Reference To Cricket In Collett's Village Newspaper...

This is very exciting! In the book titled "The Bowerchalke Parish Newspapers - Collett's Village Newspaper 1878-1924" by Rex L Sawyer (1989) there is a reference to cricket on pages 109-110 in the chapter titled Entertainment. I found my copy tucked away on my bookshelves upstairs (along with all my Shoot! annuals and Topical Times Football Books!).

Mr. Sawyer# writes: "...the chief sport was undoubtedly cricket. The first references come in 1900 with Collett...rather saddened that the Hindon Choir had travelled so far to play and yet lost the match. Attempts to form a village team on a permanent basis always foundered on the difficulty of obtaining a suitable pitch.

(John) Linnell, to whom cricket represented a lifetime's passion, recalled just before his death at ninety-two, that games had been played on Marleycombe, although such a sloping surface must have been highly unsuitable. Foyle, Hardiman and Williamson all loaned fields for a period but play would have been dependent on agricultural requirements and it was not until 1920 that the Beckley family, who followed the Hardings at Manor Farm, loaned the beautiful tree-lined field that enabled Bowerchalke to develop one of the best village sides in the Salisbury area..."

There are some significant pieces of information to emerge from these two paragraphs:
* The date of the first recorded cricket match in Bowerchalke (i.e. 1900) and the opposition (the Hindon Choir)
* The reference to more than one cricket field being used in the village (I wonder where the others were? The names of the field donors may give a clue)
* The year cricket was first played on what I've referred to as the old Bowerchalke Cricket Club ground (i.e. 1920) which means that there around 50 years of cricket history in the village to find out more about!

The reference to cricket on Marleycombe is intriguing! It seems so definite I wonder where it was? Does anyone have any ideas?
KeithG
# he was my old headteacher at Wilton Middle School!!

The Bowerchalke Parish Newspapers - Collett's Village Newspaper 1878-1924 by Rex L Sawyer (1989) published by Alan Sutton Publishing, Brunswick Road, Gloucester. ISBN 0-86299-579-5