Blackheath Cricket Club 
From:
CSenergy@aol.comBlackheath Cricket Club For enquiries on Playing, Colts and non-playing membership, page down or click on Contact information
Where we play: The Rectory Field, Charlton Road, Blackheath, London SE3 8SR.
The ground is the same location as that of Blackheath Rugby Club and is on the road between Charlton and Blackheath about 600 yards from the Blackheath Standard.
Teams: We run 3 teams on a Saturday and 2 on Sundays and a Colts section covering the 13 to 16 age group.
We are members of the Foresters Kent Cricket League with our first and second teams playing on Saturdays in that competition. In 1999 the first eleven will play in Division One (a League of 10 clubs), looking for promotion to the Premier division - a 10 club League playing 2 Day cricket on successive weekends. Our League matches in Division One are 100 over matches starting at 1.30pm.
Our second eleven plays in the Premier division of the Second Team competition - a League of 20 teams which will split into 2 divisions of 10 after the 1999 season.
For Details of Playing Membership:
Omar Khan - Director of Cricket. 37A Tremadoc Road, Clapham SW4.
Home Phone No: 0171 - 622 6513 Office Phone No: 0171 - 316 6975
For Details of Colts Membership:
Chris Swadkin - 65 Coleraine Road; Blackheath, London SE3 7PF.
Phone/Fax: 0181 858 4250. Email: csenergy@aol.com
Ground Address:
The Rectory Field; Charlton Road, Blackheath, London SE3 8SR
Phone No: 0181-858-1578; Fax No: 0181-293-0854
Electronic mail
address
csenergy@aol.com
Web address
http://members.tripod.com/~BlackheathCC/
Other Club Officers:
Chairman: - John Taylor - Flat 8; 6 Pembridge Villas, London W11 2SU
0171 221 8396 (home); 0171 236 5923 (business). Email: Jon.Taylor@enskilda.se
Secretary: - Anthony Jones - 23G Nevern Square, London SW5 9PD.
0171 244 9677 (home); 0171 534 4919 (business) 07771 650 407 (mobile)
Email: anjones@lhr-co.GB.DHL.COM
Treasurer: - Laurie Baker - 54 Greenvale Road, Eltham, London SE9 1PD
0181 850 0577 (home); 0171 860 5962 (business); Email: fpp@camden.gov.uk
Fixture Secretary: Omar Khan - 37A Tremadoc Road, Clapham SW4.
Home Phone No: 0171 - 622 6513 Office Phone No: 0171 - 316 6975
Victorian Origins
Blackheath CC has its origins in three local cricket clubs - Blackheath Dartmouth - founded about 1830; Blackheath Paragon - founded about 1840 and Blackheath Morden- founded in 1863. All three clubs played on the Heath and took their names from localities fringing the Heath itself - Dartmouth Row on the West edge; Morden Road and College to the East and the Paragon - a handsome and imposing Georgian Crescent on the southern edge of the Heath.
Blackheath Dartmouth played on the Heath opposite Lansdown Place and was graced by the eminent presence of the legendary "Felix" - the Ian Botham of his day. Known as Felix presumably because he was actually Mr. Wanostrocht! Blackheath Morden's slot on the Heath was in front of St.German's Place and it played here until the 1885 season. A famous (or infamous?) member was Montague Druitt. Not only a feared opening bowler but also a candidate for Jack the Ripper - nipping across the Greenwich foot tunnel to the East End to murder the odd prostitute. In 1886 Blackheath Morden took up residence at the new ground - the Rectory Field - and dropped the "Morden" from their title - thus creating the club we know today.
The Heath was the playground for most of the local sport in Victorian times. As well as the centre for amateur cricket, it played host to golf and any other activity which took the fancy of the natives. Their enterprise has to be admired as the Heath was not the predominantly smooth grass of today. It was broken up by pits- the remains of gravel and sand workings that can still be seen in some parts today. Much of the ground was uneven and sprinkled with patches of gorse. The cricketers and other sportsmen had to clean and level their own playing area from season to season. No full time groundsman to delegate to either!
The Rectory Field
The formation of the Blackheath Cricket, Football and Lawn Tennis Company led to the development of the Rectory Field as the home for the new club and sport began to be played there in 1886.
In addition to cricket, it rapidly became a famous venue for rugby - the Blackheath Rugby Club along with Richmond, being one of the oldest clubs in the world - and hosted many internationals (England vs Scotland notably) around the turn of the century.
County Cricket at Blackheath
The Rectory Field was used by Kent for County Cricket on a regular basis until 1971. Generally the match versus Surrey was played at Blackheath - certainly this was the tradition in the '50s and '60s.
However as car parking space was sold off and questions began to arise over the quality of the (rugby pitch) outfield and Kent sought to concentrate their activities on the County Ground at Canterbury, Blackheath was lost to the County circuit. The final match in 1971 being a dreary affair against Derbyshire played in appropriately cloudy even funereal weather in the middle of a Test match and thus lacking major names from both teams.
Since the Second World War, a number of Blackheath members have been members of the Kent County Cricket Club staff including J.G.W.(Jack) Davies -who dismissed Bradman for 0 in 1948; Andy Hooper; Mike Olton; Alan Knott; Richard Elms; Min Patel; Jim Melville and David Laycock;
Recent History
League cricket was unknown in the London area before the late '60s and Blackheath did not enter the Kent League until 1973 when the original 12 member clubs from outer Kent voted to accept Blackheath, Beckenham and Bromley into the League. By then Blackheath had established themselves as one of the major clubs in the country. First, its success in the 1960s in the Evening Standard League table - a virtual League set up by the newspaper and reflecting the results between leading London clubs in their normal fixtures - proved that Blackheath were a force in London club cricket. Then, by winning the National Knockout Trophy at Lord's in 1971 where we defeated Ealing by 8 wickets.
Although Blackheath were often in contention to win the Kent League in the '70s, it took until the 1982 season before the Championship pennant flew at the Rectory Field. The year before, the club had again reached the Lord's final of the National KO - now called the John Haig Trophy, this time losing to Scarborough. The League championship was won again in 1984 but that was the last time Cup or Championship honours came our way.
A hint of a return to prominence came however in 1996 when Blackheath reached the Quarter final of the Evening Standard Trophy, only to lose a tense match to Hampstead by 6 runs.
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