Cricket was played in St Annes as early as 1870 at Headroomgate Road, now the site of the Parish Rooms.

It was thought that St Annes Cricket Club was founded some time between 1879 and 1888 but new evidence shows that the club may have been formed as far back as 1872.

The club had it’s first major success in 1902 when they founded and won the newly formed Palace (Blackpool) Shield.

Photo credit and copyright © amounderness.co.uk

At the time of the club’s foundation, the teams played on fields off St David’s Road North, and did so until the outbreak of the First World War, when play was suspended.  During this time, the ground became a Royal Horse Artillary training centre.

A quote from a May 1915 newspaper report said:

The British soldier stands higher in the estimation of the people of St. Annes since they have had the honour of taking some practical interest in their training and welfare.

Many residents have revised their opinions of their khaki defenders since they have rubbed shoulders with them. The people of St. Annes will he sorry to lose such well-behaved troops, but the best of friends must part. No effort will be relaxed to entertain our soldier friends right up to the farewell.

A fascinating read about the Soldiers of the Royal Field Artillery in St Annes can be found on the amounderness.co.uk website.

The club revived in 1924 and play commenced at the present Highbury Road site which at the time also contained three grass and two hard tennis courts.

Later, a second cricket field was added located to the north/airport side of the present ground. Soccer and hockey were also played there until some of the land was sold to developers in the 1970s and early 1980s.

St Annes CC were the founder members of the Northern League in 1952. They were unbeaten in league games which resulted in them becoming League Champions that year.

 

They met their first defeat on 1st August 1953 after being unbeaten in 35 games!

Lancashire and England all-rounder and former England Captain Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff played his first game for St Annes CC as a junior player in 1989, age 12.

He made his debut in 1st XI senior cricket playing for St Annes at the tender age of 14 and after a successful career with us he progressed to play for Lancashire CCC before becoming a formidable force in the England side.  His contribution during the 2005 Ashes was quite spectacular.

Andrew represented England in 79 Tests, 141 one-day internationals and seven Twenty20 games. He also made 80 first-class appearances for the Red Rose, scoring 4,042 runs at 35.14 and taking 92 wickets at 29.16.

 

Flintoff’s Lancashire Twenty20 record consists of 16 games, averaging 13.94 with the ball and 29.64 with the bat, with a high score of 93 against Derbyshire in 2009.

#FredIsBack

In 2014, the former England captain returned to play for St Annes CC in a Northern Premier League fixture against Penrith CC and the hashtag #FredIsBack was born!

Flintoff was using the match as a warm-up to his comeback to the county game with Lancashire and we were delighted to have our most famous team member back in the side!

36 years old at the time, Andrew never thought he would get the chance to play competitive cricket again, having last done so almost five years previous, but he’d been training with Lancashire in recent months and relished the opportunity to return.

That Amazing Catch

As the sun shone on Vernon Road and the crowds swelled by the minute, Freddie certainly gave spectators a day to remember.

Watch his superb, lightning-speed catch which helped him on his way to an impressive 3-26:

Graeme Fowler 1979. Photo credit: Action Images