A brief history of Lymington Cricket Club shirts...

Lymington Cricket Club was founded way back in 1807, but it wasn't until the late 1980s that our players first donned what might be classed as 'proper' team shirts. Up until then, for the vast majority of cricket history, players would simply wear whatever was the fashion of the day, and it wasn't necessarily white. In the earliest years of the club, during the Georgian period, shirts were big and frilly and cricketers wore colourful stocks (ties) around their necks. On their heads they would wear powdered wigs under low top hats. By the time Lymington moved their home matches from Pennington Common to the Sports Ground in 1836 players were rather more conservatively dressed. They would take to the field in waistcoats or jackets over plain white shirts and bow ties. By the 1850s, however, the posher cricket teams would start to wear colourful shirts with spots, stripes or even cheques on a white background. Between 1880 and 1895 the coloured shirts disappeared and white shirts with starched or semi-starched fronts became the norm, although colourful bow ties continued to be worn.

Cricket attire circa 1807 (left) and 1836 (right)

From old team photos it does appear that from the 1900s onwards players tended to wear what we might class nowadays as 'work shirts'. It's unlikely that too many players, certainly not the working class ones, could afford a proper cricket shirt back in the 1930s and 40s, even if such an item existed, The more affluent cricketers would wear colourful caps and don their stripy blazers before and after matches.

Lymington CC, circa 1930, pose for the camera in their work shirts, sleeves rolled up.

By the 1970s a few kit manufacturers such as Slazenger and Gunn & Moore were producing cricket shirts as we know them today. Smiths Sports Shop, just a stone's throw from the Sports Ground in Queen Street, kept a limited range of cricket attire, but those of us of a certain age will remember with affection journeying up to the wonderful Holt & Haskell cricket shop in Shirley to buy our very first proper cricket shirt. These shirts were generally made of a fairly heavy cotton cloth with deep, plunging necklines and five or six buttons. There were still no standard team shirts as such, so club sides would take to the field with everyone wearing a variety of designs and shades of white. Club badges were non-existent - even international sides didn't yet have an emblem on their shirts. By the 1983 World Cup a few teams were proudly displaying their national badge on their chests. Sponsors logos were still some time away. 

Looking back at team photos from Lymington's last Southern League title in 1985, all the players appeared to have been wearing team sweaters with navy and gold banding. However, the first standard team shirts weren't introduced for another couple of years. When they finally arrived there was no badge, just the name 'Lymington CC' in an Olde English typeface. On the collars were the initials of the club's first shirt sponsor, Highcliffe Financial Services, a deal secured by club member and HFS employee Norman Wilkie. The shirts had to be purchased by the player (unlike soccer where players are given a team kit to wear before each game) and it was very much up to the individual to decide if he wanted to wear a club top. Therefore, Lymington's teams rarely ran out all wearing the same outfit. As we will see, this trend has sadly continued down the years.

Period: Late 1980s

Manufacturer: Unknown

Worn by: Jon Head, Norman Wilkie, Ronnie Hawker

Remembered for: Three Sunday XIs. Yes, three!

By the mid-1990s the Highcliffe Financial Services sponsorship deal had ended so the club introduced new shirts. The material in the new version was very flimsy and definitely not ideal for an early season friendly in a force 8 gale at Picket Post. Not only that, but when it rained it became quite transparent. To compound matters, the font in the club name resembled something you might find on a home-made wedding invitation. It did, however, have a pocket so at least Neill Denby had somewhere to store his fags.

Period: Mid 1990s

Manufacturer: Unknown

Worn by: Paul Allen, Tony Jenkin

Remembered for: President's Cup final win over New Milton, 1996


In 1994 Tony Jenkin's Under 11 junior team received a full set of kit from the Daily Mirror as a result of winning a competition organised by that publication. The players and parents apparently collected almost a thousand paper headings over an eight week period. (Co-incidentally, this came around the same time that Lymington residents were complaining about morning newspapers dropping through their letterboxes with a section of the front page cut out). The shirts had a Daily Mirror logo on the sleeve but no club badge.

In 1997 the club finally produced a shirt with a Lymington badge on it, although this caused some confusion at first as the badge - a replica of the town seal - was embroidered in gold which didn't show up at all well on a white shirt. A later version was produced with the badge in navy and gold. However, like its predecessor the material left a lot to be desired. After a couple of washes the sleeves stretched so far it would quite comfortably fit an average sized adult orangutang.

Period: 1997-1999

Manufacturer: AMS

Worn by: Tim Smith, Wayne Smith, Ben Sanger

Remembered for: Getting hammered by Havant at the County Ground, beating Andover at the Ageas Bowl in 2001

Our next shirt came about as a result of Jon Hardy teaming up with Robin Smith to form the Chase bat company, 'CHASE' apparently being an acronym of 'Hardy and Smith Cricket Equipment', (although the eagle-eyed among you may spot that it actually should be 'HASCE' - you'll have to take that one up with Jon). If the previous designs were flimsy, the Chase shirts erred in the other direction with heavyweight 75% cotton and 25% polyester making them great for chilly early season afternoons, but not so good for steaming hot summer days when a long innings or lengthy bowling spell could result in the wearer becoming rather sweaty. Also, the short sleeved version wasn't really short sleeved at all, but more 'elbow-length' which could be a bit of an irritation for some. The junior version was sponsored by Gates of Brockenhurst and featured a Peugeot logo, as modelled by a young Tom Thorp below.

Period: 2000-2004

Manufacturer: Chase

Worn by: Brian Clemow, Peter Tapper, Johnny Jumpers

Remembered for: Clemow's record breaking 213 v Cove

While some Lymington shirts were worn for barely a season, one particular top was worn for just one evening. This was the night in 2001 when Lymington took on a Hampshire XI under the football ground floodlights in aid of Adi Aymes' benefit year. Requiring a coloured kit for the match we were lucky enough to borrow the New Zealand kit left over from the previous year's World Cup.

In 2005 the club moved into the 21st century and ditched the heavyweight cotton in favour of a soft 100% polyester. Again produced by Chase, this simple but classic design had a thin blue band across the chest and a blue panel on the inner part of the collar. Lightweight and durable, some are still being worn 15 years later. The colts version was sponsored by Source and featured an even thinner blue line across the chest. Like your very first 'silky' replica football jersey, you never forget your first 'soft-feel' cricket shirt.

Period: Late 2005-2006

Manufacturer: Chase

Worn by: Karl Whatham, Pete Smith, the highly successful colts section

Remembered for: Presidents Cup win over Cadnam, 2005 and Pete Smith's heroics

For the club's bicentenary year in 2007 for some reason the club procured shirts from sportswear manufacturer North Gear. Featuring a special bicentenary emblem this was also the first shirt to feature a sponsor's name across the chest - 'Wiggins Cars' (or 'Wiggin Scars', depending on how you read it). The shirt was comfortable enough to wear, although the dark blue panels under the arms did add a bit of weight to it and also made it look as though the wearer had chronic personal hygiene issues. 

Period: 2007

Manufacturer: North Gear

Worn by: Sam Raphael, Mark Newton

Remembered for: The bicentenary match at Lord's and Dan Wiggins throwing up at Havant

Next up in 2008 was a shirt manufactured by Woodworm, the company made popular by KP and Freddie Flintoff during the 2005 Ashes. The design was even an exact replica of the Admiral shirts worn by England in that series. Interestingly, despite selling thousands of bats on the back of the 2005 Ashes the company got into financial difficulties in 2008 (nothing to do with us, we hope) and was taken over by The Sports HQ. The Lymington version featured the newly adopted new club badge and a small logo of the club's latest sponsor Lynx Sports. Overall, the material was flimsy and most shirts were full of snags after a few games. And as for that irritating little worm...

Period: 2008-2009

Manufacturer: Woodworm

Worn by: Craig O'Shannessey, Morgan Rushbrook, Simon Cook

Remembered for: Finally achieving promotion to the Premier Division and a Presidents Cup win over Bashley

The lure of pyjama cricket proved too much for the Southern League by the late Noughties as they advocated the introduction of coloured clothing for their T20 cup competition. Choosing gold and navy blue to match their sweater banding, Lymington sourced their kit from Surridge and the team obviously took an immediate liking to it, reaching the prestigious T20 cup final. The team that night, like the shirts, gleamed brightly under the Ageas Bowl floodlights as they swept to victory over Ventnor. Despite being a little on the weighty side, the shirt looks as good today as it did back then, and even after 11 years shows no sign of wear and tear. Ed Freeman still wears his in bed, apparently. It's been revived recently with coaches of the junior section wearing it on training nights. Definitely one of the most iconic Lymington shirts. 

Period: 2009-2014

Manufacturer: Surridge

Worn by: Morgan Rushbrook, Rob Lammiman

Remembered for: Winning the T20 Cup at the Ageas Bowl

Funky were the next manufacturers to provide shirts for the club. At the top end of the range Funky supplied kit to the highly tuned athletes of the Hampshire cricket team. Perhaps for obvious reasons, Lymington's shirts weren't quite so 'made-to-measure' and appeared to come in three sizes: large, extra large and extraordinarily large. They featured a deep plunging neckline with no top button, ideal for a warm day but not so good on a breezy afternoon with nothing to stop the wind from whipping down your front. This ventilation issue was made worse by the perforated side panels. The shirt sported a huge club badge with, for some unknown reason, the club name in gold on white. Dwarfed by the badge and the general massiveness of the shirt itself, the poor little man in the Lynx logo looked like he was running in a snowstorm.

Period: 2010

Manufacturer: Funky

Worn by: Simon Beetham, Alex Treagus

Remembered for: The 2nd XI getting promoted; Matt Mixer taking 9-32 v Bashley

The next shirt was exactly the same design as the previous Funky effort but with a new sponsors name, Turbo Dynamics, on the front. They got the club badge right on this one although the massive Turbo Dynamics logo went down in history as being the only shirt sponsor's logo visible from space. Eagle-eyed readers may notice that Ed Ellis and Guy Layman are wearing a different shirt to everyone else. Apparently the young wicketkeeper Ed wanted a long sleeve which Funky didn't do so some players bought a similar version from Surridge.

Period: 2011

Manufacturer: Funky

Worn by: Matt Metcalfe, Ed Ellis

Remembered for: the huge logo

Funky's first attempt at a coloured kit for the club was an excellent effort with silky smooth material and a bright but not overbearing yellow. Darren Cowley certainly seemed to like wearing it, smashing a brilliant century against Hartley Wintney in the T20 cup in 2014. The lower part of the collar did resemble a smiley mouth, although there weren't too many smiles at the Ageas Bowl when Lymo were put to the sword by a rampant South Wilts. Despite this, this top is still one of our favourites.

Period: 2013-2015

Manufacturer: Funky

Worn by: Damien Mortimer, Darren Cowley

Remembered for: Cowley's T20 century at the Sports Ground and losing the cup final rather badly

The next Funky shirt was exactly the same as the previous two (still no top button) but with the name of the new club sponsor - Crestwood - adorning the chest. With Crestwood being one of the area's leading interior designers I can't help but think the club missed an opportunity here. I'd personally have loved to have seen Matt Metcalfe running in to bowl in a shirt featuring some polka dots, a floral design or maybe a paisley pattern. Perhaps not. The junior version presented a bit of a problem as the design left no room for the club badge which ended up on the sleeve.

Period: 2014-2017

Manufacturer: Funky

Worn by: Simon Beetham, Ben Ashkenazi, Josh Royan

Remembered for: Highly successful junior teams

While most of the seniors and juniors were wearing the Funky tops in 2015, some juniors were taking to the field in Gunn & Moore shirts. I honestly can't remember why.

If anyone was sad enough to collect Lymington cricket shirts (apart from me, obviously) this next one would undoubtedly be the Holy Grail. So rare that we're beginning to wonder if they actually existed. The fable began when wispy Second XI skipper Ollie Kelly, presumably fed up with losing himself in the huge Funky tops, ordered a quantity of shirts from Gray-Nicolls just for his team. If you find one please send it to me.

Period: 2015

Manufacturer: Gray-Nicolls

Worn by: Ollie Kelly, Conor Moors

Remembered for: Not being remembered

In 2015 Lymington formed their own womens' team, the 'Purple Cobras'. Strictly speaking, this wasn't the club's first womens' team. Anne Craft had helped set up a side back in 1998. However, this was the first official team shirt. The players were given a choice of colours and went for purple. The team's name, it seems, came about from an incident in their very first training session at Woodside when a snake was discovered in the grass. Whether it was actually a cobra is doubtful, but the name and the shirt has certainly brought plenty of success and enjoyment for the ladies in their subsequent soft ball tournaments.

Period: 2015

Manufacturer: Serious Cricket

Worn by: The Purple Cobras

Remembered for: La Manga!

Funky's final shirt for the senior men featured a paler yellow, while the sponsor Moneysprite had morphed into Rockstone. Not quite as silky and smooth as the previous Funky top, and we don't know what the light blue stripes are doing in there, but not a bad effort.

Period: 2016-2017

Manufacturer: Funky

Worn by: Guy Layman

Remembered for: Er, not a lot really.

If the previous white Funky shirts had tended to be on the large size, the club's new Adidas tops in 2017 definitely ventured in the other direction and were quite unforgiving on those untuned athletes with a bit of a paunch. However, once you'd found shirt a couple of inches up from your normal size it can't be denied that these were lovely to wear, with soft touch material and three poppers. On the downside, those three little stripes don't come cheap and this was unquestionably the most expensive cricket shirt in the club's history. Not only that but something went badly wrong with the sponsors logo, and after a few months every shirt appeared to have different shade of pink behind the Crestwood name and emblem. The blue in the club badge was far too light too. That said, this will probably still go down as one of our most popular shirts.

Period: 2017-2018

Manufacturer: Adidas

Worn by: Richard Lock, Billy Quigley

Remembered for: Promotion for the Second XI

Quite how we ended up with this yellowy-green dayglo shirt is anyone's guess. Even Marmite doesn't divide opinion as much as this Lymington top. The kids loved them, the traditionalists were bemused by them. Apart from the blinding colour, the biggest issue was the material which was so thin it was like wearing a string vest on a cold day, which was a problem since the first XI mainly required them for their limited overs matches in the cooler weekends at the beginning and end of the summer. It looked as though this shirt may have been resigned to the scrapheap or, more likely, dumped in the Irish sea with all the other British radioactive waste, but it did in fact make a comeback in 2019 when the club's under 19s joined forces with neighbours Sway and wore the tops as they reached the play-offs of the Vitality Cup. It's a shame we never got to play under the floodlights at the Ageas Bowl, just to see if they did actually glow in the dark.

Period: 2016-2018

Manufacturer: Adidas

Worn by: Malcom Lake, Terry Crabb, the Under 19s

Remembered for: The Pub Bowler taking five wickets against Bashley

In 2018 the club's juniors were kitted out in coloured clothing for the first time. The kids loved them,  although my wife wasn't so keen as she had to wash them after every game (I did offer, by the way).

Last season the club went for a simple, white Gray-Nicolls top with the Rockstone sponsors logo on the front. Perhaps not as glamorous as its Adidas predecessor, but still nice to wear and very light.

Period: 2019-

Manufacturer: Gray-Nicolls

Worn by: Ben Attrill, Dom Hand

Remembered for: The 2nd XI winning just one game all season

The club also introduced a new limited-overs shirt in 2019, again made by Gray-Nicolls.  It was the first top to feature more navy blue than gold, and it had something of a retro look to it. A fitting shirt to end our shirty journey.

Period: 2019-

Manufacturer: Gray-Nicolls

Worn by: Gareth Schreuder, Dan Cox

Remembered for: Matt Metcalfe winning the SPCL bowling award for a sixth time

And so we come to the present day. In the current pandemic it's not beyond the realms of possibility that team kits might soon be including rubber gloves, goggles, face masks and visors. As for the shirts, what is clear that it doesn't matter whether they're made of 100% cotton, 100% acrylic, 100% polyester with pin hole piques or 100% microfibre optic mesh with underarm breathable panels; whether they come with wicking, stay-cool technology, sweat-proof technology; whether they're double knit with a v-neck collar, round-neck collar, loopback collar with buttons, poppers or zipper; loose fit, tight fit or regular fit; in white, off-white, brilliant white or cream, long sleeve, short sleeve, three quarter sleeve or even slim line placket with concealed stud closure. It's what's inside that really counts.

Trevor Phillips
June 2020