new A division in which professionals
were not allowed. In 1998 the club then
became the first to gain promotion to
the new NYSD Premier Division, where
they have remained winning the league
in 2012, 2013 and 2015.
Cricket Club Magazine was keen to
find out more about how the club has
been getting along lately and with this in
mind we caught up with their Chairman
Mark Layfield.
CC: How long have you been involved
and what first attracted you to the club?
ML: I personally became involved
when my son started playing as a very
young junior and I think this is the case
for many of our committee members,
ours being very much a family club. My
present roles include club membership
secretary, junior section treasurer, cricket
section publicity officer and senior team
match fee co-ordinator.
CC: What are the most challenging and
rewarding aspects of your role?
ML: The most challenging is
definitely getting membership and
match fees from our senior players! The
most rewarding is seeing our junior
section being so successful. Seeing so
many under 11’s practicing/coached
and having fun on a Friday evening with
many of their parents looking on using
the club’s facilities is a very enjoyable
sight indeed.
CC: How’s the general mood down at
the club at the moment?
ML: Generally, very positive both on
and off the field. The majority of the club’s
teams have won and are still competing
for silverware and hopefully still will be
into late September if all goes well with
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48 Issue 48