Cricket Week - The Days Of Our Lives
- Graham Webb
- Aug 9
- 12 min read
Updated: Aug 21
A review of Cricket Week 2026
A cricket club such as ours is nothing without its history and traditions, its characters and personalities, its stories and legends, but every tradition and every legend has to start somewhere and very often our annual Cricket Week is that place. In recent years the focus of the club has rightly moved more and more towards its junior section and the family atmosphere of Friday nights in May and June, but for almost 50 years now the beating heart of the Blackheath year has been Cricket Week in early August. A wonderful combination of old memories being rekindled, new friends being made and new stories just beginning.
In 1978 the club celebrated its Centenary, 100 years after the gentlemen of the Chilworth Gunpower Company had first pitched a set of stumps on the heath, and this special occasion was marked with something new. A week long festival of cricket matches was arranged in the first full week of August, culminating on the Friday in a match against an MCC XI. The MCC had never before bestowed this honour on such a lowly village club as ours, but it was done to show the esteem in which our club, and in particular some of our senior members, were held at Lord’s, and the club laid on a big day to celebrate the occasion.
Such was the Week’s success that it was decided to make it a biennial event, with the MCC match becoming established as its regular highlight, and by the mid-1980s it was so popular that it was decided to have a Week every year, with the alternate non-MCC years featuring a Friday match between the club and a President’s XI. Over the years we established long-standing Cricket Week rivalries with several other clubs from The Cricket Society and Grasshoppers, to a Huddersfield Leagues XI, to Jack Frost and Kenya Kongonis who both still visit us every year to this day.
In 2028 we will celebrate our 150th year, and who knows what new traditions might spring up then, or might already have done so without us even realising it. Only time will tell.
And so to 2026. First, some bare facts:-
We played 5 matches in 5 days and we won them all, the President’s XI victory over the Chairman’s XI on Friday counting as a Blackheath victory either way, and this 100% record is probably a Cricket Week first.
2332 runs were scored, at an average of almost 500 per day, for the loss of 70 wickets.
5 centuries were scored in total, 4 of them for Blackheath on 4 different days by 4 different people, 3 of them teenagers as young as 14 years old. Remarkably, all 4 of the Blackheath tons were scores of 105 not out.
In addition there were 8 fifties, but there were no 5-wicket hauls.
The wickets were good, the outfield was fast, the weather was fine, and it was a batting week.
But the cricket itself is only ever part of the story of Blackheath Cricket Week.
Monday versus Old Boys of Blackheath CC (Kent)
We have often been confused with “the other Blackheath”, our much larger cousin in South East London, notably in one Cricket Week in the 1980s when the MCC started the match at 11:30am with, disgracefully for them, only 10 players. As play commenced our pavilion telephone rang and an Irish accent said “To be sure, I’m at the ground ready to play my first game for MCC, but nobody’s here yet. What time do we start?” A mad dash round the M25 brought what turned out to be Ireland’s international opening bowler to the right Blackheath just in time to bowl a fiery spell after lunch… in which he took 6 for very few and won them the match!
Since then we’ve started playing actual fixtures against our Kent cousins over quite a few years and have developed a friendly rivalry on the field as well as off it, but only in the last two have they become our Cricket Week Monday opponents. We’re hoping this will become another one of those traditions.
Lily Lyndon, our inestimable young overseas player from Victoria, Australia, who this year has been making such a mark both as a coach of our youngest players and as the backbone of our all-conquering women’s team, became the first woman ever to open the bowling in Cricket Week, partnered by 16 year-old Freddie Park. Lily accounted for opener Finn Carter for 33, and although we never quite dominated the Kentish batters she and a series of our other youngest bowlers (Harry Gilliam, Ollie Dann, Freddie Alexander) were able to keep them under control. Only late in the innings did our National Village Cup hero from the previous day Oscar Gilliam need to come on to bowl along with Ronny Harrison, and the 40-over innings finished at 215 for 6. A decent, though very gettable total.
And get it we certainly did. Batting at number 3 one of our other overseas players this year, Taz Rohan who’s also from Victoria, led the charge with a swashbuckling 78 from only 59 balls. He was well supported by Oscar Gilliam, now taking a rare opportunity to bat up the order and showing what he’s capable of with 66 from only 56 balls. Victory came in just 30 overs for the loss of 5 wickets.
The day was rounded off with a delicious Chicken Laksa, cooked by National Village Cup captain Pete Melhuish and his ever club-supportive fiancee Izzy.
Tuesday versus I’Anson League XI
The I’Anson League XI plays a number of fixtures each year, featuring a broad selection of players from around the I’Anson clubs, several of them often from Blackheath, but these matches are usually on Sundays and a Tuesday afternoon presents slightly more of a selection challenge, so they were pleased when our own Lily Lyndon and Charlie Rooken-Smith agreed to be drafted into their ranks for this one.
Fresh from his match-winning 77 in the National Village Cup on Sunday, Rob Greenway followed up with another classy knock of 54 from 45 balls before becoming Lily’s first scalp of the day. History does not relate what “friendly chat” ensued at that point, nor what might have been said a few balls later when she also accounted for the third of this year’s overseas players, fellow Victorian Flynn Bongiorno for just 3!
However, while all that was going on at one end the innings of the day was being played at the other end by 17 year-old Tom Harris, yet another rising star from the Cranleigh School production line, whose cultured 105 not out from 102 balls would prove to be a match-winner. Blackheath finished with 247 for 5 from their 40 overs.
The League batted solidly all the way down, in particular Amoon Khan with his 62 and our own Charlie Rooken-Smith with 40. Bowling highlights came from Sam Riddy, who opened from the top end and finished with 3 for 43, and off-spinner Sam Matthews who bagged 3 for 25, but skipper Flynn Bongiorno must be commended for spreading the opportunities around, using 9 bowlers in total and allowing the match to flow so that the League’s reply to 245 came excitingly close. They ended up with 239 for 9, just 6 runs short in what was a great afternoon’s cricket.
In the evening Simon Jones put down his Club Secretary’s pen and his Club Photographer’s long lens to take up his Club Chef’s hat. Normally to be found running the BBQ on a Friday evening with his wife Alex, this time it was a delicious pasta bolognese.
Wednesday versus Kenya Kongonis
The Kongonis have been the occupiers of Cricket Week Wednesday for well over 40 years, and with their distinctive blazers and regalia, their travelling band of sociable supporters, and their strong brand of cricket they are undoubtedly the highlight of the week. Though the club is based in Nairobi, the team that visits us is now made up of UK residents with strong links back to Kenya, plus one or two high quality recruits from UK clubs. The club is very active in supporting charitable works in the slums of Nairobi through the East Africa Character Development Trust (itself founded by Kongoni members) and Blackheath is proud to be a strong supporter of that charity.
Kongonis batted first and lost early wickets to find themselves under pressure, but by lunch they were well on the way to recovery thanks to Guy Barnes whose 123 was the innings of the day. Left-arm spinner Sam Behn was as reliable as ever with 2 for 62, while off spinners Ronny Harrison and Taz Rohan both picked up 3 wickets each. A score of 256 all out by 3:45 in the afternoon might seem a good one, but in an all-day game it left plenty of scope for Blackheath to get the runs, and so it proved.
New recruit to our Saturday 2s Thomas Wilson opened the batting and once again showed that he might be capable of moving up a level with a solid 86, and when he was joined by Flynn Bongiorno the runs flowed. Like his two Victorian counterparts Flynn is ineligible for the National Village Cup, but his named Blackheath cricket shirt was very much in evidence on the pitch at Goatacre last Sunday where he lent it to Archie Freeth, and “Signor Bongiorno” attracted considerable friendly ‘stick’ from the boisterous Goatacre fans, so it was good to see it back on the right body this week. Flynn did not disappoint and his match-winning innings of 105 not out was probably the best one he has played for us this year.
Off the field, Kongonis Day was a social highlight as always. A delicious lunch for 60 hosted by the Chairman was managed with her usual aplomb by Alex Jones aided by a small army of helpers, and attended by President James Herbert and Vice-Presidents Tim Bryers, Richard Melhuish and Paul Cope, to name but three. Meanwhile other “fringe” events were going on in other corners of the ground, and the revelry drifted lazily through the afternoon as the match progressed. In the evening Cill Culverwell and her team produced another magnificent Thai buffet, and Kongoni Julian Ince gave us a brief presentation on their upcoming centenary next year, and what sounds like a very exciting opportunity to go on tour to Nairobi with them, staying at the finest clubs, safaris, golf… oh, and some cricket. For more details of that, read this article https://www.blackheathcricket.com/post/kenya-tour-march-2027
Thursday versus Jack Frost
For over 30 years Cricket Week Thursday was occupied by The Huddersfield Leagues XI, some of them ex-miners whose tough brand of cricket and after-match partying produced more than its fair share of Blackheath legends. Whether it was the time (before helmets) when our opening bowler, an Oxford University organ scholar and lively seam bowler, started the match with an absolute snorter of a delivery that went straight up the nose of the opening bat, with explosively bloody results, and came concernedly down the pitch saying “I’m so sorry old chap, are you alright?”, only to be told “f**k off back to yer mark and try doing that again yer soft Southern #*#*#!!”, or the time our Old Carthusian skipper, who was very proud of his school colours and the iconic single-striped cable-knit sweater he sported whenever possible, was docked £5 after the game by the Huddersfield Fines Committee “fer cooming out to bat in a pink sweater!”, or the time our greatest “bon viveur” offered to provide Thursday’s tea and decided these Northern types would really appreciate the epicurean delights of a quail’s egg or two with their cup of lapsang, so he put out a hugely expensive bowl of them, only to return a few minutes later to find the Huddersfielders eating handfuls of them like Maltesers, and the bowl completely empty!
In the last 10 years or so Jack Frost have taken over the Huddersfield slot and become our regular Thursday opponents. A local “wandering” club steeped in history, having originally got their name from their attempts in the 1970s to play cricket at times of year when other people were ski-ing or playing football, they may not be as different from us as Huddersfield but there are still plenty of characters and stories developing as the years go by. This year their skipper, Blackheath old boy Mike Chase, was on good form as ever. Having watched his number 3 batter Mahadik make a decent 50 he proclaimed loudly that “this guy is the best batter I’ve ever seen”… just in time for the man in question to chip a gentle half volley tamely into the hands of square leg. Not to be downcast, Chasey then disappeared into the dressing room to change for his own innings, only to emerge minutes later having discovered that he had accidentally brought his daughter’s kitbag instead of his own, and now wearing her many sizes too small trousers and shirt! Disappointingly, after initial hilarious reluctance a team mate eventually took pity on him and dug out some spare strides, thus denying us all the glorious opportunity to watch him bat while looking like Mick Jagger doing an impression of Peter Pan!
After the early strokeplay of Mahadik and Alfie Burton’s 42 not out, the Frost innings somewhat lost its way later on as Blackheath skipper Chris Lewis skilfully used 8 different bowlers while still keeping the pressure on, and 215 all out was never likely to be enough. However, when the Blackheath runs came they did so from an unexpected source…
Jonathan Harris tells us that his sons have been pestering him for some time to replace the family TV, which at only 19 years old seems perfectly adequate to him. Last week, after their latest exhortations, he told them he would replace it, but only if they both scored centuries for Blackheath by the end of the season. A safe bet, he thought, even though, as we’ve already heard, Tom Harris wasted no time at all in scoring his ton on Tuesday. However, imagine the tremblings in the Harris wallet when on Thursday younger brother Freddie, 14 years old, strode out for his first ever Cricket Week innings and started stroking the ball around with the same class and authority as 17 year-old brother Tom! He took his time, defended the good balls solidly, hit the bad balls crisply for 4, and made 105 not out from only 102 balls, exactly the same score and strike rate as his brother two days earlier, to become one of the youngest ever centurions in the club and currently a very popular person at his local branch of Curry’s!
Blackheath, led by young Freddie, reached 217 for 7 in only 33 overs to make it four wins out of four.
Talking of winners, there followed a presentation to our all-conquering women’s team of their THREE league trophies for this year, to an enthusiastic ovation from the assembled Cricket Week crowd, and we were then rewarded for our applause by team member Anne-Marie Wakefield who served us all her delicious home cooked chilli con carne.
Friday. The Chairman versus the President and Vice-Presidents
Billed as the grudge match of the week, this one didn’t disappoint. Large wagers were exchanged between messrs Harrison and Herbert, hands were shaken, and off came the gloves.
After Rob Greenway had chopped on a short ball from his Village Cup teammate Oscar Gilliam for only 6 it fell to Alan Cope to get the President’s XI innings properly underway. Cope, probably the most experienced cricketer of the week having captained Loughborough University and the Surrey Academy in his youth, decided to try and hit the pacey Oscar Gilliam out of the attack, and with the help of a fair bit of luck and a variety of toe ends and edges, he did just that, scoring 80 in only 55 balls. But it was Freddie Alexander who played the match-winning innings with, remarkably, the week’s fourth score of 105 not out! Will Melhuish chipped in with a breezy 49 before falling to Gilliam, and all the President’s men mustered an impressive total of 274 for 6 in their 40 overs.
Despite strong performances from Village Cup men Matt Jackson (48) and James Fortescue (49) the Chairman’s XI could never quite get going at the rate required to approach that mighty total, and they finished at 198 all out with 16 year-old Idris Iqbal the pick of the bowlers, taking 3 for 43 with his left-arm spin.
Afterwards the Chairman Nick Harrison gave a (for him…) brief speech in which he remembered Billie Hockley, whose memorial this match was. The “Billie Hockley Cushion”, surely already becoming a club tradition, was awarded to the winning captain Will Melhuish, and the Chairman’s crisp £20 note was handed to the victorious President James Herbert… who did what all Premier League team owners should do and put it straight into the team beer kitty.
There followed a Pork Roast produced by another small army of cooks, servers, and other helpers, and attended by over 100 people. And finally the madness of the annual Blackheath Barn Dance, from which thankfully no major casualties have yet been reported.
And so Cricket Week 2026 drew to a close, and all the faces of the week gradually drifted away. The many past Blackheath players of the last 5 decades and beyond who came together to rekindle old memories, the well-known Blackheath cricketing families of today who came as they so often do to watch their sons and daughters and discuss new stories with their friends, and the Blackheath village families who came to enjoy their beloved heath at its summer best and the Friday Barn Dance. All these people made, and hopefully will continue to make, our Cricket Week such a special time.
To all of them and to the players of today, from the senior-est pro to the junior-est centurion, I say this… remember these times. Remember the casual stories you hear, the little moments you witness, because these are the bond we will all share. These are the days of our lives...
Most photos by kind permission of Simon Jones
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