Portsmouth & Southsea Cricket Club

history

The History Of Portsmouth & Southsea C.C

The club was initially formed in 1954, and played recreational cricket on grounds through out Portsmouth as Enterprise CC. During the early 70s, the name was amended to Portsmouth Enterprise CC to reflect the location of the club.

In the early 80s the advent of league cricket locally saw the Portsmouth Enterprise fixture list dwindling as traditional opposition signed up for the relatively new Hampshire Cricket League, and the club agreed to enter the league, winning several promotions in consecutive years as the club eventually reached it's correct level within the league system.

The 80s also saw the opportunity for the club to move to a disused cricket pitch at St James Hospital in Milton, which remains home to the club today. The then Chairman Gerry Green decided that to flourish, the club required a second team in which younger players could play to gain experience before moving into the first team, and he personally set up and ran the 2nd XI for some years, initially playing friendlies before they too joined the Hampshire Cricket League.

In the 90s, with the club being based in Southsea, a proposal was put forward to rename the club Southsea CC. A fledgling Juniors section was formed initially by Lawrence Anthony but then more substantially by Dave Chisholm which was then strengthened enormously by the amalgamation in 2003 of Southsea CC and Portsmouth Colts to form Portsmouth & Southsea CC.

The new club immediately added a third side to the Hampshire League numbers and saw the 1st team promoted to the Southern Electric Premier Cricket League.  The Juniors section now boasted some of the best young players in the area with upwards of 30 youngsters playing in District and County representative sides.

2006 saw the emergence of the first of the Juniors into adult cricket and a welcome reduction in the average age of the club's teams. With Club Mark accreditation on course and development plans for the St James ground well advanced, the club expect a bright future.