Suffolk Cricketers 1827-2018

3 INTRODUCTION In the eighteenth century there were many reported cricket matches being played in Suffolk. As early as 1743 at Finningham, Stradbroke beat Finningham with some given men from Stowmarket and the return was at Stradbroke for 2 guineas a man (later reduced to 1/-). In 1746 the Ipswich Journal reported a match between Ipswich and the country on Great Bolton for 11 pairs of gloves. The first reference to a team styled Suffolk was when Norfolk beat Suffolk on the Bury St Edmunds Racecourse Ground on 23 rd August 1764. This was followed by further matches between the two counties at Scole in Norfolk during September the same year. No further references to a county team have been found until 1827 when the first matches were played against the Marylebone Cricket Club and Norfolk. These early matches were arranged by the Bury Club and included the majority of their members, but the team did also include players occasionally from other clubs together with professionals. Matches by teams called Suffolk or Bury and Suffolk were however, never played on a regular basis. In the following years prior to the formation of the County Club the matches were again organised by the Bury Club. This Club formed in 1818 as the Bury Cricket Club and played at Field Lane initially. In 1847 the Club was “rescued from its state of dormancy” and reformed as the Bury and Suffolk Club. From around 1857 it became the Bury and West Suffolk Club (probably as a result of the formation of the Ipswich and East Suffolk Club in 1853), and in 1866 the Club ground moved to Fornham Park at the invitation of W Gilstrap. This however, lasted for only one year before the Club moved back to Field Lane. A couple of exceptions to matches at Bury were matches against Norfolk in 1855 at Stowmarket and in 1863 at Botisdale. At a meeting called on 27 th July 1864 at the Angel Hotel, Bury St Edmunds the County Club was formed. The team was reasonably successful from 1865 until 1869 playing three to six matches a year. However, between 1870 and 1872 the only matches were against the MCC. No county matches took place between 1873 and 1875 and there appeared to be no annual meetings. In 1875 Delamark Roffey had attempted to arouse interest in the county by trying without success to organise an East v West match. However, a meeting held on 2 nd May 1876 presided over by Lord Henniker held at the White Horse, Ipswich agreed to re-establish the Club. From then until 1885 regular county matches took place mainly due the dedication of JG Francis who as well as being County captain undertook the secretarial duties. The annual meeting of the Club in November 1885 in the presence of only five members, the Chairman EW Lake “thought the prospects as to cricket seemed hopeless as there were no good features apart from the finances” and as a result it was agreed to dissolve the Club. The Club was again reformed as the Suffolk County Cricket Association on 18 th December 1901 mainly by the efforts of the Rev. R. L. Hodgson the well-known journalist and author at the time who wrote articles under the name “Country Vicar” and he became the Secretary/Treasurer. The Club did not however, enter the Minor Counties Championship in 1902 and 1903 playing only friendly matches but eventually joining in 1904 when it finished fourteenth in the table. In 1907 the Championship was split into divisions and Suffolk was placed in the East Division, the North and East Division in 1910 and 1911 before the Championship again reverted to a full table in 1912. There were no matches during the war years 1915-18 and in 1919 a small meeting of members decided not to carry on with the Club as the Secretary had been killed in the war and the Treasurer was no longer in the region. An inaugural meeting held at Felixstowe on 30th August 1932 arranged for the resuscitating of the County Club and at a further meeting on 8 th October 1932 held in Ipswich the Club was formed as