A VILLAGE cricket team is turning its back on a pocket handkerchief pitch where sixes were ten-a-penny for a ground three times bigger - and all for just £1.

The land, part of an emerging sporting and community project, was sold to the village for a pound by a local farmer.

Bishop Monkton Cricket Club, near Ripon, will make their dream debut on the new ground on Saturday.

But after years waiting to leave one of the smallest grounds in the area, the club came within a whisker of not being able to play its red letter day fixture.

Rivals Staveley feared they could not raise a side for the Nidderdale League clash because of the foot-and-mouth crisis and shortage of players.

But Bishop Monkton heard this week that Staveley has mustered a team and that the match will go ahead.

Records show Bishop Monkton Cricket Club goes back to the 1930s, but club secretary Francis Brown, who is also the team's wicket-keeper, says the club originated much earlier.

"There is great excitement that we are at last moving to a bigger ground," said Mr Brown, who reckons it is three times larger than the old one off Boroughbridge Road.

"It was possible to get a six there with a wrist shot, or even a thick edge. But it will be a different story at the new place. Sixes will be much harder to get."

The opening match at the ground, off Knaresborough Road, will start at 2pm.