History |
Club Officers |
The club was founded in 1906 when medical student Duncan Nevin and future Rhode Scholar Allan MacDougall affiliated us with the Wellington Cricket Association.
Our first teams played in the 1907/08 season and our first Senior Side played in 1909/10. Traditions began during these years including the “Christmas Tour” to other regions and the fixtures against Canterbury (college) – later expanded to other colleges/universities. The First World War impacted VUWCC as much as anyone with a number of players killed overseas and our strength suffered by the end of the decade as a result – losing our ‘Senior Status’. We regained this status after consecutive winning seasons in the 1920s (Junior A Grade) and our Senior Status was restored with a team enjoying the services of a number of Wellington Representatives. While the Depression years of the 1930s saw student numbers at Vic drop (and player numbers too) the club did enjoy our first NZ Representatives: Edwin G. McLeod, James A.R. Blandford and Joseph A. Ongley. The Second World War took a similar toll on student-life and university cricket similar to the first war but a few young names appeared in our ranks during this time that would build our first Championship-winning team. We won our first Senior Championship in 1945/46 with names like R.A. Vance, Oakley, A.M. Matheson and P.M. McCaw beginning a new era of cricket at Victoria. With the inclusion of J.R. Reid in 1952/53 we won our second Senior Championship. During the 50s our lower teams began to enjoy success as well. Further names joined our ranks later in the decade: John Martin, Wilf Haskell, Bruce Murray, John Behrent and John Parks who formed the core of our best decade so far. The 1960s saw the club enjoy title after title: Senior Championships in 1960/61 (captained by R.A. Vance), 1963/64 (4 of our teams won their grade that year) and 1966/67. We also won the WCA Club Championship twice during these years (for highest average points across all teams). This period of success led to the agreement to build our famous clubrooms at Kelburn Park which were completed in the early 1970s. Apart from Wellington and NZ players like Vance and Murray, Haskell was the destroyer for Vic during this time with over 500 wickets @ <20 runs a piece! With the loss of key players the club probably endured its worst period in the early 1970s and we lost our Senior Status in 1970/71 for the first time since the 1920s. The following year we had just 4 teams, but senior players and club members banded together to revitalise the club and restore our rightful place in Wellington club cricket. With the clubrooms completed, permanent nets constructed in 1975 and the efforts of Rob Mitchell and John Greenwood (among others) we won the 2A Grade in 1974/75 and regained Senior Status once again. While our Seniors did enough to remain in the competition the later part of this decade is better remembered for the fortunes of the club as a whole with the 2nd team (now known as the Reserves) winning their grade several times as well as the advent of women’s cricket – 2 teams playing for VUWCC. By 1980 our clubrooms were a social-hub in the sport and we had 9 teams registered to our name. The 1980s saw the club enjoy a relative calm at a time when NZ went through tremendous change and upheaval. Both of our Women’s Teams won their grades – well served by VUWCC Life-Member Janet Stribling (who also helped with the first Junior Teams for the club). In 1981 we celebrated our 75th Jubilee (a high) but on the other hand we lost beloved club-servant John Carrad in 1984 – an institution since the 1920s and rightfully the name on our first honours board. Alan Lawton and Ian MacGibbon were key figures during this period when VUWCC enjoyed 12 registered teams and a number of lower-grade winning teams – one of which featured young Mike Wilson, Geoff Bryan and John Campbell of media-fame! Although the Seniors failed to win the championship at all they were given new life with players like Neil Wood, the Ormiston brothers (Wellington Reps) and NZ player Andrew Jones. Wellington wicket-keeper Robbie Kerr also joined the club by decade’s-end. The 1990s began with a new administrative approach by people like Ross Bond, Murray Dickson and new players in Neil Blake, Heath Davis (NZ rep.), Nick Preddle, Mark Webber and Sussex-player Martin Speight. From this group (and 80s players Ormiston and Kerr) our longest period of sustained success was birthed beginning with consecutive Sunday Trust Bank Cup wins, 4 teams won grades in 1991/92 and the Seniors finished 2nd in consecutive seasons. The middle of the 90s saw the reformation of the club system to combine the ‘city’ clubs with those of the Hutt Valley to form the Pearce Cup Senior Championship. VUWCC won this competition in its first 2 years (1996/97 and 1997/98) and with new names like Matthew Bell (NZ rep.) Colin Owens and Graham Murray also won the National Club Championships 3 TIMES IN A ROW (a feat no club has matched). The new millennium has provided new challenges for the club – and club cricket in general. We struggled initially as key players moved on (always the case with a university club) but we renewed ourselves as we always have, to meet the challenges of the new century. The advent of T20 cricket has helped bridge the gap between 21st century lifestyle and the local cricket club and with its establishment we restored our team and player numbers during the 2000s – in time for our 100th Anniversary in 2006. Our Women’s team won their grade 3 times during this time and the Senior team enjoyed the services of Graham Murray and Michael Burns (Wellington Reps.) and the double act performed by Colin Owens: top-batsman and Chairman. The club has enjoyed plenty of success in recent years, with the Premier team beating Eastern Suburbs to claim the Cook Shield off Easts, for the first time in 10 years, in 2018 and had 14 successful defences through to 2021. The Reserves have been to many One Day finals, winning in 2016. The Stallions have earned promotion into Div 4 in 2019/20 winning Div 5, and the Wolves, although having only formed three seasons ago, have two grade titles to their name. |
Chairman: Colin Owens
Secretary: Matt Sadd Treasurer: Colin Owens Two Day Club Captain: Barrett Mexted One Day & T20 Grades Club Captain: TBA Womens Convenor: Caitlin Eves Club Development Manager: Caitlin Eves Club Development Officer: TBA 2020/21 Committee: Ben Wilson, Dan Cox, Laura Hogg, Byron Terris, Robbie Selbie, Matt Fowler, Gary Fowler, Andrew Johnsen, John Grant-Mackie Life Members: Janet Stribling, Rob Mitchell, John Martin QSO, Alan Lawton The club would like to acknowledge the contribution of the following Life Members and Vice Presidents who have passed away: G.M. Aim, Dr C.C. Aikman, D.S.M. Crombie, J.A. Carrard, R.W. Edgley QC, B.F. Hill, A.M. Hollings, Sir Joseph Ongley, R.A. Vance CBE, P.D. Wilson, Dr J. Williams, P.S. Hargreaves, P.H. Cook, Judge B.J. Kerr, John Oakley CBE Patron: Alan Lawton President: Ross Bond Vice-Presidents: R. Bond, J. Button, R.J. Craig, J.A. Dean, D.M. Dickson, M. Dineen, J.P. Greenwood, W.J.R. Haskell, R.J. Kerr, T.C. Larkin ONZM, A.R. Marshall, P.M. McCaw, Dr I.A. McGibbon ONZM, L.E. Millar, B.A.G. Murray QSO, T.S. Nowland, C Reilly, J.C. Thomson, C.D. Owens, S.T. Thomas, J.E. Boyle. |