History of the Exning Cricket Club
By Dick Burden
The Early Days
Delving into the history of Exning CC takes us back to the last quarter of the nineteenth century and poses many interesting problems.
Very few clubs have kept original material and the gap of over a century means that you are not likely to get even second hand eye witness reports about events of the time.
We are driven back into official records for our material and fortunately the Records Office of the Suffolk County Archives Department holds copies of all the issues of the Newmarket Journal,
(incorporating the Cambridgeshire and Suffolk General Advertiser), from its beginning to the present day. Scrolling through the microfilm gives us some valuable, yet tantalising, snapshots of the past. Local papers at that time gave quite a lot of information about news from the villages round Newmarket, mixed up with instalments of stories with titles such as “Leonora’s Legacy”, fashion and cooking notes in “A Lady’s Letter”, racing information in “Sporting Notes” and many items of national and international interest.
The formation of Exning Cricket Club is clearly shown in a report in the issue of Saturday, 19th June 1886 when under the Presidency of the Rev. K.W. Venner, the Vice Presidency of Mr E Martin, the Secretaryship of Mr H Dennis and the Treasurership of Mr J Dalzell. The club was successfully started under the patronage of The Rt. Hon Lord Cardross and other gentlemen of the neighbourhood.
The first game was played on whit Monday on a ground kindly lent by Mr. C.E. Robinson. It was a modest match amongst club members with twelve on each side under the captaincies of Messrs. Brenchley and Slack. None of the officers of the club played, which could show that their efforts were mainly on behalf of others, and the scores were very low, which could lead us to imagine that not a great deal of preparation had taken place in Mr. Robinson’s field before the match. Mr. Slack’s twelve batted first and scored only 34, Mr. Gaiger, batting at number seven, being the only batsman to reach double figures before he was bowled by Jeff cry for 10. Five batsmen were out without scoring and Jeff Cry and White shared ten wickets between them.
Batting second, Mr, Benchley’s twelve fared even worse, being dismissed for only 25 by the bowling of Prewett and Gaiger. Seven of their batsmen “failed to trouble the scorer”, as the phrase has it. Mr Slack’s team were then allowed to bat again (a fairly common happening at that time) and scored 66 for 5 before the match ended. Mr Benchley’s team, not asking, or not being allowed, to bat again. The teams then retired to the Wheatsheaf, “their headquarters “, to enjoy an excellent dinner prepared by Mrs. Heffer. The evening ended with toasts and songs, with Mr. Moaksom, another non-playing member, presiding at the piano and with enthusiastic cheers for the “kind and liberal patrons” who had presumably paid for the feast.
There were sadly, no details of the actual match play given and it is fascinating to imagine the scene, both at the match and at the meal afterwards, we note that the game was played on a whit Monday, that being one of the few holidays available to working men at the time. Saturday would have been a full working day and Sunday still respected as a day when games were not played as a general rule. As we go through the records we see that most of the very few games played took place on Bank Holidays, with the occasional match on a Thursday. Does this lead us to suspect that many of the players were local shopkeepers and tradesmen, who might easily enjoy an early closing on Thursday, or were there other reasons?
Research into the club records poses many questions like this, which can only be solved by some knowledge of the history of the time, plus a generous helping of imagination and conjecture. For example – we would assume that very few of the players changed into special clothes for the matches, normally wearing their everyday work clothes, plus perhaps a tie knotted round their waists or a neckerchief at their throats for decoration. As described in E.P.Hartley’s novel “The Go between” which contains a vivid description of a match between the local village side and gentlemen from the country house nearby.
Pictures of England teams of the time showed that even at international level the dress could be fairly undistinguished, with few players enjoying the luxury of white flannel trousers and shirts and with headgear ranging from the popular billycock or bowler hat or even the smarter pill boy hat worn by professional players and gentlemen of the time, to the flat caps worn by the ordinary working man.
Bowling was overarm by this time, but there were still only four balls in the over and the general absence of protective pads and gloves must have meant many hard knocks from a ball shooting through on the uneven surface of Mr. Robinson’s field. Teams in areas like the Hampshire Downs, where older established clubs like the famous Hambledon CC played, could enjoy the luxury of sheep nibbled, close cropped turf of fairly flat grounds, albeit exposed on the tops of hills to wind and weather. We must assume, however, that in Exning the ground was very like the fields we see in the village today, with longer, coarser grass giving the bowlers a tremendous advantage and causing scores to be generally abysmal by today’s standards.
By July 22nd, 1886, the club had gained enough confidence to challenge Burwell, a neighbouring village, to a match. The Journal reported that it was the first match either club had played, and as a result, attracted a great deal of interest. Burwel1 was presumably chosen because it was within easy walking distance for players who probably could not leave their jobs until well into the morning. Possibly some transport was available in the form of horses or horse drawn carriages, but as we have no way of knowing the social standing of the players we can only imagine that, like many village clubs at that time, they needed to play opponents within reasonable walking distance.
The railway was in existence, but fares were comparatively high and possibly beyond the reach of ordinary working men. The thin class return fare to Great Yarmouth was three shillings and sixpence (seventeen and a half modern pence), which was exactly the cost of a good bottle of whiskey and had to be compared to the cost of a first class bedroom suite at just under £5. All of this related to the average wage of the time and we get a clue to this from the reported case of a Newmarket barmaid who sued her faithless lover for £10 3 shillings when he left her standing at the porch of All Saints’ Church in her new £7 wedding dress! The gentleman in question, when the case came to court, raised a laugh by saying that he had had no intention of marrying the lady, as he was already married and in any case only earned £2 per week as an ordinary working man and was not the rich gentleman he had pretended to be. The judge awarded the unhappy lady £75 damages, however, which must have taken the smile off her suitor’ face!
To return to the Burwell v. Exning match, Exning batted first and were dismissed for 66 with 20 of their runs coming from extras. Slack with 15 and Privett with 17 were the only other scorers of note. Burwell batted even more badly, being dismissed for 40 to give Exning a lead of 26 runs. Batting again, Exning made 34 and then dismissed Burwel1 for 44 to have the better of a close fought game. A large marquee had been erected at the ground and Host Merton of the “White Horse Hotel” served a “capital luncheon” which perhaps means it was an all day game after all.
At the end of the match Mr. S. Ball, of the Burwell team, who had made top score of 15 in the first innings (0 in the second) and had fielded well in addition, invited the teams to “partake of refreshment” at his residence. Exning expressed great appreciation of the enjoyment provided by the Burwell players and a return game was arranged for the following August Bank Holiday.
This took place on a piece of ground at the rear of the Manor House, kindly lent by the Jockey Club for the occasion. The morning was stormy but in the afternoon a crowd of over 400 watched the match, the All Saints’ Drum and Fife Band from Newmarket, under the leadership of our old friend Mr. T.J. Moaksom, lending attractiveness to the proceedings.
Burwel1 were not quite so hospitable on this occasion. They had brought an exceptionally strong team and after Exning had been put out for 17, finding the wet state of the ground a considerable handicap, Burwel1 scored 108, the Rev. Wickens making 46 as an opening batsman and J Turner batting well in support at number three. Gaiger and Wagstaffe took the wickets for Exning, but when they batted again the could only score 20, Knowlton and Wickens, who was obviously a fine all rounder, possibly with experience in a higher class of cricket, again sharing the wickets and leaving Burwel1 victors by an innings and 71 runs.
Mrs. Heffer of the “Wheatsheaf” had provided a fine lunch. After the match the teams repaired to the “Wheatsheaf�? for a social evening of drinks and songs, with Mr. Moaksom back on the piano. The only sad note of the day, apart from Exning’s heavy defeat was that their captain, Mr. Brenchley, split the web of his left hand trying to stop the ball. He batted in the second innings, but was obviously not at his best, making no runs.
These matches were the beginning of regular games between the two villages, with fortunes swinging from one side to another as the years passed. A third match took place between the two sides on Monday 29th September, Burwel1 again coming out on top by 15 runs; no details of scores are available. The week before Exning had played Chippenham, but were badly beaten, scoring only 27 and 36 whilst their opponents put up 184, an enormous score by the standards of the day.
These four matches are the only ones recorded in the Journal for 1886 but probably represented the actual total of games played. Newmarket CC, which had been established some years earlier and had built up regular fixture list, with advance notice of their matches being given in the Journal, only played a handful of games over the same period and as the fixtures were listed during the season, it shows clearly that very few games were played.
1886 had been a quiet year on the home and international front, unlike the previous year, when the death of Kitchiner at Khartoum and a violent outbreak of cholera on the continent filled the pages of the Journal. Towards the end of the year, however, the paper was full of reports of the tragic suicide of Fred Archer, the champion jockey for many years, whose death in his Newmarket home was seen at first as taking place in very suspicious circumstances. Later editions carted very full reports of the funeral, which took place in Newmarket with many distinguished sportsmen in attendance.
1887 was the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria, so preparations were in place Exning, as in many towns and villages throughout the country. The much loved constable of the village, PC Parsons, retired at the end of the previous year and a public subscription raised a generous sum in appreciation of his work. His successor, P.C. Smith was not to have such a happy time as the village constable, leaving the village within a few months because of financial problems. How much these events affected the cricketers of Exning we shall never know.
In March 1987 a Grand Concert in the Exning School hall raised a useful sum for the funds of the cricket club, a “large and respectable audience” calling for many encores and providing much needed cash, possibly for equipment and entertainments, as every match seemed to b the occasion for a hearty meal and a drink afterwards.
Five games were reported in 1887. On Whit Monday Exning could only score 19 and 19 in their two innings, whilst Burwel1 got 78 to win easily. In early August the return match resulted in a victory for Exning, with Burwell making 47 and 35 in reply to Exning’s 54 and 62.
Swaffham Prior, Chippenham and the Nondescripts matches were also played, the latter on a field lent by Mr. May, and the season ended in October with a single wicket match between Messrs Stokes of Newmarket and Mr Shackles of Exning. The scores in this game finished level, but Mr. Stokes paid for the food!
It is clear that village and club cricket at this time was nowhere near the level of modern standards. Most cricketers were not coached and relied upon their natural eye for success at the game. Some were able to achieve limited success and overcome the problems of poor wickets and inadequate equipment, but it is clear from scorecards of the time that many of the team members were there simply to make up the number in the field and had very little chance to shine at either batting or Bowling. Whilst stars such as Messrs Dennis and Gaiger for Exning and Knowlton and Wickens for Burwell scored the runs and took the wickets.
Cricket matches must have made a welcome break from the daily workload, however, and the constant references to the hearty meals that were enjoyed and the convivial sing songs and drinking which too place after the match must have meant that the players and their families looked forward with great enjoyment to their infrequent games on fields lent to the club by local patrons.
Are you able to fill in some gaps in the history of the Exning Cricket Club? Or are you willing to write the next chapter? Please contact us with your thoughts and ideas.
