History
The club name of Astwood Bank is thought to be older than the date registered of 1860. Many older club members believe it's actual founded date to be some years prior to this. Unfortunately evidence to prove this theory is sadly unavailable, records only starting from 1860 can be traced.
The needle industry is the main contributor to the birth of the club, with the four needle manufacturers of the village - Perkins, Hollingtons, Morrison Yeomans and James Smith combining to play other local firms and calling the team Astwood Bank C.C.
The original ground was run by the James Smith needle company and it's location was a field believed to be somewhere near the middle of the village. The club obtained more land in 1897, this secured a longer future for the club and still remains our home ground to this present day.
The first experience of league cricket came in 1890 playing in the Four Shires Advertiser League, The club played sides in the other three neighboring counties. Moderate success was gained as they won the league twice and also obtained the runners up spot on one other occasion.
During the turn of the century the club moved leagues again, this newly formed Redditch District League meant the team could play against other rival clubs in the area. They played here for five years, winning the league four times and finishing runners up once.
The club felt it needed to play against better opposition in a more competitive, this would only become available in the form of friendly matches. Sides they played are still renowned as being some of the best teams in the county. Competing in this standard of cricket kept improving every side within the club especially in the 1915 season where the 1st XI remained undefeated.
The lack of or the standard of equipment that was used to prepare their pitches in early days meant that the playing surfaces would in today's standards be considered very poor even unplayable. Due to these constraints matches were very low scoring affairs, on average a total of 110-130 runs would be acceptable. Putting this into perspective in 1920 the club fielded a regular team that contained ten centurions out of it's eleven players, this feat is quite remarkable, especially knowing that back then normally the whole team combined would just about manage these targets.
Village occupants and Families have always strongly represented the club, In the 1930's three fathers and sons played in the same 1st XI team. More recently the club has fielded sides containing a father and his two sons, plus three brothers who also played in the same team, of which two of these played in the 1st XI side that has gained promotion in it's last two seasons and the other brother captaining the 2nd XI concurrently. Even in today's sides players are linked to the successful side of 1900.
The Bank continued to play in a very competitive but friendly standard, with a reputation that was growing ever stronger. Decisions had to be made in 1973 with an invitation to join a newly founded Worcestershire League.
The league would only consist of the top ten premier teams in the county at the time and with this honorable invitation and with the prospect of better cricket the club joined the league.
During this time the club was still on a high after entering a competition called The Haig Trophy, a cup knockout for village cricket sides across the country.
Running in it's first year the club were to reach the final at Lords, only to be beaten by Troon C.C. Troon won again in 1973 and 1976 to become the first team to win a hat-trick of victories. Astwood Bank emulated the achievement of the 1972 team with yet another appearance in the Lords Final in 2003.
Since the Haig success the club has gone through some uncertain years, many of the players who were in the final gradually left, leaving many young players to fill their shoes. Those young players were thrust into the firing line without any valuable experience or advice you would normally expect to gain from older statesman of the side.
This took it's toll on the club as they soon became the regulars at propping up the foot of the Worcestershire League before it disbanded in the late eighties. These young players soon became the older ones and with the confidence sadly missing from playing in winning sides the club gradually fell on a downward spiral. A small junior section was once again formed bringing hope, trying to inspire young talent back in to the club and over the coming years this was to prove successful.
The club was hit by a major disaster on 15 December 1994, the club house and tool sheds were razed to the ground by a huge fire. Many thought this would be the finish, but through the resilience of players and members, preparing wickets with borrowed machinery and using a roller that lay rusting away in the corner of the ground for decades, the club has grown again. Reopening a new club house at the end of the 1998 season and returning once more to the reformed Worcestershire League, the club has gained two promotions in three years with a comparatively young side. The club is now back and fighting in Division one which many feel the club should be. This current 1st XI is being closely compared to other great sides in the club's history, long may this continue.
Since the 2007 season the club has been running 4 senior sides on a saturday. 2008 saw the reemergence of the Sunday 1st XI, which competed in the Worcestershire Sunday League. The club also has a Ladies team, which also compete in a Sunday League. The junior set up is as strong as ever and several of the young players who have shone over the last few years are now starting to develop into fine senior players.
On the field, 2008 was not a great success with the 1st's narrowly escaping relegation and the 2nd's not managing to reclaim the title. The 3rd's had a steady season but lack of availability and inexperience saw the 4th's finish bottom of division 8. Off the field, things are starting to look good with the funding being achieved for a new 4 lane net to replace the existing 2 lane nets that we had previously. Work to improve the outfield has also been sanctioned, with new drainage and levelling work to take place during the close season. With all of this in place, things look very bright for 2009.
2009 saw two new captains take over the 1st and 2nd teams. Andy Alexander became first team captain and Andy Williams took over the reigns of the 2nd team. With the new net facilities in place ready for the start of the year along with the investment made in to coaching, everything was in place for the club to have success on all fronts this season. Sadly, the outfield works that had been sanctioned in 2008 had to be suspended for a year due to the severe wet weather following the 2008 season.
The 1st XI had a much more successful season, with the team being in contention for the title until falling away towards the end of a long season which was ultimately plagued by injuries, illnesses and holidays. The team finally ended in 3rd place. The Village Cup threw up some great games as usual this year and the team made it through to the national stages for the first time in 5 years but were eventually eliminated by Stockton, the first time we have been beaten in the National stages by a team who did not go on to win the tournament.
The 2nds had an eventful year, which sadly also fell away at the final hurdle to narrowly miss out on the title. The Division was a split between some really good competitive sides and some that really were not. This was evident when Lye visited Sambourne Lane to face the wrath of the Banks in form batsmen. The home side piled on a record breaking 512 for 2 declared from 48.3 overs, which included 3 centuries. The midweek knockout cup was the highlight of the season with the Bank beating Harborne in a bowl out due to poor weather at Droitwich in the third attempt to play the match.
The 3rds had a good year but narrowly missed out on promotion after finishing in 4th place. Captain Chris Hancox had a very good year with the bat scoring over 400 runs. The 4ths did well to eventually avoid relegation on the final day of the season, fine performances from some of the young players were positives to take from an emerging team.
On the ladies front, the team had a highly successful year finishing 2nd in the table but sadly missed out on promotion to Walmley. There were some excellent perfomances from many of the team but the stand out performance was from the ever impressive Clare Boycott who took 8 for 14 against Stourport, which included two hat-tricks.
Following the 2009 season the outfield works were started and the grass has already began to take. Another addition to the club is the aquisition of a new ground for the 3rd's and 4th's to use. This is the old ground in Hanbury that has sat unused for several years. A new square has been layed and should be ready for the 2010 season.