The Club played at the Racecourse (others will know it as the Horse Race) with a view down the Kennet Valley with the stream running by in the shadow of The Manor. All very idyllic.

The team practised every evening! Batsmen batted for 10 minutes with the retiring batsmen able to go on and bowl for 10 minutes. There were 15 to 20 men and boys in the field at all the times, stopping the ball, saving runs and taking catches. Not a bad way to practice! Perhaps our current squad should take note! They had up to eighty members at this time so were never short of players in a team.

All matches were one day matches not half day and were against all the local villages and some schools. They had a very full fixture list. There was no Pavilion in the early days but they did have a marquee for luncheon and tea.

The Club was managed by the then curate, the Rev. Jacob Sturton. He was an excellent batsman and the life of the Club. He later married a Miss Jerram and resided at The Cedars, teaching pupils of various ages, Greek and Latin.

The Batson family was also heavily involved with cricket in those days. Mr Batson Senior had nine sons who all played the sport! Another fine cricketer was J E Coffin, then the proprietor of the Bell Hotel. Some hundred years later one Brian O’Malley, similarly a proprietor of The Bell, also played for Ramsbury but was rather more noted for his beautifully turned out appearance than any cricketing prowess! But we digress. J E Coffin had played for Middlesex and really was a first-class cricketer.

During this time Ramsbury fared pretty well and rarely lost a match until an XI called ‘The Scarlet Runners’ came over from Newbury. It was the first time Ramsbury had come across slow bowling and ‘twisters’ as they called them. But they obviously had even more trouble with the spinners than England recently in India, as the Scarlet Runners bowled Ramsbury out for nine!

When cricket was at the Racecourse the village saw cricket as good as any in the country. In 1875 Arthur Batson got together a ‘scratch’ English team of which Fred Grace (brother to WG) was one, and captained by Ashley Walker who played for Yorkshire for 9 seasons. In addition there were three members of the ‘Gentlemen’ from the annual match against the ‘Players’, so no shortage of good cricketers. As the field spread far and wide for Fred Grace, Nelson Alexander, one of England’s finest opening bowlers was elected to bowl. He bowled Fred with his first ball, no doubt to the disappointment of the crowd! Frank Townsend came in next and hit the ball very hard to all corners of the ground and beyond! One of his sixes went as far as the stile leading to Harbrook! Fred got his own back in the second innings when he scored a great many runs and the England proceeded to a comfortable win.

It is quite clear from these stories (many courtesy of Arthur Batson) that Cricket in the mid to late 19th Century was particularly important to the people of Ramsbury and that many friendships were forged and many memories made.

[cont.]… In recent years entries into the national Village Cup had dropped from 800 to 300 which shows the unfortunate trend in village cricket. But cricket has been played in Ramsbury for well over 150 years and while village cricket is generally seen to be on the decline, Ramsbury Cricket Club is very keen to reverse this trend.

In 1958 a move was made away from the Racecourse to the Sports Field in Hilldrop Lane. The wicket there was concrete and flat of course, but the outfield was on a pronounced slope to the south towards Manor Lane and in the off-season in the 1980s sheep used to graze on the outfield as one would expect in a village! The first pavilion was a wooden chalet which served the cricketers and the footballers until 1991 when a new brick pavilion was built for both clubs and opened by David (Syd) Lawrence, the Gloucester and England fast bowler.

In the late 70s and early 80s, we used to play league cricket on Saturdays and friendlies on Sunday, along with Mary Holdsworth’s famous rock buns for tea! We played in a limited overs league in Marlborough – I think it was 15 x 8 ball overs per side – a forerunner of the modern 20/20 format. We also hosted a touring side from The Isle of Wight one summer.

Nowadays, in our new (flat) location within the Recreation Centre, the team competes in league cricket on Saturdays alongside a range of friendlies on Sundays. Gone are the days when the captain used to trawl the local pubs just before the match to find one or two willing victims who had not imbibed too much to make up the numbers. Things are a little better organised now! There are covers for the wickets and sightscreens too. There are also regular nets on a Thursday evening (May to September).

We have some great memories in recent times. Nick Passenger scored a double hundred in a partnership of 220 odd with Paul New against Burbage – a club and league record at the time (although the league record stood for less than a week). Ed Osmond took two hat tricks on consecutive days against Calne and Wanborough and made the national papers. And on a more light hearted note one of our team members ripped two pairs of whites in the same match bending to field the ball (who carries spare trousers in their bag I hear you ask!)

We have had our share of fame too. In 2007 Ramsbury was apparently beaten by 63 runs by Ambridge in an episode of The Archers – nobody we know played in that one!

The new pavilion is shared with the Tennis Club as part of the million pound refurbishment of the Recreation Centre. It was opened by Tennis player Greg Rusedski in 2009. The Club has recent invested in a new artificial wicket, a new permanent net and an electronic scoreboard. But whilst the current facilities have come a long way since the days of the Batson family playing at the Racecourse, the importance of cricket in the village remains high.

In 2023, the Sunday team have expanded their fixture list, playing against a bigger and broader range of village clubs, bucking the national trend and propelling the sport forwards.

We look forward to seeing you support us and play alongside us.