YORKSHIRE and England legend Freddie Trueman has been lined up to help Thirsk Cricket Club celebrate its 150th anniversary.

The famous fast bowler will entertain past and present players and members of the club as the guest speaker at an anniversary dinner and dance on Saturday, November 24.

As part of the celebrations, the club, founded in 1851, will also play an MCC XI at its Newsham Road home this Thursday.

The Thirsk club, founder members of the York and District Senior League in which they still play, first played at a ground on York Road and moved to the present ground inside the racecourse around 1860.

The inaugural match at York Road was played against an England XI and there have been two all England matches played at the present ground, but there are references to an even earlier match played in the town.

Former club chairman E R Jackson reported the words of Major Peter Bell when he officially opened the new pavilion in 1907.

Mr Jackson wrote: "The first history they had of cricket in Thirsk was of a match played, he believed, on the Topcliffe road between 11 of Sheffield and 22 of Yorkshire. It was for £100 a side and the betting was three to one on Sheffield.

"Yorkshire won and among the 22 were five Thirsk men, the others coming from Bedale, Wetherby, Knaresborough and Ripon."

His notes provide further insights into how the game was played in the 19th century. Games would begin in the morning, with lunch taken at the ground, and when Thirsk played away they would catch the 7.30am train and their opponents would give them breakfast.

In his report of Maj Bell's speech, Mr Jackson also writes: "In those days they had some good players in the club. He did not mean to say that Thirsk was better than any other club, but they could boast of having certain men who made their mark.

"There were Roger Iddison and George Freeman, the latter of whom was at Thirsk as a resident. The only disadvantage about his playing was that when they knew he was in the team opposing clubs always brought a strong team, and if business prevented his playing, then it was sometimes bad for Thirsk."

Freeman played for Yorkshire from 1865-1880 and appeared for England in 1868, while Iddison represented the county from 1855-1876.

Other famous Thirsk players include Gibson Macauley, who represented Yorkshire from 1920-1935 and played eight matches for England. He took 24 wickets for his country and scored 112 runs. Former Yorkshire secretary Joe Lister was also a Thirsk player.

In 1955, the MCC presented Thirsk with a plaque to commemorate the bi-centenary of Thomas Lord, who was born in the town in 1755 and established the first Lords cricket ground in Dorset Square, St Marylebone.

The brick pavilion, built at a cost of £200 in 1907, was regarded as a considerable facility in those days. It was re-roofed in 1966 by Pat Ruecroft, the grandson of the builder.

Other families have retained strong links with the club through the generations, with the grandsons of W J Horner, chairman in 1897, still involved.

On the playing side, Thirsk's most successful era was the 1920s, when they were league champions no fewer than six times. They also took the title in 1932 and 1938, but have not finished top since then.

However, there have been some excellent performances by individual players in recent years. Des Wyrill holds the premier division record for the best batting average, his 112.80 earning him the cup which bears his name in 1999.

The Alan Shipley (Secretary's) Cup, the league's bowling award, was won by Martin Shepherdson in 1997 and has been lifted by Barry Petty for the last two seasons.

Petty has set a new premier division record for the most wickets taken in a season every year since Thirsk were promoted to the top flight in 1998. He picked up 55 that year, 79 in 1999 and 84 last year.

The November celebrations will be held in a marquee at Newsham Road and more than 170 invitations have already been sent out to former club members.

All existing records and scorebooks have been scoured in an effort to contact all those who have been connected with the club over the years.

Inevitably, some will have been missed or are not easily traceable, so anyone who knows of someone who may be interested in the event is asked to contact club secretary Bob Hesk on 01845 522132 or chairman George Gifford on 01845 523813 for more details.

l The match against the MCC XI, captained by Easingwold stalwart Martin Robinson, gets underway at 11.30am on Thursday. The MCC team will also include Oliver Hutton, grandson of Sir Leonard Hutton, and former Yorkshire and Durham all-rounder Ryan Robinson.

There will also be a number of family attractions and refreshments will be available throughout the day.