The Old Ruts Cricket Website

Colts History

Over the years the Old Rutlishians had from time to time organised colts teams to play friendly fixtures to attract new players from among Rutlish School students. Sadly, by about 1990 this had largely ceased. In the early 1990s the club, at the instigation of Surrey County Cricket Club started running Kwik Cricket sessions to introduce cricket to younger children. This ran on Sunday mornings throughout the summer involving about 30 - 40 youngsters.
 

Coupled with the loss of their sixth form by the School, after a number of years, it was clear that there was a need to provide cricket for a wider range of children. In the winter of 1996 the Colts club was officially formed and in 1997 the senior club loaned £500 for the purchase of kit and other expenses and the Old Rutlishians Colts first entered a team, the under 11s, in the North East and Central Surrey Colts League (NEC). The squad in this first year was quite young including a number of under 10s and at least one under 9. That team won one only one league game in the initial season but it was clear the interest was there.

So in the winter of 1997 it was decided to run 4 teams in the age groups under 10 to under 13. A committee of volunteers was formed to manage this increasing activity. The objectives of the Colts were twofold:

To introduce youngsters to cricket;
To promote cricket amongst the children of Merton.

If lucky we also hoped to find some future adult players for the adult section of the club. More kit had to be purchased and we had to find another pitch as our Poplar Road ground could not service all the games that we wanted to run.

In 1999 we added an under 14 team and in 2000 an under 15s. By 2000, we needed to base certain teams elsewhere as there was a regular need for 2 home grounds on Sunday mornings. The decision was taken that the older age groups would have priority in using Poplar Road both because the pitch quality was likely to be better but also so the older colts would associate the club home as their ground. Various grounds have been used although we now usually use Nursery Road for under 10 and under 11 games.

In 2002 we entered an under 16 team in the NEC for the first time. In the first season home games were played at Links Avenue but in subsequent seasons under 16 games have been played at Poplar Road. In 2002, and in the years since, we also played a few under 9 friendlies (using an Incrediball rather than a cricket ball).

By 2004 the playing membership had levelled at about 215 boys and girls aged from 5 to 16 who were involved in our Kwik Cricket and Colts. Furthermore over 30 former or current colts played for the Old Rutlishians senior teams including several in the Saturday 1st XI. It is no wonder the seniors are looking to introduce a regular 5th XI for the first time in the Club's history in 2005.

A good proportion of our players are drawn from state schools and about 10% currently come from Rutlish School. We can proudly say that some of our players have reached regional level and even the relevant Surrey age group squad. In 2005 we finally won our first league title to add to a string of other good performances:

2000 Under 13 Division 2 Runners Up
2001 Under 11 Division 2 Runners Up
2002 Under 15 Division 2 Runners Up
2004 Under 15 Division 2 Runners Up
2005 Under 11 Division 2 Champions
2005 Under 9 Plate Winners (NEC U9s Festival)

Other creditable performances of recent years were the respective 4th positions achieved in the top divisions by the under 15s in 2003 and under 13s in 2004. Certainly a number of clubs have learnt the hard way that it is a mistake to discount the ability of our sides.

In 2003 we founded the Rutlish Cup, a Kwik-cricket competition between local schools (year 5s and under). The inaugural cup was won by Wimbledon Chase School who have subsequently retained the trophy twice.

For details of how to become a member of the Colts club, click here or call Graham Mills on 020 8540 9426.