Sawley Cricket Club is an amateur cricket club based in Long Eaton,

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The club has a history dating back to the early 19th century.

Ground

The home ground is located on

West Park, Long Eaton West Park is the premier park in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, England. It is also the location of the town's indoor leisure centre. History West Park is near the historic centre of Long Eaton on the opposite side of Erewash Canal, the area was used ...

, Derbyshire and has access to three pitches. The 1st and 2nd XI teams use the Bill Camm pitch, rated by the

Derbyshire County Cricket League The Premier Division of the Derbyshire County Cricket League is the top level of competition for recreational club cricket in Derbyshire, England, and is a designated ECB Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Assoc ...

as a Grade A+ ground, and the 3rd and 4th XI use the Graham Draycott pitch, rated as a Grade B ground. The Bill Camm pavilion

History

The earliest known record of cricket associated with the village of Sawley is the announcement of a fixture in the ''Nottingham Review'' dated 15 August 1834 stating "A Cricket Match between the first eleven of Sawley and

Shardlow Shardlow is a village in Derbyshire, England about southeast of Derby and southwest of Nottingham. Part of the civil parish of Shardlow and Great Wilne, and the district of South Derbyshire, it is also very close to the border with Leicestersh ...

...", but the earliest known match report is of a match between

Ockbrook Ockbrook is a village in Derbyshire, England. It is almost contiguous with the village of Borrowash, the two only separated by the A52. The civil parish is Ockbrook and Borrowash. The population of this civil parish at the 2011 Census was 7,335. ...

and 'Sawley Club', printed in the ''Derby and Chesterfield Reporter'' on the 27th October 1843. Evidence stating when Sawley Cricket Club was formally established is found in the Derbyshire County Cricket League archives, listing Sawley Cricket Club as founded in 1870. The ground at this time, called the ‘Trent Bridge Ground’, was situated behind the 'Harrington Arms' adjacent to the Harrington Bridge on the main road to Birmingham on the

River Trent The Trent is the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, third-longest river in the United Kingdom. Its Source (river or stream), source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midland ...

in Sawley. Cricket was played at the ground until the early 1960s, when it was eventually abandoned due to frequent flooding by the nearby River Trent and poor ground conditions. In 1962, Parkside CC was formed and an amalgamation with Sawley CC took place in 1969. Sawley Park, in Sawley, became the new venue in 1965. In 1971, Sawley CC joined the Derbyshire Border League and continued to strive to improve playing standards and win trophies. October 1979 saw the amalgamation with Sawley Nomads CC. The new ground now being used was on

. Sawley Nomads CC had a history, being formed in 1950 as the Long Eaton County Billiard Hall CC. This name was subsequently changed to Long Eaton Nomads CC and in 1964 to Sawley Nomads CC. One of Sawley's most successful decades in recent times was during the 1990s, when the club won many cup titles and ultimately became Derbyshire County Cricket League Champions in 1997. Two years later, when the top flight division of the Derbyshire County League became an ECB Premier Division, Sawley CC amalgamated with its smaller neighbour Long Eaton Park CC, to become one of the largest clubs in the district. Sawley & Long Eaton Park CC, as it became known, was one of only two clubs in the Derbyshire County Cricket League to field five senior XI teams. Long Eaton Park CC started life as Bourne Primitive Methodist CC in 1890, amalgamating with Bethel CC in 1934. Following on from the Second World War, the name was changed to Long Eaton Methodist CC. In the early 1980s, the building of the Graham Draycott pavilion on West Park caused constitutional problems with the Church connection. The club was renamed Long Eaton Park CC to allow the establishment of a bar and to play Sunday cricket. It was during the 1980s that Long Eaton Park CC achieved a Division 7 championship win in 1985, 2 Division 5 wins (1986, 1989) and won the Wright Cup in 1987. As a result of the amalgamation, the club added Long Eaton Park to the club name and acquired the Graham Draycott pavilion. The Sawley CC pavilion (named after Bill Camm, a Sawley councillor, prominent local politician and former president of the club) was refurbished and a scorebox added in 2007. The Graham Draycott Pavilion was extended to provide more changing rooms, for both male and female players. In 2021, after two successful decades of cricket as Sawley & Long Eaton Park CC, the club changed the club name back to Sawley Cricket Club to help reduce confusion with its other neighbour

Long Eaton Cricket Club Long Eaton Cricket Club, established in 1972, is an amateur cricket club based in West Park, Derbyshire, England. The Club is the product of a town which has a proud history of cricket dating back to the early 19th century. Ground The club ha ...

, also based on West Park. As part of the re-brand, the club colours were formally changed from the historical Blue and White to Green and Yellow, in line with the club training kit colours that had been informally adopted by the club for the best part of 30 years. The club currently has four senior teams competing in the

and a long established junior training section that play competitive cricket in the

Erewash Young Cricketers League The Erewash Young Cricketers League (EYCL) is a part of Cricket Erewash, which was formed in 2004 as a result of an amalgamation of the EYCL, The Erewash Cricket Development Group and The Long Eaton & District Cricket Association; with an aim ...

Club Performance

The

competition results showing the club's positions in the league (by Division) since 2002.

The

Newark Club Cricket Alliance The Newark Club Cricket Alliance (NCCA) Sunday League serves a swathe of cricket clubs across the south and east of Nottinghamshire. Albeit the East Midlands' most Newark centric Sunday cricket league, the headquarters for the NCCA is based in ...

Sunday League competition results showing the club's position (by Division) since 2015.

Club Honours

Events on film

Female Cricket

Hopkins becomes first female captain in men's cricket in Derbyshire

Cricket's leading lady: 'When I rock up on a Saturday I'm one of the boys'

Cricket Force

England internationals Jenny Gunn and Katherine Brunt at the club in 2011

NatWest Cricket Force 2011 with Mike Gatting, Ajmal Shahzad and Michael Vaughan

References

{{Reflist

External links

Michael Vaughan and Mike Gatting help in Sawley's cricket ground makeover

Official Club website

The Club Play-Cricket website

Sawley CC on Youtube

Derbyshire County Cricket League Official Play-Cricket website
Club cricket teams in England Cricket in Derbyshire 1870 establishments in England Club cricket