The History of the Totton and Eling Cricket Club

Formerly known as BAT Sports Cricket Club the cricket section has always been a very important part of the Sports & Social Club. Cricket within BAT however has earlier roots and the first team ever fielded, in the period between 1918 and the early 1920’s, was comprised of ladies who called themselves ‘The Sunbeams’. Early cricket matches, from around 1920 were played at Bellemoor Road until the move to the present ground. The present club was founded in 1929 as the Bramtoco Sports Cricket Club. The original clubhouse, built in the far corner of the ground, adjacent to the railway line, was opened by the Chairman of the company with the attendance of directors and wives; the weather is reported to have been rain until late afternoon when three hours of cricket were played between Southampton and the London office. In the early days of the club all the games were friendly and culminated in the annual fixture against Imperial Tobacco of Bristol. Players had to be employees of the factory to be eligible to play. The standard of play was high with many minor counties players in the side. In the late 1950’s a Sunday X1 was started to widen the opportunity to play cricket with a Second X1 being formed in the 1970’s.

 In 1964 the present pavilion was erected thanks to the efforts of John Townsend and the name of the club changed to BAT Sports Cricket Club in line with the re-branding of the company name.

Local cricket continued to evolve and in the mid 1970’s the Saturday games were organised into a formal league structure and the club entered the Hampshire leagues.  The first team made rapid progress through the league pyramid and have over the past  six years won the 1st division of the Southern Electric Premier League four times, have been runners up once and have always finished in the top five. In 2005 the second X1 won promotion to the 3rd division of the Southern Electric Premier league

 The club as a whole continued its development and growth, fielding a number of senior sides on a Saturday and a mid week side. In the closed season the club field sides in the Fleming Park Indoor League. This culminated in the club being crowned National Champions in 2006 after winning the ECB Indoor Six-a-Side Club Cricket Championship at Lords.

 2006 saw the Club achieve the ECB Clubmark Accreditation. This confirmed our commitment to being a safe, effective and child friendly cricket club developing and delivering high quality community cricket to our current and future members of the club.

The junior section continues to flourish and grow with over sixty youngsters enjoying the noble game and receiving the opportunity to receive high quality coaching and the opportunity to play competitive cricket in the New Forest Leagues, Many of our young players have progressed to represent the District or County.

As part of the clubs fundraising activities it has hosted two games against the Lashings World X1, winning one of the encounters.

In 2006 BAT decided to divest itself of the social club with the closure of its factory in Southampton.

This presented the club with an opportunity to create its own identity and to place itself firmly in the heart of the sporting community of Totton. The name of Totton & Eling Cricket Club was adopted to emphasise the commitment of the club to the local community. With this opportunity, however, came a challenge. A developer is looking to include part of the sports ground as part of a larger planning application, which, whilst safeguarding cricket would lead to the overall site size being significantly reduced. Despite the uncertainties and additional pressures this has caused, the Club has continued to flourish. 2007 saw the Totton & Eling Cricket Club become National 20/20 Champions by winning the inaugural North Gear 20/20 Competition.  

 Totton & Eling Cricket Club are looking forward to the 2010 season with anticipation.