Isfield Cricket Club is one of the oldest in the County,
established in 1758. The late W. Wratten was elected captain of the club in
1872 and held the office for 33 years without without a break. On Whit-Monday, June
12th 1905 he was presented with a solid silver condiment set to mark
his retirement. Mrs Henry King, whose husband, Major King was then president of
the club made the presentation. In those days the matches were very few, only
10 a season, wickets were pitched at 11am, lunch 1pm and tea at 5pm. Stumps
were drawn at 7pm. Teams went away to play in a pair horse brake which held
fourteen: eleven players, scorer, umpire and driver.
The first known ground in Isfield was in Northfield where
the estate now stands. After that play moved into the field behind the oast
house at Elms Farm, and then it was in the Broad piece which is just over the
Old Mill Bridge, Next matches were played in the field adjoining the playing
field, and now of course the pitch is in the playing field itself.
One of the away matched each year was at Sheffield park
against the Lord Sheffield’s eleven. That was a grand day, a bell rung at the
start of each innings, and again after lunch and tea time, everybody had to be
ready or there was no match, Lord Sheffield was very strict about time.
Many stories have been told about Isfield Cricket, one was
that seven runs were scored off the very first ball of a special match; It took
three players to get the ball back. Another notable incident happened in a
match at South Heighton when a ball landed in an empty railway truck and as the
goods train was on the move, it had travelled six miles before it was picked
up.
Lunch in those days was a grand affair, it was a wonder
where it all disappeared too, and cold boiled beef was a rare joint with plenty
of salad, new potatoes and young peas. The Landlady at the Station Hotel (now
Laughing Fish) provided the lunches; she cooked the joint in the same copper as
she did her washing in, which took 2 strong men to lift if out of the copper. For
this effort they received a pint each, which was 2p a pint.
Every Whit-Monday a team from the Hayes Candy company came
to play a match. Mr J C Hayes was the husband of the donor of the Church organ
given in 1906, and he lived at the White House in Isfield. At these matches he
supplied all the refreshments and invited everyone in the village to tea on the
cricket ground. After each match there was a sing song at the headquarters of
the home team which of course was the village pub. Perhaps there was more
cricket played at these parties than during a match.
Those who remember cricket
played in Isfield in bygone days will never forget the names of Hemsley,
Molineux, Ford, Heasman, Lessiter, Poste, Turner and Wratten, May the young
players of today keep the old flag flying its colours of blue and chocolate,
which were chosen by the late Mrs King in 1894.
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