Club History

By Jon Branson - March 24 2010
This is a rather brief year by year potted history of how Clay Cross Cricket Club came about, has developed over the years and our main achievements.

1972 - Commenced life as Kenning Remoulds and immediately joined the North Derbyshire Cricket League. Ground at Langer Lane Birdholme Chesterfield

1973 - Moved ground to Sharley Park Clay Cross and changed club name to Sharley Park.

1983 - Champions Division 2. Known as Clay Cross by this date.

1985 - Runners up Cantrill Cup

1986 - Winners Gregory Cup.

1988 - Merged with Clowne Phoenix CC.

1989 - Last season with North Derbyshire Cricket League

1990 - Joined Mansfield Cricket League. Champions Division C

1992 - Joined Derbyshire County Cricket League. Retained membership of Mansfield Cricket League

1994 - Last season with Mansfield Cricket League

1995 - Second team formed. Joined Derbyshire County Cricket League. First team promoted to Division 4D

1996 - First team promoted to Division 4C as runners-up in 4D, also winners of James Harwood Cup.

1997 - First team promoted to Division 4B as champions of 4C. See the trophy

1998 - First team promoted to Division 4A and the 2nd team promoted to 4E as part of the DCCL restructuring programme. Agreed with North East Derbyshire DC that Club can have assured use of Sharley Park Cricket Ground. Youth team launched.

1999 - First team promoted to 3C and win the Ripley and Heanor News Wright Cup. 2nd team fight of relegation to stay in 4E. Ground improvements made to ensure that the first team can be promoted and the New Pavilion project starts.

2000 - First team finish a creditable 5th in 3C and the Seconds have a good season under difficult circumstances to finsih 5 avoiding one of the 7 relegation places in 4E.

2001 - Possibly the most successful season we have ever had. The 1st team finish 2nd in 3C gaining promotion losing out by only 3 points at the top of the table. The 1st's also reached the semi final of the cup before losing out to Darley Dale in a tight game. The 2nds also gained promotion by finishing 4th in 4E well ahead of the 5th placed team.

2002 - The first team finish 4th in 3B ensuring that they will be part of 3 North in restructured setup. A good run towards the end of the season clinches promotion for the 2nd team as they finish 3rd and will be part of 5 North next season. The new Sunday team playing in Section IV of the Mansfield League avoided relegation but achieved its aim of providing cricket for youngsters and those who missed out on Saturday cricket.

2003 - First team narrowly miss out on promotion to Division 2 when a poor finish to the season sees them in 3rd place in Division 3 North. Second team suffer relegation from 5 North to 6 North following a disrupted season which saw numerous captains and unlucky defeats. The Sunday team again consolidate their position in section IV of the Mansfield League. After much hard work and planning the development of the new second ground started, see here, and is due for completion in readiness for the 2005 season and work commenced on upgrading the pavilion to Grade A status.

2004 - Sunil Bhatt becomes the clubs first overseas player and makes his mark as his league record breaking total of over 1800 runs helps take the 1sts the Div 3N title and promotion to Div 2. 2nd team bounce back from relegation to make it a club double as they win 6N in a tight battle.

2005 - The first team finish in their highest ever position with a mid table position in Division 2 and will compete in 2 North next season following a restructure of the league. The 2nds finish a creditable 5th in Division 5N following their return. 2006 will see the club field 3 teams on a Saturday for the first time the Mansfield League team moves across and will play on the clubs new ground which will make for some good days of cricket up at the Cross!!

2006 - First team are relegated for the first time after finishing bottom of 2 North. Seconds finish in the bottom half of 5 North and the Thirds complete their first season in the County League without a win but never forfeited a game.

2007 - First team bounce back from their relegation to win 3 North and go back to 2 North at the first attempt. The seconds finish 3rd in 5 North and following some withdrawals in the above division they are also promoted and will compete in 4 North in 2008. The thirds have another good season in 7 North finishing near the top.

2008 - One of the most successful years in the clubs history as the first team make it two successive promotions as they win 2 North by 41 points from Belper Meadows to achieve promotion to Division 1 whilst the seconds make light work of their higher division finishing third having been in the promotion more or less all season. The thirds topped off the season by finishing second in Div 7N to achieve their first ever promotion.

2009 - Playing at their highest standard ever the firsts comfortably stay in Division One and during the season had a spell of 7 consecutive wins which at one point had them in the hunt for promotion to the Premier League. The seconds struggle as they played sides who a couple of seasons ago the first team were playing but a good end to the season saw them avoid relegation with a final day win. The thirds continued to build on their success by comfortably staying at their new level.