Cambridgeshire County Cricket Club
Encyclopedia
Cambridgeshire County Cricket Club is one of the county
clubs which make up the Minor Counties
in the English
domestic cricket
structure, representing the historic county of Cambridgeshire
and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy
.
The club is based at The Avenue Sports Club Ground
, March
, though they have played a number of matches at Fenner's
, Cambridge University
's ground, and occasionally play games there still. In recent years, matches have also been held at Wisbech
and Saffron Walden
(in northeastern Essex
).
The Minor Counties play three-day matches at a level below that of the first-class
game. At present, the club competes in the Eastern Division of the Minor Counties Championship
. The current county captain
is Ajaz Akhtar
.
Outside the university, the earliest reference is a game in 1758 between the parishes of Saffron Walden and Cambridge.
and Cambridgeshire were effectively the same team as the town club teams were representative of the county as a whole. The town club's earliest known first-class
match was against Cambridge University Cricket Club
in 1819 and the county name was first used for the match against Surrey in 1857.
The town club was formed sometime before 1819 and eventually evolved into the original county club, which was formally established on 13 March 1844, playing under the name of "Cambridge Town and County Club". However after 1847 the name reverted to Cambridge Town.
status. However, the club itself was dissolved in 1869 (according to James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Companion of that year). Two first-class matches arranged in 1869 and 1871 involved playing members of the former club and the team in both these games was called Cambridgeshire by the sources (e.g., Wisden).
The club played 39 first-class matches in all, winning 13, losing 21 and drawing 5. The most successful season was 1864, when all 3 matches played were won. The regular home ground was Fenner's
. Thomas Hayward
made most first-class appearances, playing in 35 of the matches. He also made most runs, 1934 at 33.34, and scored two of the four centuries made for the county, both in 1861. He and Robert Carpenter
put on 212 for the 3rd wicket against Surrey at The Oval in 1861, both scoring centuries. This was the highest partnership for the county. George Tarrant
took most wickets: 197 at 12.25, plus a further 22 wickets for which the runs conceded are not known. He had match figures of 15-56 against Kent at Chatham in 1862, including 8-16 in an innings. He also took 8-45 in an innings against Surrey at Fenner's the same year.
In the early 1860s, Carpenter and Hayward were rated as the finest batsmen in England. Richard Daft
was among those ranking them as equal first, but George Parr
reckoned Carpenter the better of the two.
The present club was founded on 6 June 1891.
Cambridgeshire first took part in the Minor Counties Championship in the competition's fourth season, 1898, and has competed every season since with the exception of 1902 and 1920. It has won the Minor Counties Championship once, in 1963.
Cambridgeshire has won the MCCA Knockout Trophy
twice since its inception in 1983. It won in 1995 and 2003.
game:
Historic counties of England
The historic counties of England are subdivisions of England established for administration by the Normans and in most cases based on earlier Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and shires...
clubs which make up the Minor Counties
Minor counties of English cricket
The Minor Counties are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that are not afforded first-class status. The game is administered by the Minor Counties Cricket Association which comes under the England and Wales Cricket Board...
in the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
domestic cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
structure, representing the historic county of Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy
MCCA Knockout Trophy
The Minor Counties Cricket Association Knockout Cup was started in 1983 as a knockout one-day competition for the Minor Counties in English cricket...
.
The club is based at The Avenue Sports Club Ground
The Avenue Sports Club Ground
The Avenue Sports Club Ground is a cricket ground in March, Cambridgeshire. The ground was established in 1939, when Cambridgeshire played Suffolk in the grounds first Minor Counties Championship match...
, March
March, Cambridgeshire
March is a Fenland market town and civil parish in the Isle of Ely area of Cambridgeshire, England. March was the county town of the Isle of Ely, a separate administrative county between 1889 and 1965, and is now the administrative centre of Fenland District Council.The town was an important...
, though they have played a number of matches at Fenner's
Fenner's
Fenner's is the University of Cambridge's cricket ground.-History:Fenner's has hosted first-class cricket since 1848, and many of the world's great players have graced the wicket. The ground was established on land leased for the purpose by Francis Fenner, after whom the ground is named.Playing for...
, Cambridge University
Cambridge University Cricket Club
Cambridge University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team. It now plays all but one of its first-class cricket matches as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence , which includes Anglia Ruskin University...
's ground, and occasionally play games there still. In recent years, matches have also been held at Wisbech
Wisbech
Wisbech is a market town, inland port and civil parish with a population of 20,200 in the Fens of Cambridgeshire. The tidal River Nene runs through the centre of the town and is spanned by two bridges...
and Saffron Walden
Saffron Walden
Saffron Walden is a medium-sized market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. It is located north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and approx north of London...
(in northeastern Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
).
The Minor Counties play three-day matches at a level below that of the first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
game. At present, the club competes in the Eastern Division of the Minor Counties Championship
Minor Counties Cricket Championship
The Minor Counties Cricket Championship is a season-long competition in England that is contested by those county cricket clubs that do not have first-class status...
. The current county captain
Captain (cricket)
The captain of a cricket team often referred to as the skipper is the appointed leader, having several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player...
is Ajaz Akhtar
Ajaz Akhtar
Ajaz Akhtar is a Pakistani born English cricketer. Akhtar is a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm medium pace. He was born at Bahawalpur, Pakistan...
.
Honours
- Minor Counties Championship (1) - 1963; shared (0) -
- MCCA Knockout Trophy (2) - 1995, 2003
Earliest cricket
Cricket must have reached Cambridgeshire in the 17th century. The earliest reference to the game being played there is at Cambridge University in 1710.Outside the university, the earliest reference is a game in 1758 between the parishes of Saffron Walden and Cambridge.
Origin of club
Cambridge Town ClubCambridge Town Club
Cambridge Town Club was a first-class cricket club established in Cambridge before 1819. As with other leading town clubs, its team was representative of the county of Cambridgeshire as a whole and it ultimately evolved into Cambridgeshire County Cricket Club...
and Cambridgeshire were effectively the same team as the town club teams were representative of the county as a whole. The town club's earliest known first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
match was against Cambridge University Cricket Club
Cambridge University Cricket Club
Cambridge University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team. It now plays all but one of its first-class cricket matches as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence , which includes Anglia Ruskin University...
in 1819 and the county name was first used for the match against Surrey in 1857.
The town club was formed sometime before 1819 and eventually evolved into the original county club, which was formally established on 13 March 1844, playing under the name of "Cambridge Town and County Club". However after 1847 the name reverted to Cambridge Town.
Club history
The county club did not play matches outside East Anglia until 1857 when it played Surrey CCC. From 1857 until 1871, the county club was accorded first-classFirst-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
status. However, the club itself was dissolved in 1869 (according to James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Companion of that year). Two first-class matches arranged in 1869 and 1871 involved playing members of the former club and the team in both these games was called Cambridgeshire by the sources (e.g., Wisden).
The club played 39 first-class matches in all, winning 13, losing 21 and drawing 5. The most successful season was 1864, when all 3 matches played were won. The regular home ground was Fenner's
Fenner's
Fenner's is the University of Cambridge's cricket ground.-History:Fenner's has hosted first-class cricket since 1848, and many of the world's great players have graced the wicket. The ground was established on land leased for the purpose by Francis Fenner, after whom the ground is named.Playing for...
. Thomas Hayward
Thomas Hayward (cricketer)
Thomas Hayward was a Cambridgeshire and All-England Eleven cricketer who was generally reckoned to be one of the outstanding batsmen of the 1850s and 1860s. In the early 1860s, he and Robert Carpenter, his Cambridgeshire colleague, were rated as the two finest batsmen in England...
made most first-class appearances, playing in 35 of the matches. He also made most runs, 1934 at 33.34, and scored two of the four centuries made for the county, both in 1861. He and Robert Carpenter
Robert Carpenter (cricketer)
Robert Pearson Carpenter was a noted English cricketer and umpire.A right-handed batsman and occasional wicket-keeper, he played for Cambridgeshire during its brief period as a first-class county in the 1850s and 1860s, as well as for the United All-England Eleven...
put on 212 for the 3rd wicket against Surrey at The Oval in 1861, both scoring centuries. This was the highest partnership for the county. George Tarrant
George Tarrant
George Frederick Tarrant was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket from 1860 to 1869...
took most wickets: 197 at 12.25, plus a further 22 wickets for which the runs conceded are not known. He had match figures of 15-56 against Kent at Chatham in 1862, including 8-16 in an innings. He also took 8-45 in an innings against Surrey at Fenner's the same year.
In the early 1860s, Carpenter and Hayward were rated as the finest batsmen in England. Richard Daft
Richard Daft
Richard Daft was an English cricketer. He was one of the best batsmen of his day, the peak of his first-class career being the 1860s and early 1870s...
was among those ranking them as equal first, but George Parr
George Parr (cricketer)
George Parr was an English cricketer, whose first-class career lasted from 1844 to 1870....
reckoned Carpenter the better of the two.
The present club was founded on 6 June 1891.
Cambridgeshire first took part in the Minor Counties Championship in the competition's fourth season, 1898, and has competed every season since with the exception of 1902 and 1920. It has won the Minor Counties Championship once, in 1963.
Cambridgeshire has won the MCCA Knockout Trophy
MCCA Knockout Trophy
The Minor Counties Cricket Association Knockout Cup was started in 1983 as a knockout one-day competition for the Minor Counties in English cricket...
twice since its inception in 1983. It won in 1995 and 2003.
Famous players
The following Cambridgeshire cricketers also made an impact on the first-classFirst-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
game:
- Gerry AlexanderGerry AlexanderFranz Copeland Murray "Gerry" Alexander was a Jamaican cricketer who played 25 Tests for the West Indies...
- Mike BrearleyMike BrearleyJohn Michael Brearley OBE is a former cricketer who captained the England cricket team in 31 of his 39 Test matches, winning 17 and losing only 4. He was the President of the Marylebone Cricket Club in 2007–08.-Early life:...
- Robert CarpenterRobert Carpenter (cricketer)Robert Pearson Carpenter was a noted English cricketer and umpire.A right-handed batsman and occasional wicket-keeper, he played for Cambridgeshire during its brief period as a first-class county in the 1850s and 1860s, as well as for the United All-England Eleven...
- Alfred DiverAlfred DiverAlfred John Day Diver was an English cricketer whose career spanned the 1843 season to the 1866 season...
- Thomas HaywardThomas Hayward (cricketer)Thomas Hayward was a Cambridgeshire and All-England Eleven cricketer who was generally reckoned to be one of the outstanding batsmen of the 1850s and 1860s. In the early 1860s, he and Robert Carpenter, his Cambridgeshire colleague, were rated as the two finest batsmen in England...
- Tom HaywardTom HaywardThomas Walter Hayward was a cricketer who played for Surrey and England between the 1890s and the outbreak of World War I. He was primarily an opening batsman, noted especially for the quality of his off-drive...
- Jack HobbsJack HobbsSir John Berry "Jack" Hobbs was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey from 1905 to 1934 and for England in 61 Test matches from 1908 to 1930....
- Bill HitchBill HitchJohn William "Bill" Hitch, born Radcliffe, Greater Manchester, on 7 May 1886, and died at Cardiff on 7 July 1965, was a cricketer who played for Surrey and England....
- Terry JennerTerry JennerTerrence James Jenner was an Australian cricketer who played nine Tests and one ODI from 1970 to 1975. He was primarily a leg-spin bowler and was known for his attacking, loopy style of bowling, but he was also a handy lower-order batsman...
- Derick ParryDerick ParryDerick Recaldo Parry played 12 Tests and six One Day Internationals for the West Indies....
- George TarrantGeorge TarrantGeorge Frederick Tarrant was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket from 1860 to 1869...
- Johnny WardleJohnny WardleJohnny Wardle was an English spin bowler of post-war cricket. His Test bowling average of 20.39, is the lowest in Test cricket by any recognised spin bowler, since World War I....
External sources
- Minor Counties Cricket Association Official Site
- Cambridgeshire CCC site
- CricketArchive page on The Avenue Sports Club Ground, March
- Records Relating to Sport at the County Record Office, Cambridge
Further reading
- Rowland BowenRowland BowenMajor Rowland Francis Bowen was a cricket researcher, historian and writer....
, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970 - Arthur HaygarthArthur HaygarthArthur Haygarth was a noted amateur cricketer who became one of cricket's most significant historians....
, Scores & Biographies, Volumes 4-11 (1849-1870), Lillywhite, 1862–79 - E W Swanton (editor), Barclays World of Cricket, Guild, 1986
- Playfair Cricket AnnualPlayfair Cricket AnnualPlayfair Cricket Annual is a compact annual about cricket that is published in the United Kingdom each April, just before the English cricket season is due to begin. Its main purposes are to review the previous English season and to provide detailed career records and potted biographies of current...
– various editions - Wisden Cricketers Almanack – various editions