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KIBWORTH CRICKET CLUB - THE BEGINNINGS


The oldest record of a Kibworth side playing cricket is found in THE LEICESTERSHIRE MERCURY from 12th September 1846. It details a game played on 7th September between the married and single but also dates the formation of the club to that spring claiming that 'This cricket club was established by the Rev E. S. Bathurst, for the recreation of the working classes, and to create a spirit of unity between them and the middle and higher classes, many of which have joined the club. All distinction seems to be banished while in the field'. Fittingly the worthy gentleman who little realised that he was founding over 150 years worth of cricket in the village would also score the first recorded half century for the club two years later.
The first record of a game against another club is found in PAYNE'S LEICESTER AND MIDLAND COUNTIES ADVERTISER from 17th July 1847. It details a game played on 7th July at Arnesby which ended in an innings victory for the home side.




The Kibworth side contains such well known village names as Underwood, Iliffe, Buzzard and Peberdy many of which appear time and again in the records of the club. This is the only Kibworth game recorded for that season but several other games are also covered during the course of the year including club's such as Measham, Desford, Rearsby, Barkby, Loughborough, Leicester Collegiate, Coalville, Melton, Borough Hill, Leicester Town, Billesdon and Sutton Bonnington. The choice of matches could be a little eclectic hence the full scorecard on 13th of September of Nailstone vs 9 Navvies working on the Leicester to Swannington line or on 23rd August Coach makers vs Wagon builders at Mr Hamer's railway works.

The first report for the following season (7th May) gives us an insight into the makeup of the club "consists of many of the farmers, as well as the tradesmen and the working classes." A report from later that year also tells us something of post game entertainment. After eleven of KCC had played "twenty-two who were not of the club, ten of whom were boys belonging to the parochial school" on 28th June they "assembled at the house of Mr C (Charley) Watts, the Old Swan, where a scrumptious supper was repaired for them."

In 1849 and 1850 games against Market Harborough are recorded for the first time both won by Kibworth and for the first time the name of Teear also appears in a Kibworth team.  This family represented the club with great distinction over several seasons as reported in the Leicester Chronicle in 1873 "it was this club that the Teears [of the R & C] were so unashamedly associated, and to whose indomitable assertion and skilled play it owed no small measure of its success. Even those formidable opponents, the Harborian - with the ugly "slow" and noted tactics of their doughty captain - were not infrequently vanquished by the Kibworth team." The final report for 1850 records a return game against Harborough that was ruined by rain and then not for the last time in its history the club seems to disappear. A notice published in the Leicestershire Mercury in May 1852 declared that the club 'was dead' but gives no more details leaving us to speculate whether the departure of the Rev Bathurst after his conversion to catholicism may have been involved in the decision.

No further record exists until The Leicester Advertiser reports on 30th May 1857 that "during the last week a cricket club has been established at Kibworth and promises to be a very good one by the numbers who have already joined it". The report also suggests a change of venue "They meet for practice in a field belonging to the Rev. M. Osborn, adjoining the vestry
(Rectory Field), and which is much more convenient than the one the old club used to meet in". The first practice game is recorded on 18th June and seems to have involved a change in post game venue as "in the evening a number of members partook of supper and a social glass at the house of Mr (William) Austin, The Rose & Crown Inn". On the 26th June the club played Billesdon in a game which the club chose to commemorate as its 150th anniversary in June 2007. The report of the 1857 game suggests that "the Billesdon gentlemen expected to find a company of novices. Their mistake was soon apparent from the manner which the wickets fell, for although a new club it was obvious that the majority were what might be called fair players". This is maybe not so surprising when you view the scorecard below and realise that several players were survivors  of the Arnesby game ten years before.

For a couple of years the club seems to go from strength to strength and it is clear that players later in the 19th century looked back on this period as a golden age. For example in the Leicester Chronicle & Leicestershire Mercury for 26th April 1873 " The village has been unashamedly famous for its cricket and a club formed several years ago, has gone through a whole season and scarcely lost a single game". It is not totally clear to which season this comment refers but a prime candidate seems to be 1859 as a report on a game played on 28th July against Welford states "it's a singular fact that the Kibworth club have won every match they have played this year, and we believe that previous to this year the Welford club have not been beaten at home for upwards of 12 years". Trouble was not far away however, in 1860 the club did not play its first match until late August (against Thurcaston) and was described in an early 1861 report as having been "in abeyance through a misunderstanding the previous year". Games are recorded in following seasons but an early 1866 season report records that "the cricket club of the village has for several years past been below par" and details "another attempt.....to revive it". For the first time a President (Mr Hunt) a vice president (T. Macaulay) and joint Secretaries and treasurer (A. B. Fry and Rev. R. Russell) are recorded.

1872 is another season with no games recorded and the following year the Leicester Chronicle & Leicestershire Mercury records that "a want of proper organisation and consequent discipline, has of late proved fatal to the Kibworth players, and crushing defeats have of late been the rule rather than the exception. An attempt is now being made to resuscitate the club, and there appears a desire to regain lost prestige."  The Leicester Journal one week later picks up the theme "for the last year or two the numbers have been very small, if there has been a club at all" and clearly even at this stage there were issues "the old favourable to cricket have been called together by a circular, and after two attempts they were not able to form a club". However a resolution was at hand "tradesmen and others are now members.......and on Monday evening last 26 names were entered, Mr John Wright been appointed manager." Under the name of Kibworth United Tradesmen CC this clubs first game reported in the media ended in an eight wicket defeat to Arnseby in early June. Two months later a game against Gumley resulted in "Disgraceful proceedings" as "a quarrel arose through some objections taken as to the fairness of certain individuals engaged in playing quoits". The Leicester Chronicle report on the incident goes into melodramatic depths on the incident in which "the greater proportion of the rioters were apparently maddened by drink".

In 1874 the Leicester Daily Mercury reported that Kibworth had taken on "a Leicester club" and although they were defeated the paper stated that "there is apparently a considerable deal of latent talent in the Kibworth club, and practice and perseverance will doubtless......bring again to Kibworth its justly earned, though now long lost prestige for the cricket". They celebrated their season "by dining at the Coach & Horses" in late October. In 1875 the club ran two sides and although only two match reports are recorded they obviously had an outstanding year "having engaged in many contests.......have not at present sustained a single defeat" according to an 11th September Leicester Chronicle report. The same article also gives us an insight into the make up of the club describing it as "in many respects much less pretentious than the one long since defunct".

In June 1876 the club played a game against "Gardiner's celebrated troupe of clown cricketers" and according to the Leicester Chronicle report a crowd of 200 turned up to watch. The club now settled into a pattern for the next few seasons using the Coach & Horses as their prefered hostilary for a "Soiree" in February and an Annual Dinner in October whilst the games seem likely to have been played on the Harborough Road field. In 1877 accounts are recorded in the local papers with "a balance in hand of £4 15s 8d" recorded. The ambitions of the club now extended to a new ground but as the Leicester Chronicle reports in early 1881 "searching...........has become an almost insuperable difficulty" due to "the good fields near to the village having been rendered unfit.....by the quality of draining done in the Winter".  The need for a new ground seems to have been driven by difficulties in obtaining use of the Harborough Road field each year, for example in April 1882 the Leicester Chronicle records that "the cricket prospect in the village is at present gloomy.....no playground is available on terms which the committee deem it advisable to accept" although three weeks later "the old cricket ground has at length been secured". The issue was clearly financial "the ground being taken on higher terms than formerly". This required an increase in subscriptions for the members a matter of some discussion at the AGM but a solution was close at hand, on Saturday 28th July 1883 the club played its first game on the new ground at Fleckney Road, its home for the next 122 years.