Lytham Cricket Club was founded in 1855
by Squire Clifton of Lytham Hall. In 1946 Lytham joined the
Manchester & District
Association having been involved in playing friendly matches for the
previous 91 years.
Lytham Hall estate of which the cricket ground was part, was sold by the
squire to the Guardian Royal Insurance Company
in
1963. In 1967 the club became a multi-sports club
incorporating cricket, tennis, hockey and soccer. The club purchased
the
ground in the late 1980’s thus ensuring that cricket would be
played at Lytham in perpetuity.
First Class cricket came to Lytham in the early 1980’s even though
benefit matches & 2nd XI County Championship matches
had been held earlier. The first County Championship match was
held in 1985, the visitors being Northampton CCC.
Since that date regular 1st and 2nd XI
county matches have been held at Lytham when the ground takes on a
festival
atmosphere firmly establishing Lytham as one of the favourite out
grounds in Lancashire.
Lytham CC left the Manchester & District Association in 1997 as
champions and joined the expanding Liverpool Competition.
In 1999 Lytham were promoted to the Premier Division as
that season’s 1st Division champions.The Liverpool Competition
was accredited as an ECB Premier League for the season 2000
thus ensuring that Lytham had achieved one of its objectives
by becoming a founder member of the ECB Premier League.
The Liverpool Competition ECB Premier League
is considered to be one of the top 4 ECB Leagues in the country. The
league team won the League Cricket Conference Presidents Trophy in both
2002 & 2003 beating the Durham Premier League
and the Nottinghamshire Premier League respectively.
Lytham CC are now considered to be one of the top 5 strategic
clubs in Lancashire. We are also one of the top 200 clubs in the
country, being Clubmark accredited in May 2003 and
CCDF registered in September 2003.
In
2003 we were also acknowledged as BBC Community Club of the Year
for Fylde with Steve Perkins also being honoured as
Coach of the Year for Fylde.Our junior section is the largest in
the area and has the highest number of ECB qualified coaches
in the vicinity. The junior teams play in the Palace Shield
junior section. We run a Kwik Cricket section from age 8 and currently
field 8 junior teams in the league, 3 at u11, 3 at u13 and 2 u15.
Our juniors over the age of 15 play in the
senior teams at their appropriate level. Many
of our juniors play in the league representative teams and are expected
to play in the newly formed Borough teams.
Lytham CC is an active member of the Fylde Borough Council Cricket
Development Group and through this organisation deliver
coaching to schools in the locality. We are also closely involved
in he LCB Lancashire Cricket Partnership which strives
to
bring together the top clubs in the region in order that they may
exchange ideas and gain support from the LCB.