Fig 1: Playing cricket at Creswell Colliery in the 1960’s. Photo Credit – Coal Authority collection

Shout Down the Shaft for a Fast Bowler

In her 2026 article, ‘Mining for Talent: Coal and Cricket’s Partnership’, Tanya Aldred suggested that ‘a seam of black gold ran through cricket’. This was particularly true for the Nottinghamshire coalfield, especially the Ashfield District, which was labelled as ‘The Nursery of Cricket’. That is the title of a 2002 booklet edited by Rob Wadsworth, to coincide with the unveiling of a statue of Harold Larwood at Kirkby-in-Ashfield. In times past, many coalminers from the region went on to play professional cricket, especially for Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club (CCC) at Trent Bridge.

Fig 2: Cricket heritage information board at Nuncargate recreation ground with the Cricketers Arms in the background. Photo by David Amos

An old local folklore saying was that if you required a fast bowler, all that was needed was to shout down the nearest mine-shaft. Mark Ashfield (1991) recalled having a telephone chat with an old miner who had played cricket quite a bit in the day, informing him about the significance of the local coal mining industry’s links with cricket;

“I sometimes think folk don’t know what cricketers we had locally at Kirkby, Nuncargate and Annesley…most of them would have come out of the pits…they could play a bit…it was sort of bred in them.”

Fig 3: Harold Larwood signed on as a Banksman at Annesley Colliery in 1925. Photo Credit – David Amos collection.

Some who played at county level combined playing cricket in the warmer months with working at the pit in the cricket closed season. Interestingly, in the Annesley Colliery signing on books from the 1920’s, some of the county cricketers are employed as surface workers.  It is thought that this was a logistical exercise which kept them on the colliery books during the cricket season and also away from the vagaries of underground work where there was an increased danger of injury or loss of limbs.

Fig 4: Annesley Colliery in the 1930’s when it was owned by the New Hucknall Colliery Co. Photo Credit – David Amos collection

Annesley Colliery (1865-2000) has a special place in local cricket folklore. It produced four England internationals in the early twentieth century, these being Joe Hardstaff Snr, Fred Barrett, Harold Larwood and Joe Hardstaff Jnr. (Young Joe). Larwood achieved international media attention, along with Bill Voce, another former coal miner, for their part in the controversial 1932-33 Ashes Test in Australia, more commonly known as The Bodyline Test after the controversial leg theory bowling technique used in the Test series.

Fig 5: Annesley Colliery CC – 1937 Collieries Alliance. 1st XI League Champions and League Cup winners. 2nd XI, League Champions and Cup winners (2nd XI unbeaten).  Photo Credit – David Amos collection

Many colliery teams played in local cricket leagues. Mark Ashfield (1990) noted that the Collieries Alliance League was descriptive, in that local collieries provided the grounds and amenities, but the players could be from a variety of trades and professions, although many were from the pits. However, it was practice draw on skill where it could be found.

Fig 6: The Webster brothers from Eastwood circa 1913, in their cricket whites (left) and working pit clothes (togs) on the right. Photo Credit – Rev F.W. Cobb collection.

Whitlock in his history of the Barber-Walker Co, stated Eastwood miners always had an enthusiasm for cricket and in times past, five country cricketers lived in the vicinity of Nether Green, near Eastwood Hall. Waller (1983) contended that whilst the coal owners and National Coal Board (NCB) included provision for structured leisure activity beyond the colliery gates, there was also an embedded and informal culture of sports and games amongst the miners that existed independently of capitalist paternalist interests. 

Fig 7: Bryan Conway’s painting of cricket at Welbeck Colliery (Meden Vale), Nottinghamshire.  

Montague Wright of the Butterley Company, affectionately known as Mr Monty, was involved with Ollerton Colliery cricket club as both captain and chairman. In his memoirs he mentioned how beneficial playing cricket was to industrial relations at the colliery;

“I always felt that in a community like Ollerton, it was necessary to have good games teams and we had to promote good feelings amongst the chaps by having good teams. I played myself and was captain of the Ollerton Colliery cricket XI. I made certain that it was going to be a good side”.

Fig 8: Clipstone Colliery CC in 1986. Photo Credit – Chad newspaper.

When the NCB took over the British coal mining industry in 1947, it continued to promote cricket in the Nottinghamshire coalfield. In 1998, the late Peter Wynn Thomas, renowned historian of Nottinghamshire CCC, identified twenty-three colliery grounds in the county where cricket was still played (Wynne-Thomas, 2001). In the post coal mining era, some of the former colliery grounds have taken over the mantle of local village cricket grounds but the link to coal mining still exists in the third decade of the twenty-first century.

Fig 9: Sketch of Underwood Miners Welfare cricket ground by Alan Gill.

Cricket is still played at Underwood Miners Welfare ground, the club celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2019. It commenced playing in 1894, the year that the Miners Welfare Institute opened. The cricket ground on Church Lane, is adjacent to the Miners Welfare.

Fig 10: Charlie Harris, Nottinghamshire CCC batsman.

The coal mining village of Underwood produced a number of county cricketers including Benjamin Flint (1893-1959), father-in-law of Rachel “Hey Hoe” Flint MBE, captain of England’s women’s cricket team, the hugely popular Nottinghamshire CCC batsman, Charlie Harris (1907-1954), one of the great characters in the game, and Alan Gill (1940-2024), who represented Nottinghamshire CCC fifty-three times between 1960 and 1965.

Fig 11: Annesley Underground Fitters, winning team in the 1977 Annesley Colliery Inter Dept. cricket competition.

Inter Departmental cricket was played at pit level in the summer months, usually on midweek evenings when the miners were on the day shift. It was a knockout competition, played on a set number of overs, similar to the T20 competition of nowadays. Many a folklore tale came from these competitions, including once when a Colliery Manager appeared from the pavilion dressed in best cricket whites whilst the miners playing the management team were in t-shirts, jeans and plimsolls. The manager was bowled out for a duck and on returning to the pavilion, one miner, a bit of wag, said to him “Hard luck Sir, was there a hole in the bat”. The Colliery Manager’s reply was unrepeatable! 

Fig 12: Billy Hill, ex umpire in local cricket leagues, pictured in 2008, aged 88. Photo by David Amos.

Billy Hill, born 1920, was interviewed by David Amos in 2008 for the HLF funded Selstonia Living Heritage Project about his time as an umpire in the local cricket leagues. The short audio clip also features his recollections of Notts and England bowlers, Bill Voce and Harold Larwood. (Audio – 8 mins. 27 secs)

Fig 13: Billy Hill’s painting of the cricket pavillion in local cricket leagues. 

Fig 14: Cricket statues at Kirkby-in-Ashfield in June 2026. Left to right Harold Larwood, Bill Voce and Don Bradman.

As Dennis Pettit, leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, commented in 2001, the days when you could shout down the shaft for a fast bowler had long since passed. However, the sport of cricket left an indelible mark on the history and heritage of the Nottinghamshire coalfield and its links with Nottinghamshire CCC.

Fig 15: Local cricket memorabilia at Kirkby Heritage Centre. Photo Credit – David Amos

‘Shout down the Shaft for a Fast Bowler’ is a chapter in the forthcoming book, ‘Those Coaltown Days: A Glance Back at the Social History of the Nottinghamshire Coalfield’, by Paul Fillingham and David Amos, due for publication in autumn 2026.

Blog by David Amos

Posted 4th August 2026

References

Aldred, Tanya. Mining for Talent: Coal and Cricket’s Partnership, The Observer, 12th April 2026.

Amos, David. A Brief History of Annesley Colliery, 2000.

Ashfield, Mark, A Rich Seam of Colliery Cricket in Horses, Herbs and a Cockatoo, 1990.

Ashfield, Mark. Legends in A Carnival Crown and a Roasted Ox, 1991.

Bolsover Colliery Co Ltd, Jubilee Souvenir (1889 – 1939), 1939.

Presentation at Annesley, Notts Free Press,16th September 1977, p.13.

Selstonia Living Heritage Project archive, interview with Billy Hill, 27th October 2008. 

Wadsworth, R. Ed. Ashfield: The Nursery of Cricket, 2002.

Waller, P. The Dukeries Transformed: The Social and Political Development of a Twentieth Century Coalfield, 1983.

Whitelock, G.C.H. 250 Years in Coal: The History of Barber Walker Co Ltd, 1956

Wynne-Thomas, Peter. Nottinghamshire Cricket Grounds, 2001