ST MATTHIAS CRICKET CLUB was founded by Mr Nevill Brown in 1914 from his Boys' Club at St Matthias Church, Ditchling Road. The first practice was held on May 12th 1914 on a piece of land which is now Friar Road. The first match was played on June 6th 1914. Activities were suspended during the First World War until 1919. The Club President then was the Rev. A E L Sayers and the Captain was S A Thorp.
The club played their home matches at Preston Park cricket ground until the Second World War when the ground was taken over by the military authorities and used by a Canadian armoured unit for training purposes. A few games were played at Braypool during 1940 and then playing was suspended until 1945 when Preston Park was re-allocated and matches recommenced on May 11th 1946.
The club fielded one XI which played 'friendly' cricket on Saturday afternoons before joining the newly formed Brighton League in 1980 (now merged with the West Sussex League).We now operate a Saturday senior league side.
The junior section of the club was formed in 1970 and is still going strong. We are running junior sides for 2008 at under 10's, 12's, 14's, 15's and 16's.