Woolwich Cricket Club was an English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

club based in the town of

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained thr ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. It was formed sometime in the first half of the 18th century, or earlier, and its earliest known record is in 1754 when its team played two matches against the prominent

Dartford Cricket Club Dartford Cricket Club is one of the oldest cricket clubs in England with origins which date from the early 18th century, perhaps earlier. The earliest known match involving a team from Dartford took place in 1722, against London, but the club's ...

. The club, or at least a successor of it, then played a number of matches from 1797 to 1806 against

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

(MCC),

Montpelier Cricket Club The Montpelier Cricket Club was prominent in English cricket from about 1796, when it began to compete against Marylebone Cricket Club and other leading "town clubs", until 1845 when its members were the prime movers in the formation of Surrey Co ...

Croydon Cricket Club The original Croydon Cricket Club, based at Croydon (then part of Surrey), was prominent in the 18th century and played most of its matches at Duppas Hill. The earliest record of the club is in the History of cricket to 1725, 1707 season when it p ...

and other leading town clubs. After playing MCC in 1806, the club disappeared from the records. Throughout the period from 1754 to 1806, Woolwich's home ground was Barrack Field, part of

Woolwich Common Woolwich Common is a common in Woolwich in southeast London, England. It is partly used as military land (less than 40%) and partly as an urban park. Woolwich Common is a conservation area. It is part of the South East London Green Chain. It is al ...

, which remains the home ground of the Royal Artillery Cricket Club (RACC). Mainstays of the club in its "Napoleonic" period were William Ayling, John Tanner and John Ward.

1754

Woolwich came briefly to prominence in August 1754 when the team played home and away games against Dartford which at this time was probably the strongest team in England. In both matches, the away team won but no further details are known. Both games were mentioned in the same report by ''Read's Weekly Journal'' dated Sat 31 August: "Dartford won away & lost at home against Woolwich on Sat. & Mon., Aug. 24 & 26 respectively".

1797 to 1806

In the years around the turn of the century, club cricket became fashionable in London and matches between the town clubs were popular. Woolwich reappeared in 1797 with two victories against Croydon, both at Barrack Field. In 1798, the club played home and away against both Croydon and Montpelier. Following two substantial victories against Croydon, Woolwich lost to Montpelier at

Aram's New Ground Aram's New Ground was a cricket venue in Montpelier Gardens, Walworth. Named after its founder George Aram, it was the home of Montpelier Cricket Club and hosted major matches from 1796 to 1806. It was also known as the "Bee Hive Ground" because ...

and then drew the return at Barrack Field. In 1800, Woolwich played home and away matches against MCC and won both, including an innings victory at

Lord's Old Ground Lord's Old Ground was a cricket venue in London that was established by Thomas Lord in 1787. It was used mainly by Marylebone Cricket Club for major matches until 1810, after which a dispute about rent caused Lord to relocate. Matches The first ...

. In what was a very successful season, the team also defeated Montpelier by 8 wickets at Barrack Field. Woolwich played three more games against MCC at Lord's Old Ground between 1802 and 1804, winning in 1802 and 1803 but losing by 7 wickets in 1806.

Barrack Field

The CricketArchive database records over 800 matches, mostly services fixtures, as having taken place at Barrack Field.

Royal Artillery Cricket Club (RACC)

It is possible that Woolwich CC was merged into the RACC or alternatively that it disbanded after the RACC took full possession of Barrack Field. According to its own website, RACC first played cricket in 1765, having been started as a private club by Royal Artillery officers. It was formally constituted as a regimental club as late as 1906. On 8 June 1818, RACC became the first services team to be granted a match against MCC at Lord's. A week later, RACC played MCC at Barrack Field in a match that was tied. On 21–23 August 1862, RACC hosted the

All-England Eleven In English cricket since the first half of the 18th century, various ''ad hoc'' teams have been formed for short-term purposes which have been called England (or sometimes "All-England"; i.e., in the sense of "the rest of England") to play against, ...

(AEE) in an odds match.''CricketArchive'' – match scorecard
Retrieved on 4 April 2010. The venue is given as Woolwich Common, not Barrack Field. RACC had 22 players but still lost by 6 wickets to a team captained by George Parr and including great players John Jackson, H. H. Stephenson,

Ned Willsher Edgar "Ned" Willsher (22 November 1828 – 7 October 1885) was an English cricketer known for being a catalyst in the shift from roundarm to overarm bowling. A left-handed bowler, and useful lower-order batsman, Willsher played first-class crick ...

and Tom Hayward senior.

References

Bibliography

* G. B. Buckley, ''Fresh Light on Pre-Victorian Cricket'', Cotterell, 1937 *

Arthur Haygarth Arthur Haygarth (4 August 1825 – 1 May 1903) was a noted amateur cricketer who became one of cricket's most significant historians. He played first-class cricket for the Marylebone Cricket Club and Sussex between 1844 and 1861, as well as num ...

, ''Scores & Biographies'', Volume 1 (1744–1826), Lillywhite, 1862 {{DEFAULTSORT:Woolwich Cricket Club Former senior cricket clubs English cricket teams in the 18th century English cricket in the 19th century Sports clubs established in the 18th century English club cricket teams Woolwich History of the Royal Borough of Greenwich Sport in the Royal Borough of Greenwich Cricket in Kent Cricket in London