Guildford Cricket Club is one of the largest, most successful cricket clubs in Surrey and is a founding member of the Surrey Championship League. The First Team currently play in the Premier Division and have only ever spent one season out of the division since its inception in 1968. 2013 is also a special year in the clubs history as it signifies the 75th anniversary of First Class Cricket being played at Guildford Cricket Club after an agreement in 1938 was made with Surrey Cricket Club. There are currently five mens Xl’s fielded on a Saturday whilst on a Sunday the Academy (U-21) and Development (U-18) teams play in the Surrey Trust League. There is also a big emphasis on junior cricket with a programme supporting 7-17 year olds and Guildford is proud to have a Ladies 1st XI which plays in the Championship Division of the Women’s Southern League.
Cricket has flourished in Guildford for many hundreds of years and has played a big part in its history. Remarkably, the earliest known reference to cricket in the English language is a description of a game played at the Royal Grammar School.
“John Derrick testifies in court that while a scholar at the free schoole of Guldeford he did runne and play there at creckett half a century earlier” – the earliest known reference to cricket in the English language in 1598.
Since then the town and its club have excelled in the modern era. The club was formed in 1866 by brothers W and J Stevens using a ground that would have been around where the Guildford Law Courts are today, but moved to the current Woodbridge Road ground in 1911. In 1937 the decision was taken that Surrey would play at Woodbridge Road for the first time the following season and so construction on the pavilion began in preparation of the inaugural Guildford Festival. And so First Class cricket came to Guildford in 1938 when Surrey beat Hampshire by an innings and 71 runs in the County Championship on July 13.
As afore mentioned, Guildford was a founding member of the Surrey Championship which formed in 1968 and in the inaugural season Guildford finished a respectable second. It was not until 1972 that Guildford tasted success for the first time when they were led by brilliant new ball pairing David Sydenham and Eric Neller. Other notable success includes winning an unprecedented double in 2001 after they won the Premier Division and Flora Doris Cup, the first time such a double had been achieved.
Guildford has produced a number of first class (Darren Bicknell, Nick Peters, Rikki Clarke) and international cricketers (Martin Bicknell, Jade Dernbach, Ian Ward, Adam and Ben Hollioake) over the years. A young 14-year old Ashley Giles also played for Guildford back when he still bowled fast-paced deliveries. Ashley went on to change to spin bowling, help win back the Ashes for England in 2005 for the first time since 1986-87 and now has the role of Head Coach of England’s limited overs teams, taking charge of the ODI and Twenty20 squads.
James Martin
Images sourced from: http://tinyurl.com/lxs8phy and http://tinyurl.com/qjn5kqd