Yorkshire Pride Renewed as County's 'Boys of Summer' Lead cricket Revival

A year ago, Yorkshire was basking in the glory of hosting what Christian Prudhomme, race director of the Tour de France, called the "grandest ever Grand Depart". Two years before that, the more bumptious residents of God's Own County were boasting that if it had been a country, it would have been 12th in the medal table at the London Olympics, above South Africa and Jamaica. This summer Yorkshire is enjoying yet another purple period as the county's cricketers give the Aussies many runs for their money in the first Ashes Test. (Broad's Precision Wins Vital Duel vs Warner)

Four out of the 13-man England squad are Yorkshire stars: Sheffield's Joe Root, Whitby lad Adam Lyth, Adil Rashid from Bradford and Gary Ballance, who despite being Zimbabwe-born and Harrow-educated, was able to play for Yorkshire after the relaxation of its once-ironclad birth qualification rule. Just as Tour fever gripped Yorkshire last summer - with yellow bicycles popping up along the route and farmers spraying their sheep the colours of the race leaders' jerseys - so too is cricket mania spreading through the dales and moors of the three ridings. (Haddin Fashions Criticism)

The sport hasn't been so popular locally in years: T20 attendances at Headingley are up 30% this season, according to Yorkshire CCC, with membership also surpassing last year. Almost 44,000 people went to see England v New Zealand at the ground last month. Plus there are now 747 clubs across the county, playing in 118 organised leagues, more than any other region in the UK - and in the whole of Australia. Some 117,000 adults play in Yorkshire teams, along with 21,300 juniors. But nowhere is the Ashes excitement more obvious than at Sheffield Collegiate Cricket Club in Dore, in the leafy south-west of the steel city. That's where Root learned to become the off-spinner and very handy batsman he is today - with 194 runs and two wickets in England's First Test victory. (Aussie Media Call for Watson, Haddin Sacking)

Among those in the club bar watching their homegrown star on Friday afternoon was his granddad, Don Root. "The novelty hasn't worn off yet," said Don, 79. "I'm just not as nervous watching as I used to be." His grandson had just been bowled out for 60, leading to a plain-speaking Yorkshire assessment: "Today Joe made a modest contribution by his own standards."

On Friday night around 100 children attended the Michael Vaughan Cricket Academy, named after the last local lad to dominate the England side. Among them was Rafy Sharpe, eight-and-a-half, a little blondie in whites and red trainers who had been trying to skive off school all week to watch the Test, according to his mother, Eve. "Unsuccessfully, I might add," she said. (Cook Has Faith in England Future)

The lad made the classic error of asking his father: "If I said I was ill, could I stay off school?" Rafy lives for cricket: his parents have installed artificial turf in their garden so he can practise as much as he likes before and after school. He had been looking forward to the Ashes much more than Christmas, said Eve. "It's been a joke in our house. 'Mum, it's only four days to go!' He's not excited about Christmas - not that he's 'bah humbug', but this is his life: cricket."

Rafy, irritated at missing some of the play to talk to the Observer, said Root was his favourite player: "Because he's a good batsman and he looks a bit like me." Over by the nets, four sharp young ladies were practising bowling. Isobel Dove, 12, dreamily recalled the day she met Root and his younger brother Billy, who plays for Nottinghamshire, at the club. "I got both of their signatures on a five-pound note," she said. "I wrote on it: 'Never ever spend this £5 note' and put it on my wall."

Harriet Broughton, also 12, reflected on why Yorkshire folk were perhaps better at cricket than their southern counterparts. "People in London - not all of them, but some of them - grow up used to looking at Buckingham Palace out of their window, whereas we see fields and trees," she said. "Think about back in history, when people in London were dignified, using a napkin to wipe the corners of their mouths rather than their sleeves, when in Yorkshire we were farmers, ploughing and stuff. If they didn't grow enough crops they wouldn't have enough to eat and would die. They got used to, what's the word? Persevering." Isobel felt the weather contributed to the county's cricketing prowess. "We play rain or shine," she said. "Apart from on Wednesday," chipped in 11-year-old Louisa Edwards, who plays for South Yorkshire as well as for a boys' team. "It was raining so hard we couldn't on Wednesday," she said. The girls agreed it was a shame the sport was so dominated by boys. All four had been picked out at their primary school by a programme called Chance to Shine, which has so far coached 148,000 young Tykes. Harriet thought cricket perhaps wasn't seen as cool. "Some girls might think, 'Ooh no, it will mess up my hair'." Her friend Freya Miller, 12, looked sheepish. "Freya's hair goes really frizzy sometimes," explained Isobel. She mused as to why other girls didn't want to play: "Boys think they are really tough, but girls think they are not good enough." Louisa thought girls were frightened of the cork ball: "To be fair, it does hurt if it hits you." Harriet agreed: once she was hit in the face with her specs on.

Back at the club house, their dads drank beer. They were wearing matching tops bearing the legend "Fat Lads From Dore", to advertise a forthcoming bike ride from London and Paris to raise money for Sheffield children's hospital. "It all came out of the Tour de France coming here last year," said Freya's dad, Andrew Miller. "We watched the Tour come to Sheffield and all bought road bikes. In the news last week there was talk of how poor the legacy had been from the Olympics, but in Yorkshire the Tour de France inspired us and many others." According to VisitEngland, the race has also made Yorkshire richer: visitors' spending has increased by 45% since last July, while numbers are up by nearly a quarter and overnight visitors are up by 20%.

Earlier in the day at Totley primary school, headteacher Chris Stewart had been sneaking a look at his iPad to check the cricket score. He taught Root when he worked at Dore primary in the 1990s. "We used to play in the playground with a tennis ball and no pads," he recalled. "We couldn't get Joe out, so I got him to stand on one leg - still he stayed in. So I got him to play left handed. Same thing. Got him to close one eye. Only when we made him close both did we bowl him out." Stewart said Root was a great inspiration for other young cricketers. "I took my lad down to Abbeydale a few weeks ago and Joe was there. He was more than willing to take the time to bowl at the young ones in the nets. He's not a big-time Charlie."

Just as many people in Rochdale have a Lisa Stansfield story and everyone in Burnage claims to know Liam Gallagher's mum, so everyone around south-west Sheffield seems to know one or more of the Root family. Glued to the telly in Champs sports bar in Loxley, teaching assistant Ben Brown, 23, said he used to play against Joe Root as a teenager. "It's a bit annoying, actually, watching him, and thinking 'That could have been me.' "

It had been another vintage summer for Yorkshire, said Sir Gary Verity, the recently knighted head of Welcome to Yorkshire.

"Last year Yorkshire hosted the grandest of Grand Departs. We proved we can host the big events and 12 months on, Yorkshire continues to lead the way, with the Leeds Rhinos winning the Challenge Cup at Wembley, Yorkshire winning the County Championship and now providing almost half of the England team for the Ashes series, and our boxers Nicola Adams, Kell Brook and Josh Warrington all holding titles."