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To TopDarlington Railway Athletic Cricket Club started its life as Darlington North Road at the start of the last century changing its’ name to Darlington N.E.R. It is now locally known as simply ‘The RA’.
The Club was founded in 1913 and cricket at the RA really took off when the club was admitted to the North Yorkshire and South Durham League in 1914, although The Great War prevented any competitive games until 1919. In this first season, with ex Leicester footballer and cricketer, Bob Turner as professional, the club won half of its 20 matches. He scored a century in the club’s very first league game against Bishop Auckland, and went on to play for the club for many years also captaining the side. Also conspicuous at this time were the brothers, E.M. and J.H. Hall. The former was a good batsman, whilst Herbert was considered to be one of the best swing bowlers in the area. Herbert went on to be President of the league from 1947 until 1966.
The RA lifted the league title for the first time in 1929, with Bill Brown as professional. A second title soon followed in 1932, with professional George Higgins, Billy Romaines, and youngsters Eddie Cockburn and Reg Hunt major contributors. At that time crowds of between 1,000 and 2,000 people were commonplace. The club’s third title came in 1944. The highest the club has finished since is third in 1956 and 1970, when the RA also won the prestigious John Saunders Cup.
In the Second World War years many of the top English cricketers made use of the facilities whilst stationed at Catterick. Players such as Sir Len Hutton, Herbert Sutcliffe, Maurice Tremlett and Hedley Verity, who was lost in action, played and practiced at the ground
The club has employed many professionals over the years, perhaps the most famous being Nobby Clark the ex-England and Northants left arm quick bowler who played for the club in the late 30’s, and ex-Pakistani Test Player Nasim-Ul-Ghani who was with us in 1978. Nasim, a left hand bat and spin bowler made his test debut at the tender age of 16, in the same year he was a victim to the legendary Wes Hall in a hat-trick. Later in his career he scored his only test century, against England at Lords.
The Kerridge Cup has provided many celebrations for the club
as well as a few heartaches. In the very first final we met Norton, losing
by 5 wickets.
In the final of 1926, RA defeated Normanby Hall by 142 runs, after a famous
last wicket partnership between Joe Corrie and Harold Harrow, of 77 runs. This
particular cup run was famous for Dr. Cherry’s five catches in the semi-final
against Bishop Auckland. 1935 provided another celebration with a victory over
Middlesbrough in a very low scoring final. Cup success continued for the RA
in 1940 with victory against Guisborough. 16-year-old Harry Taylor was the
hero of the final with 58 not out, Harry still holds the record for the most
1st XI centuries. More recently we have lifted the trophy in 1973, defeating
Bishop Auckland by 2 runs, in front of a crowd of approximately 800 at Feethams,
and again 1987 knocking off Hartlepool’s 182, for the loss of only 2
wickets. Our last success came in 1998 when we beat Northallerton by 111 runs
with Australian professional Shannon Waters, bowling at express pace to take
6 wickets for a meagre 29 runs. The 2003 season provided the most recent Cup
heartache
with defeat to Saltburn, however
our biggest heartache was finishing bottom of the Premier League in 2006, leading
to relegation from that Division for the first time in the Clubs history.
HONOURS
League Champions (A Division) - 1929; 1932; 1944
League Champions (B Division) - 1951
League Champions (Division 2) - 2004
Kerridge Cup Winners - 1926; 1935; 1940; 1973; 1987; 1998
Saunders Cup Winners - 1970
Robinson Cup Winners - 1992
Readman Cup Winners - 2002
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Last Updated:
May 11, 2007