A Park Drive junior favourite is set to return to the club later this month (Thursday 23 March) to meet up with his former cricketing colleagues and friends.

Ian Knight was a key member of Hartlepool Cricket Club’s Under 13 and Junior sides in the late 70s and early 80s before he left the town to pursue a professional footballing career.

Ian – whose late Dad Ronnie was also a keen cricketer – was a member of the Park Drive Under 13 side which reached the Lord’s Taverners national final at Sherborne in Dorset in 1979.

He also excelled as an all-rounder in the Juniors playing alongside the likes of Andy Holland, Gary Tebbett, Glen Tebbett, Des Playfor, Ian Hendry, Nick Kennedy, Jonny Cannon, Ally Ross, Andy Carter and the late Ian Jackson – all of which went to play regular 1st team cricket.

After joining Barnsley at the age of 16, Ian moved on to Sheffield Wednesday where he was soon playing topflight football before a horrific tackle brought his playing days to an end.

At the time, Ian was playing centre-half for England Under 21s alongside Tony Adams and was tipped to soon become a full England international.

After his playing days, Ian was involved in a coaching capacity for a number of years prior to emigrating to Canada in 2003.

He is currently the Sporting Director for Abbotsford Soccer Association in British Columbia – the westernmost province of Canada.

Ian Knight said: “I have many, fond memories of my cricketing days at Park Drive. It was a great experience playing with a fantastic group of players who I would often come up when competing in other sports in the town.

“There were some great characters at Park Drive in those days and clubs were able to attract highly talented professionals. At the time Hartlepool’s Peter Kippax was my hero and other club professionals included the likes of Lance Cairns (Bishop Auckland) and Desmond Haynes (Blackhall).

“I’m really looking forward to returning to Park Drive and meeting up with old friends.”
Ian will be spending some time in Hartlepool with his wife (Trish) and son (Jack) where his Mum (Barbara), stepfather (Mike) and brother (Colin) still live, before heading to Grimsby to meet up with his wife’s family and friends.

John Rae, Junior Representative at Park Drive during Ian’s playing days, said: “Ian came to Park Drive as young boy and was an outstanding cricketer. He scored runs regularly, he was a good bowler and a brilliant fielder.

“During Ian’s era at Park Drive, we had a fantastic group of highly talented cricketers – many of whom went on to be 1st team regulars for many years.

“It will be great to see Ian again after all these years and hopefully we will get a good gathering at Park Drive.

“I’ll take the old scorebooks along from that era which should bring back happy memories of a really successful Junior cricket period at Park Drive.”

Ian will be at Park Drive from 7pm on Thursday 23 March. For further information, contact Ally Rae 07581 239557.