Sporting Life: Why now is the time to get involved with your village cricket team – before it goes the way of the pub and the post office
Village cricket is going through something of a crisis – so now is the time to get out there and get stuck in. Annunciata Elwes reports.


The comforting spectacle of white-clad cricketers whiling away a sunny afternoon with a game on the village green is one of the irresistible sights of the British summer. Yet cricketers across the country are now deeply worried that, unless things change, this hopelessly bucolic pastime could soon become a memory.
Not all clubs are struggling. Some places such as Hartley Wintney Cricket Club in Hampshire – pictured above – have been thriving. Others, though, have been far less fortunate as the flow of new recruits has slowed to a trickle.
In 2008, there were 428,000 cricketers registered in England; eight years later, that number had dropped to 278,000.
Cricket in towns – with their greater reach and superior facilities – have been thriving, but villages have been suffering. It’d be a crying shame if the village clubs that are the lifeblood of the game followed the example of rural pubs and post offices by closing down in their thousands – yet with modern life making us more pushed for time than ever before, a real effort is needed to remind potential new players of the joys of joining in.
‘Young lads in villages are less and less interested and a lot of clubs have folded,’ says James Jaffrey, captain of the Audley End & Littlebury Cricket Club in Essex, founded in 1889.
‘Although the big clubs in towns are doing well, the grass roots are drying up. We’ve only got about a dozen members, so it can be hard to put a side together.’
Even the cricket team on The Archers recently struggled to field a full side, with the captain inviting female players to join, which elicited a patchy response from both players and audience.
Sign up for the Country Life Newsletter
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
The successful clubs have found ways to make it work though. Ian Kerr, chairman of Hartley Wintney Cricket Club, suggests that the key is to get players while they’re young. ‘We operate one of the largest junior sections in the county,’ he said in a recent letter to Country Life. ‘Our focus has been on making this great game part of the family DNA.’
Well said, Ian – and we’d exhort anyone toying with the idea of getting involved to dilly-dally no more, and get on with finding a club. Luckily, the England and Wales Cricket Board makes it easy: their website has a ‘club finder’ to help prospective players find somewhere to get involved. See www.ecb.co.uk/play/find-a-club for all the details.
Ted Dexter: The Italian-born icon who brought dash and glamour to English cricket
Ted Dexter, the former England cricket captain and chairman of selectors, is still bursting with wit, wisdom and insight about
Ready, steady, SLOW! The wonderfully eccentric (and very British) world of competitive snail racing
Summer in the British countryside brings with it all sorts of unusual events and celebrations – and they don't get any
A gorgeous thatched home on Dartmoor with an orchard, stables and its own cricket pitch
This extraordinary Tudor home has everything: a gorgeous location, beautiful rooms, a pool, stables – and even its own cricket pitch!
Sporting Life: The joys of Fen skating, the great 19th century sport that you've probably never heard of
The near-forgotten sport of Fen skating was once a huge draw, with thousands of spectators and making celebrities of the
Credit: The Harley Gallery – Clare Twomey's lithophanes, part of The Grand Tour
In Focus: An ethereal exhibition pushing the boundaries of photography, porcelain and the display space itself
Clare Twomey's new exhibition at the Harley Gallery in Nottinghamshire blurs the lines in a fascinating manner: where do the
Annunciata grew up in the wilds of Lancashire and now lives in Hampshire with a husband, two daughters and an awful pug called Parsley. She’s been floating round the Country Life office for more than a decade, her work winning the Property Magazine of the Year Award in 2022 (Property Press Awards). Before that, she had a two-year stint writing ‘all kinds of fiction’ for The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, worked in internal comms for Country Life’s publisher (which has had many names in recent years but was then called IPC Media), and spent another year researching for a historical biographer, whose then primary focus was Graham Greene and John Henry Newman and whose filing system was a collection of wardrobes and chests of drawers filled with torn scraps of paper. During this time, she regularly gave tours of 17th-century Milton Manor, Oxfordshire, which may or may not have been designed by Inigo Jones, and co-founded a literary, art and music festival, at which Johnny Flynn headlined. When not writing and editing for Country Life, Annunciata is also a director of TIN MAN ART, a contemporary art gallery founded in 2021 by her husband, James Elwes.
-
Can't you hear me S.O.S? Our treasured native dog breeds are at risk of extinction
Do you know your Kerry blue terrier from your Lancashire heeler? A simple lack of publicity is often to blame for some of the UK's native dog breeds flying dangerously low under-the-radar.
By Victoria Marston Published
-
'There are architects and architects, but only one ARCHITECT': Sir Edwin Lutyens and the wartime Chancellor who helped launch his stellar career
Clive Aslet explores the relationship between Sir Edwin Lutyens and perhaps his most important private client, the politician and financier Reginald McKenna.
By Clive Aslet Published
-
Curious Questions: Why do golf balls have dimples? And why are tennis balls furry?
As the weather picks up, millions of us start thinking about dusting off our golf clubs and tennis rackets. And as he did so, Martin Fone got thinking: why aren't the balls we use for tennis and golf perfectly smooth?
By Martin Fone Published
-
How Country Life launched the career of Alistair Mackenzie, the architect who created Augusta National's iconic golf course
Alister Mackenzie, the golf course architect who created Augusta National Golf Club, was a GP with an enthusiastic sideline in golf until he won a competition in Country Life. Roderick Easdale tells the extraordinary tale.
By Country Life Published
-
Dressage: How 'horse dancing' evolved from ancient, deadly beginnings to modern Olympic glory
There can be no short cuts to success in dressage. The Ancient Greeks’ sympathetic methods of training horses, which were all about survival in battle, should still hold good in today’s widespread embrace of the Olympic sport, as Pippa Cuckson explains.
By Concours of Elegance Published
-
Inspired by Wimbledon? Expert tennis tips to help brush up a rusty game
With Wimbledon in full swing, it's the time of year when often-deserted tennis courts are suddenly teeming with players.
By Toby Keel Published
-
How to win at board games, from Monopoly and Cluedo to Scrabble and Snakes and Ladders
As millions of people around the country are set to have an enforced period at home, it'll be time to bring out the classic board games. But how can you make sure you beat the kids? Luck helps, but tactics are better as Matthew Dennison explains.
By Country Life Published
-
Six Nations 2020: England's chance to bounce back in style from World Cup disappointment — but they're very far from unstoppable
England look set to absolve their World Cup disappointment by lifting the Six Nations crown, says Owain Jones, as he gives his team-by-team guide ahead of the contest that kicks off on Saturday.
By Toby Keel Published
-
Why the Penny Farthing is once more a frequent sight on the streets of London
The dinosaur of the bicycle world is back in the spotlight with the help of the Penny Farthing Club and its intrepid members.
By Country Life Published
-
Walking St Cuthbert's Way in late summer: Heather in late-summer emperor’s purple, lit up by the last burst of warmth
The Cheviots and St Cuthbert’s Way are the right setting for reflection and remembrance, as Fiona Reynolds finds on her latest walk.
By Fiona Reynolds Published