Monmouth Cricket Club

History

Monmouth has had a cricket club since at least 1838. Monmouth was fielding a Cricket Team from 1835 its members were drawn from the local Monmouth wealthy and their employees. In 1839, When Monmouth played the Forest Of Dean, both sides agreed to draw players from subscribing members only, ending the practice of bringing in crack players for individual matches.

Matches were played on alternate Thursdays. In the early days it was customary for the home team to entertain and the visitors and also provide a mean between innings. This had a detrimental affect on the players abilities. After the 1850s the food was served following the game.

The bowling was performed with under arm throwing during the early years. In 1856 Monmouth secured the bowling services of James Lillywhite as a coach and bowler who introduced overarm bowling and according to Keith Kissack was probably related to the Sussex round arm bowler W Lillywhite who pioneered such bowling in the 1830s.

In 1866 Gloucestershire went on tour in to play Ross, Hereford and Monmouth. The tour was intended to encourage Cricket in the Area. The Match was played on the Beaufort Field. The Gloucestershire team included three of the Graces:- G.F. Grace aged 16, W.G. Grace aged 18 and E. M. Grace aged 25. W.G. Grace had recently scored 224 not out against Surrey and the bat he used against Monmouth had a Silver Shield on it recording the achievement. W.G. Grace was bowled first ball by J.S.Hood. According to the Monmouth Beacon the ball was bowled Knee-high ne plus ultra which implied the ball was bowled under arm.

In 1870 Agincourt Cricket Club was the main Monmouth cricket club in Monmouth which was formed by a breakaway group of the Monmouth Cricket Club. Charles Henry Crompton-Roberts established Monmouth's first cricket ground in Drybridge Park in 1874. In 1874 they beat the Combined Universities XI. In 1875 he staged the first of his Annual Cricket Weeks. The event became very popular and in 1883, thanks to the recent arrival of the railways, Drybridge Park hosted a game between the Combined Universities and The world.

The death of Crompton Roberts in 1891 meant that the ground at Drybridge park became unavailable. Colonel Walwyn made an unsuccessful attempt to open a ground on Chippenham Park. The Monmouth team then returned to Beaufort Meadow. Interest in Cricket began to wane until 1910 when a local ladies team beat the town team by 55 runs. The Monmouth (Agincourt) Cricket Club was disbanded in March 1914 but friendly Monmouth games continued.

More Recent History

The club have previously been three times former league and cup winners of the Herefordshire Marches League and Cup (2003, 2004, 2005) then progressing to the Worcestershire County League where the club had success in achieving promotion to Division 2. They remained in the league for four years and came close to promotion to Division 1 in 2010.

In 2012, the Kings Head Hotel (J D Westherspoons) sponsored the Monmouth Cricket Club. There is a framed shirt on the wall and the club holds its monthly meetings at the pub.

2012 sees the club embark on life in the Welsh Pyramid in Glamorgan and Monmouthshire League Division 3 with all junior sides also playing their cricket in the Gwent Youth structure.

The club will also be running a 2012 team of boys and girls at the under-nine years old level. The children will train on Wednesdays and will be entered into four Herefordshire festivals. They will play with a soft ball and training on a Wednesday 6pm to 7:15 at the Teams Monmouth Sports Ground.