|
|
Boxgrove cricket club early days....
“In 1622 a game of cricket was played in the churchyard at Boxgrove, the earliest recorded instance so far discovered, of a game of cricket played by several named players. Under the heading of Easter Bills for 1622, the entry for Boxgrove reads: “I present Raphe West, Edward Hartley, Richard Slaughter, William Martin, Richard Martin junior, together with others in theire company whose names I have no notice of, for playing crecket in the churchyard on Sunday, the fifte of May, after sufficient warning given to the contrary for three special reason: first for that it is contrary to the 7th article; secondly, for that they use to breake the Church-windowes with the ball; and thirdly, for that a little childe had like to have her braynes beaten out with a cricket batt. We present Anthony Ward, servant to Mr (Daniel) Earle, our minister, and Edward Hartley, for playing at creket in the evening prayer tyme on Sunday the xxviij th of Aprill”. The cricketers had to appear before the Consistory Court in Chichester Cathedral, the judge being the Bishop of Chichester and each was fined the sum of 12 pence.
A lot has of course changed at Boxgrove (except Gordon Bailey) and we cannot claim to have played continuously since 1622 but it is clear that we can lay claim to being at the forefront of debates about where the game started. It is not clear when the present club started although there was an amalgamation of the village teams in Boxgrove and Eartham in the 1960s. For about 30 years the club played under the name Eartham & Boxgrove Cricket Club, playing home games in Eartham but a move back to Boxgrove in the 1980s and the realisation that there were no longer any Eartham based player led to the decision in the mid 1990s to revert to the original name of Boxgrove CC. The Boxgrove Village Club often frequented by players and supporters alike may have long since closed down but Boxgrove CC continue to play home games on the Sports Field, no more than a Trevor Collis 6 away from where it all started back in 1622………
Club Honours
Downland Cup Winners 1996, 2002 and 2009
Clymping Cup Winners 1996, 1997 and 2001
Clymping Plate Winners 1993” |
