Undercliffe

Undercliffe Cricket Club have been members of the Brad-ford League since its inauguration in 1903. A thriving membership has always ensured a good financial base which has helped, particularly in later years with payments to players.

The club have produced outstanding results on the field, winning the first team championship eight times and the Priestley Cup a record 13 times as well as clinching the second team championship on 27 occasions.

However, there was no great entrance for the club into the league for they finished a modest ninth in the first season. Great Horton were the outstanding side of the decade and were Undercliffe’s bogey team, dismissing them for 27 in 1904.

T. E Wright became the club’s first centurion in 1905, scoring 107 not out against Dudley Hill as they finished fifth in the league and registered an isolated triumph against bogey team Great Horton when they skittled them out for 28. The two sides met in the semi-final of 1906 and Horton won by an imposing 201 runs.

Wickets tended to favour bowlers in those days and runs were very hard to come by, a fact that was illustrated by Undercliffe being all out for 48 in one match, but still beating Lidget Green by 15 runs. Shelf were dismissed for just 16 in 1906 by Undercliffe, who only managed 41 against Clayton in that season.

Undercliffe won their first league title in 1907 and in 1908 won the Priestley Cup for the first time when they dismissed Shelf for 109 and replied with 111 for three. The cup returned to Intake Road in 1910 when they scored 263 before bowling out Great Horton for 145 to secure a 118-run victory.

The first time two players at the club scored centuries in the same season occurred in 1911 when the C. W. Binns made 126 against Queensbury and Schofield Swithenbank scored 123 not out against Bingley.

Nine new clubs were admitted to the league in 1912 as Undercliffe again reached the cup final only to be defeated by Idle. By 1915 the club had slipped to 11th place indicating the need for new signings and in 1916 two world class all rounders arrived. Cecil Parkinson had played for Yorkshire and Lancashire and went on to play for England, and Charles Llewellyn had already played Test cricket for his native South Africa and county cricket for Hampshire. They did not let the club down as Undercliffe club finished in third place that season.

Undercliffe had the unusual experience of beating Tong Park in both the 1916 and 1917 cup finals, the second time by ten wickets after bowling their opponents for a mere 48.

George Gunn arrived in 1918 and helped the club to fourth place with only two defeats from 20 games. The cup provided the story of the season when, after opponents Lidget Green complained that one end of the wicket was wetter than the other, it became known that a donkey had been used in preparation of the wicket. It was reported that the donkey had misbehaved on the square and this caused the complaint to be upheld. Undercliffe, who had won the game, were ordered to replay it. They won again, this time by five runs, and gained a home draw in the next round, but they were then compelled to play all cup games on neutral territory which cost them dearly as they lost to Pudsey at Laisterdyke.

The loss of Parkin and Llewellyn led to years of mediocrity, but fortunes improved in 1922 when Edward Clarke of Northamptonshire played for the club when county commitments allowed and by 1925 Undercliffe were again at the top of the league.

While the 1920s went on with a whimper the 1930s roared in with a successful era. They won the cup in 1931 with a 13-run win over Bowling Old Lane and repeated their cup triumph in 1933 by beating East Bierley by five runs.

Thomas Alec ‘Sandy’ Jacques played his first game for the club in 1935 and went on to play for Yorkshire in more than 30 matches without being on the losing side. Despite the presence of Jacques the club slumped to 11th place in 1936 and they found themselves in the newly constituted Second Division in 1937.

The war years saw many outstanding players in the Bradford League. One of them was a young Vic Wilson who went on to captain Yorkshire for three seasons. He equalled a league record in 1944 by scoring three successive not out centuries. It was a record that stood unbeaten until 1983 when it was broken by Simon Lax of Hanging Heaton playing at Undercliffe.

Following promotion in 1944, Undercliffe were relegated in 1950 and followed that by finishing bottom of Division Two. Back in Division One in 1953, the club found it difficult to survive and had another spell in the Second Division before regaining their Division One status after winning the Division Two championship in 1960.

They won the First Division title once more in 1963 with Jack Wainwright playing a key role. He took 57 wickets as they held off the challenge of Bingley. The strong connection with the Peak District saw many county player joining the club through the seasons. The Derbyshire stars who turned out for the club included Test fast bowlers Les Jackson and Alan Ward as well as batsmen David Smith and Ashley Harvey-Walker. Probably the most notable was Jim Brailsford who led the team to championships in 1970 and 1971.

David Dobson joined the club in 1973 and had an outstanding performance in 1976 taking seven for 17 against Baildon while John White and David Bairstow also came to the fore in this period. John White gave outstanding service as a pace bowler before becoming cricket chairman while the late David Bairstow became Yorkshire’s regular wicketkeeper for 20 years as well as county captain and an England Test player.

The seventies proved to be an outstanding decade for the club as they also lifted Priestley Cup in 1974 and 1975. In 1974 they dismissed Bingley for 127 before cruising to a six-wicket win and the following year they made 234 for nine before defeating Manningham Mills for 138.

The eighties started in fine style with another Priestley Cup triumph – this time by 32 runs against East Bierley but there was no more silverware until 1986 when they lifted the league championship. Their side included Simon Kellett, Jerry Mytton, Peter Booth, David Dobson and Howard Reeve who were all regular runscorers while former Leicester paceman Booth took 38 wickets.

There were plenty of ups and downs during the 1990s. They were relegated in 1994 and 1999 and on each occasion bounced back by winning the Second Division championship the next season.

The biggest highs were winning the First Division championship under the captaincy of Russell Heritage in 1997 and the Yorkshire Champions Cup the following year. Sadly the club was relegated again in 2003.