Brigg Town Cricket Club first teamers face their shortest away trip of the season tomorrow (Saturday)when they visit Townside Farm to take on East Halton – the only other North Lincolnshire team in the Hull-dominated East Yorkshire Alliance division three.
Only a handful of players on either side will be able to remember when Brigg and East Halton clashed regularly. And none of the present crop will be able to go back to the very first meetings between the clubs in 1975.
One of those games was also at the end of the season, and saw East Halton inch home by a couple of wickets in a tense finish.
In 1979, when Brigg won the Lincolnshire League division three championship by a very wide margin, they lost at East Halton, having posted 232 for seven.
The teams continued to meet quite often – in the Lincs League and then the Humberside Alliance into the early 1990s.
But it was not until this season that the clubs met up again, with Brigg joining the East Yorkshire competition.
This match turned out to be the last game to be played on this ground. Having lost so many games to the wet conditions and the ever present strain of keeping the ground in tip top condition East Halton have decided to change grounds to Hainton . A sad conclusion and undoubtedly the end of an era. Some 'old boys' turned up to see the gameincluding Gig Smith . The East Halton lads should be congratulated on keeping playing throughout the years and are still going to play in the East Yorkshire Alliance next year albeit at the new ground. According to Dennis Linford the field will be used for horses . Some of the less mobile players could be accused of being premature as they were a bit like carthorses themselves chasing down the ball !
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