It was somehow fitting that the Philanderers 500th match was against new opposition sourced by the young academicians on one of their rebel tours. It may seem that the Philanderers CC is a club defined by tradition and respect for its elderly. Existing only to play out the time-honoured rhythms of seasons past. 

The truth is, however, that the club has always been in constant evolution and has nev...

Not quite the one and only for all you Chesney Hawkes fans but the first and penultimate mid-week evening fixture took place on a warm sunny evening at this East Anglia Premier League ground (where is “Premier League” this season?). Great wicket and tiny boundaries promised for a high scoring match especially given the strong batting side that the Fuhrer, in attendance from the start (local venue)...

Cricket is back! The Philanderers are back. Normality is back. Or is it?

From a (social) distance indeed all seemed normal enough… things though were not quite as they seemed. The most obvious changes were of course the plethora of hand sanitising stations and other measures to ensure we complied with the ECB guidelines relating to covid-19, however some detected a slightly more subtle difference...

Whilst Wales were sadly exiting the world cup following an ugly game of rugby with South Africa in Yokohama the really beautiful game was being played in Newmarket, by the ten stalwart Philanderers who were prepared to put their bodies on the line at the second club real tennis day.

Well not quite ten, following an evil evening in London Henry found the journey back to Newmarket too great a trial,...

A new venue and new opposition as we welcomed touring side Gumley CC from Leicestershire to the picturesque venue of Exning Park, nestled within the Lackford Hundred of West Suffolk. Exning is reported to be the historic capital of the ancient Iceni tribe and the home of Queen Boudicca from where she launched her failed uprising against the invasion forces of the Roman Empire in AD60. Could the ch...

As the replacement Match Reporter I have a problem in that I missed the opening hour of the game. That aside I have to say that I am mightily pleased that our inaugural fixture with IZ, founded in 1845, actually took place as they were struggling to raise a side. However, we generously donated two of our superstars, namely Ben Cassels & David Pimblett, to complete their line-up.

IZ lost the toss in...

The Philanderers CC annual golf championship was fiercely contested this year. 8 Philanderers assembled for a Friday morning round brought forward to avoid inclement conditions in the afternoon. In the end, the only dark cloud we encountered was the 9th player David Pimblett arriving 15 minutes late for his group's tee time, just as Sherwin and Skinner thought they were able to sneak out as a two-...

"And of THAT district I prefer
The lovely hamlet Grantchester." - Rupert Brooke, The Old Vicarage, Grantchester (1912)

Don’t you just get tired of match correspondents writing loads of useless prose in the hope of catching the judge’s eye in the Best Written Match Report of the Year Competition?

Rupert Brooke’s association with, and attachment to, Grantchester is well known and he continues:

"For Ca...

So August comes round again, and it’s time for the Philanderers to make their annual late summer trip to the seaside (well almost the seaside - you can probably see the sea from the upper floors of Holkham Hall, at least when the tide is in). After some difficulty (geography and the holiday season being against him) our great leader had assembled an XI containing the customary mix of youthful vigo...

Our inaugural game with the Tech giants Arm did not get off the ground owing to inclement weather and which was our first such cancellation of the season. However, cricket legend David Pimblett made a secret visit to the ground and upon crawling under the covers disputes the amount of rainwater causing the cancellation which preceded his arrival. Mind you he was using flippers and a snorkel when d...