Cricket in Coventry (Courtaulds, etc.)

Super memories of cricket at Courtaulds. I was at the 1952 match between Warks and Kent, I was 10 years old. When the famous England wicket keeper Godfrey Evans came out to bat for Kent I ran onto the pitch and patted him on the back, he said "thank you, son". He had only just stepped onto the pitch at this point, nowhere near the square, nobody got agitated about one little schoolboy stepping on to the pitch, not at Courtaulds in them days. Another memorable match was the 1954 match against Yorkshire when I saw Freddie Trueman for the first time. He blew Warwickshire away taking 6 for 67 in the first innings, Yorkshire won by 10 wickets. I remember his long run-up, it started almost on the boundary at Courtaulds. In those days Warwickshire used to play 2 of their matches at Courtaulds per season.

Even better than you recall - Fred Trueman took 7 for 67 He only got one in the second innings, Bob Appleyard taking six Scorecard Re the Kent match, Evans's understudy at the time for the England wicket-keeping position was "our" Dick Spooner, and he hit 117 in the 1952 match you mention Scorecard

1966 photo 1983 photo Happy memories!

Hi all I too remember the Courtaulds ground in full swing as in the pictures. The club building had been rebuilt. The lunch-time menu included fairly basic pub-grub, pie & chips kind of thing. As a member of the club, I did enjoy pretending to enjoy watching the games during my lunch break along with a half of Ansells. I did enjoy the Ansells.

Jack Bannister has died aged 85

The Coventry Society is reporting: Another of Coventry's historic landmarks will be built over if developers get their way. The former Courtaulds Cricket ground on the corner of Kingfield Road and Lockhurst Lane held two official Warwickshire cricket matches every season between 1949 and 1982. Now, the only remaining part of the pavilion still standing is a brick wall. The rest of the ground is covered in either long grass or dumped gravel and it is only opened up for the occasional car boot sale. Developers have now made two planning applications to develop the site for housing. The Society has objected to both of these applications because we felt that they had not done enough to ameliorate flooding, which is a frequent occurrence in that area, and that there should be some compensation for the loss of green space and leisure facilities in the most densely developed district in the city. However the writing is already on the wall, as the site is included as a housing site in the new Coventry Local Plan.

sic transit something or other. To think that I saw Eric Hollies knocking sixes off Roly Jenkins (Worcester slow bowler) there and also saw Ray Hitchcock fresh off the boat make his debut there in a festival match of some sort and scored 50+ Happy memories

I used to go up to Social Club when I was in the computer section, and saw Rohan Kanhai cracking sixes there one lunch time, but what a facility it was. We ran a cricket team, a football team, a squash ladder, a tennis cup, a snooker cup, a hockey team, and used to go to disco's upstairs.

Thanks for bringing back the memories, I too used to go to Courtaulds to watch the cricket. Mum used to pack my sandwiches up and with a bottle of orange juice I used to walk from Coundon. One day I stood at the back door of Cash's watching the looms through an open door, when someone came out and invited me in to show me around telling me how it all worked. I don't think I ever missed a match seeing all the greats of the time.

I have a vague memory of watching cricket at a sports ground somewhere with my father up the Binley Road? He worked for Armstrong Siddeley at the time, was there a Siddeley Ground? This would be in the mid 1950s.

Hi coventry49 Answer "Yes". I walked by it most days when working at the GEC. I will let someone more familiar with it to reply in detail.

You're probably referring to Coventry & North Warwickshire Cricket Club. This is where Ian Bell started playing the game seriously - photos from his 2011 benefit day staged at the ground can be viewed here. Warwickshire play an occasional 2nd XI game there. Not too far away is Sphinx Sportsground, off Siddeley Avenue.

Coventry & North Warwickshire have played for many years at the Bull's Head Ground on Binley Road. It was also used for first class games and there was a home County Championship game played there by Warwickshire 1st XI from 1905 to 1919. The venue made a brief comeback into first class cricket in 1990 when Warwickshire hosted Lancashire. Neil Fairbrother made a double hundred for the visitors but it ended in an entertaining draw. I remember attending on each of the 3 days. The following year Warwickshire beat Sussex in a contrived finish after a rain affected 3 days, and in 1992 lost to Middlesex in a game which saw Mike Gatting hit a hundred in each innings, supported each time by Desmond Haynes. It was wonderful seeing the county play the occasional game on an out-ground and let the WCCC members in Coventry (of which there are many) see some top players in the city. Sadly, the Birmingham members want everything at Edgbaston and that was the last Coventry saw of championship cricket. A great shame.

Wonderful as County Ground, Edgbaston, is, I couldn't agree more I recall watching WCCC v Derbyshire at Griff & Coton in 1960, Donald Carr scored a century for the visitors

Warwickshire also played a first-class game at Morris Motors Ground, Bell Green Road, in both 1931 and 1932 - in the first game, Old Coventrian RES Wyatt scored 161 not out against Northamptonshire