Southend-on-Sea Cricket Club,
The Pavilion, Southchurch Park, Northumberland Crescent,
Southend-on-Sea, Essex.
(01702 615195)
Capacity 6000
End names Northumberland Crescent End, Boating Lake End
Home team(s) Essex
Current local time 03:23, Sat May 17, 2008 (UTC +0100)
External links Weather
Southchurch Park is a huge, rambling ground, boasting 3 cricket
squares and two rather ordinary pavilions. It is maintained by
the local council and, by a happy coincidence, is only about half
a mile from Thorpe Bay, where my parents still live.
It is the only 'seaside' venue still used by Essex County Cricket Club.
Clacton has fallen out of favour and Chalkwell Park has not been
used since 1977. Southend Cricket Week is held in July and
involves all the usual logistical problems associated with
cricket festivals.
Although the nominal capacity of the ground, once the tiered seating is in place, is 10,000 spectators, the
club would count itself lucky if half that number attended. The
wicket is generally regarded as good, but it has received its
share of criticism in the past and on one occasion, failed to
measure up to requirements and the Essex was duly fined.
The ground enjoyed its heyday in the period immediately after
WWII. Reviving a pre-war tradition of playing touring sides at
Southchurch Park, Essex entertained Don Bradman's Australians
there in May, 1948, in front of 16,000 spectators. This match
was one of the most crushing defeats ever inflicted on Essex. By
close of play on the first day, the tourists had amassed a total
of 721 all out, a record which still stands, while Essex had to
content themselves with the honour of being the only team to have
bowled the tourists out in one day.
Bradman himself scored 187 runs in just over two hours. Keith Miller, annoyed at having to
play over Whitsun, offered no stroke to the first ball he faced
from Trevor Bailey and was clean bowled for a duck. Shortly
after, Bailey was obliged to leave the field injured. There is
nothing to suggest that the two incidents were related.
On the second day, Toshack and Miller tore Essex apart, obliging them to
follow on. The second innings was much like the first, except
this time, it was Johnson who did the damage. Tom Pearce, the
Essex captain, managed to score 71 runs before being caught and
bowled by Johnson while T.P.B. Smith hit a gritty 54 before
being given lbw to Barnes. Essex finally went under by an
innings and 451 runs.
Possibly the most notable achievement at Southchurch Park was in
1977, when Ken McEwan became one of the few batsmen to score four
centuries in consecutive innings. He scored 106 not out against
Gloucestershire, a century in each innings against Warwickshire,
and then rounded off his performance with a total of 218 against
Surrey, an aggregate score of 542 runs in ten days.
