We are ECB CLUBMARK accredited since 2005 showing that our Club is sustainable, well-run and provides a safe, rewarding and fulfilling environment for participants of all ages.

We field 6 Saturday sides in the Saracens Herts Cricket League, a Sunday T20 side, a Sunday side in the North Herts League and a Sunday Development XI.

Our thriving Junior section caters for juniors from ages 5 and upwards, play in the Herts Junior League and participate in the ECB All Stars and Dynamos Programmes and has been running as a CHANCE TO SHINE Club since 2005.

We also wish to develop Women’s Cricket at the Club and are looking to recruit ladies and girls that wish to play.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF STEVENAGE CRICKET CLUB & CRICKET IN STEVENAGE

• 17th August 1796 – Hitchin v Stevenage – Stevenage won by 7 wickets
• 1832 – two matches Stevenage v Hatfield
• 1839 – two matches Stevenage v Baldock
• Mid 1860s – Stevenage Cricket Club formed but folded in early 1870s, but a recorded match where
• Stevenage (253) beat Hitchin (53). Edwin Goodyear of Markyate scored 121 for Stevenage.
• 30th June 1877 – Stevenage Cricket Club reformed ready for 1878 season
• Stevenage Cricket Club first match – Easter Monday 22nd April 1878 – Married v Single
• This Ground was roughly where Police station is today
• 1898 – club given notice of loss of Ground through Great North Railway development
• 1898 – Rev’d G H Highley, first Stevenage player to play for Hertfordshire
• 1901 – New ground ( Ditchmore Lane ) chosen, formerly known as Chequers Field. Ground rented from Lord Lytton
• Previously Chequers Field was used for tethering and resting horses that pulled coaches up and down Great North Road
• First game played was the Club v Early Closing on Wednesday 15th May 1901
• 1903 – Ground Rent - £20, also club expenses included hire of pony for cutting – cost £4 – 5 shillings
• 1906 – Stevenage most prolific bowler – Left arm spinner Wally Shelford played his first match for Hertfordshire
• Wally Shelford joined Stevenage cc in 1900 and was club Groundsman right up to start of 2nd World War.
• He played 53 Minor Counties matches from 1906 to 1930 and represented Hertfordshire on 16 other occasions in matches verses MCC from 1906 to 1920 – seven of these matches were played at Lords Cricket Ground.
• Famously he bowled Lord Hawke (captain Yorkshire 1883 to 1910) for nought in 1912 and caught England player “Patsy Hendren” in 1920.
• His best figures were 21 ov, 9 mdns, 38 runs, 7 wkts st West Herts Watford on 27th June 1910
• His Minor County career record for Hertfordshire was 1840 overs, 5313 runs, 314 wickets, 16.92 average
• 1909 – Club record low team total – five all out v North London
• 1910 – wooden pavilion built
• 29th July 1921 – first of 41 Minor County Matches at Ditchmore Lane – Hertfordshire v Buckinghamshire
• 1920 club record opening stand 289 – ( L.Watson 124, Muirhead 120)
• 1921 – Hertfordshire CCC made a grant of £22 to Stevenage Cricket club towards pavilion improvements totalling £95
• Saturday 17th June 1922 – Club record team total – Stevenage 404 for 2 v Brondsbury
• Saturday 17th June 1922 – Club record individual score - Percy Clarkson 247
• 1922 – Percy Clarkson became first Stevenage player to score 1000 runs in a season totalling 1101 in 15 innings
• 16.17 July 1923 – Hrtfordshire v Cambridgeshire at Ditchmore Lane , Hertfordshire, 500 all out.
• Stevenage players Clarkson (57) and Watson (103)
• Clarkson play 18 times for Hertfordshire between 1921 &25 scoring 424 runs at 23.55
• Watson played 59 times for Hertfordshire between 1920 & 26 scoring 1581 runs at 29.28
• 15th July 1924 – Ground record total – Hertfordshire 534 for 8 v Bedfordshire – Watson 96
• Reading all reports Watson was a rough diamond which didn’t go down well with old Eatonians & Harrownians
• 1930 – Wally Shelford , Hertfordshire career finishes
• 1932 – Hertfordshire record 9th wicket partnership of 146 at Ditchmore Lane
• 17th August 1932 – Stevenage Women v Women’s Cricket Association at Ditchmore Lane
• 1935 – Ditchmore Lane Ground and adjacent lands given to Local Parish Council as part of King George V
• Playing Fields development. Intention was to create one “open field”
• 1935 - Ditchmore Lane Ground, offered to Stevenage Cricket Club for £300 – offer turned down
• 1935 – Grounds separated by “splendid” hedge and when war broke out brick pillars already built for new entrance to playing fields.
• 1939 – Hertfordshires last match v Berkshire , prior to 2nd World War played at Stevenage was washed out
• 21st July 1937 – Herts, Norfolk, Essex Women v Australian women at Datchmore lane
• 1946 – when cricketers returned hedge had disappeared and Ditchmore Lane Ground in doubt through
• Stevenage New Town Development Plan.
• 1949 – Hertfordshire record 7th wicket partnership of 159 at Ditchmore Lane
• 1949 – Hertfordshire record 4th wicket partnership of 223 at Ditchmore Lane
• March 1954 – Ditchmore Lane secured as a private cricket ground with a lease from local authority
• 1958 – Club secured first liquor licence
• 1960 – Keith Berry - 9 wkts for four runs v Old Elizabethans 1st X1
• 1961 – Keith Berry -10 wickets for 20 runs v North Mymms 1st X1
• 21st July 1962 – Peter Allen 127 v Hertford in team total of 234 for 5
• Sat 27th July 1963– Official opening – New Pavilion
• 25th July 1965 - Lords Taverners match at Ditchmore lane, included Sir Len Hutton and Eric & Alec Bedser
• 10th May 1969 – Gillette Cup – Hertfordshire v Devon at Ditchmore Lane
• 1969 – Peter Allen 103 & 4 for 41 v Northampton Exiles
• 1975 – Richard Burling scores a seasons aggregate 1st X1 total of 1401 runs in 38 innings breaking 53 year old record of Clarkson’s
• Friday 8th September 1978 – Centenary match at Lords – Cross Arrows v Stevenage
• In 1981 former Stevenage Cricket Club colt, Roland Butcher, played Test Cricket for England. Roland was
• the first Black Barbados born player to play for England.
• 1981 – Club wins Home Counties League
• 1982 – Club wins Herts League 2nd X1 competition captained by Ian Wilson
• Early 1990s – former Stevenage colt – Tony Wright - skippers Gloucestershire for three years
• 1994 – Stevenage win local K O Cup captained by David M Smith
• 1995 to 1998 – Stevenage win k o cup captained by Roland Butcher
• 1996 – Rob Austin totals 932 Premier league runs
• 1999 & 2003 – Stevenage 2nd X1 win Division Four Captained by Ian Brown
• 1999 – Division Four 2nd X1 winners Captained by Richard Burling
• 2000 – Murty Hussain 7 for 15 at North Mymms – HCPCL
• 20000 – Murty Hussain 64 wickets in HCPCL
• 2003 – Ian Brown 75 wickets including 7 for 32
• 2004 – Ian Brown, 9 for 39 at Harpenden
• 2005 – Stevenage Cricket Club becomes Club Mark Accredited and a Focus Club
• 2006 - Sohail Idress 181, for Stevenage 2nd X1 v Eversholt
• 2010 – Krish Jayanathan (Stevenage 4th X1) 10 for 38 v Hat Crusaders
• November 2006 – two ground arson attacks ruin Club score box and Ground shed causing £60,000 worth of damage.
• 2008 – 09 Stevenage Cricket Club invest £125,000 in perimeter fencing and four lane Outdoor Net development
• Sunday 2nd August 2009 – Grand Opening of Four lane Outdoor Nets Development