Suffolk County Cricket Club

Suffolk 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 Suffolk.

The Minor Counties play three-day matches at a level below that of the first-class game. At present, Suffolk competes in the Eastern Division of the Minor Counties Championship and in the MCCA Knockout Trophy.

Home grounds

* The Victory Ground, Bury St Edmunds
* The Park, Exning Home of [http://www.exningcc.com Exning Cricket Club]
* Old London Road, Copdock (Copdock and Old Ipswichians C.C.)
* Wamil Way, Mildenhall
* Sidegate Avenue (Ransomes), Ipswich
* Woodbridge School, Woodbridge

Honours

* Minor Counties Championship (3) - 1946, 1977, 1979; shared (1) - 2005cite web|url=http://www.ecb.co.uk/news/non-first-class/minor-counties/minor-counties-roll-of-honour,1480,BP.html|title=Minor Counties Roll of Honour|publisher=www.ecb.co.uk|accessdate=2008-08-27]
* MCCA Knockout Trophy (1) - 2007

Earliest cricket

Cricket had probably reached Suffolk by the end of the 17th century. The earliest known reference to cricket in Suffolk was in 1743 [Bowen, p.263] .

The first county match was Norfolk v Suffolk at Bury St Edmunds Race Course on Thursday 23 August 1764, which was won by Norfolk. This was reported in the "Gazetteer & London Daily Advertiser" on Tuesday 28 August [Buckley, p.43] . More games against Norfolk followed.

Origin of club

A county organisation was formed on 27 July 1864 and a county side took part in the Minor Counties Championship from 1904 to 1914, with no great success. The present Suffolk CCC was founded in August 1932 and rejoined the Minor Counties Championship in 1934.

Club history

Suffolk is rated first-class in four 19th century matches.

The Bury Club of Suffolk became prominent in the 1820s, especially after Fuller Pilch joined it in 1824. The club played a number of matches against decent opposition and eventually was able to take on MCC. Some of these games were "borderline" but in 1830 a Bury side with given men (one of them Jem Broadbridge) played MCC in two matches that are rated first-class.

After this, the Bury Club declined but then staged a revival in the 1840s and was again able to challenge MCC. Two matches in 1847, in which Suffolk had given men, are rated first-class.

Suffolk has won the Minor Counties Championship four times, one of them shared. It won outright in 1946, 1977 and 1979. Its most recent success was a shared title with Cheshire in 2005.

SCCC played their first game at Lord's on (bank holiday) Monday, 27 August 2007 in the Minor Counties Knock-out Final, winning the trophy for the first time.

Famous players

The following Suffolk cricketers also made an impact on the first-class game:

* Phil Mead
* Robin Hobbs
* Derek Randall
* Devon Malcolm

References

External sources

* [http://www.suffolkcricket.co.uk/ Club website]
* [http://uk.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/NATIONAL/ENG/MINOR/MCCA/ Minor Counties Cricket Association Official Site]
* [http://suffolkcb.play-cricket.com/home/home.asp Play Cricket] - Suffolk

Further reading

* Rowland Bowen, "Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development", Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970
* G B Buckley, "Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket", Cotterell, 1935
* Arthur Haygarth, "Scores & Biographies, Volume 2 (1827-1840)", Lillywhite, 1862
* Arthur Haygarth, "Scores & Biographies, Volume 3 (1841-1848)", Lillywhite, 1862

* Playfair Cricket Annual – various editions
* Wisden Cricketers Almanack – various editions