Main Records
ROTHERFIELD CRICKET CLUB - MAIN RECORDS 1914-2012
The first record of a Rotherfield cricket team in action is a newspaper report of two matches against Brighton, home and away, in 1818. It seems unlikely that a brand new club would have been involved in fixtures against such prestigious and distant opponents. But the team had probably been going no more than a couple of years. Cricket in England virtually died out during the Napoleonic Wars, which ended only in 1815. Rotherfield cricket appears to have continued healthily throughout the remainder of the nineteenth century, though not a lot of detail has survived. Early in the twentieth, participation and support began to dwindle, and the original club folded in 1912. The Village Institute subsequently received notice to give up its tenancy of the ground, which had been granted on the condition that cricket was played there. Rather than lose the ground, the Institute formed a new Rotherfield Cricket Club in 1914.
In 1993, the 175th anniversary of Rotherfield’s first recorded match was celebrated with a splendid history produced by Brent Simmonds and Kingsley Miles. Copies may still be obtained from members of the committee. Through reference to the authors’ excellent work and source material, and the statistics diligently compiled since by Kevin Simmonds, it has been possible to assemble the main records of the present club from its formation in 1914 to the end of the 2012 season. Some source data is missing but not a significant amount. There is enough information to identify the leading performers, and where necessary to arrive at a good estimate of former players’ career aggregates.
For Rotherfield Cricket Club, the inter-war years were dominated by the Crowborough & District League which ran from 1921 to 1939. The town clubs of southern England, staunchly amateur in spirit, began playing league cricket only forty years ago. Local Sussex village leagues go back much further. Rotherfield were founder members of their league, entering Division 1 with Buxted Park, Crowborough, Mark Cross and an Army Signal Corps team based at Crowborough Camp. Subsequent opponents included Boarshead, Fairwarp, Five Ashes, Hadlow Down, High Hurstwood, Jarvis Brook, Lye Green, Nutley, Ridgewood, St John’s and United Churches. Only five of the clubs involved are still in existence. Rotherfield never won the league but finished runners-up three years in a row between 1926 and 1928.
The first thing that stands out when researching village cricket records is the vast change in levels of scoring over the years. Until the 1960s average scores were universally low. The average all-out total in recorded Crowborough League matches involving Rotherfield’s 1st XI was 57. Today’s norm is three to four times higher. Many matches between the wars ran to two innings a side. There were several reasons for low scores. Rough underprepared pitches; overgrown outfields; lack of coaching; no television for observing the batting technique of professional players. Folk also travelled less and had fewer things to do on a summer’s afternoon. Players of limited ability, who would never be seen anywhere near a cricket ground today, regularly occupied the lower order and seldom made any runs.
In the decades after the Second World War, scoring levels increased gradually at first then more steadily as money became available for ground preparation. For Rotherfield, the most significant step-change occurred in 1995 when the club joined the East Sussex League. Today’s leagues compel member clubs to prepare true pitches and keep their outfields in order. Conditions for Rotherfield’s batsmen are far more favourable than they used to be, and life for our bowlers correspondingly harder. That is why the club’s records feature more bowlers of the past and more batsmen from the present. One example will suffice. When Alf Blackman took his thousandth wicket for the club in 1964, not one Rotherfield batsman had reached five thousand runs. Since then, only one bowler has followed Blackman to a thousand wickets while fourteen batsmen have passed five thousand runs, eight of whom were playing in 2012.
TEAM RECORDS
Highest Total For: 290-3 v Coleman’s Hatch, 2002
Highest Total Against: 364 by Ken Suttle’s XI, 1966
Lowest Total For: 8 v Boarshead, 1931
8 v Nutley, 1936
Lowest Total Against: 3 by Hartfield, 1930
Highest Partnership: 270* for 1st wicket: John Baldock & Tom Williamson v Glynde III, 2007
BATTING RECORDS
Most Runs in Career
John Baldock (1982- ) 22031
Chris Buck (1965- ) 15593
Harold Beeney (1957-87) 10000+
Mark Bulmer (1983- ) 9019
Norman Barrett (1956-81) 9000+
Dick Baker (1951-83) 8500+
Peter Hartland (1991- ) 8366
Kevin Simmonds (1986- ) 8142
Dave Hacker (1994- ) 6714
Dave Harman (1974- ) 6027
John Ralph (1962-88) 6000+
Kingsley Miles (1963-2002) 5700+
Brent Simmonds (1982- ) 5529
Brian Harman (1951-79) 5000+
Most Centuries
John Baldock 33
Mark Bulmer 9
Chris Buck 7
Tom Williamson 7
Peter Hartland 4
1000 Runs in Season
Year
1996 John Baldock 1642
1997 Chris Buck 1128
1999 John Baldock 1597
2000 John Baldock 1045
2001 Chris Buck 1068
2002 John Baldock 1067
2003 Chris Buck 1011
2007 John Baldock 1307
2008 John Baldock 1020
2009 Ian Hartland 1148
Highest Innings
John Baldock 168* v Frant, 1997
John Baldock 164* v Coleman’s Hatch, 2002
John Baldock 151* v Robertsbridge, 2007
Jamie Featherbee 150* v Maresfield II, 2003
Kingsley Miles 145 v Dicker, 1989
John Baldock 142* v Maresfield, 1999
Alex Hayes 141 v Linden Park IV, 2004
BOWLING RECORDS
Most Wickets in Career
Alf Blackman (1938-78) 1400+
Kevin Simmonds (1986- ) 1046
Harold Beeney (1957-87) 900+
Wally Jopson (1969-75) 680+
Alm Horscroft (1935-61) 650+
George Filtness (1949-61) 550+
AW White (1919-39) 550+
Peter Hartland (1991- ) 545
S Howell (1927-46) 500+
John Elms (1993-2011) 479
Dave Harman (1974- ) 414
Bev Barnes (1968-86) 400+
Norman Barrett (1956-81) 400+
Geoff Pett (1921-53) 400+
John Ralph (1962-88) 400+
100 Wickets in Season
Year
1950 Freddie Fidler 101
1953 Alf Blackman 111
1962 Alf Blackman 101
1970 Wally Jopson 109
1972 Wally Jopson 108
1973 Wally Jopson 111
1975 Wally Jopson 106
Best Bowling
Alf Blackman 10-32 v Wadhurst, 1953
Kevin Simmonds 10-46 v Withyham, 1999
E Brasier 9-9 v Crowborough II, 1937
Noddy Wickens 9-56 v Boxbusters, 1988
FIELDING RECORDS
Most Catches in Career
John Baldock 329
Dave Harman 271
Chris Buck 259
Dick Baker 250+
Harold Beeney 250+
Brian Harman 200+
Kingsley Miles 200+
Most Wicket-Keeping Dismissals in Season
Rob Williamson 43 (32ct,11st) 2004
Most Outfield Catches in Season
John Baldock 30 1996
Most Outfield Catches in Innings
Chris Buck 5
Robin Miles 5
Most Stumpings in Innings
Nick Rowe 5 v Lewes Priory III, 2008
ALL-ROUND CRICKET
5000 Runs and 400 Wickets in Career
Runs Wickets
Norman Barrett (1956-81) 9000+ 400+
Harold Beeney (1957-87) 10000+ 900+
John Ralph (1962-88) 6000+ 400+
Dave Harman (1974- ) 6027 414
Kevin Simmonds (1986- ) 8142 1046
Peter Hartland (1991- ) 8366 545
Most Successful All-Round Season
Freddie Fidler 846 runs & 101 wickets in 1950
CLUB CHAIRMEN
1914-25 JW Sidey
1926-34 O Russell
1935-46 Rev HE Collins
1947-49 J Davis
1950 HW Morris
1951-53 L Vann
1954 A McQueen
1955-56 JK Hall
1957-59 J Brough
1960-65 D Rich
1966-74 KG Redman
1975-82 Dick Baker
1983-86 Chris Steel
1987 Noddy Wickens
1988-90 Jim Gallifant
1991-97 Bob Wild
1998-99 Kingsley Miles
2000-01 Brent Simmonds
2002-10 Dave Hacker
2011 John Elms
2012 Alex Ffrench
The first record of a Rotherfield cricket team in action is a newspaper report of two matches against Brighton, home and away, in 1818. It seems unlikely that a brand new club would have been involved in fixtures against such prestigious and distant opponents. But the team had probably been going no more than a couple of years. Cricket in England virtually died out during the Napoleonic Wars, which ended only in 1815. Rotherfield cricket appears to have continued healthily throughout the remainder of the nineteenth century, though not a lot of detail has survived. Early in the twentieth, participation and support began to dwindle, and the original club folded in 1912. The Village Institute subsequently received notice to give up its tenancy of the ground, which had been granted on the condition that cricket was played there. Rather than lose the ground, the Institute formed a new Rotherfield Cricket Club in 1914.
In 1993, the 175th anniversary of Rotherfield’s first recorded match was celebrated with a splendid history produced by Brent Simmonds and Kingsley Miles. Copies may still be obtained from members of the committee. Through reference to the authors’ excellent work and source material, and the statistics diligently compiled since by Kevin Simmonds, it has been possible to assemble the main records of the present club from its formation in 1914 to the end of the 2012 season. Some source data is missing but not a significant amount. There is enough information to identify the leading performers, and where necessary to arrive at a good estimate of former players’ career aggregates.
For Rotherfield Cricket Club, the inter-war years were dominated by the Crowborough & District League which ran from 1921 to 1939. The town clubs of southern England, staunchly amateur in spirit, began playing league cricket only forty years ago. Local Sussex village leagues go back much further. Rotherfield were founder members of their league, entering Division 1 with Buxted Park, Crowborough, Mark Cross and an Army Signal Corps team based at Crowborough Camp. Subsequent opponents included Boarshead, Fairwarp, Five Ashes, Hadlow Down, High Hurstwood, Jarvis Brook, Lye Green, Nutley, Ridgewood, St John’s and United Churches. Only five of the clubs involved are still in existence. Rotherfield never won the league but finished runners-up three years in a row between 1926 and 1928.
The first thing that stands out when researching village cricket records is the vast change in levels of scoring over the years. Until the 1960s average scores were universally low. The average all-out total in recorded Crowborough League matches involving Rotherfield’s 1st XI was 57. Today’s norm is three to four times higher. Many matches between the wars ran to two innings a side. There were several reasons for low scores. Rough underprepared pitches; overgrown outfields; lack of coaching; no television for observing the batting technique of professional players. Folk also travelled less and had fewer things to do on a summer’s afternoon. Players of limited ability, who would never be seen anywhere near a cricket ground today, regularly occupied the lower order and seldom made any runs.
In the decades after the Second World War, scoring levels increased gradually at first then more steadily as money became available for ground preparation. For Rotherfield, the most significant step-change occurred in 1995 when the club joined the East Sussex League. Today’s leagues compel member clubs to prepare true pitches and keep their outfields in order. Conditions for Rotherfield’s batsmen are far more favourable than they used to be, and life for our bowlers correspondingly harder. That is why the club’s records feature more bowlers of the past and more batsmen from the present. One example will suffice. When Alf Blackman took his thousandth wicket for the club in 1964, not one Rotherfield batsman had reached five thousand runs. Since then, only one bowler has followed Blackman to a thousand wickets while fourteen batsmen have passed five thousand runs, eight of whom were playing in 2012.
TEAM RECORDS
Highest Total For: 290-3 v Coleman’s Hatch, 2002
Highest Total Against: 364 by Ken Suttle’s XI, 1966
Lowest Total For: 8 v Boarshead, 1931
8 v Nutley, 1936
Lowest Total Against: 3 by Hartfield, 1930
Highest Partnership: 270* for 1st wicket: John Baldock & Tom Williamson v Glynde III, 2007
BATTING RECORDS
Most Runs in Career
John Baldock (1982- ) 22031
Chris Buck (1965- ) 15593
Harold Beeney (1957-87) 10000+
Mark Bulmer (1983- ) 9019
Norman Barrett (1956-81) 9000+
Dick Baker (1951-83) 8500+
Peter Hartland (1991- ) 8366
Kevin Simmonds (1986- ) 8142
Dave Hacker (1994- ) 6714
Dave Harman (1974- ) 6027
John Ralph (1962-88) 6000+
Kingsley Miles (1963-2002) 5700+
Brent Simmonds (1982- ) 5529
Brian Harman (1951-79) 5000+
Most Centuries
John Baldock 33
Mark Bulmer 9
Chris Buck 7
Tom Williamson 7
Peter Hartland 4
1000 Runs in Season
Year
1996 John Baldock 1642
1997 Chris Buck 1128
1999 John Baldock 1597
2000 John Baldock 1045
2001 Chris Buck 1068
2002 John Baldock 1067
2003 Chris Buck 1011
2007 John Baldock 1307
2008 John Baldock 1020
2009 Ian Hartland 1148
Highest Innings
John Baldock 168* v Frant, 1997
John Baldock 164* v Coleman’s Hatch, 2002
John Baldock 151* v Robertsbridge, 2007
Jamie Featherbee 150* v Maresfield II, 2003
Kingsley Miles 145 v Dicker, 1989
John Baldock 142* v Maresfield, 1999
Alex Hayes 141 v Linden Park IV, 2004
BOWLING RECORDS
Most Wickets in Career
Alf Blackman (1938-78) 1400+
Kevin Simmonds (1986- ) 1046
Harold Beeney (1957-87) 900+
Wally Jopson (1969-75) 680+
Alm Horscroft (1935-61) 650+
George Filtness (1949-61) 550+
AW White (1919-39) 550+
Peter Hartland (1991- ) 545
S Howell (1927-46) 500+
John Elms (1993-2011) 479
Dave Harman (1974- ) 414
Bev Barnes (1968-86) 400+
Norman Barrett (1956-81) 400+
Geoff Pett (1921-53) 400+
John Ralph (1962-88) 400+
100 Wickets in Season
Year
1950 Freddie Fidler 101
1953 Alf Blackman 111
1962 Alf Blackman 101
1970 Wally Jopson 109
1972 Wally Jopson 108
1973 Wally Jopson 111
1975 Wally Jopson 106
Best Bowling
Alf Blackman 10-32 v Wadhurst, 1953
Kevin Simmonds 10-46 v Withyham, 1999
E Brasier 9-9 v Crowborough II, 1937
Noddy Wickens 9-56 v Boxbusters, 1988
FIELDING RECORDS
Most Catches in Career
John Baldock 329
Dave Harman 271
Chris Buck 259
Dick Baker 250+
Harold Beeney 250+
Brian Harman 200+
Kingsley Miles 200+
Most Wicket-Keeping Dismissals in Season
Rob Williamson 43 (32ct,11st) 2004
Most Outfield Catches in Season
John Baldock 30 1996
Most Outfield Catches in Innings
Chris Buck 5
Robin Miles 5
Most Stumpings in Innings
Nick Rowe 5 v Lewes Priory III, 2008
ALL-ROUND CRICKET
5000 Runs and 400 Wickets in Career
Runs Wickets
Norman Barrett (1956-81) 9000+ 400+
Harold Beeney (1957-87) 10000+ 900+
John Ralph (1962-88) 6000+ 400+
Dave Harman (1974- ) 6027 414
Kevin Simmonds (1986- ) 8142 1046
Peter Hartland (1991- ) 8366 545
Most Successful All-Round Season
Freddie Fidler 846 runs & 101 wickets in 1950
CLUB CHAIRMEN
1914-25 JW Sidey
1926-34 O Russell
1935-46 Rev HE Collins
1947-49 J Davis
1950 HW Morris
1951-53 L Vann
1954 A McQueen
1955-56 JK Hall
1957-59 J Brough
1960-65 D Rich
1966-74 KG Redman
1975-82 Dick Baker
1983-86 Chris Steel
1987 Noddy Wickens
1988-90 Jim Gallifant
1991-97 Bob Wild
1998-99 Kingsley Miles
2000-01 Brent Simmonds
2002-10 Dave Hacker
2011 John Elms
2012 Alex Ffrench
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