Surrey County Cricket Club

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Surrey
Established	1845
First-Class Debut	v Kent at The Oval in June, 1846
Captain	Mark Butcher
Coach	Alan Butcher
County Titles	18

Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Brown Caps (formerly the Surrey Lions).

The club is based at The Oval cricket ground, within the Kennington region of Lambeth in south London. Before the formation of the London metropolitan county, the ground was in the county of Surrey. Some home games each season are played at Whitgift School, Croydon and at Woodbridge Road, Guildford.

The club colours are chocolate brown and silver. The club badge is the Prince of Wales' three feathers. Lord Rosebery obtained the permission to use this symbol from the Prince of Wales, owner of the land on which The Oval stands, in 1915.

1 Honours
- 1.1 Second XI honours
2 Records
3 Earliest cricket
4 Origin of club
5 Club history
6 Current squad
7 Notable Surrey players
8 Captains of Surrey
9 Players with most first-class appearances for Surrey
10 Notable former Officials of Surrey
11 Surrey Facts and Feats
12 References
13 External links

[edit] Honours

Champion County (12) - 1830, 1831, 1850, 1851, 1854, 1856, 1857, 1858, 1859, 1864, 1887, 1888; shared (1) - 1889
County Championship (18) - 1890, 1891, 1892, 1894, 1895, 1899, 1914, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1971, 1999, 2000, 2002; shared (1) - 1950

Division Two (1) - 2006

Gillette/NatWest/C&G Trophy (1) - 1982
Sunday/National League (2) - 1996, 2003

Division Two (1) - 2000

Twenty20 Cup (1) - 2003
Benson and Hedges Cup (3) - 1974, 1997, 2001

[edit] Second XI honours

Second XI Championship (5) - 1966, 1968, 1975, 1988, 1992; shared (0) -
Second XI Trophy (1) - 2001
Minor Counties Championship (4) - 1939, 1950, 1954, 1955; shared (0) -

[edit] Records

Highest Total For - 811 v Somerset at The Oval 1899

Highest Total Against - 863 by Lancashire at The Oval 1990

Lowest Total For - 14 v Essex at Chelmsford 1983

Lowest Total Against - 16 by MCC at Lord's 1872

Batting

Highest Score - 357* R Abel v Somerset at The Oval 1899

Most Runs in Season - 3246 TW Hayward in 1906

Most Runs in Career - 43554 JB Hobbs 1905-1934

Best Partnership for each wicket

1st - 428 JB Hobbs and A Sandham v Oxford University at The Oval 1926

2nd - 371 JB Hobbs and EG Hayes v Hampshire at The Oval 1909

3rd - 413 DJ Bicknell and DM Ward v Kent at Canterbury 1990

4th - 448 R Abel and TW Hayward v Yorkshire at The Oval 1899

5th - 308 JN Crawford and FC Holland v Somerset at The Oval 1908

6th - 298 A Sandham and HS Harrison v Sussex at The Oval 1913

7th - 262 CJ Richards and KT Medlycott v Kent at The Oval 1987

8th - 205 IA Greig and MP Bicknell v Lancashire at The Oval 1990

9th - 168 ERT Holmes and EWJ Brooks v Hampshire at The Oval 1936

10th - 173 A Ducat and A Sandham v Essex at Leyton 1921

Bowling

Best Bowling - 10-43 T Rushby v Somerset at Taunton 1921

Best Match Bowling - 16-83 GAR Lock v Kent at Blackheath 1956

Wickets in Season - 252 T Richardson in 1895

Wickets in Career - 1775 T Richardson 1892-1904

[edit] Earliest cricket

It is widely believed that cricket was invented by children living on the Weald in Saxon or Norman times and that the game very soon reached neighbouring Surrey. Although not the game's birthplace, Surrey does claim the honour of being the location of its first definite mention. Evidence in a 1597 court case confirms that kreckett was played by schoolboys on a certain plot of land in Guildford around 1550.

See : History of cricket to 1696

Cricket became well established in Surrey during the 17th century and the earliest village matches took place before the English Civil War. It is believed that the earliest county teams were formed in the aftermath of the Restoration in 1660. In 1709, the earliest known inter-county match took place between Kent and Surrey.

Surrey continued to be a major county through the 18th century. Probably its greatest player during the underarm era was the famous bowler Edward "Lumpy" Stevens.

For information about Surrey county teams before the formation of Surrey CCC, see : Surrey county cricket teams

[edit] Origin of club

Surrey CCC was founded on the evening of 22 August 1845 at the Horns Tavern in South London, where around 100 representatives of various cricket clubs in Surrey agreed a motion put by William Denison (the club's first Secretary) "that a Surrey club be now formed". A further meeting at the Tavern on 18 October 1845 formally constituted the club, appointed officers and began enrolling members. A lease on Kennington Oval, a former market garden, was obtained by a Mr Houghton from the Duchy of Cornwall. Mr Houghton was of the old Montpelier club, 70 members of which formed the nucleus of the new Surrey County club. The Honourable Fred Ponsonby, later the Earl of Bessborough was the first vice-president.

Surrey's inaugural first-class county match against Kent was held at The Oval in June 1846. However the club did not do well that year, despite the extra public attractions at the Oval of a Walking Match and a Poultry Show. By the start of the 1847 season the club was £70 in debt and there was a motion to close. Ponsonby proposed that 6 life members be created for a fee of £12 each. His motion was duly passed, and the club survived.

[edit] Club history

Surrey CCC has had three notable periods in its history. The club was recognised as "Champion County" seven times during the 1850s; it won the title eight times from 1887 to 1895 (including the first ever officially constituted County Championship in 1890); and seven consecutive outright titles from 1952 to 1958 inclusive following a shared title (with Lancashire) in 1950. In 1955, Surrey won 23 of its 28 county matches, a record that still stands. To date, Surrey has won the official County Championship 18 times, more than any other county except Yorkshire.

Surrey enjoyed a great decade in the 1850s, being the "Champion County" seven times from 1850 to 1859 and again in 1864. In 1857, all nine matches played by the county resulted in victory. This was the time of great players like William Caffyn, Julius Caesar, H H Stephenson and Tom Lockyer.

Surrey was again Champion County in 1887 and 1888, and jointly in 1889, before the County Championship officially came into being in 1890. They won the official title in 1890-1892, 1894, 1895 and 1899. Much of this success was under the county's first great captain, John Shuter, who led the side from 1880 to 1893. Leading players in these years were batsman Bobby Abel and a trio of top bowlers George Lohmann, Bill Lockwood and Tom Richardson.

The turn of the century brought a decline in Surrey's fortunes, and they won the title only once during the next fifty years, in 1914. The club's most famous batsman was Jack Hobbs, who began playing for the county in 1905, and he had a notable opening partner till 1914 in Tom Hayward. Between the two World Wars, Surrey often had a good side, but it tended to be stronger in batting than in bowling, Hobbs playing on until 1934 with another good opening partner in Andrew Sandham. The Oval pitches of this period also tended to be very good for batting, so that many matches were left drawn. The club captain for most of this period was Percy Fender, whose closest colleague was the England captain of Bodyline fame (or infamy), Douglas Jardine.

From 1948 to 1959, Surrey finished either first or second in the county championship in 10 seasons out of 12. They finished runners-up in 1948, shared the championship with Lancashire in 1950, won seven consecutive outright titles from 1952 to 1958, and were runners-up again in 1959. Their margins of victory were usually large (for example, Yorkshire were runners-up in 1952 but were 32 points behind). This success was built on a remarkably strong bowling attack, with Test seamer Alec Bedser supported by the outstanding spin duo of Tony Lock and Jim Laker, the latter widely regarded as one of the finest ever orthodox off spinners. It should be said that Lock and Laker made the most of helpful Oval pitches. The club's success was also due to the attacking captaincy of Stuart Surridge, who won the title in all five years of his leadership from 1952 to 1956. The team fielded very well and a feature was some brilliant close catching. The team also had some excellent batsmen, especially Peter May and Ken Barrington.

Over the next forty years to 1998, Surrey won the title only once, in 1971 during the career of England opener John Edrich. But then another successful period was achieved under the captaincy of Adam Hollioake and the influence of Keith Medlycott, who was county coach from 1997 to 2003.

This recent run of success came to an end in 2005, when Surrey was relegated to Division Two of the Championship, but an immediate recovery took place in 2006 as Surrey won Division Two.

[edit] Current squad

[edit] Notable Surrey players

[edit] Captains of Surrey

A complete list of officially appointed Surrey captains can be found here: List of Surrey cricket captains.

[edit] Players with most first-class appearances for Surrey

598 Jack Hobbs (1905-34)
593 Tom Hayward (1893-1914)
554 Herbert Strudwick (1902-27)
525 Andrew Sandham (1911-37)
514 Bobby Abel (1881-1904)
500 Ernie Hayes (1896-1919)
498 Mickey Stewart (1954-72)
485 Pat Pocock (1964-86)
443 Eric Bedser (1939-61)
434 Bernie Constable (1939-64)

[edit] Notable former Officials of Surrey

This list excludes those who are also listed above as famous players. Data is primarily taken from Surrey Yearbooks.

Presidents:

Sir George Edwards (1979)
Sir Paul Getty (1996)
Geoffrey Howard (1989)
Sir John Major (2000-1)
Betty Surridge (1997)
Richard Stilgoe (2005)

Note that a full list can be found here: List of Presidents of Surrey CCC.

Secretaries/Chief Executives:

C. W. Alcock (1872-1907)
C.G.Howard (1965-1975)
Lt Col W.H.Sillitoe (1975-1978)
Ian Scott-Browne (1978-1989)
David Seward (1989-1993)
Glyn Woodman (1993-1995)
Paul Sheldon (1995- )

The post of Secretary was renamed Chief Executive in 1993.

[edit] Surrey Facts and Feats

In 1999, Surrey's staff included three sets of brothers: Bicknell (Darren and Martin), Butcher (Gary and Mark) and Hollioake (Adam and Ben). The Butchers' father, Alan, was the 2nd XI Coach and had played a County Championship match in an emergency the previous season. The staff also included Alec Stewart, whose father Mickey was a previous captain of the county.

[edit] References

Scores & Biographies (several volumes) by Arthur Haygarth
Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians - various publications
A Social History of English Cricket by Derek Birley. ISBN 1-85410-941-3
G B Buckley: Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket
G B Buckley: Fresh Light on Pre-Victorian Cricket
CricketArchive
The History of Surrey County Cricket Club by David Lemmon, 1989. ISBN 0-7470-2010-8
Surrey County Cricket Club First-Class Records 1846-1994 by Michael Ayers. ISBN 1-874524-15-7
Surrey CCC Yearbooks - various issues
Wisden Cricketers Almanack - various annuals
Playfair Cricket Annual: various issues

[edit] External links

English first-class cricket clubs

MCC | Cambridge UCCE | Durham UCCE | Loughborough UCCE | Oxford UCCE

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Categories: 1845 establishments | Sports clubs established before 1850 | English first class cricket teams | Sport in London | Sport in Surrey