Dewsbury & Saville Cricket Club

Dewsbury & Saville CC

Now that the Bradford Park Avenue cricket ground has been partially redeveloped, the most famous lost ground in the county is surely the old Dewsbury and Savile ground which was located in Savile Town, Dewsbury.
As a club, Dewsbury & Saville CC had a phenomenal record in the early days of the Heavy Woollen Cup, reaching the Final in the first eight years of the competition: 1883-1890.
In all, they won the cup nine times in an incredible 21 Finals between 1883- 1926. The first time they actually won the Final was in 1887 when Henry Hill scored 139 helping his team amass 393 versus Spen Victoria.
This was the first century recorded in the Heavy Woollen Cup Final. The club took part in the Heavy Woollen League in the early part of the century winning it in 1910.
Later, in 1919, a famous Yorkshire player Edgar Oldroyd featured for them, recording 156* in one memorable match. Oldroyd, who was born in Batley, was a right-handed batsman, who played 383 games for his county.
He made a total of 15,925 runs at an average of 35.15, with 36 hundreds. He also took 203 catches. His right arm off-break and medium bowling took 42 wickets at an average of 39.47.
John Arlott, speaking in 1981, credited Edgar Oldroyd of Yorkshire with being ”the best sticky-wicket batsman in the world.”
In more modern times, the club found isolated success in the Central Yorkshire League, winning the top division title in 1955, and the senior cup in 1978. The fame of the club was magnified by its impressive pavilion that helped to host 53 First Class Yorkshire matches between 1867 and 1933.
However, the ground was abandoned in the 1990s after the club could not afford to renovate the classic pre-war pavilion to modern standards. The local council refused financial aid without a guarantee that the club, ground and adjoining football field could be used for the wider community.
As a small club, this was unrealistic to fund and the ground reverted to the council. The ground ceased to be a cricket ground and became a general recreation field and later the pavilion was demolished. A merger between Whitley Lower CC and Dewsbury & Savile CC created the newly named ‘Hopton Mills CC’ – who progressed to the Bradford Cricket League via the Central Yorkshire League.