The Highs and Lows of Village Cricket

From a 1950s team bowled out for just 2 runs to a County Cup Final at Grace Road in 2009 — half a century of village cricket in Newbold Verdon.

For this month’s article we return to some of the village’s more recent sporting history. Newbold Verdon Cricket Club reformed in the village in 1987 with two junior sides. In 1989 a senior side was added, joining the South Leicestershire Cricket League. Over the years the club has continued to grow and currently runs four senior sides — three on Saturdays and one midweek — alongside junior sides at U13, U11 and Kwik Cricket. The club also takes part in the ECB-sponsored All Stars Cricket programme.

The senior sides initially played in the South Leicestershire League until it amalgamated with other leagues in the area to become the Leicestershire Senior League. This was, however, still the second tier of club cricket in the county, with the Everards League hosting the top clubs in the area.

The County Cup is the premier cup competition in the county and is open to all clubs. In 2009 NVCC remarkably managed to win through to the final, which is held at Grace Road. On the way they overcame three higher-league sides before being drawn against Loughborough Town in the semi-final. In a remarkable match which ended with the scores tied, Newbold progressed to the final by virtue of losing fewer wickets.

The final at Grace Road was against Lutterworth Town, and there was a remarkable following of village support at the game. Lutterworth set Newbold a target of 247 in their 40 overs and, despite some stern resistance, Newbold could only manage a total of 141. It was a disappointing end to a great day out for the club and its supporters.

The photograph at the head of this article shows the team prior to leaving for the match, taken outside one of our sadly-lost local gems — The Old White Swan. The players is the photograph above are:
Back row, left to right: Mark Henderson, Matt Gransden, Huw Davies, Neal Bateman, Dan Chapman, Mark Bird, Jon Healey, Rick Bell. Front row, left to right: Paul Bateman, Mark Wilkinson, Luke Dyke, Gareth Bell, Ryan Bird.

Prior to the reformation of the present club, the village team of the 1950s played in the South Leicestershire League — and had the dubious honour of being bowled out for just 2 runs by Newtown Burgoland, thought to be a record low score. The 1950’s team is shown below.