history
History of Milnthorpe Cricket Club
The earliest record of cricket being played in Milnthorpe is 1863 when, it is thought, at least some of the players involved came from the nearby Heversham Grammar School. In the first few decades the fortunes of the club fluctuated with periods of activity interspersed with a few years inactivity. In 1894 we were a founding member of the South Westmoreland Village Combination, leaving in 1901, and in 1924 we joined its successor, The Westmoreland Cricket Combination, leaving in 1925. The Westmorland Cricket League was formed in 1926, we joined it in 1931 and cricket has now been played continuously at Milnthorpe from 1931 to this day, with the exception of an interlude from 1939 to 1946 due to the Second World War. Before 1933 we had just one team in the league but from 1933 to 1935 and from 1960 to the present we have had two senior teams.
Today the club is thriving in The Westmorland Cricket League with the two senior teams as well as an Under 16 team and an Under 13 team. In April 1991 the club’s old wooden pavilion was badly damaged in an arson attack. We managed to play two seasons in what was left of it while we raised funds to construct a new brick-built clubhouse on the same site; this was officially opened in April 1994. Despite this long history, Milnthorpe Cricket Club has won the League Championship outright just once, in 2003, though the title was shared with Carnforth in 1939 when the outbreak of war brought the season to a premature conclusion. In 2003 and 2005 we won the First Division Cup and have won the League Cup at least three times, in 1987, 1997 and 2005.