IF you travel the B4204 west out of Worcester, after you’ve skirted the village of Wichenford and before you climb the steep hill up to Clifton upon Teme, you pass through Martleyshire.
Of course, the boundary sign doesn’t say so, it merely announces you’ve arrived in Martley but that’s only half the story.
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Because here, on a ground set against the picturesque backdrop of Berrow Hill, you will find the very epitome of English village cricket.
On the Jewry Field pitch, international cricket stars have played and during his spell with Worcestershire in the late 1980s it was the area where Sir Ian Botham made home.
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He was a familiar figure at the Crown pub in Martley and on one well-documented occasion in 1987 appeared with his friend Eric Clapton, the rock guitar legend who played an impromptu session at a wedding reception.
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So if the game of cricket can have its Yorkshires and Derbyshires why not Martleyshire, for fewer teams truly represent their roots.
Because Martley has a greater claim to fame than the presence of Botham and Clapton.
The village cricket club can proudly boast five generation of the same family among its players, stretching from the late 19th century up to the present day.
The name of the family is Taylor and Taylors of Martley will be a company title familiar far beyond west Worcestershire in the haulage and logistics industry.
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Martley Cricket Club president and historian Dave ‘Bradders’ Bradley, late of this parish working in the despatch department but now having found his true vocation as a familiar voice on BBC Hereford and Worcester radio, has been researching the Taylor connection and found that Henry Taylor, who was a coachman in the village, was in the team in the late 1800s and is in a picture of the team in 1891.
His sons Edgar and Arthur both played for MCC. Sadly, Arthur was killed in the Second World War but Edgar, or Eddie as he was better known, went on to captain the club and also played for neighbours Wichenford and Clifton upon Teme. More of which later.
Eddie was the founder of Taylors of Martley, one of the biggest haulage companies in the country, later run by Don and his sons.
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Don also played for the club and became chairman and president.
Bradders pointed out: “Don was a very lively character, loved his cricket and was a great help to beneficiaries at Worcestershire County Cricket Club.
“He was a big chum of two of its biggest names Duncan Fearnley and Basil D’Oliveira and got Dolly and many other county players to turn out at Martley for his President’s XI, always one of the highlights of the season. Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath even played one year.”
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Don’s two sons Grahame and Steve also played for the club. Steve was an England hockey international and became chairman of Worcestershire County Cricket Club and both have been involved in building the new pavilion at Martley.
Steve’s two sons Harry and Ben turned out for Martley in their younger days and Grahame’s son Alex is a current member of the squad.
Braddders added: “The club has recently named its new pavilion at the Jewry Field in memory of Don but also as a tribute to all the other Taylor family members who have turned out and supported the club.”
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The oldest Martley Cricket Club scorecard dates back to 1860, making this particular MCC older than Worcestershire CCC which was founded in 1865.
In the early days it was pretty much the ‘gentry’ who played, and matches were often in midweek.
Traveling was of course a major problem, Martley was not and has never been on the railway system so it would have been carriages to get to away games.
Thus most of the games were against nearby villages.
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Hallow, Great Witley, Clifton upon Teme and other nearby locations were the regular opponents with the occasional trip to Worcester to play Claines and Worcester City.
Stourport were also regular opponents as were Dunley and there were also games against Powick Asylum, later of course Powick Hospital, where Martley played for a while.
There was also a good deal of ‘country house’ cricket at the time and matches against Spetchley Park and Brockhampton are recorded.
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The game at Brockhampton, according to a Berrow’s Worcester Journal report, being played in “Mr Barnebey-Lutley’s beautiful grounds”.
After closing down during the Second World War, Martley Cricket Club was reformed in 1957 and began playing its home matches on a field called Crown Meadow, part of Court Farm run by club president Reg Pullen and his brother.
The cricket club continued at Crown Meadow, sharing its ground with farmer Pullen’s cows, until the mid-1970s when a move was made to Jewry Field alongside the road to Knightwick which had been taken over by Martley Parish Council. And there it has been ever since.
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Cricket rivalries can sometimes become very heated at village level and Bradders recalled one game in the 1960s when Eddie Taylor was playing for Martley and Don Taylor for Clifton upon Teme.
Inevitably, there were a few contentious umpiring decisions and the contest concluded with an effigy of Martley official Nobby Millward being lynched in the dressing rooms!
It would probably never happen at the other MCC but then there are no records of five members of the same family ever playing for it either.
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