Following Brigg Blog recently posting several nostalgic local sports articles, Broughton's Neil Simpson has been in touch with details about the formation of a cricket competition serving North Lincolnshire.
The Scunthorpe & District League did not feature Brigg or Broughton when it launched in the mid-1930s, but sides from Scawby, Elsham, Hibaldstow and and Barnetby took part. We presume these village clubs all had players and officials present at the function.
The images here show the 'batting order' for the speeches which accompanied the annual dinner held in October 1935 at Scunthorpe's Crosby Hotel, when the guest of honour was Herbert Sutcliffe, the famous England and Yorkshire batsman who played in 54 Tests for his country.
The league's chairman back then was Ernest Plowright, who lived on Central Square, Brigg, in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Editor of the Scunthorpe Star weekly newspaper, this well-known journalist was the father of famous actress Dame Joan Plowright (Lady Olivier) who is widely regarded as the most famous Brigg person of all time, having been born in Brigg in 1929.
Ernest, who subsequently moved to Scunthorpe, proposed a toast to the King (George V) while Talbot Cliff proposed another to the Lincolnshire County Cricket Club.
Talbot, who had played first class cricket for Worcestershire, was a member of the family which pioneered and developed ironmaking and then steelmaking in Scunthorpe in the latter decades of the 19th century, living in a mansion at Scawby (The Grove). He was a local magistrate.
Neil Simpson informs us that 13 teams took part in the inaugural Scunthorpe Cricket League season:
DIVISION A
Elsham
Scawby
Hibaldstow
Barnetby
Thomas Firth and John Brown's (Firth Brown foundry)
Appleby-Frodingham 2nd XI (steelworks)
Ashby
DIVISION B
Whitton
Winteringham
Scunthorpe LNER (railway company)
Messingham
Scunthorpe Postal Staff
West Butterwick
Winteringham won the title, being presented with the Dinsdale Cup, which had not been used for a decade.
Herbert Sutcliffe, speaking at this function, bemoaned the “doping of wickets to such an extent that even the best bowlers in England can’t get life out of them.”
He was talking about first class cricket; local pitches would have been rather different for batting!
Herbert also mentioned the dropping of Larwood and Voce following the short-pitched 'Bodyline' tactics employed by England in a famous, or infamous, 1932-33 Test series in Australia.
“No England team can be complete without them," Herbert said in his speech about Harold and Bill, two of the pace bowlers who played Down-Under for a touring side captained by Douglas Jardine.
Decades later the solid silver Dinsdale Trophy was used for a knockout cup competition arranged by the Broughton Evening Cricket League. This was won by Brigg Town in 1978.
It had also been won by Brigg in 1908, an inscription on the plinth revealed as the 1978 team took the trophy back to their HQ - the White Horse pub, on Wrawby Street, for close inspection amid the celebrations.
Neil says Barnetby won the Scunthorpe League in its second season.
The Brigg Town team ceased to function at some point in the 1930s and the club did not play league cricket again until 1974.
Brigg gained admission to the Lincolnshire County League in 1976 at the same time as Broughton.
They both still play in this competition - Broughton having two teams.
PICTURED: The menu card from the dinner held in 1935, autographed on the night by Herbert Sutcliffe. A five-course meal was served, including joints of beef and ham, and roast chicken. It must have helped to have T. Fisher (no relation) as a league official and present at this function, as he was proprietor of a large butchery business. We believe this menu card was signed for a member of the Messingham club.