West Chiltington & Thakeham Cricket Club

West Chiltington & Thakeham Cricket Club (WC&TCC) is an ambitious club based in the picturesque village of West Chiltington in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England.

The club plays its cricket at the West Chiltington Recreation Ground in a picturesque location near the South Downs. The original West Chiltington Cricket Club (WCCC) was established in 1921 and for many years enjoyed playing cricket against local sides. As the turn of the century approached, WCCC and the dormant Thakeham CC merged to create a more viable and competitive player base. This allowed the newly merged club to really challenge and be competitive in the West Sussex Cricket League (WSCL) whilst still offering more friendly traditional Sunday cricket. In 2008, WC&TCC was welcomed into the Sussex Invitation Cricket League (SICL) representing a new stage of the Club's playing development and new challenges.

Recent History

Both the former clubs played friendly cricket for many years. WCCC subsequently joined the Sussex Championship League (later to be renamed the West Sussex Cricket League). At time of merger at the West Chiltington CC AGM in 2000, WCCC was a WSCL Division Two side with many players actually living in Thakeham.

In 2005, the Club started an ambitious youth development policy which has been a tremendous success for local children and youths. A number of ECB accredited coaches have given up their time to run teams and in 2008 the Colts (junior) teams played league cricket at Under 9s, 10s, 11s, 12s, 13s, 14s and 16s.

In 2006, the Club celebrated being crowned champions of the WSCL First Division for the first time and in the following year, the Club created a second Saturday XI which entered WSCL Division Four. Essentially this allowed the Club to apply to enter a higher level of cricket which has since been achieved. In addition, it provided a great platform for the Club's colts to play competitive cricket alongside senior players which was vital if the better colts players were to be retained.

In 2007, the Club was delighted to be chosen to host a testimonial match for the then Sussex CCC opening batsman Richard Montgomerie. The weather was kind and the largest crowd to ever watch WC&TCC play saw a Sussex CCC XI squeak home narrowly. Mushtaq Ahmed even rejected Sussex CCC's advances and played for WC&TCC. The overwhelmingly successful day raised well earned funds for an excellent & loyal Sussex cricketer. Through extensive press coverage, it also further raised the burgeoning profile of one of the county's more popular village cricket clubs.

The Club was awarded the ECB ClubMark accreditation in 2007 and recognised as an ECB Focus Club in 2008. In 2008 the Club also joined the Sussex Invitation Cricket League and for 2009, three brand new nets have already been constructed in the close season near the tennis courts to accelerate both colts' and adult progression.

Honours (as a merged club)

2002 West Sussex Cricket League Division Two - Runners Up
2003 West Sussex Cricket League Division One - Runners Up
2005 West Sussex Cricket League Division One - Runners Up
2006 West Sussex Cricket League Division One - Champions
2007 Sussex Junior Cricket Festival Under 14s - Runners Up
2008 Sussex Junior Cricket Festival Under 12s - Runners Up

Records

Highest score made: 413-4 - 2nd XI vs Pulborough 3rds at home on 26th May 2007
Highest individual score: Brian Chambers - 198* vs Brighton Insurance at home on 14th May 2005

External sources

* [http://www.westchiltingtonandthakehamcc.co.uk/ WC&T official site]
* [http://wct.play-cricket.com/home/home.asp WC&T play cricket website]
* [http://www.wscl.co.uk/tablesshow.asp West Sussex Cricket League Tables 2001-2007]

External links

* [http://www.westchiltingtonandthakehamcc.co.uk/ West Chiltington & Thakeham Cricket Club]
* [http://wct.play-cricket.com/home/home.asp WC&T play cricket website]
* [http://www.ecb.co.uk/development/clubs/clubmark/ ECB Clubmark scheme]
* [http://www.ecb.co.uk/development/clubs/focus-clubs/ ECB Focus Clubs]
* [http://www.sussexcricket.co.uk/ Sussex County Cricket Club]