Until recently it was believed that the first record of a Rotherfield cricket team in action was a newspaper report of two matches against Brighton, home and away, in 1818. It seemed unlikely that a brand new club would have been involved in fixtures against such prestigious and distant opponents, but with cricket in England having virtually died out during the Napoleonic Wars, which ended only in 1815, the team could conceivably have been established a couple of years before. Now Brent Simmonds has unearthed a significantly earlier reference to cricket in Rotherfield. The Sussex Weekly Advertiser of 10 July 1749 announces a fixture the following Monday (the 16th) between Rotherfield and [East] Grinstead on Town Row Green. This establishes cricket in Rotherfield as pre-Hambledon, when the ball was still being rolled along the ground and bats were shaped like hockey sticks. The next reference to cricket in the village is a single-wicket challenge in 1790.
Following the games against Brighton in 1818, Rotherfield cricket appears to have continued healthily throughout the remainder of the nineteenth century, though not a lot of detail has survived. Early in the twentieth, participation and support began to dwindle, and the original club folded in 1912. The Village Institute subsequently received notice to give up its tenancy of the current Recreation Ground, which had been granted on the condition that cricket was played there. Rather than lose the ground, the Institute formed a new Rotherfield Cricket Club in 1914.
Twenty years ago in 1993, the 175th anniversary of what was then thought to be Rotherfield’s first match was celebrated with a splendid history produced by Brent Simmonds and Kingsley Miles. Through reference to the authors’ excellent work and source material, and the statistics diligently compiled since by Kevin Simmonds, it has been possible to assemble the main records of the present club from its formation in 1914 to the end of the 2013 season. Some source data is missing but not a significant amount. There is enough information to identify the leading performers, and where necessary to arrive at a good estimate of former players’ career aggregates.
For Rotherfield Cricket Club, the inter-war years were dominated by the Crowborough & District League which ran from 1921 to 1939. The town clubs of southern England, staunchly amateur in spirit, began playing league cricket only forty years ago. Local Sussex village leagues go back much further. Rotherfield were founder members of their league, entering Division 1 with Buxted Park, Crowborough, Mark Cross and an Army Signal Corps team based at Crowborough Camp. Subsequent opponents included Boarshead, Fairwarp, Five Ashes, Hadlow Down, [High] Hurstwood, Jarvis Brook, Lye Green, Nutley, Ridgewood, St John’s and United Churches. Only four of the clubs involved are still in existence. Rotherfield never won the league but finished runners-up three years in a row between 1926 and 1928.
The first thing that stands out when researching village cricket records is the vast change in levels of scoring over the years. Until the 1960s average scores were universally low. The average all-out total in recorded Crowborough League matches involving Rotherfield’s 1st XI was 57. Today’s norm is three to four times higher. Many matches between the wars ran to two innings a side. There were several reasons for low scores: rough underprepared pitches; overgrown outfields; lack of coaching; no television for observing the batting technique of professional players. Folk also travelled less and had fewer things to do on a summer’s afternoon. Players of limited ability, who would never be seen anywhere near a cricket ground today, regularly occupied the lower order and seldom made any runs.
In the decades after the Second World War, scoring levels increased gradually at first then more steadily as money became available for ground preparation. For Rotherfield, the most significant step-change occurred in 1995 when the club joined the East Sussex League. Today’s leagues compel member clubs to prepare true pitches and keep their outfields in order. Conditions for Rotherfield’s batsmen are far more favourable than they used to be, and life for our bowlers is correspondingly harder. This is why the records feature more bowlers of the past and more batsmen from the present. One example will suffice. When Alf Blackman took his thousandth wicket for the club in 1964, not one Rotherfield batsman had reached five thousand runs. Since then, only one bowler has followed Blackman to a thousand wickets while fourteen batsmen have passed five thousand runs, eight of whom were playing in 2013.

TEAM RECORDS
Highest Total For: 290-3 v Coleman’s Hatch, 2002
Highest Total Against: 364 by Ken Suttle’s XI, 1966
Lowest Total For: 8 v Boarshead, 1931
8 v Nutley, 1936
Lowest Total Against: 3 by Hartfield, 1930

Highest Partnership: 270* for 1st wicket: John Baldock & Tom Williamson v Glynde III, 2007

BATTING RECORDS
Most Runs in Career

John Baldock (1982- ) 22844
Chris Buck (1965- ) 16055
Harold Beeney (1957-87) 10000+
Mark Bulmer (1983- ) 9118
Norman Barrett (1956-81) 9000+
Peter Hartland (1991- ) 8866
Dick Baker (1951-83) 8500+
Kevin Simmonds (1986- ) 8448
Dave Hacker (1994- ) 6816
Dave Harman (1974- ) 6108
John Ralph (1962-88) 6000+
Kingsley Miles (1963-2002) 5700+
Brent Simmonds (1982- ) 5580
Brian Harman (1951-79) 5000+

Most Centuries

John Baldock 34
Mark Bulmer 9
Chris Buck 7
Tom Williamson 7
Peter Hartland 4

Most Runs in Season

1642 John Baldock 1996

1000 Runs in Season

John Baldock 1996, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2007, 2008
Chris Buck 1997, 2001, 2003
Ian Hartland 2009

Highest Innings

John Baldock 168* v Frant, 1997
John Baldock 164* v Coleman’s Hatch, 2002
John Baldock 151* v Robertsbridge, 2007
Jamie Featherbee 150* v Maresfield II, 2003
Kingsley Miles 145 v Dicker, 1989
John Baldock 142* v Maresfield, 1999
Alex Hayes 141 v Linden Park IV, 2004

BOWLING RECORDS
Most Wickets in Career

Alf Blackman (1938-78) 1400+
Kevin Simmonds (1986- ) 1069
Harold Beeney (1957-87) 900+
Wally Jopson (1969-75) 680+
Alm Horscroft (1935-61) 650+
Peter Hartland (1991- ) 595
George Filtness (1949-61) 550+
AW White (1919-39) 550+
S Howell (1927-46) 500+
John Elms (1993- ) 481
Dave Harman (1974- ) 440
Dave Hacker (1994- ) 416
Bev Barnes (1968-86) 400+
Norman Barrett (1956-81) 400+
Geoff Pett (1921-53) 400+
John Ralph (1962-88) 400+

Most Wickets in Season

111 Alf Blackman 1953
111 Wally Jopson 1973

100 Wickets in Season

Freddie Fidler 1950
Alf Blackman 1953, 1962
Wally Jopson 1970, 1972, 1973, 1975

Best Bowling

Alf Blackman 10-32 v Wadhurst, 1953
Kevin Simmonds 10-46 v Withyham, 1999
E Brasier 9-9 v Crowborough II, 1937
Noddy Wickens 9-56 v Boxbusters, 1988

FIELDING RECORDS
Most Catches in Career
John Baldock 344
Dave Harman 277
Chris Buck 262
Dick Baker 250+
Harold Beeney 250+
Brian Harman 200+
Kingsley Miles 200+

Most Wicket-Keeping Dismissals in Season

Rob Williamson 43 (32ct,11st) 2004

Most Outfield Catches in Season

John Baldock 30 1996

Most Outfield Catches in Innings

Chris Buck 5
Robin Miles 5

Most Stumpings in Innings

Nick Rowe 5 v Lewes Priory III, 2008

ALL-ROUND CRICKET
5000 Runs and 400 Wickets in Career

Runs Wickets
Norman Barrett (1956-81) 9000+ 400+
Harold Beeney (1957-87) 10000+ 900+
John Ralph (1962-88) 6000+ 400+
Dave Harman (1974- ) 6108 440
Kevin Simmonds (1986- ) 8448 1069
Peter Hartland (1991- ) 8866 595
Dave Hacker (1994- ) 6816 416

Most Successful All-Round Season

Freddie Fidler 846 runs & 101 wickets in 1950

500 Runs and 50 Wickets in Season

Freddie Fidler 1950
Harold Beeney 1969
Wally Jopson 1970, 1973, 1975
Kevin Simmonds 1999, 2001, 2003
John Elms 2006, 2007
Peter Hartland 2013

CLUB CHAIRMEN

1914-25 JW Sidey
1926-34 O Russell
1935-46 Rev HE Collins
1947-49 J Davis
1950 HW Morris
1951-53 L Vann
1954 A McQueen
1955-56 JK Hall
1957-59 J Brough
1960-65 D Rich
1966-74 KG Redman
1975-82 Dick Baker
1983-86 Chris Steel
1987 Noddy Wickens
1988-90 Jim Gallifant
1991-97 Bob Wild
1998-99 Kingsley Miles
2000-01 Brent Simmonds
2002-10 Dave Hacker
2011 John Elms
2012- Alex Ffrench