West Chiltington & Thakeham
Cricket Club (WC&TCC) is an ambitious club based in
the picturesque village of West
Chiltington
in the
Horsham District of West Sussex
, England
.
The club
plays its cricket at the West
Chiltington Recreation
Ground in a picturesque location near the South Downs
. The original West Chiltington
Cricket Club (WCCC) was established in 1921 and for
many years enjoyed playing cricket against local sides.
As the
turn of the century approached, WCCC and the dormant Thakeham
CC merged to
create a more viable and competitive player base. This
allowed the newly merged club to really challenge and be
competitive in the West Sussex Cricket League (WSCL) whilst still
offering more friendly traditional Sunday cricket. A new badge
incorporating a windmill was designed and club colours of the Green
& Gold first appeared on shirts. In 2008, WC&TCC was
welcomed into the Sussex Invitation Cricket League (SICL)
representing a new stage of the Club's playing development and new
challenges.
Recent History
Both the former clubs played friendly cricket for many years. WCCC
subsequently joined the Sussex Championship League (later to be
renamed the West Sussex Cricket League). At time of merger at the
West Chiltington CC AGM in 2000, WCCC was a WSCL Division Two side
with many players actually living in Thakeham.
In 2005, the Club started an ambitious youth development policy
which has been a tremendous success for local children and youths.
A number of ECB accredited coaches have given up their time to run
teams and in 2009, the Colts (junior) teams played local league
cricket at Under 9s, 10s, 11s, 12s, 13s, 14s and 16s.
In 2006, the Club celebrated being crowned champions of the WSCL
First Division for the first time and in the following year, the
Club created a second Saturday XI which entered WSCL Division Four.
Essentially this allowed the Club to apply to enter a higher level
of cricket which has since been achieved. In addition, it provided
a greater platform for the Club's colts to play competitive cricket
alongside senior players which was vital if the better colts
players were to be retained.
In 2007, the Club was delighted to be chosen to host a testimonial
match for the then Sussex CCC opening batsman Richard Montgomerie.
The weather was kind and the largest crowd to ever watch WC&TCC
play saw a Sussex CCC XI squeak home narrowly. Mushtaq Ahmed even
rejected Sussex CCC's advances to play for WC&TCC. The
overwhelmingly successful day raised well earned funds for an
excellent & loyal Sussex cricketer. Through extensive press
coverage, it also further raised the burgeoning profile of one of
the county's more popular village cricket clubs.
The Club was awarded the
ECB ClubMark
accreditation in 2007 and recognised as an
ECB
Focus Club in 2008. In 2008 the Club also joined the
Sussex Invitation Cricket League.
In 2009, three brand new nets were constructed near the tennis
courts to accelerate both colts' and adult progression. These were
opened in May by Murray Goodwin, Sussex CCC's beneficiary of that
year. The Club also recruited its first overseas players, and
attracted one or two new locals, in an attempt to quickly progress
up out of Division Three of the new West Sussex Invitation League.
In the event, this aim was not achieved by four points.
Honours (as a merged club)
2002 West Sussex Cricket League Division Two Runners Up
2003 West Sussex Cricket League Division One Runners Up
2005 West Sussex Cricket League Division One Runners Up
2006 West Sussex Cricket League Division One Champions
2007 Sussex Junior Cricket Festival Under 14s Plate Runners
Up
2008 Sussex Junior Cricket Festival Under 12s Plate Runners
Up
2009 West Sussex Area Cricket League Under 13s Shield Winners
Records
Highest score made by WC&T: 413-4 -
2nd XI vs
Pulborough
3rds at home on 26 May 2007
Lowest score made against WCT&T: 50
all out by
Steyning 3rds against the
1st
XI on 18 May 2002
Lowest score made by WC&T: 50 all
out by the
Sunday side at
Ditchling
on 11 September 2005
Highest score against WC&T: 305-6 made by
Falling Leaves XI
against the
Sunday side on 13 August 2006
Biggest margin of victory: 326
runs -
2nd XI vs
Pulborough 3rds at
home on 26 May 2007
Biggest margin of defeat: 211
runs -
Sunday side vs
Falling Leaves
at Arundel on 13 August 2006
Number of ten wicket victories: Three vs.
Amberley (2002), Ifield 4ths
(2004) and
Bury & West Burton (2009)
Number of ten wicket defeats: Four vs.
Bury & West Burton (2003),
Worthing Foresters (2004), Milland (2008) and
Scaynes Hill
(2008)
Highest individual score: Brian Chambers
- 198* vs Brighton Insurance at home on 14 May
2005
Best individual bowling figures: James
Chaloner - 10-3-17-8 vs. Ocean away on 27 July
2002
Most hundreds: - Rob
Llewellyn - Fourteen
External sources
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