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From the earliest surviving photograph of 1859 to the 2022 team that rewrote Rectory Park's batting records, these photographs capture over 165 years of Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club. Behind every team picture is a story — of seasons won and narrowly missed, of players who gave their summers to this club, and of the friendships that outlasted the cricket.
1859
1859 First XI
The earliest surviving team photograph in the club's archive — a remarkable record of Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club as it appeared in 1859, photographed at a time when the club was still playing on the old ground. Nine players are identified in the caption plaque beneath the photograph.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1859
Club Archives
1892
Club Members, 1892
A large group photograph of Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club members taken circa 1892 — a substantial gathering that reflects the club's standing as an established social and sporting institution in Sutton Coldfield. The numbered caption identifies members across three rows.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1892
Club Archives
1893
1893 First XI
The 1893 1st XI photographed at their ground. Many of the same faces appear across consecutive years — the Bedford family name in particular runs through multiple seasons. Against Knowle that year, O.H. Stone scored 78 not out out of a total of 102.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1893
Club Archives
1906
1906 First XI
The 1906 1st XI photographed in front of the old thatched pavilion — one of the most distinctive features of Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club in this era. The pavilion would remain a defining image of the ground until its eventual replacement. Several open-air concerts were held at the ground in this period, attracting large audiences.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1906
Club Archives
1906
1906 Second XI
The 1906 2nd XI photographed at Sutton Coldfield. By the early 1900s, the club had a well-organised structure with both first and second elevens playing regular competitive fixtures. The full caption survives, identifying all fourteen players and officials.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1906
Club Archives
1910
1910 First XI
The 1910 1st XI, photographed as Edwardian cricket reached its height. The four years before the First World War would prove to be the last of a certain era of English cricket — and Sutton Coldfield club cricket was no different, with the 1914–18 war suspending all fixtures. The full caption identifies fourteen players and officials.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1910
Club Archives
1911
1911 Second XI
The 1911 2nd XI. The names come from a pencil caption along the foot of the print, faint and in places barely legible. Where a reading was doubtful it has been checked against the printed caption of the 1913 XI, the 1906 rosters and the club's season circular of 1916, and corrected where those agree, so Gateley, Hanmer, Clark, Parsons and Grove are now read with far more confidence than the pencil alone would allow. One name, Silcott, matches nothing else in the archive and is given as read. Many of these men would have their cricket interrupted, or ended, by the war that began three years later: Parsons and Grove were both killed, and both are remembered on the Obituaries page.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1911
Club Archives
1912
1912 First XI
The 1912 1st XI. No names were recorded alongside this photograph in the club's archives. The 1912 season was played in the shadow of growing tensions in Europe, though cricket continued with characteristic English optimism.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1912
Club Archives
1913
1913 First XI
The 1913 1st XI — the last complete peacetime season before the First World War. Fourteen players are named in the caption, photographed on the club's ground with the trees of Rectory Park visible in the background. Several of these men would serve in the war; some would not return.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1913
Club Archives
1913
1913 Second XI
The 1913 2nd XI, photographed in the final summer before the Great War — captioned 'Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club 2nd XI 1913'. The 2nd XI provided an important pipeline of talent into the first team, and many of these players would have been among the younger members of the club.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1913
Club Archives
1921
1921 First XI
The 1921 1st XI — the first full post-war season photograph, captioned 'Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club 1st XI 1921'. Cricket resumed after the Armistice with a mixture of familiar faces and new ones; some of those who had played before 1914 had not returned. The club's resumption of fixtures in 1919 and 1920 marked the difficult process of rebuilding.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1921
Club Archives
1938
1938 First XI — Sunday Mercury
The 1938 1st XI as featured in the Sunday Mercury on 29th May 1938, under the heading 'Notable Midland Cricket Clubs — Sutton Coldfield 1st Team'. Norman Sharp — who would go on to serve as Club President for decades — is pictured in the front row alongside E.H. Walters, who had captained the 1st XI in the early 1930s. P. Terry, listed in the back row, would later be elected an Hon. Life Member for keeping the club alive through the Second World War.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1938
Club Archives
1947
Sutton Coldfield CC v MCC — 16th July 1947
A historic fixture: Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club hosting the Marylebone Cricket Club in July 1947. The MCC visit was a significant occasion for the club — an indicator of its standing within English cricket. The Sutton XI is captained by Neil Sharp; the MCC side by R.I. Scorer. The photograph was taken at the old thatched pavilion ground.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1947
Club Archives
1947
MCC XI — 16th July 1947
The MCC touring party that visited Sutton Coldfield on 16th July 1947. The MCC side included several distinguished club cricketers. B.W. Quaife — son of the famous Warwickshire and England cricketer Willie Quaife — was among their number. This photograph of the MCC XI at Rectory Park is one of the more historically significant images in the club's archive.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1947
Club Archives
1947
The Club XI at the Thatched Pavilion
Fifteen men before the old thatched pavilion — eleven players, an umpire in his white coat at the left of the back row, and a scorer in jacket and tie at the right. The pavilion behind them stood until the brazier fire of 1969 destroyed it, which makes photographs taken in front of it a record of a ground that no longer exists. Nobody wrote the names beneath this print, and none survives in the club's papers.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1947
Club Archives
1949
1949 First XI
The 1949 1st XI, captioned 'Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club 1st XI 1949'. Pat Bowerbank captains the side alongside stalwarts Pritchett, Gabriel and Sharp, who would define Sutton cricket throughout the 1950s. The immediate post-war years saw the club consolidating its competitive programme after the disruption of 1939–45.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1949
Club Archives
1951
1951 First XI
The 1951 1st XI — a strong season that yielded 11 wins, 8 draws and just 5 defeats. Pat Bowerbank was a central figure in Sutton Coldfield cricket at this time, and the early 1950s saw the club competing strongly in Birmingham club cricket. The consistent core of players — Clewer, Pritchett, Gabriel, Pellow — would continue to appear in team photographs for much of the decade.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1951
Club Archives
1952
1952 First XI — The Tatler & Bystander
The 1952 1st XI, photographed for publication in The Tatler & Bystander on 21st May 1952 — a remarkable indicator of the club's social standing at that time. Pat Bowerbank captains the side, with the photograph taken in the formal posed style typical of the era. A photograph in a national magazine reflected genuine prestige.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1952
Club Archives
1953
1953 First XI
The 1953 1st XI under the captaincy of Pat Bowerbank. Many of the faces from 1952 return, reflecting the settled core of players that defined Sutton cricket in this era. Geoff Pritchett and Brian Clewer — names that would recur across the club's history for decades — are among those pictured.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1953
Club Archives
1956
The 1956 First XI — the Club's Season Statistics
Not a photograph but the club's own typed record of the 1956 season, headed "Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club. Season 1956", and the fullest surviving account of who played that year. Seven sides took the field: the 1st XI on Saturdays (P25 W12 L5 D8) and Sundays (P15 W9 L1 D5), the 2nd XI on both days, the Hawks, the Owls and the Grasshoppers. The sheet sets out batting and bowling averages, every score over fifty, every five-wicket haul, the wicket-keeping and catching returns, and the century partnerships — a picture of a season that no team photograph could give.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1956
Club Archives
1960
1960 First XI
The 1960 1st XI under the captaincy of Brian Clewer. Peter Yates, Neil Houghton, Roger Coombs, Geoff Pritchett — names that defined Sutton cricket across two decades — all feature. Roddy Wilson umpires; David Goldsby scores. Clewer's captaincy period maintained the high standards set by his predecessor Pat Bowerbank.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1960
Club Archives
1962
1962 First XI
The 1962 1st XI under Brian Clewer. Alan Couchman, Geoff Pritchett, Neil Houghton and Peter Wells continue from the 1960 photograph, reflecting the club's continuity of personnel through this period. New faces also appear, demonstrating the development of junior talent into the senior side.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1962
Club Archives
1966
1966 First XI
The 1966 1st XI under the captaincy of Neil Houghton — himself one of the most significant figures in the club's history across five decades as player, captain, and administrator. Peter Wells, Geoff Pritchett, Brian Clewer, Peter Yates, Roger Coombs and Vince Fitzgerald all feature, representing extraordinary continuity with the 1950s sides.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1966
Club Archives
1975
Presentation to Bob Strachan
A gathering of club members photographed in 1975 at a presentation to Bob Strachan, sponsored by Willis Faber. The photograph brings together some of the most significant names in Sutton Coldfield cricket of the era — Coombs, Edmunds, Tidy, Robinson and Ross among them — in a typically warm club occasion.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1975
Club Archives
1977
MCCC Champions — Michael Dixon's Team
The 1977 1st XI, winners of the Midland Club Cricket Championship under the captaincy of Michael Dixon. This photograph accompanied the plaque hung in the Rectory Park pavilion — copied in 2022 to preserve the record. Dixon's attacking approach defined this team: they won as many games as they lost (7 each), but their willingness to chase any target made them compelling to watch. Dixon scored 1,047 runs at 29.91; Warwick Tidy took 69 wickets; Dave Torry 51.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1977
Club Archives
1977
Alpine Under 16 Champions
Sutton Coldfield's Under 16 team, winners of the first Alpine Soft Drink Company youth competition. Organised by Peter Yates and captained by David Stokes, this squad won every round of the inaugural competition. David Stokes was later awarded the Midlands Club Cricket Conference's Alec Hastilow Trophy as Best Under 16 Cricketer of the year.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1977
Club Archives
1979
Annual Dinner, January 1979
A gathering of club members at the Annual Dinner on 26th January 1979. The annual dinner brought together players from across all the XIs and the club's social membership. This photograph captures some of the most significant names in late-1970s Sutton cricket — Neil Houghton and Geoff Pritchett alongside the generation that would carry the club through the 1980s.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1979
Club Archives
1979
The Hawks XI
The Hawks — Sutton Coldfield's 3rd XI — photographed in the 1979 season. The Hawks provided competitive cricket at a level that gave developing players a pathway to the higher XIs. Dick Sperryn, Ron Smith and Joe Iafrati feature among the names recorded in this photograph.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1979
Club Archives
1982
1982 First XI — v Holland, ICC World Cup Warm-Up
The 1982 1st XI photographed at Rectory Park ahead of their match against the Royal Netherlands Cricket Association (Holland) on 4th July 1982 — one of the ICC World Cup warm-up games hosted at the ground. Holland scored 293 for 4 before bowling Sutton out for 178. It was a remarkable occasion: international cricket had come to a club ground in Sutton Coldfield, with Peter Bell and Phil Berry officiating in multiple ICC matches across the summer.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1982
Club Archives
1982
Netherlands CC XI — ICC Warm-Up at Rectory Park
The Royal Netherlands Cricket Association touring party photographed at Rectory Park during their ICC World Cup warm-up match on 4th July 1982. In their distinctive light blue and red tracksuits, the Dutch side scored 293 for 4 in 60 overs before bowling Sutton out for 178 in the final over. It was one of three international matches staged at Rectory Park that summer, alongside Canada v USA and Kenya v Papua New Guinea.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1982
Club Archives
1984
The 1984 First XI
The 1st XI under the captaincy of Mike Hepburn. This was the year the Warwickshire Sunday League was formed at the instigation of John Whitehouse. Andy Luckhurst won the MCCC 1st XI League Bowling Trophy. Mark Rogers scored 110 against Solihull; Luckhurst scored 103 not out against Kings Heath and took 5 for 59 against Harborne. Ian King — age 52 — took 70 wickets in the 2nd XI at an average of 11.4.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1984
Club Archives
1985
Cup KO Winners
The team that won the club's KO Cup for the first time — and then, the following day, won the Wishaw Six-a-Side Cup for the second consecutive year. This team beat local rivals Aston Unity four times in the same season — in the Warwickshire Sunday League, the SCCC KO Competition, the Walmley KO tournament, and the Wishaw Six-a-Side.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1985
Club Archives
1987
1987 First XI — MCCC Chesshire Gibson Champions
The 1987 1st XI under Geoff Hopkinson's captaincy — the year the Hawks won the MCCC Chesshire Gibson League Championship for the first time. Neil Houghton was elected Treasurer of Warwickshire CCC this year, beginning an eleven-year tenure. Andy Luckhurst, Graham Williamson and Mike Hepburn remain key figures, joined by a strong younger generation.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1987
Club Archives
1988
1988 First XI
The 1st XI in 1988 — one of the most decorated years in the club's history. That season the Sunday 2nd XI won the Warwickshire Sunday League Championship, the 3rd XI (the Hawks) won the MCCC Championship, a joint Hawks and Grasshoppers side won the Jubilee Shield, and the club won the Warwickshire Winter Six-a-Side indoor league. The 1st XI were at the heart of this era of sustained success.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1988
Club Archives
1988 & 1989
Sunday 2nd XI — Back-to-Back Champions
The Sunday 2nd XI that won the Warwickshire Sunday League Championship in consecutive seasons under Chris Barber's captaincy. In 1988 alone, the 3rd XI (the Hawks) also won the MCCC Championship, a joint Hawks and Grasshoppers side won the Jubilee Shield, and the club won the Warwickshire Winter Six-a-Side indoor league — an extraordinary year of success across all levels of the club.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1988 & 1989
Club Archives
1993
1993 First XI — League Winners
The 1993 1st XI, winners of the 1st XI League — captioned 'Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club 1st XI League Winners 1993'. Andy Luckhurst captains the side, with Mike Hepburn and Chris Munn among those who had driven the club's success throughout the 1980s and into the new decade.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1993
Club Archives
1993
Neil Houghton with Cricket Legends
A remarkable photograph from 1993 featuring Sutton Coldfield's own Neil Houghton alongside some of the greatest names in international cricket. Houghton — a Sutton stalwart from the 1960s through to the 2000s — is pictured with England's Geoff Miller and Chris Cowdrey, and two of Australia's most feared fast bowlers: Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1993
Club Archives
1993
1993 Third XI — Willis Corroon MCCC Champions
The Hawks — Sutton Coldfield's 3rd XI — who won the Willis Corroon MCCC Championship in 1993 under Tim Matthews' captaincy. A memorable team effort across a strong squad of club regulars.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1993
Club Archives
1996
1996 KO Cup Winners
The Sutton Coldfield side that won the KO Cup in 1996. A strong squad drawn from across the club's senior ranks, with several faces who had been part of the club's successful runs throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1996
Club Archives
1998
Lord's 1998 — Cross Arrows v S.C.C.C.
The brass plate beneath this photograph reads "Lord's 1998 — Cross Arrows v S.C.C.C.": Sutton Coldfield playing the Cross Arrows, the MCC's own club, at the home of cricket. The party is pictured in front of the pavilion, jackets and ties, a few pints on the paving. The plate names the match but not the men in the photograph.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 1998
Club Archives
2004
2004 — 2nd Division Champions
The 2004 1st XI, winners of the Birmingham & District Premier Cricket League 2nd Division Championship. A group photograph with the trophy captures the moment. The early 2000s saw continued investment in junior development, with the next generation beginning to establish themselves in the senior sides and results coming through.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 2004
Club Archives
2010
Under 13 County Champions
The Under 13 side that won the County Championship in 2010, coached by P. Raworth and M. Bradbury. Aaron Thomason — who would go on to become one of the club's most celebrated modern cricketers — is among the players pictured. Will Raworth and Joel Bradbury also feature, indicating the strength of the club's junior programme.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 2010
Club Archives
2012
2012 First XI — Diverse Living
The 2012 1st XI, pictured in their kit sponsored by Diverse Living. A settled, experienced squad competing at the top level of Midlands club cricket. Aaron Thomason — who would go on to represent Warwickshire CCC — was already a key figure in the side.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 2012
Club Archives
2015
2015 First XI
The 1st XI of 2015, photographed at Rectory Park and named on the print itself. Graham Clark's side won promotion as runners-up that season and lifted the B&DPCL Twenty20 knock-out. The photograph was for many years filed under the wrong date in the club's archive; its own caption settles the matter.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 2015
Club Archives
2015
B&DPCL Twenty20 Champions
Birmingham & District Premier Cricket League Twenty20 Champions, 2015, photographed with the cup in front of the pavilion in the Lane Roofing kit. Every man is named on the mount beneath the print, and the boy kneeling at the end of the front row is named with them.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 2015
Club Archives
2016
200 Combined Years of Membership
A remarkable photograph marking a combined 200 years of service to Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club — four stalwarts who together represent two centuries of dedication to the club. From left to right: John Robinson (44 years), Peter Bell (50 years), Neil Houghton (61 years) and James Ross (45 years). A fitting tribute to the loyalty and continuity that has sustained the club across generations.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 2016
Club Archives
2021
The Veterans XI — A New Team Takes the Field
The SCCC Veterans in their 2021 season. The Vets XI was founded in 2018 by the much-missed Andy Biddle for players over 40, competing in the Elford Vets T20 League with evening matches at Rectory Park. By 2021 the side captained by Simon Matthews had become a fixture of the club's summer — proof that at Sutton Coldfield, a cricketer's career never really ends.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 2021
Club Archives
2021
Sunday XI — Promotion Season
The Sunday 1st XI of 2021, captained by Jacob Squire-Wood, who finished runners-up in Division 2 of the Arden Sunday Cricket League to earn promotion to Division 1. A young side blending emerging juniors with senior experience — exactly the pathway the club's Sunday cricket is designed to provide.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 2021
Club Archives
2022
The 1st Team — White Ball Kit
Sutton Coldfield's 1st Team in their 2022 white ball kit, photographed at Rectory Park during one of the most memorable early-season spells in recent memory. Over two consecutive Saturdays in April, the team scored 994 runs for the loss of just 26 wickets. The standout performance was a fifth-wicket partnership of 203 between Raul Ram (95) and Aaron Thomason (114) against Attock CC — a new club record for that wicket at Rectory Park.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 2022
Club Archives
2026
The First Girls' Hardball Team
History-makers. On Tuesday 9th June 2026 the club's first-ever girls' hardball team — the Under-11 Academy, joined by three guests from Kings Heath CC — played their first match, away against Olton & West Warwickshire Girls. A week later they played the first girls' hardball game ever staged at Rectory Park, a final-ball 132–132 tie against Harborne. The team is the fruit of the girls' grass-roots programme launched in June 2024 under a five-year sponsorship from Life Member Peter Bell.
Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club, 2026
Club Archives
"These photographs remind us that cricket is more than a game — it is about the people, the friendships, and the shared memories that bind generations together."