The Scarborough Festival is an end of season series of cricket matches featuring Yorkshire County Cricket Club

Yorkshire County Cricket Club

Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....

 which has been held in Scarborough, on the east coast of Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

, since 1876. The ground, at North Marine Road

North Marine Road

North Marine Road Ground, formerly known as Queen's, is a cricket ground in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England. It is the home of Scarborough Cricket Club which hosts the Scarborough Cricket Festival and the Yorkshire County Cricket Club plays a series of fixtures in the second half of the...

, sees large crowds of holiday makers watching a mixture of first class county cricket, one day fixtures and invitation XIs in the early September sunshine every year. Many of the world's greatest cricketers have played in festival matches over the years.

There have been 399 first class matches at Scarborough, the vast majority of these in the festival and as well as Yorkshire's games against county opposition ad hoc teams under the name of HDG Leveson-Gower

HDG Leveson-Gower

Sir Henry Dudley Gresham Leveson Gower was an English cricketer who played for Oxford University and Surrey as well as England. He was the seventh son of Granville William Gresham Leveson-Gower JP DL FSA, by his wife The Hon Sophia Leveson Gower LJStJ .He captained England in all three of the Test...

, Tom Pearce

Tom Pearce

Thomas Neill Pearce OBE was an English cricketer and Rugby Union official. He was primarily a batsman for Essex and was captain for nearly 20 years. He also acted as secretary, chairman and president of Essex, and was also a Test selector for England.-Cricket career:Pearce made his first-class...

, Brian Close

Brian Close

Dennis Brian Close , usually known as Brian Close, is a former cricketer who is the youngest man ever to play Test cricket for England. He was picked for the Test team to play against New Zealand, in July 1949, when he was 18 years old. Close went on to play 22 Test matches for England,...

 and Michael Parkinson

Michael Parkinson

Sir Michael Parkinson, CBE is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his interview programme, Parkinson, from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007.- Early life :...

 have entertained touring teams and World XIs on many occasions. A one day competition, under the names of various sponsors, was played in the seventies, eighties and nineties and featured four counties who would play a knockout semi final and final for the cup.

Two of the greatest batsmen in history scored double hundreds during the festival. Jack Hobbs

Jack Hobbs

Sir John Berry "Jack" Hobbs was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey from 1905 to 1934 and for England in 61 Test matches from 1908 to 1930....

 amassed an unbeaten 266 for the Players against the Gentlemen in 1925 while Sir Len Hutton

Len Hutton

Sir Leonard "Len" Hutton was an English Test cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England in the years around the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket...

 hit 241 in the same fixture in 1953. The prolific Philip Mead

Phil Mead

Charles Phillip Mead was a left-handed batsman for Hampshire and England between 1905 and 1936. He was born at 10 Ashton Buildings , second eldest of seven children...

 of Hampshire scored two double tons, 233 for the MCC against Lord Hawke's XI in 1929 and 223 for the Players against the long suffering Gentlemen in 1911. The highest innings in festival history came when Ken Rutherford

Ken Rutherford (cricketer)

Kenneth Robert Rutherford is a former New Zealand cricketer who enjoyed a ten-year career with the national team, and was captain for a period. Aged 19, with a solitary first class season behind him, he was asked to open the batting for New Zealand against West Indies when the latter were at the...

, the former New Zealand Test captain, smashed 317 for the New Zealand tourists against D.B. Close's XI in 1986.

The batsmen did not always have it their own way. The great Wilfred Rhodes

Wilfred Rhodes

Wilfred Rhodes was an English professional cricketer who played 58 Test matches for England between 1899 and 1930. In Tests, Rhodes took 127 wickets in and scored 2,325 runs, becoming the first Englishman to complete the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in Test matches...

 pocketed 9 for 24 for CI Thornton's XI v Australians in 1899 and JM Preston and taken 9 for 28 for Yorkshire against Marylebone Cricket Club

Marylebone Cricket Club

Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...

 11 years before. Johnny Briggs

Johnny Briggs (cricketer)

Johnny Briggs was a left arm spin bowler for Lancashire County Cricket Club between 1879 and 1900 who still stands as the second-highest wicket-taker in the county's history after Brian Statham...

 took 9 for 31 for Lord Londesborough's XI v the Australians in 1890 and Bill Bowes

Bill Bowes

Bill Bowes was one of the best bowlers of the interwar period and, for a time, the most important force behind Yorkshire's dominance of the County Championship...

 laboured hard to take 9 for 121 for Yorkshire against Essex in 1932.

The ground, with its limited boundaries, hard outfield and excellent pitch, has seen many high scores during the festival. The Surrey dynamo Ali Brown

Ali Brown

Alistair Duncan Brown , more commonly known as Ali Brown, is an English cricketer who played for Surrey County Cricket Club, before moving to Nottinghamshire for the 2009 season. He is nicknamed "Lordy", in allusion to Ted Dexter because of his big-hitting, confident batting style...

 thrashed 133 in company with Graham Thorpe

Graham Thorpe

Graham Paul Thorpe MBE is a former English cricketer who played for Surrey and England. A left-handed middle-order batsman and slip fielder, he appeared in exactly 100 Test matches.-Early life:...

 (102*) to help Surrey to 375 for 4 in just 40 overs in a Sunday League

Sunday League

Sunday League may refer to:*Sunday league football, amateur football played on Sundays in the United Kingdom.*The Sunday League, the precursor tournament to the National League in English cricket....

 match in 1994 while Yorkshire themselves clobbered Nottinghamshire for 352 in 45 overs in 2001 thanks to Darren Lehmann

Darren Lehmann

Darren Scott Lehmann is a former Australian cricketer, who made his ODI debut in 1996 and Test debut in 1998. He was on the fringes of national selection for the entirety of the 1990s, and only became a regular in the ODI team in 2001 and Test team in late 2002, before being dropped in early 2005...

's incredible 191 which came off 103 balls in 115 minutes with 20 fours and 11 sixes.

In first class cricket Yorkshire declared on 600 for 4 against Worcestershire in 1995 thanks to David Byas

David Byas

David Byas is an English first-class cricketer, who played for Yorkshire and latterly Lancashire....

's double century and an unbeaten ton from Craig White

Craig White

Craig White is an English former first-class cricketer, and latterly cricket coach.-Life and career:...

while the North of England posted 590 against the South of England in 1906.