NunwickCricket Club

1981

Jimmy Thorburn tops the bowling averages in Division 1 with an average of 7.92 from the seasons best wicket haul of 49 wickets.

1983

Joyce Dirom becomes the fourth life member of Nunwick Cricket Club for several years service as Club secretary, her husband Colin also played for the club. It also sees the first good cup run ending with defeat in the final of the EVCL League Cup. Lowther a long time rival are the victors.

1985

Another life membership is given to Gordon Bennison for services to the club both as a player and official over the previous 22 years.

1986

A good league season was capped off by being runners up to Threlkeld in Division 2 trailing Threlkelds point haul of “nelson” 99 by 23 points. The teams good season was built on the bowling of Jimmy Thorburn who topped the Division bowling averages again with 57 wickets at an average of 5.93 a piece.

The main talking point of the season was encapsulated in an article entitled

“Who Needs Eleven“

Chris Rebanks featured in an unusual cricket story whilst playing for Nunwick against Edenhall in the EVCL.

Chris opened the Nunwick innings with his team requiring 59 runs for victory. Not a huge total to knock off in 40 overs you may think, but Nunwick have been known to collapse more dramtically than Maradonna in the penalty area, so nothing was being taken for granted.

As if to underline the batting frailties, Nunwick contrived to lose their first wicket from the second ball of the innings quickly followed by a second rattle of timber two balls later. The sorry tale after one over…. two wickets down for no runs. Room for improvement!

It was now Chris to face his first ball of the day. Chris was renowned throughout the league for his patient, quiet, text book style! Reminiscent of many say of that great opening batsman, Pollock. Seriously though, Chris’s style reminds many cricket watchers more of a threshing machine. Enthusiasts will know of the habit of referring to great players by their initials WG, MJK, MCC, ets.., appropriate initials for Chris would be GBH.

The bowler running into bowl to Chris seemed blissfully unaware of this as he let go his first delivery. He was about to be educated.

His first ball was swung away sweetly down to long leg for four. The next was driven majestically through extra cover for four more, followed by a six pulled square. The shell shocked bowler seemed almost relieved to see his next ball called a wide, but his respite was short lived as he watchedhis next three go as follows. Four down to long leg: a straight six and a six over mid-wicket.
Nought from the first over, 31 from the second. Quite a rate of improvement.

Chris’s partner was Graham Higgins and despite wondering what was going on at the other end end he successfully negotiated a maiden over leaving the spectators expectantly waiting for more fireworks.

Inevitably, the opening bowler was rested and some other poor unfortunate was given the dubious privelege of bowling at Chris. Whilst he was successful in slowing down the onslaught he never threatened to dismiss Chriswho for his part continued to have a go at everything. This resulted in him knocking off the total single handedly, and, as befitted his amazing knock, he finished with a six over mid-on.

The bare statistics of the game showed Nunwick had won by eight wickets. Chris Rebanks was 60 not out with the only other run being a wide in the first over. The whole innings had taken only 6.5 overs.

The above was published in Chris Rebanks’s employers Works magazine and was penned by James Thorburn.
An image of the scorebook can be seen at the bottom of the page.

1988

The ground itself at this time was an oval shape within the larger field, with the boundary marked by the electric fence to try and prevent the farm stock encroaching onto the field of play. The players had awalk of some thirty yards from the pavilion to the boundary.

In the late seventies Norman Osborne has nurtured some turf out side of the boundary to repair the bowlers footmarks. The practice of taking the fence down once the season had concluded and then claiming a few extra yards on the boundary when the fence was reinstated the following year brought raised eyebrows from the estate. They responded by erecting a fence on the village side of the ground to act as a barrier.

The ground now goes right upto the pavilion, and abuts the field fence on the village side. Norman’s nurtured turf is now some twenty yards inside the boundary.

A group of players including Chris Rebanks, Chris Malpas, Donald Newton and Andy Collin outline prosals at the AGM to build a new pavilion. The old pavilion was was constructed from wood and had no running water. Fresh water had to be brought to the ground in barrels prior to each game. The only toilet facilities were a soak away at the rear of the pavilion.

So begun the fundraising which included a sponsored cycle ride visting all the league cricket grounds, two team of cyclists (which included players, wives and children) one started at Alston in the north east to Kirkby Stephen in the east to Patterdale and finally to Penrith. While the other team commenced at Lanercost visiting all the grounds on their way to Caldbeck and Braithwaite before returning to Penrith. each route was approximately 100 miles.

Another memorable fund raiser was the Bull Sh*t, successful to the tune of £1,000 when the Chief Constable of Cumbria presented a cheque to Lazonby’s Margaret Dunlop. As a financial venture the event still continues today.

Another fund raiser was the cricket game between the then Nunwick team and the one drawn from players who had previously played for the club. These types of games always bring great humour and stories back to the club and this was no exception. The past team on the back row was Terry Taylor, Norman Osborne, Malcolm Lusby, Brian Kelso, Robert O’Neil, Barry Kendal, Peter Kelso, Colin Dirom, Elwood Bird and Victor Gubbins. The current team on the fron row were maurice Wilkinson, Andy Collin, Keith Buckle, Steve Malpas, Chris Rebanks, Tony Moor, Donald Newton, Ian Brown, Brian Carrick and Chris Malpas.

Norman Osborne became the sixth life member of the club for many years service as captain, player and groundsman.

Another good cup run ended in defeat in the final to the old foe in the shape of Threlkeld. The highlight of the cup run though was the defeat of Culgaith in an earlier round. A quirk of the league fixtures saw Nunwick play Culgaith in the league on the Saturday where it is fair to say the were completely out played and in boxing parlance were knocked out . On the Sunday Culgaith batted first and scored 206 runs, a winning total given the previous day. Nunwick responsed stoutly led by Chris Rebanks who played an unusually sensible innings and surpassed Culgaiths total with a couple of overs to spare. It was Culgaith’s only defeat of the season.

1989

The last year of the decade saw Norman Shuttleworth in his prime as he topped the EVCL Division 2 batting with total runs scored of 287 returning an average of 35.88 runs. Chris Rebanks topped the fielding award 14 catches. This was surpassed by the “wickie” Tony Moor who recorded 26 victioms to become the top keeper in the division.

The Thompson family celebrate a century not out at Nunwick. Pictured left to right are the third generation of Thompsons at Nunwick Oliver, Jenny, Martin and Walter