Malpas Cricket Club – a brief history

Malpas is a picturesque village situated in South Cheshire adjacent to the Shropshire and Welsh borders.

1868: Malpas Cricket Club was originally founded and cricket remained the sole sport to be played on the Wrexham Road ground for the next ninety years.

1958: A radical change took place, football and tennis facilities were introduced to the site - this was made possible by gaining a lease for seven acres of adjacent land.

The main intention was to ensure each sports survival by laying down a permanent residence and funding being achieved through one central club, therefore one large membership, rather than three small clubs all fighting for survival. It was re-named Malpas and District Sports Club Ltd, of which the cricket club remains a major section to the present day.

The aforementioned seven acres of leased land was eventually donated by the local Church Diocese in 1976.

1964: The cricket playing area was re-developed and increased to its present size - this involved removing tons of earth from land which today lies alongside the Bowling Green and Hard-Surface training area.

1968: Malpas CC celebrated their Centenary year with a weeklong series of matches, including Cheshire Gentlemen and a Cheshire representative side.

1975: The clubs first league cricket venture was in the Cheshire Conference - prior to this time Malpas CC had forged a reputation as a formidable mid-week knockout side, but weekend cricket was restricted to playing friendly fixtures.

1977 to 1997: From within the Cheshire Conference, a new league was formed - the South Cheshire Alliance, this was made up from predominantly South Cheshire clubs, plus a small number of bordering Staffordshire sides – of which Malpas were one of the founder members.

The South Cheshire Alliance continued up until 1997 - at this time the nucleus of the Cheshire clubs joined the Cheshire Cricket League structure.

1981: Further adjoining land was purchased to accommodate the increase in parking requirements.

1997 to 2015: The Cheshire Cricket League which Malpas joined in 1997 proved to be an exciting rollercoaster ride. The pinnacle being two promotions to the Cheshire County League in 2006 and 2011.

2000: The Junior Cricket Section was formed – membership has increased year-on-year and they now compete at various age-group levels in the North-East Wales and Cheshire Junior Cricket Leagues.

2010: ECB Clubmark Accreditation was achieved for the first time.

2016: Due to a series of club difficulties and setbacks, Malpas were advised to resign from the Cheshire Cricket League mainly through being unable to sustain both 1st and 2nd XI teams.

2017: Malpas’ application to rejoin the league structure at a lower level was accepted – in 2017 we competed in the UkFast Cheshire Cricket League 1st XI Division 5, fielding just one side - giving a good account of ourselves, finishing in a comfortable mid-table position.

2018: Owing to a league restructure we were placed in a regional league alongside other one team 1st XI’s, this was a good opportunity to give our younger players league experience, the season concluded with us as league winners, which was a very satisfying result.

Our 150th year celebration Day was held on Sunday 1st July and was a day to remember – a lavish lunch attended by 140 members and friends was enjoyed by everyone, the highlight was having Henry Blofeld as our guest for the day, who gave an excellent speech and also commentated on the Presidents v Malpas match that followed.

2019: With the league success of 2018, we were promoted to the UkFast Cheshire Cricket League 1st XI Division 4, the higher playing standard was evident. However, excellent team performances against good opposition has given us the belief that we are more than capable of competing at this level and we now look forward to the 2020 season.

Coaching and league cricket continues to give playing opportunities to all our junior and senior players. The club is now sustained by a strong energetic committee who are determined the club will continue to prosper for future generations to enjoy.