About The Club

We are a strong community based club with nearly 100 senior and junior members aged 6 - 66. We run five senior sides - two competitive league teams on Saturdays, two friendly teams on Sundays (almost a unique achievement in Surrey club cricket) and one which plays a range of fixtures on Bank Holidays and midweek evenings in competitive and friendly 20/20 matches.

The two league sides play in the Surrey Downs League and were 1st XI champions in 2004 and runners up in 2006. We were also 2nd XI champions in 2003 and 2004.

One of the strengths of the club is the family feel and we have a number of players still playing in their 50’s and 60’s often with their sons – a couple of the older players now play for Surrey over-50s as well.

A club with history...

We are celebrating our 125th birthday next year (2010) and we already have plans for some exciting events including special matches against invitation teams, a summer ball on the recreation ground, and special edition club shirts.

A youth section that is powering ahead

Claygate has put effort and investment into developing its junior sides.

Anyone who watched the performance of some of our highly promising colts playing in our senior sides last season will have been given real confidence in the youth section’s ability to make a big difference to cricket at Dalmore Avenue in the future.

Thanks to a growing support in the club, we’ve been able to put substantial effort into developing our colts and the benefits are really starting to show. We have some great prospects playing at the junior level at the moment.

In 2008, the youth section has gone from strength to strength, with four teams playing competitive cricket in the West Surrey Youth League and Kwik Cricket continues to flourish on a Sunday morning.

The club also started to reach out directly to local schools running an after school cricket training session at Claygate Primary School. Leading on from this, the club hosted a schools Kwik Cricket competition featuring four local primary schools. It really reflected the way in which the club wishes to develop in the future.

Building on this, we hope to further develop our links to local schools including the running of coaching sessions over school holidays and we have an ambitious plan for running five youth teams in 2009.

Claygate has also invested in an all-weather artificial strip so we are able to play colts games even after bad weather, or if there is heavy use of the main cricket square. In addition we are planning a second wicket so we can run two matches at the same time and have purchased a bowling machine which will give young players the chance to face a whole variety of different bowling in more intensive practice sessions.

A heritage of international tours

The club’s most recent tour to the Eastern Cape in South Africa in February 2008 was no ordinary overseas club tour with three of the nine matches being played against black townships.

This was Claygate’s seventh international tour, and in the last fourteen years we’ve travelled to all parts of the cricketing globe. ( Sri Lanka 1995, Barbados 1997, Goa 1999, South Africa’s Garden Route 2001, Trinidad and Tobago 2003, St Lucia 2005 and South Africa’s Eastern Cape 2008)

On the most recent trip we took 24 players and the same number of wives, partners, family and friends. We played nine games, including a final day/night match against a Border Invitation XI at the international ground at Buffalo Park. Claygate also raised over £5000 to purchase cricket equipment for the development of cricket in the townships which was presented to Border at the end of their tour.

We have solid sponsorship support

Currently we have two businesses which support the club in different ways for which we are very grateful. Matthew Pierce - the local Claygate-based independent estate agent has a rolling commitment to the club (e.g. shirt sponsorship) announced in 2005 which helped purchase some of the best sightscreens in village cricket. We are also very grateful to The Griffin for generous sponsorship, and for providing a great place to meet before away games! We are currently looking to increase this support and level of enjoyment from local business so please get in touch if you think we can help as a shop window for your business.

And ambitious plans for development of the pavillion

Claygate has played on the Recreation Ground in the centre of the village since the 1930’s. With a few modifications, the clubhouse is essentially the one that was built at that time and is now unsuitable for our needs and demands today. We are currently engaged in applying for grant support to completely redevelop the facility, plans for which we hope to announce before too long. Watch this space!