Lancashire County Cricket Club Outgrounds – Sedbergh School

This is a segment taken from an article written by Malcolm Lorimer & Ken Grime for Lancashire County Cricket Club. You can read their full article here.

In 2019, Sedbergh School became the twelfth ground used by Lancashire to stage a first-class match away from our headquarters at Emirates Old Trafford.

It was Cameron Bancroft who, neatly and succinctly, encapsulated the charm of the Sedbergh School ground. “It’s a picture postcard wherever you look,” said the visiting captain after the conclusion of the inaugural first-class match at the venue between Lancashire and Durham and also the first first-class ever played in Cumbria.

The earliest record of cricket at Sedbergh was in October 1841 when the Westmorland Gazette recorded that a team had been formed at the school. The earliest matches were against Kirkby Lonsdale but within a decade the field of opponents had widened to include Settle C.C.; Penrith and the Royal Grammar School, Lancaster. The current pavilion, completed in 1913, was named after and donated by Eric Walter Knowles who was a pupil between 1901-1905. Notable cricketers to have attended the school include Somerset’s M.S. ‘Mandy’ Mitchell-Innes, former Red Rose all-rounder Jordan Clark and Yorkshire’s Harry Brook.

Cumberland have staged Minor Counties matches on the ground and indeed were due to play Lancashire in a one-day warm-up game at Sedbergh in 2020 ahead of the county’s Royal London One-Day Cup match against Middlesex on this picturesque ground set amidst the Baugh and Howgill Fells on the western edge of the Yorkshire Dales, some 11 miles east of Kendal.

For now we will have to content ourselves with memories of an excellent and competitive match in last year’s Specsavers County Championship that had seen the fortunes of both teams fluctuate before ending with honours even. Bancroft made the highest score with an unbeaten 92 to go with his first innings’ 77 while Red Rose counterpart Dane Vilas led the Lancashire batting with 72 & 85. The bowling honours went to Lancashire’s Graham Onions who took seven wickets in the match, including 5 for 93 in the first innings, against his former county.