Club Focus: The ‘Luddesdowne Method’

Surrounded by a vineyard in the Kent countryside and with a pavilion less than 15 years old: we can see why playing at Luddesdowne would be an attractive proposition.

But beyond that, what are they doing that keeps the members coming back?

We spoke to Ashley, who had only ever played cricket at school. Then at 24, he agreed to help the club out one weekend, and played his first game of club cricket.

That was in the year 2000 and he’s now captain, amongst other responsibilities.

So, Ashley – tell us about Luddesdowne?

“We’re just a friendly bunch who like to play cricket in the right way.

“We seem to attract like-minded players and if people are too aggressive, they don’t tend to stick around long! I think we’re quite unique in that a lot of our friendly fixtures are still set year-on-year, we want people to come back and play us, so we try and make sure that they do.”

What does a typical season look like & how many teams do you run?

“Since 2019, we’re really pleased that we’ve put out 2 sides both on a Saturday and a Sunday.

“The Sunday Second XI tend to only have around 10 fixtures each year, but having that consistently for a couple of years now is a really positive step for us.

“The two Saturday sides both play in the Kent County Village League, which has been an absolute joy to play in. We can’t thank Trev, Roger and the rest of the volunteers enough for the work that they put in.

“On Sundays we have a focus on trying to play pretty flexible cricket, in that we want to give players different opportunities to play – rather than players finding themselves stuck to an assigned role forevermore.”

So that’s where you’re at now, how did it start?

“By most standards we’re probably still quite a young club, which was formed in 1947 by a group of local enthusiasts.

“The club were able to purchase the ground in 1986, which was followed by the erection of a concrete garage as a temporary pavilion.

“Then in 2009, we were able to open the ‘Michael Gilbert Pavilion’, named after our late president, who was extremely key in the club’s formative years.

[Read more about the club’s history on their website]

What is this we hear about Luddesdown Ladies XI?

“In terms of how it happened, there isn’t too much to share.

“We’ve always prided ourselves on the social aspect of the club and a sign of that was that a lot of the women that found themselves following partners to the club started their own WhatsApp group to find out who was going to be at the ground on match days.

“As a result of that, they arranged to have a few informal training sessions which I agreed to try and help give some structure too. We now have up to 14 ladies turning up each session.

“We’re fortunate to have close links with some nearby clubs in Meopham, Cobham and Town Malling who are at different stages with women taking part, but it gives us opportunities to interact and play some fixtures.”

So, what are you thinking as you look ahead to the 2021?

“We feel we’re in a really healthy place at the moment, so the focus is to try and sustain what we’ve achieved for now. Especially whilst there is still quite a bit of uncertainty around when we can start.

“I’ll admit that I was sceptical about how the 2020 season would turn out, but we had a hugely positive response from players so I’m hopeful that the momentum continues this year.

“That said, for us it has often been more about fitting the cricket in around the beer and sandwiches so these new protocols have shifted the focus somewhat!

“We are really looking forward to getting back to being able to socialise properly as a club, as that is one of things that has underpinned our success.”