Hadspen Chieftains Cricket Club which started out as the Sidmouth XI Cricket Club. This is the story so far and our evolution to the present success that is Hadspen Cricket Club. 

 
The Sidmouth XI Cricket Club was established 1987/88 joining the TCL, with many of the players having played together the previous season with the California Hotel Cricket Club also in the TCL. A few others including Syd Holland had played B Grade with the previous Sidmouth Cricket Club that had folded the previous season, whom had played in the now defunct Tamar League. Our first year saw us join the TCL in B Grade in the first year the TCL expanded to division 1 & 2.

The new team was a success from the start. In our first year under the captaincy of Syd Holland we finished runners up, going down to Trevallyn in the Grand Final.

Our second season of 1988/89, again captained by Syd Holland was our first triumph, going through the season undefeated in competition games and backed it up in the finals series to and scrape in and win our first premiership in tight game Garry (Knuckle) Neville, dropped by the keeper earlier, tucked the winning runs in front of square leg to claim victory a to remember.

The season of 1990/91 saw us field two teams with Stephen (Rex) Smith the A Grade captain and Steven (Lombardy) Neville in charge of the new recruit B grade team. While the A Grade finished last the B Grade team did very well making the finals but narrowly losing in the Semi Finals, but more importantly provided the club with an influx of youth capable of taking the club to new levels for years to come.

The 1990/91 season saw us pushing to become a powerhouse in the TCL by our A Grade making the Grand Final but going down gallantly against Normanstone at Trevallyn.

1991/92 saw us reap our first A grade premiership with a one wicket win with one ball to spare in a truly amazing match against Legana at Bethune Park.

In 1992/93 we made our third consecutive A Grade grand Final but lost to Old Launcestonian’s at Trevallyn in a match we should have won.

The following season of1993/94 we made an unprecedented fourth consecutive A Grade Grand Final appearance and absolutely flogged Trevallyn by 8 wickets at Bethune Park. The Charltons Cup knockout competition commenced in 1993/94 it involved teams from the TCL & the NECA we were its inaugural champions, defeating Legana at Legana and claim the double glory for the year. This was Sidmouth XI at its most dominant, with two premierships in one year!

1994/95 came we won the Charlton’s Cup Premiership back to back beating Legana at Bethune Park and it remained ours forever two seasons undefeated we knocked everyone out of the competition for good. Bitter disappointment befell us in the regular season missing the finals by one game thus losing the chance to defend our title.

In 1995/96 Leigh (psych) Gittus captained the A Grade to second position on the ladder but was beaten by Trevallyn at Bethune Park in the Semi Final.

Our 6th Finals appearance in seven years was achieved in 1996/97 under the captaincy of Grant Davern but suffered the same fate as the previous year losing to the eventual premiers Trevallyn at Beauty Point in the Semi Finals. Rod Neville lead the B Grade out of the wilderness for our first finals campaign in seven years, dropped catches saw them lose to the eventual premiers Riverview in the Semi Finals.

The Season of 1998/1999 year under dual Captaincy of Brett Martin and Troy Geoghegan we had a quiet year in A Grade only one win and two tied matches for the year. B Grade under Johnny Bailey finished third and our newly formed C Grade went down in the Grand Final to Old Launcestonian’s under Steve (Lombardy) Neville. The club saw the end of our Kings Meadows second ground experiment and was back at Sidmouth.