Records Broken At Keyworth Cricket Club

107 year old bowling record and 31 year old batting partnership record is eclipsed.

Left arm spin bowler Rob Baker claimed his 508th wicket on his 295th appearance in the 1st XI for Keyworth Cricket Club last Saturday (28 August 2010) in a South Notts League fixture against Bottesford CC, to take him past the career record set by William Lane Pike between 1875 and 1903, of 506 wickets.

In the same match, with Keyworth collapsing on a damp, soft wicket to 50 for 8, Baker (54 not out) joined Steve Rendu (85 not out) to put on an unbeaten 9th wicket batting partnership of 141 runs to haul their team up to 190 for 8 in their 48 overs and pass a record set in 1979. Keyworth then bowled out Bottesford for 109 with Baker taking 3 wickets for 27 runs & RENDU 3 for 22.

To put Baker’s new bowling record into context, during Pike’s career, bowlers dominated and a team batting score of over 100 was usually a match winner, contrasting with today when a team score of 250 is not always guaranteed to give victory.

Baker (age 38) in all club matches at 1st XI, 2nd XI, Evening & Youth level has so far claimed a total of 629 wickets in a club career of 450 appearances and 31 wickets during this current season.

Pike, a medium pacer, born 14 November 1860, represented Nottinghamshire Colts on several occasions between 1881 and 1888. The ‘colts’ were a selection of the best amateur cricketers in the county at the time. He later coached at Eton School and then emigrated in 1904 to Sasketchewan in Canada where he carried on coaching. He died on 13 August 1938.

Pike played in both school and club matches with Keyworth’s most famous cricketing son William ‘Dick’ Attewell who was born in 1861 within 50 metres of the local club ground. Attewell went on to become one of Nottinghamshire’s greatest ever bowlers. Twice Wisden Cricketer of the Year, he was selected for three tours to Australia and played in 10 Test Matches for England taking 27 wickets at an average of 23.18.

Both Baker and Pike featured on the card published by the club to support a world record breaking postcard charity event staged on 14 July 2010 to support the building of a Teen Park in Keyworth.

The history of the club is updated annually at the end of each season on www.keyworthcrickethistory.co.uk and 2010 match reports and information can be found on www.keyworthcc.co.uk

200 years of cricket in Keyworth will be celebrated in 2015.