Without knowing for definite, the 2018, I believe, will be my 19th season (!) with the club. The club I love and the club who has provided me numerous happy and funny memories and plenty of friends for life.

I first started playing for the team at colts level (under 15) in that side there was also Ian Brown. Lee Merrick and Mark Slade. Always one to trust in the yoof and blood youngsters (or through sheer desperation) Bazil one-by-one introduced us all into the 2nd XI and our first taste of senior cricket. From memory I think the first team I played in included Dan Murch, Marcus Bath, Baz, John Gordon, Brownman, myself, Pete Ellis, Dave Gordon, Sladey and Mark Hill. (Pete Ellis, for those interested, will go down in VPCC folklore. Not for his cricketing ability but for the fact without Pete, Bazil would never have been known as Duckface Meathead) It was a side that combined yoof and experience and one that was also soundly beaten most weeks as we went on to win the wooden spoon twice, maybe even three times in a row. Hardly surprising really when you consider that most of our team were 14/15 with limited playing time at any standard and our opening batsman and bowler was Marcus Bath. It didn’t matter that we lost every week, we were with our mates having fun and playing a sport we loved. The fact that the majority of the yoof stayed playing and with the additions of Adam Oliver, Dave Branch and my big bad bruv we slowly turned into a half decent division 5 side.

Like with all good signings Dave and Ad were plucked from obscurity and thrust into the limelight. The reality was both happened to be drinking in The Blues the night before an away jaunt to Bude CC and with plenty of Dutch courage inside them, agreed to play. Tom joined the club in familiar circumstances. Sunday morning, down to 10 players, all current options exhausted, one hope left...."how do you fancy playing cricket today Tom? Me and Dad are playing and Brownie so you'll know a few of us. I've got some spare whites."

Suddenly in the space of a few seasons we had gone from the perennial whipping boys of division 5 to genuine title contenders. This was highlighted when we did eventually achieve promotion after finishing runners up. I remember that season well, all the younger members had developed their ability and knowledge of senior cricket, both Brownie, myself and Murchy had all managed to score our first 50's, the 2 Dave’s (Branch and Gordon) had become our bowling attack, Adam was now a solid opening batsman and to top it all off we were still just having a laugh playing the game we love.

Over the next few seasons, several of us moved on to the 1st team with some of the more experienced first teamers moving the other way there was little to no movement of new players into the club, and it was this very issue that in the long turn shaped the VPCC that we know today.

Ad (he's a clever lad) had prophesied the first major shift that I had known at the club. He had often re-laid to me his worry that, the younger lads were coming to an age where families and work would become an issue and the older gents were winding down their illustrious careers. With no new faces of merit coming through the door the obvious was always going to happen. I think we became too complacent at the club as teams and availability hadn’t really been a major issue and we managed to run 2 full senior sides with different personnel in each. This complacency meant that our pool of players was becoming reduce year-on-year to the point where the line between 1st and 2nd team had become somewhat hazy. In fact a closer look at the fixtures around that time would have shown that rarely was there ever 2 fixtures on the same day and the distinction between what was a 1st team and what was a 2nd team side was almost non-existent. Invariably the same 11 names played both sets of fixtures. The desperate state the side found themselves in was no better highlighted than when Ad had to put a plea in the Journal for players. So we did what we had to do to keep the club running, drop the 2nd and continue with just the 1 side.

So we moved on to a new stage of the club, the one in which we find ourselves today. The playing front has been positive. We have been able to welcome several new faces to the club and with the hope of more the club could potentially in a few years be able to reintroduce a 2nd XI. The new VPCC has established themselves in division 3 of the NDL, having won the division 4 title in the 2016 season.

One things for sure, this might well be the 3rd incarnation of the club that I have witnessed I still enjoy playing and being part of this club as much now as I did when I first began playing.

Victoria Park Cricket Club