The 1980s - A New Dawn

With the club trading and gaining a reputation for serving good beer, popularity increased. Article 1 of the Social Club's Charter stated that the Club existed to provide funds for the Cricket Section.

With this in mind, and the bar takings to play with, the club successfully approached Desmond Haynes to be professional for the 1981 season. This was big news. Dessie was a key part of the West Indies side that had toured England in 1980, one half of one of the all time great opening partnerships in test cricket, and a member of the side that was conquering world cricket. And he was coming to Blackhall. The interest was phenomenal.

Crowds increased, bar takings rocketed, membership increased, new players wanted to come to the club for the opportunity of playing alongside such a high-profile player. His figures for the year 1981 are nearly 2,000 runs and 125 wickets (in all competitions). Strangely the club finished 11th of 16 in the league and didn't win a cup, but after an outstanding year we were delighted when Dessie agreed to re-sign for 1982.

In addition to this, Des attracted a great turnout of players for his benefit game, held in August 1981, and the most memorable cricketing occasion I can remember at Blackhall. The crowd was huge, spectators were sitting crowded on the bankside on a really sunny day, even with every available seat in the park transferred into the cricket field for the day. It is impossible to gauge the actual numbers but it must have been in four figures.

And what a treat they were given. Haynes Select XI 300 in 40 overs with centuries for Haynes & Collis King, and the NYSD Select replied with 282 (I know 'cos I scored!). There were streakers too...

In 1982 Des lifted us to 5th, by breaking the league record with 1,566 runs in the season. In all competitions he again took over 100 wickets.
On 25th July 1982, another milestone was achieved as the u-17 side, captained by Mark Cushlow, defeated Hartlepool at Park Drive to win the Junior Cup, the first time the junior side (established in the 1970s) had won any honours for the club. A 15-year old John Darby had the distinction of  playing in that winning side on the Sunday morning and then opening the batting for the 1st team in the afternoon.



In 1983 the club engaged a promising young player by the name of Roger Harper, who had represented West Indies at age group level, and was highly rated. Little were we to know. Roger was to set the league alight with his electric performances, especially in the field. Never had we seen such an athlete, pulling off amazing catches and run outs, and leaving good amateur batsmen shaking their heads as the trudged off the park. 1,620 runs and 130 wickets in all competitions was no mean feat either, especially given a year of pretty atrocious weather, meaning the team finished 11th. Roger re-signed for 1984, with the condition that if he were selected for the West Indies tour, he would send a replacement.





He was, so he sent us over a player who he thought might do OK for us. That man was Clayton Lambert. If Jack Carr was a legend in North-East Cricket in the 1930s, Lambert became just as big a legend in the 80s and 90s in his time at Blackhall and then later Redcar & Normanby Hall. He arrived at the club as an amazingly attacking player, prone to taking 24 off the first over, scoring about 80 in 8 overs & then getting out. In time he matured & responded to the needs of the league, and was a player who was capable of rising to the occasion. It is interesting to note that he always performed well against Blackhall in later years, as if he felt he needed to, he couldn't let us get one over on him.

The stats are unending, three league record run tallies, two double hundreds, an ongoing battle with Ijaz Ahmed for the record league score, over 50 centuries for the club in 7 and a half seasons, 193 not out in a 30 over Cup Final vs Seaham Harbour, two wickets with the last two balls of a league game to turn a winning draw into a win, the list is endless.

In 1986 the first team went the whole league season unbeaten, something unprecedented in the history of the club. Unfortunately, too many draws meant that Thornaby pipped us to the title on the last day, the closest the 1sts have come to winning the title since 1939. Two replacement professionals scuppered us, Thornaby engaging Graham Stevenson of Yorkshire for the last game, and Paul Jarvis ensuring we didn't bowl out Marske. So near, but so far.

Club and playing membership was up to the extent that the third team was re-established in the NYSD league in 1987, after a couple of years experimentation & fun in the Hartlepool Combination League.

In 1989 the club reached the Kerridge Cup final again, after a gap of 28 years, but yet again we were to lose out to Middlesbrough.

The whole outlook of the club at the end of the 1980s was different to ten years earlier. It might be naive to put this down purely to the club being built, the players we engaged were a factor in rebuilding the reputation of the club in a cricketing sense, but without that little wooden shack it would never have happened.