The Start of the club

The Cricket Club was formed in 1961 by Mr George Wright.

Mr Wright fortunately knew a secretary of a local Cricket Club and was able to obtain from them details of all the clubs in the area, he was also donated some very old gear and from this point he started contacting other clubs to arrange friendly matches.

By 1962 he had managed to build two teams, 1 each for Saturday and Sunday, however they were the same 14 players. They played mainly friendly matches but did enter small competitions.

1964

By 1964 Hullbridge cricket team was quite succesful, as found in the Local Review Newspaper. The players names were:-

• Keith Whittaker (Capt.,)
• John Collison,
• C.Bryant,
• N.Wats,
• M.Doody,
• J.J.Reed,
• F.Ward,
• M.Stead,
• J.Float,
• G.Russell,
• C.Dance,
• R.Trunley,
• P.Hodges,
• B.Lees,
• N.Shillabeer,

Here are some of their results:-

• May 13th Hullbridge 52-2 South Ockendon 52 (All out) Won by 8 Wickets. Match report click here
• May 20th Hullbridge 60 (All out) Chingford F.C. 39 (All out) Won by 21 runs Match report part 1 click here and Match report Part 2 click here
• May 27th M.T.E. 84 (All out) Hullbridge 87 (All out) Won by 3 runs. Match report part 1 click here and Match report Part 2 click here
• June 3rd Hullbridge 123 (All out) Hockley II 32 (All out) Won by 91 runs Match report click here
• July 4th Hullbridge 106-9 Benfleet Etceteras 108-9 Lost by 2 runs Match report click here
• July 11th Hullbridge 128 (All out) M.T.E. 26 (All out) Won by 102 runs Match report click here
• July 18th Hullbridge 86 (All out) Rayleigh "B" 96 (All out) Lost by 10 runs Match report click here
• July 25th Rayleigh "B" 98 (All out) Hullbridge 86 (All out) Lost by 12 runs Match report click here
• Aug 1st Ingastone 57 (all out) Hullbridge 134 (All out) Won by 77 runs Match report click here
• Aug 2nd Hullbridge ? BBC XI ? Match report click here
• Aug 8th Cranham 69 (All out) Hullbridge 139-5 (All out) Won by 6 wickets Match report click here
• Aug 22nd South Ockendon Hospital 71 (All out) Hullbridge 72-2 (All out) Won by 8 wickets Match report click here

1968

Hullbridge took part in the Rochford knockout cricket shield and on 26th June played in the final and were the victors over Royal Oak. It was a thrilling match that went down to the last over with Hullbridge needing 5 runs and with 4 wickets down. Despite losing a wicket Tony Mead scored the required runs with two balls to spare. At the begining of the match Royal Oak looked as if they were going to make a big score, hitting 12 runs of just 11 balls but the Hullbridge bowlers were not dispirited and soon struck with Creffield being caught by Malcolm Booty off the bowling of Colin Bryant. Royal Oak managed to score just 60 runs and must have thought this was their lucky day, however they soon lost their prodigy star Tony Maynard for only 3 runs and they then found runs a little hard to come by. Solid innings by the following batsmen, all reaching double figures looked to be enough but when George Shepherd was run out there was a few nervous Hullbridge players. However Tony Mead came to the rescue. Captain Keith Whittaker was presented with the shield by Essex County Cricketers Ken McEwan and Brian Taylor.

The scorecard and picture of winning players having been presented with their trophy is shown Here