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History Of Milton Cricket Club

The information below was supplied by Frank Burling who kindly researched back over his yearly Cambridgeshire Cricket Association handbooks to provide a unique insight into how the club has developed..  Frank had been a major force in keeping cricket alive in Milton over the years and he recently rejoined the club committee to provide a wealth of experience to assist in taking the club forward in the new Millennium.  In addition to his work locally Frank also spent many years on the CCA committee. Frank unfortunately died 17/11/01 and his memories of the club as detailed below will be displayed in the club room in his honour.

Milton CC History

The Milton & District Cricket League was known to be in existence in 1911. Teams taking part included Milton, Landbeach, Histon, Girton, Waterbeach, Lode, Bottisham, Willingham, Horningsea, Swavesey, Cottenham, Swaffham Bulbeck, Swaffham Prior, Elsworth, Haddenham, Chittering, Wilburton, Stretham, Eversden, Bourn, Papworth, Teversham, Dry Drayton and Coton. There is a handbook dated 1935 a copy of which is kept in the club room. There is also a club photograph in the Milton Collection which is kept within the Cambridgeshire Collection at Shire Hall Cambridge. It was taken in the early 1900's and showed the team. When the Second World War began the league was cancelled and indeed was not continued after hostilities ceased.

The Cambridgeshire Cricket Association had been in existence since 1889 and in 1947 when most of Milton men had returned from the war Frank Burling and his brother Fred decided it would be nice to reform the Cricket Club and a meeting was called and it was decided to enter a team in the Cambs league. Incidentally there is a large collection of the CCA history also within the Cambridgeshire Collection where anyone interested could have access to all the records.

When the club reformed it did not have a suitable ground within the village on which to play cricket. All of their home games had to be played on Parkers Piece, Jesus Green or Magdalene College Ground in Milton road Cambridge.  As the league grew larger and several town teams entered, pitches became very difficult to hire as town teams had priority.  As a result it was decided to amalgamate with Landbeach in 1950 and games were played there for a short period of time. Unfortunately the pitch at Landbeach  proved to be unsuitable for cricket and as no other ground could be found on a regular basis it was decided to withdraw from the league and the players joined various other clubs.  Between 1951 and 1965 Milton only played friendly games which all had to be played away from Milton.

In 1966 the club was reformed and entered the Cambs Minor League and played all their home games on Jesus Green, Cambridge.

In 1967 the team grew stronger in playing strength and decided to enter the Junior League.  They left Jesus Green and played all their home games at Impington Village College.

In 1968 Milton finally obtained their own home ground in the village by using part of the Coles Road recreation ground.  In this year they also formed a 2nd XI and entered into the Minor League.  The 1st XI won promotion to Division IV in 1971 and won promotion again in 1973 to Div III.  The club enjoyed a successful period from 1977 and in 1978 the 2nd XI shared the Minor League Cup when a tie was played with Thriplow II.  By 1981 the 1st XI had won promotion to Senior League 2 and in 1982 won the Walker Invitation Cup at the first attempt and went on to win the cup on 4 other occasions as well as being beaten finalists twice.  They also reached the Final of the Invitation Cup in 1996 losing to Burwell by 1 run.

Year 2001 was the pinnacle year of success so far for Milton Cricket Club.  This had to be one of the best years since its formation.  The seeds of this success had been planted 3-4 years previously when Maurice Claydon –Wallace started a Colts team.  All three Colts teams, U10,U11 and the U13 team won their respective leagues.  The 2nd XI and 3rds continued that success in part assisted by Colts players in gaining promotion for their teams.

Club Sponsors

Milton CC are kindly sponsored by

Lion and Lamb Public House, Milton

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