Suffolk County Cricket Board

Cricket was being played in Suffolk and by teams representing Suffolk long before 1904, but that was the year that a Suffolk XI first competed in what is now known as the Minor Counties Championship, finishing 14th out of 20 counties. H F Fox led Suffolk in their first competitive match at Lakenham against local rivals Norfolk.

There was a further gap of twenty years between 1914 and 1934 when Suffolk stayed out of the Championship but, in the first season after the 2nd World War, Suffolk were champions for the first time under the leadership of A G Powell, having finished second in the table to Buckinghamshire but beating them in the challenge match at High Wycombe.

The years between 1949 and 1964 were dominated by Brian Belle, captain for five seasons and scorer of 4459 runs, Martin Corke, who captained the county for 11 seasons, and Cyril Perkins, Suffolk’s most prolific wicket taker with 779 victims over a 28 year career. Cyril received the accolade of being chosen as a member of the best Minor Counties XI of the 20th century.

Ian Prior and Cliff Piper, both wicket keepers, led the team for the following eight years before passing the captaincy to Bobby Cunnell, arguably Suffolk’s most successful captain. Under Cunnell’s skilful direction, the county won two Championships in 1977 and 1979, the latter considerably assisted by 1167 runs from West Indian, Timur Mohamed, the most scored by a Suffolk player in one season.

The modern era has been dominated by Philip Caley, captain for a record 15 consecutive seasons and now standing at number two in the all-time Suffolk batting list with 9213 runs, six short of Simon Clements. Under Caley’s leadership, Suffolk won the Eastern Division in 2005, sharing the Championship with Cheshire, and reached a first ever MCCA Knock Out final at Lord’s in 2007, beating Cheshire to lift the trophy.

Suffolk’s loyal supporters have been entertained by a number of former first class and England players including, in recent seasons, Derek Randall and Devon Malcolm.

Membership of Suffolk CCC is available at an annual subscription of £15 by contacting the membership secretary: 

Adrian Norman
23 Meadow Crescent, Purdis Farm, Ipswich, Suffolk IP3 8GD
Tel (H) 01473 718865. (W) 01473 719191. (M) 07738 545102
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