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.