History

to have fixed evenings for practice. The wickets will be pitched every Monday and Friday”. The team went on that year to beat Lord Conyer’s XI by 55 runs with H. Hillyard top scoring for Southam with 41, and again beat them in the return at Wellesbourne. Further wins were achieved over Stoneleigh when Southam won by an innings and 31 runs and Rugby where Southam again won fairly easily, but the Southamites expected an eleven from Leamington would prove too strong for them but “how groundless were their fears” as Southam amassed 227 with both A and H Hillyard top scoring again, and Leamington could only make 103 in 2 INNINGS! The magazine says “Southam has come out so “strong” in cricket that a club seems to be a permanent institution. Could anyone persuade Mr Smith of Ladbroke who is always kind towards Southam, to improve the cricket ground? And cricket was very popular with spectators too as “we most confidently expect some ten or twelve carriages on the ground.” A meeting of the friends and members of Southam Cricket Club was held on 21st December, and “it was a question whether an attempt should be made to enlarge the old ground or move off into the more level “ten acre field” in the occupation of Mr Whitehead.
The current ground on Old Road has been played on for the main part of the 20th century, but due to the fact there seemed little interest from the members in improving or maintaining the ground, in 1944 notice was given by the then owner, Mr Hough, that it would no longer be used as a cricket field. Mr Cecil Bourne intervened and purchased the ground for the cricket club, Cecil was president of the club from 1951 to 1968 and his son Bill played for Southam and continued on as a trustee for many years. Not much has been found about cricket in Southam apart from old photos which came into the cricket club’s possession through Dr Robson at the surgery, who had apparently inherited them from Dr Smorfitt, who was himself a keen cricketer, and indeed a captain of the club. Records at the club show that Cyril Watson was the guiding light of cricket both before and after the Second World War, and captained the team for no less than 14 years.
It was also gleaned from the minutes of the meetings held in those days that it wasn’t until 1941 that the under 16s were allowed to practice on the ground, and not until 1951 that Southam began to move towards Saturday cricket and appointed the first captain.
Most of the memorabilia we now have only goes back to the 1950s and 60s, when Southam were once again a strong outfit to contend with on the field, although Sundays was THE day to play cricket, and good crowds would be seen at Old Road to watch the likes of Harry and Bill Askew, Fred and Jack Fell, Len Woolley, Peter Young and Alan Shaw showing their skills. Legend has it that Fred could hit the ball so far that he actually cracked one huge drive which hit the steeple of Southam Church, which is at least half a mile from the ground, so eat your heart out Freddie Flintoff.
During the 1960s and 70s Dave King captained the club for 14 years and throughout the 1980s and 1990s Alan Shaw’s sons Rob and Gary were the driving force behind what was happening at Southam Cricket Club, and great improvements were made at the ground, and Ian Plummer, retired as a player, took on the preparation of the pitch, a full-time job, and continued to do so until his death earlier this year after nearly 50 years service to the club. The facilities at Southam where we now have gas central heating, showers, a modern kitchen, and a double net facility, are as good as any other local club. Gary Shaw was the star player of the day, took over the captaincy of the First XI at 18, ran the team for 16 years, and one of the main reasons Southam has progressed to where they are today.
Whereas in days of yore there would probably be only one game per week on Sundays and even then not always on a regular basis, Southam Cricket Club from April to September is now used almost every day throughout the summer. The Ladies have a successful team in the league, and have won it and the knockout cup on two occasions each, their matches are usually on a Monday night, the team have been going since the early 1980s and Averill Borton, Alison Inskip, Gail Wigley and Sarah Gregory have, apart from brief absences having babies, played together throughout.. Tuesdays the under 13s play their league games, Wednesdays is the senior Leamington Midweek league, Thursdays is under 16s, Fridays

is junior practice session, and Saturdays and Sundays we have a full fixture list of senior matches, league on a Saturday and friendly games on Sundays. So as you can tell it needs a lot of organisation and hard work to keep everything going.
The ground is the most important part of any cricket club, and Rob Shaw is now an expert on preparing wickets at Southam and visiting teams always comment on how good it looks and plays. The bar is a busy place, as you can imagine cricketers build up quite a thirst running around the field for hours on a hot summer’s day, and the bar is a vital source of income for the club. Treasurer, secretary, fixture secretary, press officer, as well as captains, vice captains, means the club needs plenty of people to help out with the general running and upkeep if we are to survive.
This has become more difficult recently with the rising costs of equipment and having to conform to league rules regarding the facilities cricket clubs need to provide to put on a game. Gone are the days when you could clear the cowpats off the wicket in the morning, roll it by hand and the players’ wives would put on a tea, followed by a couple of pints at the local pub after the game. Since the advent of league cricket Southam as a club have to provide covers for the wicket, sightscreens, showers, bar etc, etc, and although we as a club now have all these facilities, wear and tear, vandalism and break-ins have all cost the club dearly, and we are finding it increasingly difficult to keep going with the limited income we have.Over the years one of Southam’s greatest supporters has been Harry Askew. Harry is possibly the oldest surviving ex-Southam cricketer and began playing in the 1920s and was still playing when the existing clubhouse was built in 1963, and has been an honorary member for over 30 years. Harry, now 89, still supports the teams at Southam and has fond memories of his playing days. He began his cricket career at school when on Friday afternoons Mr Linley and Mr Dencer used to march the schoolchildren up to the cricket field to play at the near end of the ground. He remembers one school game against Long Itchington when he and George Gardner bowled them out for 1 run which was a bye. In his youth along with brother Bill, Southam cricketers used to practice nearly every night, even though there were no nets, there was no television either, and everyone had 10 minutes batting and bowling.
“When I was school age Dr Lattey was captain of the cricket team, followed by Sgt Woods and Dr Smorfitt, but the doctor fell out with the cricket club because one of the players was poaching his pheasants! Charlie Rawbone and Smeet Mann were also captains and then Cyril Watson who was captain for many years. In the early days we had a ‘green shed’ as a pavilion, then we got hold of a railway carriage, before the new pavilion was built.
Harry was a fast bowler of some repute locally, and he remembers Southam often used to play a Warwickshire XI when one of their players had a testimonial. “Butti Hough was the president and we had our headquarters at the Bull Inn, Butti would put a pound on the bar which bought all the team a pint and still had change. Dances, whist drives and raffles were organised to raise some money for the club. The cricket ground belonged to Mr Hough, but we didn’t have the equipment they have today, before we played we had buckets to clear up the sheep and horse manure, and we bucketed water from the pond to water the wicket. But even in the hottest weather we never had drinks while we were playing.

Harry remembers the cricketers of yesteryear: “Len Woolley was one of the best players, an all rounder but a wonderful bowler. Fred Fell was another good all rounder, but like my brother Bill, a big hitter of sixes, you had to be because the grass was that long in those days.
“Arthur Burnell developed into a good opener, but we always had a good strong team, and always had good support and every Saturday Arthur used to go round with the money box. Cricket was everything to us in the summer and all we thought about all week.”