Reigate Priory Cricket Club was founded in 1852 and up until 1865 the club rented its ground for £20pa, after which it was successful in obtaining a 21-year lease. In 1867 the club defeated Surrey at the Oval, producing an upsurge in self-confidence. It is not clear who the star players were, but the membership seemed to be dominated by one family, a veritable nest of seven Nightingales being listed as playing members! Walter W. Read, who captained England in 1887/88 to Australia and in 1891/92 to South Africa, appeared on the membership list for the first time in 1869. In 1883 a 2nd XI was formed as the membership grew. Fixtures became more impressive with matches against the MCC, Incogniti and Surrey Club and Ground, culminating in both 1893 and 1894 with matches between Dr. WG Grace's XI and WW Read's XI. Both sides were filled with test players of the day. So the new century arrived with a thriving cricket club, which now also hosted football, hockey and tennis. Reigate Priory Football club was in fact one of the 15 clubs to contest the first ever FA Challenge Cup in 1872.
However, just a decade or so on and the annual report for 1916 makes sombre reading. Little if any cricket had been played and seven club members had lost their lives in the Great War. The latter years of the War brought no cricket at all but 1919 and 1920 saw a resurgence of membership and enthusiasm. In 1921 cricket week was held for the first time since the War and the highlight of 1924 was a first-class match between Leveson-Gower's XI and the South African touring side. H.D.G.Leveson-Gower, who had captained England, had a huge impact upon the club from the turn of the century until the 2nd World War. Not only did he bring the full West Indian and South African test sides to play at the ground on two occasions each but he also arranged for the club to regularly host Oxford University and the number and quality of test players who played at the ground reads like a Who's Who of famous cricketers from that era. Surrey 2nd XI were playing at Reigate and a young Jack Hobbs played on the ground before his full Surrey debut. In 1921 the club acquired the freehold of the existing ground and then later in the decade acquired further freehold land. This enabled the tennis and bowls sections to develop more permanent accommodation and free up land for a croquet lawn. A house for the groundsman was built shortly afterwards on the land acquired from J.Arthur Rank. In June 1930 the President, Jeremiah Colman, opened the current pavilion, the club having previously used what is now the football pavilion. The following year, J. Keble-Guy gave up the captaincy after a highly successful decade at the helm and Rex Heath became captain. In 1933, J.C. Christopherson, a Cambridge Blue who had played for Kent, made a real impression in scoring over 1,000 runs, including a club record of 261 not out. In 1935, Christopherson became captain, and again hit over 1,000 runs. A key bowler was M.J.C. Allom, who played for England and was later elected President of the MCC. The old pavilion was damaged by a bomb during the blitz in 1940 and not surprisingly, very little cricket was played. But cricket resumed in 1946 with Christopherson still to the fore as he hit four centuries. Some 2,000 spectators attended cricket week in 1947. Turning to youth... The colts side was run for the first time in 1950 and meanwhile Surrey Women staged matches against 'A Women's Cricket Association XI', Middlesex and Sussex. The decade began with L Hyde taking 9-85 against the MCC and 8-86 against Old Wykehamists. Christopherson hit three centuries in 1952's cricket week, and a celebratory centenary match against Surrey saw over 4,000 spectators in the ground on a Sunday, when no gate money could be taken. In the raffle Surrey captain W.S. Surridge won a cricket bat! A benefit match for Tony Lock was the feature of the 1960s, a decade which was dominated by a set of familiar names: Peter Harris, Michael Chase, Keith Jones and Alan Whitworth (later to become President). In 1965 Keble-Guy resigned as President and was succeeded by John Christopherson. In May 1968 the club played Surrey in John Edrich's benefit match and 1971 welcomed league cricket at the Priory. Unfortunately this turned out to be a painful experience - not a single league victory and bottom place being the end result! The club soon began to clamber upwards, reaching a respectable mid-table spot in 1973 under the leadership of Martin Dyer. Tony Godby and Angus Lindsey-Renton also began to make telling contributions. In 1977 things picked up still further and, with Steve Saunders and Tony Cooper to the fore, the club lost just once in the league, against eventual champions Wimbledon. Although the 1980s started slowly, the colts side had been producing promising players for many years and John Bramhall and Mark Boden were followed by David Cawthrow and Richard Prophet and in 1982 a 13-year old schoolboy in the 2nd XI averaged 29.5 (including one 50). His name - one Alistair Brown! Sadly he moved to Cheam to play in the Surrey Championship as we were then in the Surrey Cricketers League. Annus mirabilis... The club then fared happily under Andy Packham's captaincy but suffered slightly from a lack of depth of talent. In 1987 the Cricketers League became the 2nd Division of the Surrey Championship and in the second year of this "structured" cricket Priory gained promotion to the top flight. Andy Whiteley had returned to the club and Tiku Patel, straight from Oxford, was a huge asset. The star turn in 1988 was however Zubin Bharucha, an 18 year old from Bombay, who became Reigate Priory's overseas player and his influence over the club for almost a decade was immense, with the first half of the 1990s being pretty much 'The Bharucha Years'. Whilst the 1st XI were enjoying success a 3rd XI was formed in 1987 and the 2nd XI, under Richard Holloway's leadership, gained 1st Division status in 1991 with a huge bowling contribution from Australian, Brian Swaney. The first half of the 1990s was successful enough although there was a 1st XI blip with relegation in 1994 but under Zubin's captaincy the side bounced straight back as 2nd Division Champions in 1995. The arrival at the club of Robin Underwood in 1996 gave Reigate Priory its first quality spin bowler in years and, coupled with the all-round talents of Australian Nathan Rennie, he had an immediate impact on the club's fortunes with a 4th position in the top flight. Western Australian Brad Oldroyd continued the good work in 1997 when his 76 wickets failed by just two to create a record number of league dismissals. In 1998, the relaxation of the amateur rules in cricket enabled Ian Bishop, the West Indian Test star, to become the club's overseas player. Sadly Ian's efforts failed to secure the club a spot in the top ten of the Championship and thus qualify for Premier League cricket in 1999, but this was quickly corrected the next year and the return of Oldroyd saw the club promoted to the Premier League for the new century. In a marvellous last year to the century the 2nd XI easily achieved Premier League status and narrowly missed out on the 1st Division title. 1999 also saw the 3rd XI gain promotion to their Premier League. Touring returned to the club in 1993 and starting with tours in Warwickshire we have progressed to Devon, Worcestershire, Sussex, Somerset and Nottinghamshire. The touring pinnacles have however been the trips to Bombay and India in 1996 and South Africa in 2000. We are hoping to return to South Africa again in 2010. In the current century the club has enjoyed even greater success and undoubtedly gone from strength to strength both on and off the field. The 2001 season was, to that date, the club's most successful, with the 1st XI finishing 6th overall in the Premier Division of the Surrey Championship, the 2nd XI taking the title by some distance in their Premier Division, and the 3rd XI finishing runners-up in their Premier Division. The Priory became one of only four clubs in Surrey with all three league representative sides playing in their respective Premier Divisions. In 2002 the Indian Test star Sairaj Bahutule became the club's overseas player and he helped the club to further success. Gregor Macmillan took over the captaincy and in our 150th Anniversary year of 2002 the 1st XI finished 4th and topped that in 2003 by finishing as runners up after a last game shoot out for the title with Weybridge. A further title challenge was mounted in 2004 but the loss of leading players in the final run in left us in 4th position. During this period the 2nd XI won their Premier League title again in 2004 and the 3rd XI achieved their own Premier League title in 2002 and finished 3rd and 2nd in the following years. During this period Macmillan had been introducing a number of new players of genuine quality to the club with batters Simon Ecclestone and Alex Richards joining wicketkeeper/batsman Matt Bennett. Local lad Chris Murtagh was following in his brother Tim's footsteps with Surrey and scoring plenty of runs for us and Aaron Pope emerged as an opening bowler of real pace. The final piece in the jigsaw was when Australian Michael Foster moved to Reigate and joined the club and gave the 1st XI a formidable look. Following the successes in the early years of the 21st century the club reached the pinnacle of achievement in 2005 when all three of its senior sides won their respective Premier League titles. With the 1st XI, 2nd XI and 3rd XI all winning their Premier divisions the club could undoubtedly claim to have achieved a status as the most successful club in the county. 2005 was a wonderful year in every respect and the club was also the only side to defeat the full Antigua & Barbuda national side on their 12 match UK tour, came within a whisker of defeating the star studded Lashings side and had great success at Youth level. This success has been continued and after slipping to runners up in 2006, the 1st XI re-captured the Premier league title in 2007 and retained it again in 2008. Whilst we lost Sairaj Bahutule as our overseas player, he was replaced by the all round talents of the Victorian, Ian Hewett, who soon proved to be a tremendous asset and club member and more than capable replacement. The last few years have also seen Jason Roy emerge from the Priory Youth Academy to be an automatic pick and his performances have since earned him recognition with Surrey and even a 12th man role for England in the recent South Africa series! The Premier League title was regained in 2008, making it an incredible 3 Championships in 4 years for the Llamas. However, the Club's success has not been restricted to the 1st XI and the 2nd and 3rd XIs have also been maintaining their own title challenges in recent seasons. The 4th XI has been meeting with league success and in the 2008 season the 5th XI competed in league cricket for the first time, in the Surrey Championship 4th XI league. Whilst only finishing in mid table a restructuring with more clubs entering 4th XIs sees them in their Premier League in 2009. The huge success of the youth section and the growing interest in cricket in and around Reigate led to both the introduction of a 6th XI and a Ladies XI for the first occasions in the club's history in 2008. The Ladies won their league in their first season and are full of enthusiasm for the future. As a result, it's no surprise that one of the club's biggest challenges is to meet the increasing demands for pitches and practice facilities. Besides offering league cricket, the club continues to provide cricket for all playing standards and regularly fields a number of other sides playing non-league cricket on Saturdays and Sundays. Looking to the future, the club is also blessed with a hugely successful Youth section that has emerged as one of the most envied in Surrey and now fields teams at 9 different age groups playing more than 100 matches each season. Off the field, the spirit and social side of the club has never been better. A Summer Ball is held every two years, with 500 guests attending in 2008 and a highlight of recent seasons has been the clash with the star studded Lashings XI - a game which has enabled the club to make sizeable charitable donations each year. In 2006 we were delighted to welcome Sachin Tendulkar to the club, along with many other international stars within the Lashings XI. This plethora of test players in recent years has encouraged the club to research the number of test players who have appeared at Reigate Priory through the years and to date we have uncovered over 200 with some of the greatest names in the history of the game amongst them. All this recent success has made the Priory a vibrant and exciting place to play and watch club cricket and without doubt these are exciting but increasingly demanding times for everyone involved with the club. So whether you aspire to the 1st XI, want a game of social cricket or simply want to watch and reminisce, the Priory ensures there's no better place to enjoy your cricket.