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2000-2009
Club of the Year
A Lease, a Championship and a Scoreboard the Whole Ground Could Read
The New Millennium, 2000-2009
The decade brought Sutton Coldfield a thirty-year lease signed on Christmas Day, the first ECB Clubmark award in Birmingham, a championship and promotion in 2004, and the city's Sports Club of the Year title in 2005.
It was a decade of building rather than of glory. The senior sides rode the Birmingham League up and down — relegated in 2003, champions of the 2nd Division and promoted in 2004, relegated again in 2007 and 2009 — while the junior section quietly gathered county titles and, in an under-11 side of 2008, two boys who would make their living from the game. Off the field the work told: a new lease on Rectory Park, Clubmark and re-accreditation, Focus Club status and a computerised scoreboard opened by the town's Member of Parliament. Against all that ran a persistent thread of vandalism and theft, and the decade ended in mourning for Terry Matthews and Peter Wells, two men who had given the club the better part of their lives.
A New Millennium and a New Lease
Paul Greetham took the secretary's post from Adrian Sutton in 2000, handing the Sunday first eleven to Richard Dandy, and Francois van de Merve of South Africa was engaged as overseas player. Fred Trueman OBE spoke at the dinner at Aston Wood Golf Club on Friday 28th January about his life in cricket and in the northern clubs, and presented the awards with President Peter Wells. The under-17s won the Warwickshire Under 17s League, and in September the club held its Ball, dancing to The Red Lemons.
The first eleven had a good season in Division One. Jon Ship made 527 runs at 28.2, Richard Dandy 494 at 29.1 with a highest score of 193 not out, Louis Aspelling 443 and Paul Smith, released by Warwickshire, 419; R. East took 58 wickets at 19.12. The Sunday seconds reached the Robert Atherton K.O. Trophy final at Binley Road, where rain made play and a bowl-out impossible. With no replay date agreed, the tie was settled on the call of a coin by Gaz Durrani, who had travelled furthest — so Sutton won by a distance.
The lasting achievement of 2001 was written on a lease: on 25th December, through the joint club, a thirty-year agreement covering 3.33 hectares was signed with Birmingham City Council at £3,000 a year, payable quarterly in advance and reviewable upwards every five years. The cricket was generous too — 365 for 8 declared at Griff & Cotton with Bobby Arif 165 not out and Abdul Raqib 114, and 340 for 6 against Kings Heath with Bilal Aziz 212. Nigel Lyon became chairman in 2002, the year the M.C.C.C. elected James Ross its Cricketer of the Year.
Birmingham & District Premier Cricket League 2nd Division Champions 2004 — the club's history and this photograph record the title as the 2nd Division, though the following year's dinner report calls it the First Division.
Clubmark, Relegation and a Championship
In 2003 Sutton Coldfield became the first club in Birmingham to receive the England and Wales Cricket Board's Clubmark accreditation. The season itself was harder: three fine individual returns — Victor Walker-Randall's 515 runs, Richard Dandy's 505 and Michael Dean's 48 league wickets — could not prevent relegation from Division One of the Birmingham League. By way of consolation the first eleven shared the Warwickshire Sunday League Division 1 title with Harborne, and the third eleven won the West Midlands North Division Club Cricket League Championship.
The summer was overshadowed by the sudden death of Graham Williamson on 19th July 2003 at his home in Knowle, following a bee sting a few days earlier. He had joined in 1983 after graduating from Manchester University, made 637 runs at 28.9 in that first season, become Saturday first eleven captain in 1985 and held both first eleven captaincies before leaving the area in 1989 for Knowle & Dorridge. A fast-scoring, hard-hitting batsman and a fine after-dinner speaker, he is remembered in the B&DPCL's Graham Williamson K.O. trophy.
The following year answered back. John Howard, who brought considerable management experience from Halesowen, was elected chairman; the club created the office of Club Captain, a man who need not lead a side on the field, and Paul Greetham was unanimously elected the first to hold it; and Tim Groenewald, a South African all-rounder later contracted to Warwickshire, then Derbyshire and, from 2015, Somerset, arrived as professional. The first eleven took the championship and promotion, the seconds won their division, the under-15s the Super 6 Cup and the under-13s their county league.
Gwen Thornton with her son Tony, photographed with the newspaper cuttings about the memorial bench given in Don Thornton's memory on 20th May 2005 and stolen the following day.
Sports Club of the Year — and a Club Under Attack
On Friday 25th February 2005, at the NIA, Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club was declared Birmingham Sports Council's Sports Club of the Year. Nominated by Warwickshire County Cricket Club, it beat a short list of five that included Birchfield Harriers Athletics Club, with the outgoing chairman Nigel Lyon and the current chairman John Howard both delighted. Howard singled out Eric Harding, the club administrator, and Colin Greetham, chairman of the junior section, for their part in the Clubmark award behind it.
Three weeks earlier the dinner of 4th February had celebrated the championship season, Ronnie Irani of Lancashire, Essex and England replying to the President's toast. Richard Dandy took the first eleven batting award and Michael Dean the bowling, having finished with 50 wickets at under ten apiece; Charles Harwood won the second eleven batting prize for a second year; Mike Randall was Player of the Year; David Hansford, who had captained the under-15s to the Portman Cup, was Junior Player of the Year and Taz Ahmed Clubman of the Year.
The same years brought a steady, wearing vandalism. On Friday 6th August 2004 intruders forced a window, smashed the pool table, broke through an internal wall and pushed over the club's five-ton Midland Bank safe before tearing the alarm from the wall — the episode that prompted Peter Bell's newspaper article and his 'Ode to the Last Safe'. On 20th May 2005 Lynda Dandy presented a six-foot teak bench in memory of her father Don Thornton, who had watched his grandson Richard grow into the first eleven captaincy; it was stolen the next day and never recovered. The groundsman's shed collapsed the same year.
The 3rd XI scorecard of 5th August 2006, when Bilal Aziz and Mark Bell opened with 322 against Studley on the lower ground.
A New Captain and Harder Seasons
Dan Davis became the club's 40th first eleven captain in 2006, a post he held for three seasons. Amit Suman, a left-arm fast bowler from India, took 57 wickets at 14.3 as overseas player, while Tim Groenewald, by then registered with Warwickshire and released when the county did not need him, topped the club's Birmingham League batting averages with 380 runs at 31.67. Richard Dandy was the leading run-scorer with 463 at 28.9 and made the only first eleven century of the summer, 110.
The innings of the year came on the lower ground on 5th August, when Bilal Aziz made 188 and Mark Bell 100 not out in an opening stand of 322 against Studley and Sutton declared on 330 for 1. It was Bell's second century in successive seasons: he had first played for the first eleven at Aldridge as a twelve-year-old in 1974 and did not make a hundred for the club until 2005, when he also kept wicket, held two catches and took the gloves off to take two wickets. The Midland Club Cricket Conference named Colin Greetham and Eric Harding its Cricketers of the Year.
The 2007 season was harder still. Suman returned for a second year and took 53 wickets at 13.6, John Ship led the batting with 401 runs, but the first eleven were relegated again. The best of the summer belonged to the thirds, where John Kiapper and his thirteen-year-old son James put on an unbroken 253 for the third wicket against Berkswell, John making 123 and James 113. Vandals drove the club's tractor into the score box, which members rebuilt a month later, and burnt out a hired roller — a claim the club fought off without loss.
The under-11s in the Warwickshire C.C.C. final of 2008 — Aaron Thomason front right, later of Warwickshire and Sussex, and Tom Banton second right, later of Somerset.
A Tenth President and a Lit Scoreboard
Peter Wells had left the Midlands towards the end of the 2007 season, and the 2008 annual general meeting formalised James Ross as President — the tenth since 1847 — to warm congratulation from chairman John Howard and the members. Howard March took the treasurer's books and Hugo Russell the fixture list, John Robinson became the nineteenth Life Member, and Dan Stevens of Australia was engaged as professional. Ashley Giles MBE replied to the President's toast at the dinner on Friday 1st February.
The season's monument was fixed to the face of the score box. A computerised scoreboard was installed on the top ground, funded through grants and members' personal subscriptions organised by Eric Harding, and officially opened by Andrew Mitchell, the Member of Parliament for Sutton Coldfield — Harding himself missing the ceremony, delayed on his journey from Lichfield after a misunderstanding over the timing. In September the club became the first in Birmingham to achieve ECB Clubmark re-accreditation. On 22nd June the seconds made 360 for 4 against Nuneaton, Chris Hobbis 136 not out and J. Khan 150 adding 281 for the second wicket.
The decade closed in loss. Terry Matthews, captain of both the Hawks and the Grasshoppers and winner of the Willis Corroon third eleven title in 1993, died suddenly on 23rd December 2008 aged 72; his family presented a memorial board, and the Terry Matthews Junior Award was first given at the end of the 2009 season. Peter Wells died in March 2009 at Clitheroe — a member since 1949, 6 for 14 against Leicester Ivanhoe in 1963, chairman in 1981, Life Member in 1983 and President from 1992, and the man whose Friday nets and August fixtures built the club's junior cricket.
Key Moments
2000
Sutton Won by a Distance
The Robert Atherton K.O. Trophy final at Coventry & North Warwickshire was rained off and decided on the call of a coin by Gaz Durrani, who had travelled furthest
2001
A Lease Signed on Christmas Day
A thirty-year lease on 3.33 hectares of Rectory Park was signed with Birmingham City Council on 25th December at £3,000 a year
2002
Cricketer of the Year
The Midland Club Cricket Conference elected James Ross its Cricketer of the Year, and the second eleven won the Division 2 cup against Kenilworth
2003
ECB Clubmark — First in Birmingham
Sutton Coldfield became the first club in Birmingham to receive ECB Clubmark accreditation, in a season that also ended in relegation
2004
Champions and Promoted
The first eleven won the B&DPCL 2nd Division Championship and went up for 2005, with the second eleven winning their division too
2005
Sports Club of the Year
On 25th February at the NIA the Birmingham Sports Council named Sutton Coldfield its Sports Club of the Year, ahead of a short list including Birchfield Harriers
2006
322 for the First Wicket
Bilal Aziz (188) and Mark Bell (100 not out) opened with 322 against Studley on 5th August, Sutton declaring on 330 for 1
2007
Father and Son Unbroken
John Kiapper (123) and his thirteen-year-old son James (113) put on 253 unbroken for the third wicket against Berkswell
2008
A Tenth President and a New Scoreboard
James Ross was formalised as the club's tenth President since 1847, and Andrew Mitchell MP opened the new computerised scoreboard on the top ground
2009
The Terry Matthews Junior Award
Following Terry Matthews's death on 23rd December 2008, his family's memorial board was presented and the junior award bearing his name was first given
"This reflects the tremendous effort, dedication and team spirit over the past five years which has gone into improving and offering the best in all respects to cricketers of all ages."
Jump to New Decade
Foundations Before Formation
1837-1847
The First Fifty Years
1847-1899
A Time of Change and Uncertainty
1901-1909
A Decade of Transition and Challenge
1910-1919
The Golden Resurgence
1920-1929
The Thirties
1930-1939
Wartime and Renewal
1940-1949
The Fabulous Fifties
1950-1959
Transformation and Tradition
1960-1969
Dixon's Decade
1970-1979
Trophies and Tragedy
1980-1989
Champions at Last
1990-1999
The New Millennium
2000-2009
The Twenty-Tens
2010-2019
The Twenty-Twenties
2020-Present