Described by Tony Witney

My years at Brentwood School were 1954 - 1961 arriving via the 11+ scholarship from my primary school in Goodmayes, where there were limited facilities for sport. Arriving at Brentwood School and seeing the acres of playing fields were inspiring to one keen on playing different sports, especially cricket.

The School had 3 specific cricket squares for the School teams - 1^st XI, 2^nd XI and colts - all on the main playing field. The colts square for the junior teams have disappeared under the all weather playing area and the 2^nd XI square has disappeared under the Courage Hall and car park. There were also practice nets for all teams, 1^st XI and 2^nd XI were over to the right of the Alms Houses (under the all weather surface) and the Colts nets were along the hedge behind the 1^st XI football pitch. All were grass - not very well prepared for practice after the first week - except for 2 artificial nets (some fibrous material), which were laid next to the colts nets around 1956. I am not sure that any batsmen were encouraged to play properly, as the grass surfaces were not safe, especially in dry weather!! We also used to have ‘square practices', which were much more useful to all players, as the pitches were safer and obviously properly prepared. There were no indoor nets available summer or winter so we could only play outside in the summer.

Cricket was played at all levels with inter form matches, for those outside the School teams, House matches and School matches - all being played on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons (our games days). The inter form matches were played by all the Junior School (1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd forms) and Middle School (4^th and 5^th forms). All pitches were cut out over the 3 playing fields after the football season - the strips were rolled and cut - and then used all summer only being cut and marked out as needed!!!  These pitches were also used for the junior house matches with the senior house 1^st XI's using the various cricket squares. Remember in those days we did not use helmets or thigh pads and pads and gloves were very basic protection, so we had to make sure that we used the bat or suffer the pain!!!

Inter form matches and junior / senior house matches were organised by various masters with all equipment provided for each game from the games shed, over where Hough House is now built. Each bag contained stumps (possibly bails) pads,bats, batting gloves (enough for 3 batsmen and wicketkeeper), wicketkeeping gloves and balls - always clean and usable at start of season but not sure what was left at end of season as no doubt breakages and losses were high !!! Many boys brought their own bats and some also had gloves and pads, especially those hoping to play school matches. Umpires were provided by sixth formers, who were not very good but made sure all games were finished by 3.30pm, as they wanted to get home!! Boys not involved in cricket were able to do other things e.g. athletics, tennis, fencing etc. but to do nothing was not an option.

Changing accommodation was basic compared to what is available today, we had the old wartime underground shelters in Otway lawn, the Shed (near where Hough House stands) and in the Cloisters - no showers were available either!! The pavilion was newly built in 1954/55, so only the few in School teams were allowed to use these changing rooms and showers!!  New changing rooms and showers for non School team players were incorporated into the ‘New Science' block (Queens Building) when it was built in 1958.

The School teams started with junior colts (under 13), senior colts (under 15/16) 2^ndXI and 1^st XI with matches played right through to the end of term, with a small break for exams - some players were allowed to sit them at different times so as not to interfere with the cricket !! All communications regarding team selections etc. were via the team's notice board, so we had to keep a close eye on these notices, especially as we had to attend nets twice a week as well as matches on Wednesdays and Saturdays, each team played around 10 - 12 matches over the term.  

The Junior Colts had early season trials and nets for the new boys at the School to evaluate the standard of any new potential players. Once selected this was the intro to the other teams as players moved up the School. We had a Cricket master, Charlie Edgson, who had played for Oxford University and Leicestershire in his younger days, now teaching Latin / Greek, in charge over all School cricket with the different age group teams being run by masters, who were willing to give up their time to manage the various games and net sessions. There was no official cricket coaching for the teams other than 1^st XI (this was minimal) - therefore, we gleaned advice from the older players where possible. The masters running these other teams did not have much playing knowledge so were unable to coach us properly, therefore, we had to learn the game as best we could. The only real coaching I received was from playing with my local cricket club (Hutton CC) and nets run by Essex County Cricket Club, at the School, for 2 weeks in the Easter holidays (around 1957/58). Here I, and others, were very lucky to have had coaching from Ken Preston and Trevor Bailey (Essex Capt. and England), both renowned fast bowlers and experienced professionals - Ken eventually joined the School as coach and School Marshall in 1965. The first School coach was appointed in 1960, Eric Bryant, a retired professional from Somerset CCC, who gave us some help with advice on batting and bowling actions, with observations on how the opponents were playing and ideas on how to defeat them plus some interesting stories from his life in professional cricket.

I was pleased to have been selected for the Junior colts in my first year at School where I played with some success, and got away from the nightmare pitches where inter form matches were played !! It also allowed me to maintain my place in this team and then move up to the Senior colts when I reached the right age. Again some more success and some games in the 2^nd XI followed with my getting into the 1^st XI where I had 2 years representing the School gaining full colours.

Playing in the 1^st XI was always the pinnacle to achieve at School, especially as we started most games at 11.30am finishing about 6.30pm - this meant missing some lessons!!  Many of the games were against ‘wandering' cricket teams e.g. MCC, Gents of Essex, Incogniti, as well as others e.g. Brentwood CC etc. These matches were always keenly contested as they were teams made up from good club cricketers and were very competitive. We did not play many other schools, Framlingham College being one of the better ones and furthest on away games. Two of the most keenly played games were always against the Common Room, where we could have some ‘fun' against the masters, and the Old Brentwoods. This was a two day game at the end of term, with the second day being on Speech Day. After day one the Old Boys would entertain the School team to dinner at their clubhouse in Burland Road, with the hope that they could encourage the boys to play there after leaving School. However, the game on the second day often went to the Old Brentwoods after having had a very sociable evening the previous day!!!

In 1960 (?) the Brentwood Martyrs CC was formed and we had a week of cricket at School in the first week of the summer holidays with the team being drawn from School Masters, Old Brentwoods and members of the School team. The matches were played against a variety of opponents, some being elevens selected by well known local cricketers and others against teams such as Bomber Command, The Millers or Adastrians (the RAF CC). All matches were played at the School, were very competitive, and played to a high standard and very sociable, which made this week become part of our cricketing highlights at School. Also by this time the Headmaster had recruited some better cricketers into the Common Room, which was good for the various teams under their management, for the match against the School XI and the Martyrs week.

We all enjoyed our cricket at School and continued playing together after leaving School with many of us playing for the Old Brentwoods CC, which we did for many years and made it into one of the top dozen clubs in Essex. The OBCC had such a good reputation within local club cricket that we were one of the first group of 18 clubs asked to form the original Essex League in 1972 - we were winners of that League in 1988 and 1991 plus we were runners up in 1989.

Despite some of the problems described above the School have turned out a number of very good cricketers over the years, who have made an impact  in local club cricket and a few have gone on to play for Essex CCC in their first and second elevens. 

What could we have achieved if we had the facilities and coaching available to the School team's to-day???