Summer Sports - Cricket
In twenty-two year old Jack Chapman, North Warwickshire Cricket Club appear to have found a real gem. Not only does he run a very successful lawn and garden business, but he finds time to look after the club’s ground as well. In this article, he talks about his dual roles and his aspirations for the future. You could say he’s already climbed a mountain to get where he is today!
North Warwickshire CC
Jack Chapman on Mount Kilimanjaro
I
t’s difficult to precisely pin down the dawn of North Warwickshire Cricket Club (NWCC); certainly it was running in 1952 when the owners of the land on which the North Warwick Colliery then
stood purchased nearby land on Hermitage Hill so that the workforce could enjoy recreational facilities, which not only included cricket, but also football, tennis, bowls and even tug of war. By 1954, the cricket club was firmly established when the ground was gifted both to them and the North Warwick Colliery Sports and Social Club.
Regular friendly games took place until
the formation of the the then James Travel League, one of the many leagues that
76 I PC APRIL/MAY 2016
Jack of two trades!
eventually made up the Midland Combined Counties League in the early nineties. Further leagues were formed for Sunday and mid-week cricket, all of which North Warwickshire embraced, as well as hosting its own knock out competition each June, along with other local clubs - making the long summer evenings a busy time. A junior section was also formed in 1990 and, within a couple of years, had become one of the Midland’s leading teams with many victories in leagues and knock out competitions, including reaching the finals in the Lord’s Taverner’s U16 tournament and the national U13s final at Sherborne in Dorset.
With the decline in cricket participation
generally in the noughties, the mid-week teams became a fond memory as opponents slowly disappeared. Today, the club plays in the Warwickshire
Cricket League on Saturdays and in the Lichfield & District Sunday League on Sundays. A resurgence of interest in mid- week cricket sees the club hoping to rejoin the Thursday Nuneaton & District League in 2017, whilst the junior section now takes part in Warwickshire competitions from under 9s to under 13s. The club’s groundsman is Jack Chapman,
who has been doing the job for just over a year, but has played for the club since the age of fourteen. “Since a young teenager, I had picked up
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