South Loughton Cricket Club

South Loughton Cricket Club was founded in 1938 and is located in the Essex commuter town of Loughton, within the local government district of Epping Forest situated northeast of Greater London. Its home ground is part of the Roding Valley Recreation Ground, which in 2018 received an award as the best-kept playing field in the county.

The club caters for men, women, boys and girls of all ages from five upwards. The club is a registered Community Amateur Sports Club and was one of the first cricket clubs in England to gain Clubmark accreditation, signifying that it offers a 'safe, effective and child-friendly environment'.
The club's home ground is affected by flooding whenever the adjacent River Roding bursts its banks. An Environment Agency planning application for measures to improve flooding resilience along the river is due to be submitted in summer 2021.
The club's colours are pale blue and gold. The club crest depicts the River Roding, three seaxes from the flag of Essex and a roebuck representing Epping Forest.
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Adult cricket
The club runs five adult teams each weekend during the summer cricket season. In 2020, two league teams were due to join the T Rippon Mid-Essex Cricket League until the Covid-19 pandemic forced the league season to be voided. Friendly matches were played instead.
For the previous 20 seasons, South Loughton played in the Herts & Essex Cricket League, known as HECL
During its time in HECL, the club's 1st XI were champions in 2007, finished runners-up in 2009, and came third in 2018. The 2nd XI also achieved a number of divisional honours, most recently winning the Division 5 title in 2018.
Prior to this period, the club had played in the Lillywhite Frowd Essex League from its formation in 1982, when league cricket became more widespread within the county, until 1998.
South Loughton CC also has a full Sunday fixture list with traditional games against longstanding opponents for the 1st XI, and a 2nd XI which plays 'development' games to help bring junior players into open-age cricket.
The club also works in partnership with Mathews Cricket Club, a traditional non-league club coincidentally founded in the same year as South Loughton and based at the Old Chigwellians Club . This relationship enables a Saturday 3rd XI to be run in which the emphasis is on social cricket and the development of junior players.
Junior cricket
The club operates a junior section for children aged 5 to 15. This has grown to around 100 members. In 2020 teams were fielded in the under-9, 11, 12, 13 and 15 age groups, playing in competitions organised by the Metropolitan Essex District Cricket Board (MEDCB). In recent years the club's junior section has become one of the strongest in Essex; 15 players represented Essex, London and MEDCB age-group teams in 2020.
In 2020 the club won the MEDCB under-13 competition for the Len Stentiford Trophy and were runners-up in the under-15 final for the Cox & Kings Trophy.
In 2019, the club's under-12 team won the Brian Taylor Trophy, an Essex-wide competition for teams in this age-group. The final was played at the County Cricket Ground, Chelmsford.
The club also offers a programme of soft-ball cricket for younger players, including the England & Wales Cricket Board's All Stars programme for five- to eight-year-olds.
Since 2006, the club has run its own FUNdamentals coaching programme and mini-league for six- to nine-year-olds. This was featured in a film made by Offshoot Films on behalf of Essex Cricket in the Community.
Famous players
The club's most famous former player is Barry Hearn OBE. The sports promoter and founder of Matchroom played for South Loughton during the late 1960s and '70s. In 1969, Hearn completed the rare '500 runs and 100 wickets' double, scoring 690 runs and taking 103 wickets.
Heinrich Nothnagel played for South Loughton from 2002 to 2004. In the 2004 season, he scored 1,999 runs and took 58 wickets. After moving to Taiwan, he played for and captained the Formosa Cricket Club. In 2020, he played for Daredevils in the Taipei T10 League, which was live streamed and attracted a global audience as the only live cricket played during the initial phase of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Club records
The club has kept detailed statistical records since 1947, when cricket resumed after World War Two.
Seven batsmen have scored more than 10,000 runs, including current 1st XI captain Mark Stokes. John Davies is the record run-maker, with a total of 15,461.
The highest individual score and record partnership were both achieved in the same HECL 1st XI game v Aspenden, Standon & Puckeridge on 20 August 2005. Christian ('Tiaan') Theron scored 307 not out, hitting 28 sixes and 19 fours. His opening partner Martin Pye scored 69 not out in a total of 394-0. South Loughton won the match by 258 runs.
Current President Peter Jones is the club's leading wicket-taker, with a total of 1,726. Ron Elliott took 942 wickets from 1947 to 1957 at an average of 5.79, reflecting the dominance of ball over bat on the poor quality pitches common in the post-war period.
Neil Blundy is the only bowler to have taken all 10 wickets in an 11-a-side game, achieving the feat against Elsenham CC in a 1984 friendly match. His figures were 13.4-2-40-10.

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