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

Stevenage Cricket Club

Links

External Links

Links to Sponsors

Pitchero Links