How 'Hobbiton' is starting a village cricket team during a pandemic

How 'Hobbiton' is starting a village cricket team during a pandemic

Rich Clarke
CricketPaper
Last-Wicket-Stand-Pitch.jpg

If you like cricket, please consider buying my book, Last-Wicket Stand: Searching for Redemption, Revival and a Reason to Persevere in English County Cricket

🏴‍☠️ Buy from Indpendent bookshop 💰 Buy from Amazon | 👨‍💻 Buy from me | 🇺🇸 Buy in USA | 🇦🇺 Buy in Australia

The village of Alfrick in Worcestershire. The cricket team’s playing field are in the background

The village of Alfrick in Worcestershire. The cricket team’s playing field are in the background

The ‘London mates’ of the Alfrick CC Fixture Secretary describe his village as ‘Hobbiton’.

Nestling on the edge of the Malvern Hills in Worcestershire, it consists of 120 houses, a community shop and the kind of pub where you might find a tractor in the car park. Everyone knows each other, everyone helps each other. Think 1950s England or the Vicar of Dibley but certainly ‘The Shire’.

That is where Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee began their quest to throw ‘the precious’ into Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings. They outsmarted the Black Riders, Gollum’s trickery and even Saruman’s all-seeing eye to complete their mission and bring peace to Middle Earth. However, never, did they take on the task of trying to start a village cricket club in Middle England during the dark days of Covid-19.

“Sorry, Uncle Bilbo,” Frodo might have replied when asked to shoulder the burden. “Fighting an army of orcs against impossible odds at Helm’s Deep is one thing but organising the tea rota, ringing round for fixtures and dealing with last-minute drop-outs is all too much for a lowly Hobbit.”

Cricket participation in the UK has been falling for decades. The number of people turning out regularly has halved since the Millennium and only a third of state schools even play it these days. The ECB has recognised the problem by making “supporting and connecting communities and improving lives” a pillar of its Inspiring Generations plan running from 2020 to 2024. It could be the motto for the new Alfrick CC.

The Alfrick team who played Colwall in 2019

The Alfrick team who played Colwall in 2019

They played in the 1950s and intermittently up to the 1990s but ended up as one small casualty of that 21st century decline. The first spark of a revival was seen two years ago when a pub conversation led to a one-off T20 game against neighbours Colwall. The pandemic delayed but did not destroy the idea.

“Our driver is social activity,” said Ned Mutter who is Fixture Secretary, sits on the parish council and “gets involved in a lot of stuff”. “We see it as a way for the village to reconnect, especially through Covid.

“Our constitution puts participation over performance and we are truly inclusive. Our selection policy will be drawing lots from a hat. If someone says ‘I have never kept wicket’ then they can have a go.  In that game two years ago, Carol, who goes down our pub, said she had played 'a bit of rounders'. Turned out she has an arm like a cannon and could keep wicket a treat. There are a couple of lads who are in a relationship together who have just moved to the village and they want to play this time. The local vicar has been broadly supportive but I am not sure she’ll actually turn out for us.”

Of course, money is key. Their tactic has been simple – write, email, pester. The likes of Worcestershire CCC, New Balance and Tetley’s have all responded positively along with numerous local businesses. You can bid for their donated items on the club’s Crowdfunder page.

Alfrick received the first-ever grant from the Googly Fund, set up by author Rob Eastaway to assist social cricket. That £163 bought boundary markers and timber for a scorebox. The county council have chipped in for a fully-stocked kit bag but the critical assistance has come from the parish authority. A dilapidated, overgrown concrete net in the corner of Alfrick Playing Fields was a symbol of the club’s demise. They could have fixed it for £4,000 but, instead, around £3,000 of parish council funding went towards a 2G roll-out pitch with a pop-up net that can be used for both games and practice. On Wednesday night, it was employed for the first time as five players went for a hit.

The new pop-up net and 2G pitch

The new pop-up net and 2G pitch

Covid restrictions mean each bowler had to use their own ball, each batter had to have fresh gloves and there were regular sanitation breaks. They have had to produce a written Covid policy, Health and Safety policy and get insurance.

As many as 70 people have expressed interest in becoming members. There is a launch event on Sunday but, as Mutter says, “Bad idea. I forgot it was Fathers’ Day and it will probably rain anyway so we may have to move it”.

The ambition is four or five matches this season starting with an internal game followed by beers down the pub “so the team can get to know each other”. In July, there will be a rematch with Colwall. After that, they will be asking pubs if they want to form an opposition.

Next season, they hope to host up to eight games. This will represent the real end result for Alfrick CC.

“There’s this old boy who goes in our pub,” explained Mutter. “He has to sit in the beer garden because of social distancing and does not get to speak to many people.

“We want to create the kind of environment where he can sit in a deck chair with a couple of cans and while away an afternoon watching us try and play.”

Sounds like time well spent and an ambition in the true spirit of English cricket.

Best of luck Alfrick CC.

·      Help Alfrick CC at Crowdfunder

* This article first appeared in The Cricket Paper, get it every Sunday or subscribe here

What happens when you become a cricket 'meme’

What happens when you become a cricket 'meme’
Where's the fun? Derek Randall and Spinwash show the joyful chaos of yesteryear

Where's the fun? Derek Randall and Spinwash show the joyful chaos of yesteryear
0