Goodwood Cricket
| Goodwood Cricket Club's emblem | |
| Personnel | |
|---|---|
| Captain |  Jamie Miles |
| Coach | None |
| Owner | His Grace The Duke of Richmond and Gordon |
| Chief executive | Tim Odell |
| Team information | |
| Colors | Red and Yellow |
| Founded | 1702 |
| Home ground | Goodwood Park |
Goodwood Cricket Club is a Sunday village cricket team that play during the summer in the ground of Goodwood Park, near Chichester. The ground overlooks Goodwood House and is owned by the Duke or Richmond and Gordon.
It is thought to be the oldest Cricket Club in the world, in fact, the first ever game of cricket was played here in 1702. The cricket club had strong links with Lord's, as the 4th Duke was one of the original backers of Thomas Lord.
Today, the club and ground is owned by the Duke of Richmond and Gordon but run by a group of volunteers that make up the Goodwood Cricket Club Team.
History
A receipt for brandy, given to the players, records the earliest known game of cricket at Goodwood in 1702.
In 1727 in Goodwood Park, a game was played between the 2nd Duke of Richmond and Mr Brodrick of Peper Harow Park, near Godalming (cricket is still played there today). As was common in those days there was a wager on the match and a set of rules was drawn up. These rules are the oldest set of cricket rules in the world. The originals are kept in Goodwood House, with a copy in the club pavilion and at Lord’s.
The club has a strong link with Lord’s. the 4th Duke was one of the original backers of Thomas Lord when he brought ‘the rough piece of land’ in St John’s Wood and the 5th Duke was President of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). The present Duke is Patron of Sussex Country Cricket Club.
Another link with Lord’s are the club colours. These colours are the racing colours of the Dukes of Richmond, circa 1801. Sometime after their use by the Dukes and the cricket club they also became the colours of the MCC circa 1888.
Related People
The club has played host to a variety of players, including:
- James Lillywhite, Captain of England (employee of the Duke)
- Sir Colin Cowdrey
- Ted Dexter
- Jim Parks
- John Snow
- Roy Castle
- Allan Wells
- Ian Salisbury
- Graham Gooch
- Nasser Hussain
Club Developments
An enormous Ceader of Lebanon tree overlooks the club; it was planted in 1752 as a seed and planted out on the ground in 1756.
Recent developments have seen the arrival of electric and a bar in 1989, showers in 1991, sightscreens and an enlarged social area in 1996, a new artificial net in 1997, a new scoreboard in 1998, a 3-ton roller in 1999 and new roll-on roll-off covers in 2000. The square and pavilion are all maintained by voluntary help.
Special Games
This season, a series of Twenty-Twenty Cricket games will be played on selected Friday nights, which will end with a final with the winners being presented by with the ‘Goodwood Cup’.
Every year, an all day game is played in which the London-New Zealand Cricket Team visit. It is a tradition which has been ongoing for many years with a special lunch, tea and pizza buffet in between and after games.
Damage and Vandalism
Each year, the Goodwood Festival of Speed is held within the ground of Goodwood Park. Some damage to the pavilion, square and field occur during this time with the large amount of people attending the event. Exhibitions are laid out over the field; last year huge sand sculptures surrounded the filed and caused some damage to the pitch. This sometimes leads to frustration with the club members who work extremely hard all year round to ensure that the pitch is kept in top-condition.