Phoenix Cricket Club
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[edit] About Phoenix Cricket Club
Phoenix Cricket Club is a Dublin-based club that currently fields 4 men's teams, 1 women's team, 8 schoolboy teams and a Taverners team. Phoenix Cricket Club is the 2nd Oldest Cricket Club in the World !! And in our opinion the 1st best cricket club in the world, it certainly is a fantastic place to be, especially in the sunshine as you relax and watch a good game of cricket.
Founded in 1830, the club is the oldest in Ireland and the 2nd oldest in the world the oldest been Mitcham Cricket Club, in Surrey England. John Parnell, father of the politician Charles Stewart Parnell, was one of the founding members.
The club has been based in Dublin's Phoenix Park for its entire history, apart from the period 1835–1853. During those years, Phoenix played their home games in fields near the current site of the Grand Canal near the current Upper Baggot Street. During the 1930s , 1940s and 1970s, Phoenix was the dominant club in Leinster cricket.Welcome to Ireland's premier Cricket club. Phoenix Cricket Club is located in the Phoenix Park, which is an urban park in Dublin City. Phoenix Cricket Club was founded in 1830. Over that time Phoenix has been one of the most successful Irish Cricket Clubs. Phoenix currently has four men's teams, a ladies team, schoolboy teams at all age groups and a very successful Taverners squad.This most beautiful of grounds boasts a beautiful pavilion, the best square in Leinster cricket, full nets facilities, bar & dressing room areas and ample car parking. Whether you're playing or spectating it's the best place to spend your afternoon in the sunshine!!
Our Ground is located on the Main Road in the Phoenix Park, officially known as the Chesterfield Road. It is located opposite the Polo Grounds, on the left-hand side as you come from the city centre.Even if you are only in Dublin for a short while why not visit Phoenix Cricket Club and enjoy the atmosphere. The club pavilion and grounds ,can be hired for functions and events, situated in a relaxing spot in Dublins city , it makes it a perfect spot. For further information and contact details , check out the clubs official website, [1]
[edit] Club History
Phoenix Cricket Club is the oldest in Ireland and one of the oldest in the world, being formed in 1830 some five years before Dublin University Cricket Club. Prior to 1834, the club members met and practised in the Phoenix Park, but in 1835 the club moved out of the Park and displayed its matches in the open fields, now built upon, south of the canal behind the Upper Baggot Street. Lord Dunloe and Lord Clonbrock, two of the many prestigious early members of the club are also shown on the 1833 list of members of the M.C.C. and these two men, together with V.E. Alcock, were mainly responsible for the club expanding and developing over its first 20 years until it reached its position of "Premier Club of Ireland", a description given to it by the newspapers of the day. All the founder-members were later given Life Membership in recognition of their service to the club.
In February 1853 the club relocated to the Phoenix Park. As the club continued to prosper, the membership increased each year and 20 to 25 matches were played annually. However, in 1846 the road through the Phoenix Park was widened and the club had to move again. A new ground in an adjacent area was recommended, and in view of the expense already incurred by the Club the move was financed by the Board of Works, at a cost of £73 and Phoenix has been at its present ground since 1847.
John Parnell was among the founding members of the club. His son, Charles Stewart, famous for bringing Irish home rule to the forefront of the political agenda, was a short lived member of Phoenix Cricket Club. He was also an autocratic captain, playing just within the rules and some times outside them. He acquired his interest in the game both from his father and from a Prep School headmaster in Derbyshire where he was sent in the hopes that he would receive some discipline. An interest in cricket was the only thing that master and pupil had in common!
If Parnell had amorous intentions they did not occur at Phoenix, for ladies were not allowed in the pavilion! For games against I Zingari, ladies were allowed in the pavilion enclosure where tea was served, but it was more usual for them to watch the games from their carriages located round the pavilion, or in special boxes round the boundary which were available for rent at five shillings per year.
Parnell who was living at 14 Temple St. with his widowed mother was a member of the Phoenix committee in 1866 but only played in one match, City v County under the name Charles Stewart.
[edit] Days Gone By
The outstanding Phoenix cricketers of the 1850s and 1860's were T. Quinn, a very good bowler, and W. Ashton, reckoned at that time to be the best all-rounder in Ireland. Other very good Phoenix cricketers were G. and E. Kinahan, R. W. Traill, R. Filagate, Col. Coddington and Arthur Samuels.
All Ten Wickets Arthur Samuels was a noted slow under-arm bowler and played for about twenty-five years for Phoenix and also for All Ireland sides. He frequently played under the name of S. Arthur and under that name, he had the distinction of taking all ten wickets in an innings, while playing for Phoenix.
It was probably the visit of I Zingari, an English roving side, which prompted the committee to consider the erection of a permanent pavilion on the present ground. Until 1851 a large tent had always sufficed for shelter and changing facilities and so, early that year, an application was made to build a permanent structure of brick. The initial request was turned down, but later, due to the intervention of the Lord Lieutenant, The Hon. Gerald Ponsonby, permission was granted.
On August 4th and 5th 1853 the M.C.C. paid their first visit to Ireland and were entertained by Phoenix in the Park. Phoenix lost by 79 runs and Charles Lawrence on whom a lot depended, did not have a good game. However, in 1858 when Ireland beat the M.C.C. at Lords by an innings, Lawrence chipped in with 8 for 32 and 4 for 25. Later on in September, 1853 twenty two of Phoenix played The United England XI winning by an innings and 105 runs. The United England XI again came to the Park in 1854 and this time Phoenix won by 105 runs.
Club's Two Anchormen At this stage in the Phoenix story it is worth reflecting on two great secretaries V. E. Alcock and J. Hurford. They not only carried out their secretarial duties efficiently but together piloted the club through 38 years of its early existence. They both possessed great foresight, determination, keenness and an ability to get things done. Alcock was secretary from 1830 to 1853 and, apart from what must have been delicate negotiations with the Commissioner of the Wood and Forests on the setting up of a permanent headquarters in the Park, he succeeded in persuading Charles Lawrence to join the Club as its first professional. This, perhaps was his greatest coup.
Lawrence was not only a good player, but a fine organiser, and he started the United All-Ireland XI in 1855 very much as Clarke has created the All-England XI in England. He arranged games in all parts of the country, which helped to spread and foster the game in rural Ireland. Lawrence left Phoenix in 1861 and went to Australia with the English side captained by H. H. Stephenson.
First American Tour The first Irish tour to North America was in 1879. A Leicestershire professional, Rylott was taken along to umpire,but his umpiring was not at all liked by the Philadelphians and one game had to be cancelled. Nevertheless, of the thirteen games played ten were won, two were drawn and one was lost. The best cricketers in Philadelphia then were the Newhall brothers. Another prominent player of that team, John Thayer, died in the Titanic disaster in 1912.
In fifty years Phoenix has established itself as the leading club in Ireland, with a good ground and pavilion, well administered and attracting all the best players, most of whom either joined the club on graduating from Trinity or were officers stationed in the Park. Phoenix had no problems in getting fixtures with the best English club sides visiting Ireland and it was in this rather superior situation that Phoenix celebrated the fiftieth year of its founding with a splendid dinner in Murphy's Rooms, Nassau Street, in November of that year.
The Trinity Influx The strength of Phoenix in the last ten years of the nineteenth century was largely due to Trinity men. Trinity College had regular fixtures with both Oxford and Cambridge and frequently toured England, playing County sides. With players of the outstanding class of J. M. Meldon, F. H. Browning, Lucius Gwynn and A. D. Comyn, who all, on graduating, joined Phoenix, it was only to be expected that the University should record wins against Leicestershire and Warwikshire and Oxford University.
The South Africans made their second visit to Ireland in 1901. At that time a dispute had developed over the method of selecting Irish sides and as the result of this, two of the leading Dublin clubs withdrew, and so did the Northern clubs. The Irish team eventually selected had ten Phoenix men and Bill Harrington of Leinster. Leinster were a party to the dispute, but Harrington was also a member of the County Kildare Club, which, under the guidance of Sir John Kennedy, had kept out of the dispute.
Disputes were not uncommon at that time in the selection of Irish teams. A few years earlier six Phoenix men had withdrawn from an Irish team because of insufficient Phoenix representation!
Phoenix Men Shine By 1902, the quarrel about the method of selecting the Irish team was over. Much care was now given to the selection of the best possible side and a trial match was played on the Phoenix ground in May, 1902. The team, selected for a short tour in England, was captained by Sir Timothy O’Brien, who was born in Ireland, but played most of his cricket in England. (O’Brien played for Middlesex, and also played for England). The others selected were J. M. Meldon, Lucius Gwynn, A. D. Comyn, T. C. Ross, and F. H., Browning (all Phoenix), R. H. Lambert and his brother S. D., W. Harrington, and S. C. Smith (of Leinster), O. Andrews, from the North, R.E. Adair of Pembroke, and T. A. Harvey of Trinity (who later became Bishop of Cashel).
The first match was against W. G. Grace's London County side, which included W. L. Murdoch, the former Australian captain. The Irish team won, due chiefly to the bowling of Ross and Harrington, and the battling of Gwynn (81), Browning and the Lamberts. The next match, against a strong M.C.C. side at Lord's was drawn. Tom Ross, the Phoenix off-spinner, again showed his class by taking 7 for 82 in the M.C.C.’s first innings.
The third match was at Oxford. In that game, 1,164 runs were scored altogether, Oxford winning by 62 runs. O'Brien played an innings of 167 which was the Irish record until 1973, when Ivan Anderson made 198 not out at Toronto. The last match was against Cambridge, and Ireland won by 58 runs. Bill Harrington and Leinster slow bowler, took 11 wickets in the match. That other great Phoenix player, Lucius Gwynn, scored over 1,000 runs in Dublin in 1902, including four centuries in the Park. Alas, he was then in bad health, and later in the year left for Switzerland where he died at the age of 29.
The Leinster Senior League was formed in 1919 and, while Phoenix had a considerably reduced membership mainly as the result of the troubles, the side had entering the League, the side was as good as at any time along the club’s history. The subconscious policy of being very much a club for officers and gentlemen still persisted and the practice of electing a captain on a match-to-match basis continued; in fact, right up until 1932 when W. R. Allen became the first captain appointed for a whole season.
The Old Enemy If the success of Phoenix might indicate some weak opposition, nothing could be further from the truth. The hard-fought battles with Leinster, which began in the 1850’s still continued and two-day matches were played usually resulting in large scores. Those two great Leinster veterans, Bill Harrington and Bob Lambert, were still around and Harrington, whose bowling was extremely slow and seldom collared, could always be relied upon to take a few Phoenix wickets. Both men were rated by Kidd to be better than anyone else. Lambert could bat and bowl and usually did both extremely successfully when facing ‘the old foe’. Leinster also had Jim Ganly, who was later to join Phoenix, and his strong hitting is now very much a legend. In 1929 at Rathmines he scored 232 against Phoenix, hitting six 6’s and thirty-one 4’s, reaching his first 100 in 50 minutes with 22 off one over.
The Phoenix centenary was duly celebrated without too much pomp and fuss with a match against R. H. Lambert’s selected XI and, though the game was rain-affected, it produced very good cricket. This game was just a brief interlude into the more serious affair of competitive League cricket, for, with Allen still available, D. R. Pigot, Sen. in his prime, T. G. McVeagh, and Jimmy Boucher wreaking havoc among batsmen together with a stream of talent arriving in the early forties from Belvedere College (generally all called Quinn!); not to forget Jim Ganly. Marcus Ruddle and the ‘Foxes’, Phoenix had a team capable of taking honours on a regular basis. This proved to be the case, for no one would challenge the assertion that Phoenix were the outstanding team in Leinster in the 1930s and 40's.
Phoenix won thecup again in 1945, and a triple from 1947 to 1949. In fact, from 1935 to 1958 Phoenix played in 12 cup finals and Paddy Quinn and Jimmy Boucher played in all of them. Of the twelve cup finals eight were one and G. J. Quinn and B. V. Fox were on all eight winning teams.
The Bad Years In terms of success the years 1950-1970 were but a pale shadow of the previous fifty. With an aging team they managed to capture the Senior Cup in 1951 and the Senior League in 1956 under the captaincy of Michael Dargan. This was however but loose change to a team that had become so accustomed to success.
If the 50's produced few major successes the 60's were the Phoenix nadir with not one major trophy during the whole of that decade. However, one player who stood out like a beacon was Donald Pratt a great all-round sportsman, who represented Ireland at cricket, tennis and squash. The only honours the club received during the 60's was David Pigot winning the Marchant Cup with an average of 65, the 4th XI the Junior Cup in 1964 and 1968 and the 2nd XI the Senior II League in 1965.
Better Horizons In the latter part of the 60's some light appeared on the horizon, happily with some talented schoolboys arriving on the scene from Gonzaga, St. Columba’s, St. Mary’s, Wesley and King’s Hospital. After a break of 22 years Phoenix won the John Player Senior cup in 1973 under Brian Freer and in the following year were the first winners of the newly-sponsored Wiggins Teape League. The successes of the 70’s are all duly recorded, but 1975 was a particularly great year for Phoenix accomplished the Grand Slam (all three trophies) under Stan Mitchell's dynamic leadership.
The success of the 70’s are proudly listed and during the whole of that time the club called on no more than fifteen players.
1973 John Player Senior Cup. 1974 Wiggins Teape Competition. 1975 John Player Senior Cup/ Wiggins Teape Competition. Senior League./ Wiggins Teape Competition. Senior League. 2nd XI Middle League and Cup. 1976 John Player Senior Cup. 1977 John Player Senior Cup. 1978 John Player Senior Cup/ Senior League. 1979 John Player Senior Cup/ Senior League. 4th XI Junior Cup. The Present Day In 1980 Phoenix celebrated 150 years of continuous contribution to Leinster and Irish cricket. At that stage it fielded 4 men's sides, 2 schoolboys XI's (under 13's and under 15's) and 2 Ladies XI's. When the time comes to write the history of Phoenix in its 200th year, some of the present crop of under 13's and under 15's may well be legendary names in the annals of Irish cricket. Will the Careys and the Caseys be talked about with the same reverance as Boucher and Browning or the Kellys and Kidd? No doubt comparison will be made between the present Phoenix 1st XI and the great Phoenix sides of the past. Many faithful followers of Phoenix who having graced the gone to their eternal reward. When their ghostly figures of the past 150 years, possibly over a glass of their in their deliberations. They will almost certainly discuss the great games in the Park in the past and the close finishes of some. As each game is analyzed in minute detail, there will surely be someone to proudly boast - I was there!
[edit] The Club Today
Up to the current day Phoenix celebrate the success in 2000 of victory in the Lewis Traub Competition. Other honours in 2000 include victory in the Senior 2 league, and awards for the 3rds and in the Alan Murray Cup. Central to these successes are a strong backbone of competitive cricketers including Jono Atkinson (captain of the 1st XI in 2000), Hendy Wallace (club pro for 2000 & 2001), Jeremy Bray (prolific runscorer and multiple winner of the Marchant Cup) and D Pigot, the fourth generation Pigot to play for the club.
Conscious of the need for continuity in the supply of young playing members to the Club, to allow for natural wastage, strenuous efforts have been made in the past couple of years to promote schoolboy cricket in the Club. Thanks to the efforts of some dedicated club members, assisted by the parents of the boys, who live mainly in the environs of the Phoenix Park itself, there are healthysignss of success in this endeavour. Traditionally Phoenix has been a home from home for overseas cricketers. The club currently boasts members from Zimbabwe, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan, India, West Indies and the United Kingdom as well as homegrown talent. If you are interested in joining and playing with Phoenix cricket club why not get in contact with us at [play@phoenixcricketclub.com]or check out the official new look website,[2],all players of any standard welcome,so what are you waiting for, the more members the better.
Check out the link below for the official club website, for more details about the club. You can get information there about Fixtures, Results, Players, Team Selections & Statistics for the Current Season. Pay us a visit, it'll be worth it!
Have a look at our Archive, there's lots of interesting stuff from year's past.
Even if you are only in Dublin for a short while why not visit Phoenix Cricket Club and enjoy the atmosphere. The club pavilion and grounds can be hired for functions and events, situated in a relaxing spot in Dublins city , it makes it a perfect spot. For further information and contact details , check out the clubs official website, [3]
[edit] Coaching At Phoenix
Dave Langford-Smith is our senior coach at Phoenix Cricket Club. Dave, best know for his bowling on the Irish team in the recent 2007 World Cup, has been with the club for several years. His dedication and spirit is the epitome of Phoenix and if you ask him nicely he may perform his famous Chicken Dance!!
Kirk Edwards, our 2008 PRO, joins us this summer from the Carribeen and the poor pet is struggling with the cold!! Though out on the field you would not know it .. A stong bowler, with excellent technical knowledge of the game, Kirk is a great coach and is proving a huge addition to the 1st IX mens team. The major teams kirk has played for are the West Indians, Barbados and West Indies Under-19s
Both coaches are responsible for all of the teams at phoenix and provide excellent coaching advice for all players. There is also assistance from other members with the coaches with youth teams.
[edit] Club Sponsers
Phoenix C.C are proud to count the following organisations and people as sponsors of the Club, if you would like more information on how to sponser Phoenix Cricket Club, you can find the contact number from our website[4]:
Aspect Systems Ltd, Blanchardstown Golf Centre,/ Buckley Partnership Architects,[5] Daphne L. Kaye & Associates,[6] D.R. Pigot & Co,[7] Druker Fanning & Partners,[8] Dublin Grass Machinery,[9] Eugene F. Collins & Co,/ English Language Institute,[10] First Consulting,[11] Kinirons Pharmacy,/ O'Driscoll O'Neil Ltd,[12] Phoenix at the Bar,/ Robert Roberts Ltd,/ Seven Seas Ireland,[13] Steinel (P.I.R.) dist by Socket Tool Company,[14] Squires & Co,[15]
