Cambridgeshire club chairman fears for future of village cricket

A cricket association chairman said he feared for the future of the village game in a county which boasts England’s champion club.

Foxton Granta, who play in Foxton, Cambridgeshire, lifted the national village cup at Lord’s in 2024.

But Keith Coburn, chairman of the Cambridgeshire Cricket Association, said Foxton Granta were an “anomaly” and he estimated that 20 village clubs had disappeared in the county in the past 20 years.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said the number of local cricket clubs had been consistently about 5,000 since 2005.

Foxton Granta won the Voneus Village Cup in September after beating Gloucestershire side Dumbleton.

“The bigger clubs are getting bigger but the smaller clubs are disappearing,” said the 65-year-old, who lives in Cambridge.

“It’s mainly because there are not enough people that are prepared to do the things that need doing.”

He said a handful of people were keeping some clubs going – and clubs were having to pay councils more to use facilities.

Cambridgeshire cricket stalwart Danny White echoed Mr Coburn’s concerns.

Mr White has experienced failure and success.

The 60-year-old grew up in Shepreth and played for the village side, but Mr White said they lacked facilities and had no pavilion, and they merged with Hardwick in 2000.

Mr White recalled a play-off final against Little Downham on 6 September 1997 – the day of Diana, Princess of Wales’s funeral.

“It was the first time we had ever had a fixture with official umpires,” he recalled.

“Two guys turned up to umpire the game but, without a pavilion or facilities, we had nowhere for them to store their bits and for them to get changed.”

Mr White said there had been no regular cricket in Shepreth since the turn of the century.

He went on to help set up Cambourne Cricket Club in 2002, which has progressed through the village pyramid and runs several adult and junior teams.

It also runs indoor cricket teams and is due to start hosting walking cricket in the new year.

“If I could sit down with someone setting up a new club, I’d say if you can achieve what we have achieved in 20 years, you will be doing something right,” he said.

Mr White said the support of Cambourne Town Council had been invaluable, and he cited the club bar which sold special branded bottles of beer and wine.

“Match fees alone will not keep a cricket club alive,” he said.

“I learned that in the years we were at Hardwick – they had a great scene off the field.”

Mr White said village cricket in Cambridgeshire was “at a crossroads” and that in “places like Shepreth, cricket has gone”.

One of the latest Cambridgeshire villages to witness the demise of its cricket club has been Balsham.

Balsham Cricket Club played their last game at the end of the 2024 season because of a player shortage.

Club chairman Colin Eade broke the bad news in an online post.

“Despite everyone’s best efforts, we simply don’t have enough regular players to make it viable to continue,” he said.

“It is a sad state of affairs, but the lack of younger players has been the main issue.”

Mr Eade said the club ran two teams until about 2015 – and one since then.

“The good young players are always going to come through,” he explained.

“But often they are going to play for junior sides at bigger clubs,” he explained.

“It’s the ones who are decent, but who are not going to set the world on fire – they are the ones who are not coming through to play for the village team.”

An ECB spokesperson said: “The ECB works with Cambridgeshire and the other County Cricket Boards across England and Wales to support recreational cricket and to grow the game.

“Across the country, 2024 has been a record-breaking summer for recreational cricket, with 192,500 games played across England and Wales – up 12,500 on the previous best.

“Growth in the number of boys’, girls’, and women’s cricket teams has helped to fuel this.

“We recently launched a volunteer action plan designed to support and inspire more people to get involved and volunteer in cricket.

“We work with clubs to run participation programmes to encourage more children to experience cricket and we offer a range of grants and loans to help clubs invest in facilities and make clubs inclusive and welcoming.”