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Newhaven Cricket Club History
Prior to the 1870's what is now the
recreation ground was unused marsh land. In 1864 work began on
building
Newhaven Fort - Sussex's largest ever work of defence. Most
of the six million bricks used in the fort’s construction were
made using clay dug from the marsh. The cleared, open land that
was left was then passed on to the people of Newhaven for the
purposes of playing cricket by Lord Sheffield.
Lord Sheffield owned a lot of land around the Meeching chalk quarry and Hillcrest area as well as other parts of the town. It was he who juggled with the military to release the land for the recreation ground and when it was ready with its new cricket pitch, it was his Sheffield Park Eleven who played the first match against Newhaven on their new home ground...
Above: The inaugural cricket match in Newhaven played in 1890
Click here for a summary of the opening day - taken as an
Extract
from: Cricket in the Park
In the late 1800's the Earl of Sheffield staged cricket matches in part of the gardens of his estate a few miles north of Newhaven.
The first Australian and South African cricket test teams to play in England often began their campaign by playing Lord Sheffield's Eleven at Sheffield Park. Lord Sheffield's team included W.G. Grace.
The oldest recorded match at Fort Road
was in 1877 when, on 6 July: Newhaven
played away against Rottingdean with the home match against the
same opposition being played the following week on 13 July.
Full name: Walter Quaife Clear here to read a score card featuring Walter Quaife
Full name: William George Quaife
Wisden Cricketer of the Year: 1901
His younger brother, William Quaife, again
started with Newhaven, but followed his brother to Warwickshire
in 1893, never playing for Sussex. William was named
one of the
five “Wisden Cricketers of the Year” for 1901 having started his
England career against Australia in 1899.
Other prominent Newhaven CC players
...who again started their cricketing lives with Newhaven, before moving onto Sussex and England.
Alan went on to play for Sussex from 1981 to 1996, where he was captain from 1992 to 1996. He then played for Kent from 1997 to 2000. In total he played 376 first-class matches in a career spanning twenty seasons, with a batting average of 38.57 and a top score of 253 not out (against Yorkshire at Middlesbrough in 1991). He only played twice for England, once in a Test match (where he was dismissed for a golden duck by the West Indian fast bowler Curtly Ambrose) and once in a One Day International. But he did also play on the rebel tour of South Africa in 1989-90.
During the winter of 1994-95, Alan led
England 'A' to a long and highly successful tour of the Indian
Subcontinent. Colin was a solid county all-rounder,
who played for Derbyshire and Sussex, as well as Border and
Western Province in South Africa.
Brighton & Hove Albion’s young striker, Jake Robinson, is a very good cricketer and played for Newhaven at youth level and for two seasons in the club’s Second Team. In between football commitments with Brighton (Aldershot Loan 2009) Jake can be seen taking an active roll at Newhaven CC - on and off the pitch.
Newhaven CC Youth
We are now proud to boast boys teams at
Under 11’s, 12’s, 14’s and 16’s together with girls teams at
Under 13’s and 16’s. The girls section started in 2002, but
really took off in 2004 when Newhaven Girls Team represented
Lewes District in the Sussex Youth Games and won the tournament. Click here to read the History of Newhaven Youth
The Club's home was built in 1947 and served for most of its life as a cafe.
Newhaven CC took over the lease in the 1980's and began a major restoration project in 2010...
Some history:
Clubhouse just visible in the background on a RNLI event. Year Unknown.
Storm flooding in 1967. In the background you can see T.S Falaise, the first roll on / roll off ferry.
A picture taken just before the storm of 1987 showing the roof under repair.
The storm of 1987...
The resulting flooding. Even though the square is above water the salt had done too much damage and it needed re-turfing. The bowling green also suffered but they managed to wash the salt out with clean water.
2009. Even with a new coat of paint the building is looking old.
2010 - with three months of restoration work complete the clubhouse is now returned to its original facia - along with electronic scoreboard and flower beds.
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[ Newhaven CC 2006 ]