Tales from the Boundary
The Essex County Cricket Club in Chelmsford 1876-1939
The Essex County Cricket Club was founded in 1876 at a meeting in the Shire Hall in the county town. Essex wasn’t admitted to the ranks of first class counties until 18 years later in 1894.
A famous early Essex cricketer Charles ‘Korty’ Kortwright was born at Ingatestone. He played 160 matches for the county between 1894 and 1907. Kortwright took 440 wickets with a best of 8 for 57 against Yorkshire at Leyton in 1900. In 1898 he took 96 wickets in a season. Kortwright captained the club in 1903. He also scored two hundreds and caught 167 catches. Kortwright was often regarded as the fastest bowler of his era. After he retired from cricket he was a prominent member of Chelmsford Golf Club. He died at South Weald in 1952.
It was several decades before county cricket was played in the town. The county’s headquarters were first at Brentwood and then Leyton. By 1924 a great deal of work had been done on the New Writtle Street ground. The Weekly News commented “It only required extension towards the river and county matches could be played there”. In 1925 the inaugural first class cricket match was played at Chelmsford, Essex v Oxford University. A year later came the first county match against Somerset. This also happened to be the first tied match in Essex County Cricket Club history. The match was initially awarded to Somerset by the umpires on first innings scores. Later however, a ruling by the M.C.C., resulted in the points being shared. The rules of the game were also changed because the umpires had not allowed the last over to be completed.
After the Leyton ground was sold in the 1930s, Chelmsford became the headquarters of the Club with offices in Duke Street. The cricket itself remained very peripatetic in the 1930s with eight grounds including not only what became the County Ground but also Hoffmann’s cricket ground at Chelmsford being used. Attendances at the Chelmsford cricket week, when a number of matches were played at the ground, were often a problem. Despite this Chelmsford gradually obtained more county matches. When Walter ‘Wally’ Hammond, the Gloucestershire Test cricketer, was likely to play in the Chelmsford cricket week, seating was put in place for 2,500 spectators. During 1934 the town had 6 matches including one against the Australians. By 1938 however despite having a fine side Essex finances were again poor with a low membership. An Amateurs versus Professionals match in Chelmsford attracted only a moderate attendance.
Chelmsford was the only cricket ground in the county to suffer from the war when the pavilion was damaged.