Cogenhoe Cricket Club
Cogenhoe Cricket Club is a cricket club in the village of Cogenhoe, Northamptonshire, England.
History
On Friday July 21, 1882 the Northampton Mercury reported that Yardley Hastings beat Cogenhoe C C by 11 runs, it was the first reported match played by the village and the beginning of 129 years of village cricket. Those 129 years have produced some EXCITING matches, seen lifelong friendships borne and contributed to the sense of community you can only find in a quintessential English village.
In 1982 Tim Street produced the superb club centenary booklet which was full of information AbOUT the early days of the club and contains some fascinating facts on how the club was run then which we can compare with today’s running of the club.
In 1891 club membership was 2/6 which is about 25 pence, today it is £10, something our current Treasurer will no doubt be casting an eye over. In 1891 the club had two contributions from Vice-Presidents which totaled Twenty Three Shillings, today the club are superbly supported by over 20 Vice-Presidents and over 15 sponsors whose generosity every year means the club can continue not just to exist but grow.
Home to Cogenhoe Cricket Club is Compton Park on the outskirts of the village on the Brafield Road. The club sub-lets the playing area from the football club who in turn lease the field from Compton Estates of Castle Ashby. This has been the clubs home since 1998. In early times the club has played at Billing Aquadrome, various fields around the village and before Compton Park the village playing field.
Up to 1968 Cogenhoe only competed in friendly fixtures, then under the guidance and driving force of David Welch, the club decided to lay a concrete wicket and join the town league. The club joined section three of the town league in 1968 and despite losing their first fixture away to Avon Cosmetics II at the racecourse on April 27, they bounced back the next week in some style against Y M C A “B” with David Bliss 129* and Terry Tarpley 76, sharing in a second wicket stand of 212, a club record that stood for 35 years. The season ended with the club finishing in second place and promotion to section two. Over the following years Cogenhoe were promoted and relegated on numerous occasions between the top three leagues before in 1998 seeking the challenge of the Northants Alliance League and then the Northants Cricket League, where they now play in Division Seven. A second XI was set up in 1976 and ran until 1981 in the town league. The seconds reappeared in 1992 and remained in the town league until 1998 when they too joined the Alliance and now play in Division Twelve of the NCL. Like many clubs Cogenhoe has had its shares of ups and downs but the strength of a village club like Cogenhoe is its history and tradition, we may not be the best cricket club in the county but we are one of the friendliest, who always try to play the game in the right manner win or lose. We have had a few famous names play for us as well as produce some excellent club cricketers whose talents would have been welcomed at a higher level but who chose to stay loyal to their village and their club.
Our most famous son is Mal Loye who played for the club as a teenager in the Eighties before going on to greater things with Northants, Lancashire and England. Peter Lee also of Northants and Lancashire played for the club in 1991/ 92 and helped the club to reach its highest ever town league finish in 1991 second behind the mighty United Social. Peter is also fondly remembered for his 5 wickets in 5 balls against Bugbrooke St Michaels in 1992. George Thompson played for the club and Northants and England in the early 1900s, indeed George joined the club as a junior in 1891 paying 1/6 on August 10 to become a junior member of the club.
While those names may be known to cricket watchers, the strength of a village club like ours is the loyalty shown by players who have played for the club for years through thick and thin, from Les Robjohns, Bob Sketchley, Tim Street and Terry Tarpley in the sixties and seventies who were followed by Dave Foley, Albert Irons, Pat Loye, Tot Manning, Jason Roberts, Chris Mason and Phil Whiteman. Dave Evans, Shaun Roberts and Nobby Wykes through the eighties and nineties leading on to today and Danny McLaughlin, Gareth Goddard and Matt Irons. Today the club is as healthy as it has ever been. Two senior sides, a midweek XI and a junior under 11's. The juniors play an important part in the clubs development while we do see some talented youngsters leave the club for the bright lights and better standard of cricket a larger club can provide, the youth system has produced some very talented cricketers for our club. Indeed the club could quite easily play a first XI all aged under 30 and of a good standard, which in this day and age for a small village is quite something.[4 In 2010 the club had a fantastic year which saw the first team finish as runners up in Division 8 of the Northants Cricket League, we also gain success at the league awards. Our groundsmen Peter Cox and Charlie Bryant picked up the ground award for divisions 8 to 13, Our website, Facebook page, play-cricket reports and Parish Magazine articles won the club the prestigious Ian Davidson Memorial Trophy for best promotion of a club via the media, whilst Ashley Davis picked up one of the young bowlers of the year awards for his excellent 28 wickets for our seconds. Ashley was just 14 at the time and a leg spinner to boot. In 2011 the first team again finished as runners up this time in Division 7 but the biggest result the club had in 2011 was being awarded Clubmark status in October.In 2012 the first team again won promotion and in 2013 Cogenhoe`s first team will play their cricket in Division 5 of the Northants Cricket League, whilst the second Eleven will be captained by Ryan Knight and will compete in Division 12 of the NCL.2012 also saw the club win the Ian Davidson Memorial Trophy for a second time, thanks to its increased social media traffic on Facebook and Twitter along with its superb website which now features over 1 000 scorecards from league games dating back to 1968. In November 2012 the club won the Northamptonshire Sport Community Club of the Year Award for gaining clubmark accreditation, increasing youth participation in sport, funding a number of coaching courses and raising over £ 3 000 for local charities. More information about Cogenhoe Cricket Club can be obtained by visiting the clubs award winning website www.cogenhoecc.co.uk Below are a selected number of club records, these records are for league games only and include all games played from 1968 to 2012 inclusive.
Club honours
LEAGUE WINNERS - 1989 - Town League Section 2, 1993 - Town League Section 2, 1997 - Town League Section 2, 1998 - Alliance League Division 4 North.
LEAGUE RUNNERS UP - 1968 - Town League Section 3, 1973 - Town League Section 2, 1976 - Town League Section 2, 1978 - Town League Section 2, 1988 - Town League Section 3, 1991 - Town League Section 1, 1995 - Town League Section 4 ( second XI ) 2010 - NCL Division 8, 2011 – NCL Division 7
F G Watts Under 13 `s League Winners'''''' – 2001
Garnett Cup - Runners Up – 1990
Clubmark - 2011
Northamptonshire Sport Community Club of the Year - 2012
Ian Davidson Memorial Trophy Winners - 2010 & 2012
NCL Best Ground Award - 2004 & 2010
MOST APPEARANCES - 333 - Chris Mason - 1978 - present, 332 - Dave Foley - 1978–2007, 322 - Jason Roberts - 1981–present, 308 - Daniel McLaughlin - 1977–present, 244 - Phil Whiteman - 1977–present, 233 - Albert Irons - 1983 - 2005, 203 - Pat Loye - 1975 - 1993, 202 - Matt Irons - 1992–present, 201 - Steve Cox - 1987 - present, 195 - Paul Hargreaves - 1987–2005.
MOST LEAGUE RUNS SCORED – 8 297 - Jason Roberts, 7 986 - Daniel McLaughlin, 4 265 - Leigh Woodward, 3 809 - Les Robjohns, 3 611 - Phil Whiteman, 3 466 - Paul Hargreaves, 3 397 - Dave Evans, 3 286 - Gareth Goddard, 3 246 - Dave Foley, 3 062 - Pat Loye.
MOST LEAGUE WICKETS - 476 - Dave Foley, 400 - Albert Irons, 338 - Daniel McLaughlin, 317 – Chris Mason, 294 – Matt Irons, 205 - Jason Roberts, 197 - Les Robjohns, 191 – Alex Harvey-Jones,180 - Tony Bird, 166 - Tom Smyth,164 - Simon Love.
LEAGUE CENTURIES SCORED 1968 to 2011 - 56 - 15 - Jason Roberts 14 - Daniel McLaughlin, 6 - Leigh Woodward, 3 - Les Robjohns, & Ryan Knight 2 - Wayne Gardner, Gareth Goddard, Matt Golby & Phil Whiteman, 1 - David Bliss, Paul Browning, Paul Hargreaves, Piron James, Liam Knight, Peter Lea & Tony Manning.
HIGHEST INDIVIDUAL LEAGUE SCORE - 163 - Jason Roberts v Kettering Town III - 4/7/2009
BEST LEAGUE BOWLING - 13.5 - 7 - 23 - 9 Shaun Roberts v Prims XLCR - 6/5/89, 10.5 - 0 - 28 - 9 Les Robjohns v Prims XLCR II - 24/8/68
FIRST TEAM LEAGUE RECORDS'''
MOST RUNS IN A SEASON''' - Jason Roberts 792 in 1991
MOST WICKETS IN A SEASON - Dave Foley - 51 in 1985
HIGHEST TEAM TOTAL - 371 - 8 v Irchester II - 2004
LOWEST TEAM TOTAL - 25 all out v Queens Park Working Mens Club - 1986
HIGHEST OPPOSITION TOTAL - 294 - 4 Kislingbury Temperance - 1994, 294 - 4 Kibworth III - 2008
LOWEST OPPOSITION TOTAL - 21 all out - Kingsthorpe Baptists - 1969
SECOND TEAM RECORDS'''
MOST RUNS IN A SEASON''' - Dave Evans 640 in 1995
MOST WICKETS IN A SEASON - Albert Irons - 39 in 1995
HIGHEST TEAM TOTAL - 315 - 4 v Kettering Town III - 2009
LOWEST TEAM TOTAL - 24 all out - Temperance II - 1980
HIGHEST OPPOSITION TOTAL - 504 - 5 St Andrews - 2006
LOWEST OPPOSITION TOTAL - 16 all out - Compton – 1977