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Pimperne Cricket Club

 

In the late 50s and early 1960s, Pimperne Cricket Club played at Langbourne on a concrete batting pitch overlaid by matting. A particular hazard at Langbourne was cow pats as the pitch’s more normal use was for dairy cattle. To discourage the wandering animals, a temporary electrified fence had to be placed around the batting pitch which was inadvisable to touch

Cricket in Pimperne went back many years. The Dorset County Chronicle reports a cricket match between Pimperne and Chettle which took place in August 1867. It was a close game with Pimperne winning by one run with just one wicket to spare.                                                                                                                                              

There are also newspaper reports of two matches being played the previous year in August 1866. First, there was a Saturday home match against Shroton played on Pimperne Down. It was a day when the wind blew very rough and much interfered with play. The bails could not be kept on the wickets. However, the game was evenly contested and in the end Shroton proved the victors by 12 runs.

Secondly was a midweek double-innings away match against Blandford. It was a common village cricket feature for a team to field several same family members. Reverend William Bury was Pimperne’s clergyman from 1862-1886. In this match the away team fielded five Burys – T Bury, J Bury, W Bury, M Bury & R Bury. However, this time there was a lack of divine inspiration as the Burys were collectively dismissed for five ‘ducks’ in the double innings. Pimperne lost by 49 runs although in the second home innings Thomas Bury took seven wickets. Pimperne cricketers of this era included carpenter Henry Blandford, farmer’s son Walter Matthews, bricklayer Fred West and agricultural labourer Edward Ford.

(Illustration: Pimperne Cricket Club in 1911 - courtesy of Nina Smith.)

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