History Index

• MCC Life Members
• MCC Team Of The Century
• Macclesfield Cricket - Teams and achievement history
• Team photos
• Beneath The Red And Black We Stand
• A past glimpse of the Macclesfield Cricket Club

MCC Life Members

MCC Team Of The Century 1879-1980

Macclesfield Cricket Club 1879-1969

Flaxley/Macclesfield Cricket Club 1970-1980

At the end of the 2004/05 season, the MCC Team Of The Century 1879-1980 was announced before a capacity crowd. As you can see, countless hours of research were put in courtesy of Paul and Nat Lemar. Below are just a few of the highlights from this great night.

First a History on the Club..

It was thought only 6 months ago that the first game held was in 1879, but I can now inform the audience, that we in fact believe the first game to be a social Xmas game hosted by Samuel Davenport on Monday 25th December 1843 on the Davenport Square. Scores and players are unknown but private letters discovered in England confirm to this. Although not the first game ever recorded in South Australia, (first being in 1838), it certainly was the earliest outside Adelaide.

In 1859 we know that annual Christmas games where held against Echunga as a picnic event. Again no scores or players are known however we can take a fairly accurate guess of some of who were involved. First recorded competition games however are in 1879 but it now seems likely a regular competition was being held well before then.

* Update *

Recorded game against Strathalbyn reported in Register 6/4/1859 Strath 74 & 71 defeated by Macclesfield 65 & 81 - Macclesfield won by 1 run.

Recorded game against Strathalbyn reported in Register 29/4/1859 Macclesfield 63 & 54 defeated Strathalbyn 71 & 20.

***

Our first Association was with the Hills which comprised of Mt Barker, Ambleside (Hahndorf), and Strathalbyn & teams from Adelaide.

Most games were held in the New Year following Hay Season.

Over the years we continued to play either in the Hills Association (that is Stirling, Mylor, Meadows, Echunga, Hahndorf, Aldgate, Biggs Flat, Clarendon), Alexandra Association (Finniss also known as Queens Own Town, Hartley, Bletchingly, Woodchester, Callington, Bremer, Milang, Langhorne Creek, Strathalbyn, Shady Grove and what seems our most dreaded foes at the time Ashbourne). We also later played in the Mt Barker Districts Associations (Mt Barker, Flaxely, Woodside, Onkaparinga, Lenswood, Nairne, Littlehampton, Wistow), Our current affiliation is with the Alexandrina and Eastern Hills Cricket Association (a combination of some of the above).

Firstly, apologies for all the players who missed out. Having examined the records of over 300 players from 1879 to 1980 some very good players have unfortunately missed out. Just to name a few..

They were all good enough cricketers but didn’t make it through the final selection process which began back in January. The Club has tried to do justice to all concerned. In determining the final team, Club Records were examined, Scores from the Southern Argus, Mt Barker and Gumeracha Courier, Records from The Historical Society Unley, South Australian Cricket Association and many interviews with past players and supporters. In addition, old letters and old records from Macclesfield’s History have been examined.

In picking the final team we have..

• Tried to pick the best players from 3 era’s; that being Pre 1899, 1900-1930’s, Post WW2 -1980
• All players must have played and recorded over 5 full seasons in A Grade and only A Grade stastics have been used.
• All players had to be outstanding cricketers in their own right compared to their contemporaries of their era.
• All players must have made a significant contribution to the Club ON THE FIELD
• In the case of the TEAM OFFICIALS all have been past players that have also made a significant contriubution in their non playing roles.
• Because most club and public records prior to the war are scarce only those that could be authenticated have been included in the stats. Since World War 2 all but 3 seasons have been located.
• Some rounds from 70/71 &71/72 could also not be located. We are confident however that none of the missing seasons has prevented players from being selected.

As was common practice in the 1880's for Macclesfield, a touring squad of 15 has been named. On top of this, an umpire, scorer and team manager have also been included. The Team Managers role was to ensure the organisational, safety and probably the SOBRIERITY OF THE TEAM BOTH TO AND FROM THE CRICKET.

Some stats prior to announcing the team..

• The squad itself has given at least 230 years of A grade service to the Macclesfield Cricket Club.
• A total of 29,000 verifiable A grade runs have been scored.
• A total of 1500 verifiable A grade wickets have been taken.
• The batting average of the team is about 300 runs per innings.
• They on average would bowl any opposition out for around 150 runs.
• They in essence would win any two innings game by an innings each time.

Announcing the Macclesfield Cricket Club Team Of The Century..

Macclesfield Cricket - Team and achievement history

Thanks to Paul Lemar for the updated team history, along with the following information..

*From 1934 to 1976 the club has a "second" side (I'd call it C grade standard) as it combined senior players with juniors. They played when they had numbers. The B Grade finals consisted of A grade teams who finised 3 and 4 playing it out in a GF while the teams who finished 1 & 2 played the A grade GF. so there really wasnt a full time B grade comp as such just A grade and the other comp (unless you had 2 A grade teams and the other team such as Strath did).

March 1986

Macclesfield 174 defeated Nairne Cricket Club in the C Grade Grand Final

Team photos

Beneath The Red & Black We Stand

Beneath the Red and Black we stand
A fresh cool beverage raised in hand
Pay homage to our sacred land
At Maccy, Dear old Maccy

We back ourselves at any stage
There’s no team that we dread
We’ll fight and scrap until its stumps
When you find that we’re ahead

Out we come, Out we come
Out we come to play
Just for recreation sake
To pass the time of day

SO JOIN IN THE CHORUS
AND SING IT ONE AND ALL
JOIN IN THE CHORUS
MACCY’S ON THE BALL
GOOD OLD MACCY – WE’RE CHAMPIONS YOU’LL AGREE
THE REDBACKS WILL BE CHAMPION’S
JUST YOU WAIT AND SEE!

A past glimpse of the Macclesfield Cricket Club

1895
The Cricket Clubs of Ashbourne, Langhorne Creek, Macclesfield, Meadows, Milang, Strath Albyn and Woodchester agree to form a Cricket Association.
Source “Regiment on the River”

Some earlier games..

Saturday January 1st 1881
Macclesfield 88 defeated the Bohemians Cricket Club 75 (Adelaide Team)

Saturday January 15th
Macclesfield 95 vs Mt Barker 100

Saturday January 29th
Macclesfield 142 defeated Mt Barker 43

Saturday February 5th
Macclesfield 83 defeated Strath Albyn 49

Saturday February 19th
Macclesfield 45 defeated Strath Albyn 40

Monday 11th November 1880
Macclesfield Cricket Club vs. Wanderers Club at The Flat (Davenport Square) – result win to Macclesfield. (The Wanderers Club was a visiting club from Adelaide. A picture of this match is on the wall up the Complex).

Tuesday 12th November 1880 (Prince of Wales Birthday Holiday)
Macclesfield Cricket Club vs. Marshall & Co. Club – result win to Macclesfield

Sunday 26th December 1880
Macclesfield Cricket Club 81 runs vs. combined North Adelaide and Kent Town Cricket Clubs 158 runs (We believe the North Adelaide Club had some very good players).

Score card for Macclesfield