121 Dartmouth History If you dig deep, Dartmouth has an interesting sporting history. In his booklet “Sports People of


Dartmouth”, Alan Coles, the late editor and proprietor of the Dartmouth Chronicle (1962-68), wrote about some of the outstanding personalities and events.


THE ALL ROUNDER BILLY UNDERWOOD - KINGSWEAR CRICKETING LEGEND I


n the 1900s Kingswear was renowned throughout south Devon for the deeds of its cricket team. The club was formed in 1898 and played at Brookhill. At first membership was low and with 15 ancient retainers they could just scrape together a team. By the beginning of the new century,


however, the playing strength had grown to 50 and the village was putting into the field two sides capable of being the best that Devon had to offer. The transformation was because of one man - Billy underwood, a Jessopian-type batsman and a bowler of demon wiles. underwood began his cricketing life with


nottinghamshire. it was not a particularly sparkling career and at 26 he became professional coach to HMS. Britannia. The college ship prided itself in turning out cricketers in preference to rugby players in those days and underwood with his pacey bowling and gigantic hitting coached skill into young players. For 20 years he turned callow cadets into useful cricketers who graced the navy side and made the Britannia into a strong team. By the time he was 46, however, he was slowing down and his patience was often exhausted on the cadets in his charge. In 1900 he was searching for an outlet and when the licence for the Commercial Hotel - later renamed The Windjammer - was available he took it over. The Commercial became a cricketing pub under his tenancy and the tap room talk was of Grace and Jessop. Talk was not enough for underwood; rather than feel the beer-pump in his hands he longed for the handle of a bat, rather than talk about his bowling exploits of yesteryear he wanted to curl his fingers around a ball again. The only local club which could offer him the sweet sound of leather on willow was based at Kingswear. When he joined them, the club was not highly rated


locally. under the captaincy of Tom Willcocks, an eng- land rugby international, they had little skill but plenty of enthusiasm. underwood shaped the enthusiasm


into skill, not only by his example but by the quiet unobtrusive way he tried to coax the best out of each player. In his first game for Kingwear he performed the


hat-trick and his return of eight wickets for 21 sent the players’ spirits rising as they achieved an overwhelming victory against Marldon. In his next match he took a wicket with his first ball of the innings and again Kingswear triumphed over old rivals Kingskerswell. In his third match of that summer he took five for 18 as Kingswear overcame upton, although the long grass was against his style, according to the sporting press. At the end of the season he topped the batting and


bowling averages but it seemed too easy for him and he was apprehensive about remaining with the club. His yearning for the game was so overpowering that


Illustration by Lisa Wyman


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