Town v Gown; City v Village: A History of Cricket in Cambridge

By Tony Watts

The initial print run of this book has now sold out. Further copies are being printed and we expect to be able to fulfil orders before Christmas.

Cambridge has had an extraordinarily rich cricket culture and tradition. Some games played by its Town and County teams in the 19th century had first-class status. Cambridgeshire could, and perhaps should, have been a first-class county. But Town and Gown never managed to harness satisfactorily their joint resources.

Nonetheless, the University provided access to first-class cricket for well over a century, bringing county and international teams to play against the University on Fenner’s, a ground famed for the quality of its wickets. There were also strong city clubs, playing ‘friendly’ cricket on fine college grounds run by dynasties of extraordinary groundsmen. This contrasted with the league cricket in the surrounding villages.

In recent years, these traditions have been transformed. University cricket no longer has first-class status, and much less cricket is played on college grounds. The growth of integrated club league structures has resulted in the rise of village clubs. The major city clubs have either folded or have merged into those in the surrounding villages. At the same time, the recreational game has been affected by massive social change.

This book celebrates Cambridge’s distinctive cricket tradition, analyses the reasons for the changes that have taken place, and describes the endeavours being made – in Cambridge and elsewhere – to sustain and develop cricket in a new era.