Cricket in Leamington and Leamington Cricket Club

‘Let a club be formed’ was the rallying call in February 1899 for the formation of a Leamington Cricket Club which a season later would find a permanent idyllic presence in Arlington Avenue. There had been several earlier unsuccessful attempts to form such a club during most of the Victorian period with the support of eminent local social and political elite; and ambitious attempt at a cricket week in 1809 also failed.

Part of this book traces those early manifestations, from 1829, through two victories over the MCC in 1850, Parr and Wisden’s ground in the now Victoria Park to the firmly established presence in 1899/1900.

Between 1899 and 1960 the book covers the Leamington club’s social make-up, the controversy of Sunday cricket, the threat of the loss of the ground, the dominating presence of FA Ward, a wealth of two-day matches when Arlington Avenue drew crowds of between 800–1000 spectators who were attracted by a host of national cricketers and larger-than-life local personalities who graced the ground.

For the modern period when highly competitive league cricket began to predominate after 1970, readers will find a host of statistical material revealing the quality and success of the premier local club while reflecting the huge change taking place in the nature of cricket, its organisation and structure.

"Mark Ryan has redefined the word 'thorough' with Cricket in Leamington and Leamington Cricket Club....it is an extraordinary testament to the duty of the author, who scored for the club 70 years ago and retired after 61 years as a player." The Cricketer magazine, May 2025

"...Lavishly produced, and tells you everything - indeed rather more than everything - you want to know about Leamington Cricket Club since their formation in 1899, and quite abit about cricket in the town before that too, including the significant role played in the 1850s by the ubiquitous John Wisden. Cricket in Leamington is extraordinary in scale. I am tempted to make it the Wisden Book of the Year." Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2026