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The earliest known reference to cricket in Oswestry is recorded
in the 'Victoria History of Shropshire' wherein, following reference to
the formation of the Gentlemen of Shropshire CC in 1805, mention is amde
of a match between that club and the Gentlemen of Oswestry in 1817. The
match took place at Weston (a mile from the present Morda Road ground),
the Oswestry team captained by W Ormsby-Gore Esq. By 1821 regular matches
were being played on the Weston ground by Oswestry Cricket Club which included
among it's players RA Slaney of Walford, the Rev RJ Russell and the eccentric
'Mad Jack' Mytton of Halston. The oldest document in the possession of the Club is dated 18th April 1860, and announces to members the first match of the season at the Victoria Road ground which had obviously become the home of the club. By the 1880's, despite a threat of insolvency, the club's fixtures included matches against Warrington, Crewe, Nantwich, Birkenhead Park, Sefton, Welshpool, Ellesmere (Shrops), Ruyton and Oswestry Grammar School. |
| During the decade the financial
position of the Club improved to the extent of it's being able to afford
the services of R. Peel,a Yorkshireman, as professional coach at £3.00
per week for the last three weeks in April when he was available to bowl
at the gentlemen daily between 4.30 and 7.00pm. Club colours were struck
- 'prune and sky blue'- a somewhat billious combination thanfully revised
at a later, unspecified, date. A match against MCC was played in 1888 (the
Club was defeated by an innings); earlier in 1885 a projected encounter
with a 'United England XI', including WG Grace, was cancelled, possibly
owing to the Treasurer's reluctance to meet the Doctor's fee. Cricket continued into the twentieth century, though minute books for the period 1903-1918 are not to hand. The 1919 AGM records an impressive list of vice-presidents and reference is made to a Ladies Committee, suggesting not only the emancipation won during the war years but, more important for cricket, the inception of that vital ingredient for teas - and sympathy. A pillar of strength during the inter-war years was Alf England who served not only as a player, but as umpire and diligent curator of the impeccable square at the Victoria Road ground, the outfield being perhaps less than perfect, it forming a goodly area of Oswestry Town Football Club, tenants from the 1890's. Alf, who was made a Life Member in 1941 after 50 years as a club member (21 years as groundsman) died, aged 99, in 1973. In 1931, the minutes of the AGM record the presentation to Mr N Bailey of a silver-mounted cricket ball with which he took all ten wickets in the opening match of the season against Whitchurch. Another interesting minute of April 1935 records a decision to send two delegates to a meeting in Shrewsbury to discuss the formation of a league to start on an experimental basis - 35 years later the idea became a reality. Requisition by the MOD during World War II brought an end to the club's tenure of the Victoria Road ground. The immediate post-war years saw the re-eastablishment of the Club, it's home matches played at Oswestry School during the summer holidays. Through the efforts of Frank Ikin and Toby Salway, a tenancy at Morda Road was obtained, the canteen of Coventry Climax Engines Ltd (occupants during the war of the Victoria Road ground) was presented free of charge for the Clubhouse and on 10th July 1948 the first cricket match on the new premises was played, Whitchurch CC being the visitors. In the same year the Club joined the Midlands Club Cricket Conference. Among those whose efforts contributed to the succesful restart were Gerald Finchett (elected Life Member in 1951 after 13 years service as Secretary), Jack Watson, who was to hold most of the principal offices in the Club during forty years as a member of the committe, Bert Fisher, Toby Salway, George Witcombe and Aubrey beauclerk, all later elected Life Members, the last named achieving the surely impassable distinction of playing for the Club between 1939 and 1980 - a span of six decades! On the cricket side, two elevens played against the tradiotional opponents, the games with Chirk and Welshpool being particularly keenly contested. The introduction of Sunday matches widened the fixture list to include attractive games aginst Wroxeter, Wellington, the Gentlemen Of Shropshire and even against clubs as distant as Wolverhampton. In the fifties and sixties a link was established with Park Hall Camp which enriched the playing strenght, most notably in the person of Les Lenham (Sussex). Pat Timmis, Cliff Hodson, Don Humphreys, the first batsman in the Club's history to score 1000 runs in a season (1968), Jim Phillips, the first bowler to take a 100 wickets in aseason (1964), Ken Byers, Alan Stratford, John Evans, David Morgan, Brian Poll, Keith Shuttleworth and Peter Jones all began long associations with the Club. The acquisition of a new scorebox, improvements to the changing rooms and close attention to wicket preparation were rewarded with Minor County matches. Jim Phillips, Ted Bowen, Gary Wilkinson and John Hare were all to play for the County. In 1972 the Club participated in the inaugral County League competition and before that decade was out had enjoyed the pleasure of the services of internation cricketer Ramesh Sethi (East Africa) and the great potential of Andy Lloyd who proceeded via Shropshire and Warwickshire to represent England against the West Indies in 1984. John Clay, Andrew Clarke, Mike Robinson, Peter Sheperd and Barclay Wilson brought fresh talent to the club. In 1970, two centuries after the first cricket was played at Hambledon, Mike Vockins (shortly to become Secretary of Worcs CCC), Eddie Rowe (professional at Ellesmere Collge) and Peter Sellars (Ellesmere CC) conceived a set of rules for an indoor version of the game played by a team of six. It was the birth of a form of cricket which has since been given national recognition and now provides large numbers of cricketers to continue their sport in the darkest evenings of winter. The transition of Mike Vockins to New Road, Worcester, opened up a mutually attractive contact with a very successful County side and between 1975 and 1979 matches were staged at Morda Road on behalf of beneficiaries who brought along colleagues, including Test players Norman Gifford, Glen Turner, Imran Khan, Vanburn Holder and Basil D'Oliveira, the latter also leading the Whitbread Wanderers XI of old England players. Never in such a short space of time have so many international cricketers graced the Morda Road venue. Improvements to the ground were planned following the acquisition of a 28-year lease from the County Council in 1977. Under the chairmanship of Alec Duffus, the Committee sanctioned a modernisation of the clubhouse interior, managed by John Leggatt. A new toilet block was added, the ground enlarged by resiting the driveway and, in response to complaints from visiting batsmen embarrassed to find themselves dismissed LBW (ankle height) essaying the hook shot, the major operation of relaying the square was begun in 1984. The invaluable professional services of Ramesh Sethi proved the key factor in the completion of the project in which the Club members contributed the hard labour. In 1986, John Evans and Jim Phillips led another team of volunteers to complete the reconstruction of the changing rooms, bought in 1953 for £106, at a cost of £5000. They were reopened on 30th September by Andy Lloyd who returned to take part in a sponsored series of matches for which members raised £500. The adoption of organised coaching schemes for youngsters, first by Cliff Hodson, then by Dick Wildgoose, has injected a much-needed youth elemnt into the Club. The 'family' involvement of which the Club has long been proud, has ensured that another genration of both genders has emerged in the shape of a Leggatt, three Phillips, a Beaman, a Wildgoose, a Stratford, two Humphreys (both useless...!) and three Evans who, with bat ball or breadknife, have already made their mark. It is because of these developments that the future of the club is assured. Alan Stratford (with thanks to Jack Watson) |
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