Liversedge Cricket Club

General information

In the 1860s there were a cluster of teams in the Liversedge area, including Hightown Heights, Roberttown Star of Brunswick, Littletown United, Littletown Young Alma, Hightown Young England and Roberttown All Saints (the parish church-connected club generally viewed as the precursor to Liversedge CC). A cutting from 1887 indicates that Roberttown and Liversedge both had teams in existence, nine years before the official birth date of Liversedge CC. The club has always played at Roberttown Lane. The ground is sited on an old tip linked to an old glassworks. The land was probably 'made into' a cricket ground around 1900, soon after the birth of Liversedge CC as successor club to Roberttown All Saints CC. In the early days, the ground had a big slope. The Dymond family of the nearby Dymond Pit, in Headlands Road, arranged for rails and tubs to be used, and a band of volunteers from the village shipped tons and tons of earth from the top end of the field to the lower regions, and so negated the slope to some extent.

In 1919 three local men bought the ground for the club, but on condition that it was used exclusively for cricket.

Today, Roberttown Lane is an attractive venue that has hosted many set piece cricketing occasions, including many Heavy Woollen Cup finals. On match days, practice nets are erected on the outfield to aid the players in their quest for a last-minute workout. On 5 November each year, the field is put to a totally different use, with the local firework display holding centre stage.

In 1905 Liversedge were founder members of the Spen Valley Cricket League. They won it in the first year - and the second!

Roberttown All Saints had entered the inaugural Heavy Woollen Cup in 1883 but had lost in the first round against Scholes.

Up until the beginning of the First World War, Liversedge's best achievement in the Cup was to reach the semi-final on one occasion. Successive finals were reached in 1916 and 1917 but in both cases Ossett were triumphant.
In 1920 Liversedge joined the Heavy Woollen League but suffered a disastrous debut year:

Played 16 Won 2 Lost 10 Drew 4 Points 2

They finished bottom, and only gained two points (clubs got one point for a win - and nothing else counted!).

Liversedge's first Heavy Woollen Cup triumph came in 1929, beating Morley in the final.

A further cup triumph followed in 1933, with Heckmondwike the beaten finalists.

After spells in the Spen Valley League and Heavy Woollen League, Liversedge joined the Central Yorkshire League for the 1938 season.

Heartbreak followed in 1943, when Batley overcame Liversedge in the final of the Heavy Woollen Cup In 1966 Liversedge won the Heavy Woollen Cup - with Sonny Ramadhin in the Liversedge line-up.