Pickering Cricket Club head into 2025 full of confidence following two senior promotions last summer, even if the restructuring of the North Yorkshire Premier League pyramid means they effectively remain where they were.
The North Yorkshire club celebrated a title win for their first team last season, triumphant in the third-tier Division One East competition. They also won the T20 Edward Readman Memorial Trophy.
Their seconds finished third in the fourth-tier Division Two Galtres league.
In 2024, the NYPL was headed by a Premier Division followed by Championship East and West, Division One East and West, Division Two Ebor, Galtres and Holderness, Division Three Ebor, Galtres and Holderness, Division Four Ebor, Galtres and Holderness and Division Five Ebor.
This year, below the Premier Division is a Premier Division Two followed by Championship East and West, Division One Ebor, Galtres, Holderness and Beckett, Division Two Ebor, Galtres, Holderness and Beckett, Division Three Ebor, Galtres, Holderness and Beckett, Division Four Ebor, Galtres, Holderness and Beckett and Division Five Ebor.
Picture courtesy of Pickering CC. Pickering’s Mill Lane home.
That means Pickering’s first will once again be playing third-tier cricket and their seconds fourth-tier.
Fast bowler Cameron Cooper said: “The boys worked really hard to get to where we did across both teams last year.
“The twos will be slightly disappointed that we didn’t win the league, but promotion was just as good. And the ones had a great year, winning the league.
“Our third team as well, they had a successful season (in Division Three of the Scarborough Beckett League). They didn’t win as many games as they’d have perhaps liked, but they got more juniors through into the senior set-up.
“The club’s brilliant in that sense. When they look at selecting teams and setting goals, they’re looking to the future as much as they are to the now.”
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Pickering fast bowler Cameron Cooper is also Yorkshire’s D40 Quest captain.
Cooper, aged 23, doubles up as Yorkshire’s D40 Quest Disability captain and is an England Physical Disability squad player.
Born in Stevenage, he has lived the majority of his life in Yorkshire and has played at various clubs, including Scarborough, Thornton Dale and Ebberston.
He’s now in his second spell at Pickering, which is – looking at a map – just under 20 miles inland from Scarborough on the East Coast.
He is a bowler who splits his time between playing first and second-team cricket for the Mill Lane club.
“Everyone gets on really well,” he continued. “It’s the best part of the club. We’re all very close, and moving between the two teams is never a problem.
Picture courtesy of Pickering CC. The club’s first-team captain Ryan Taylor.
“Geographically, we’re quite out there.
“Last year, the firsts playing in Division One East, for example, there was a lot of travelling. It was over an hour to most away games, if not more. It’s about making sure you’re with a group of players who you really get on with, and I love it there.
“It’s brilliant off the field.
“We share a recreation club with the football team, Pickering Town, and the bar’s really well set-up and managed. We also do some shared fundraising events with the football side, as well.
“Everyone goes there after a game, and even outside of the season people go to socialise.”
Picture courtesy of Pickering CC. Pickering’s Mill Lane home.
Looking ahead to this coming summer, the firsts will once again be captained by Ryan Taylor and the seconds by Kieron Edmond.
“The firsts are a strong side, but it’s going to be a competitive league that we’re in,” said Cooper. “I think consolidation would be the aim. But if we can win a few games early and get on a role, you never know.
“The twos, I think we can definitely have a run at winning the league.
“The restructuring happens, and it has done quite regularly. But if we look after ourselves and perform well, we’ll be successful and win titles and cups.”
Away from senior cricket, Pickering run a successful junior set-up which Cooper feels has really kicked on in recent years following a lull which coincided with the Covid pandemic. They have teams from Under 9s to Under 15s and also run an All Stars programme.
Picture courtesy of Pickering CC. The club’s second-team captain Kieran Edmond.
And they also have a women’s softball team.
“We have a group of really talented youngsters who will hopefully be around for a long time – the likes of Archie Welford, Sam Hill and Evan Morris,” added Cooper.
“They’re definitely that core for the future.
“A special mention should go to Tom Croot (chairperson) and Tom Cleary (secretary). They run the club and have done a brilliant job. For the roles they do, they probably don’t get enough thanks.”
