Sometimes all it takes is a reader’s letter. When Mr Gavin Hodgson of Mickleton, Gloucestershire, took to his keyboard and said he’d ‘very much like to see a feature on village cricket in the Cotswolds’, he may not have envisaged this happening quite so soon (his letter having been published in the June 2026 issue).
Gavin mentioned Dumbleton, ‘north of Cheltenham, a lovely village where the soldier and writer Patrick Leigh Fermor is buried.’ As an historian who’s also written on the subject of cricket a few times I was already hooked.
Our correspondent also informed of a ‘beautiful’ cricket ground and a rise to prominence which sees the club punching above its weight having been promoted to the ‘top division of the West of England Premier League, a great achievement for a small village side, and the coming season will see them taking on big teams such as Bristol and Bath – quite a challenge!’ It does indeed sound like a challenge of Kipling-esque proportions, redolent of the poem If. Mention of Kipling reminds me that there was once a Cotswold cricket team of literary talents, the so-called Allahakbarries of amateur status yet legendary names. The founder was none other than Peter Pan creator JM Barrie, hence the team’s name. Apparently Barrie thought ‘Allah akbar’ meant ‘Heaven help us’ but actually translates as ‘God is great’.
Barrie spent his summers at Stanway House in the North Cotswolds where he erected a wooden cricket pavilion and set about conjuring a cricket team of the talents, well, literary talents if not cricketing ones (‘Heaven help us’, if that’s what was in his mind, might have suggested the team needed divine inspiration). Others who put on the whites included: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, and a nifty all-rounder apparently; sci-fi author HG Wells, at best a reluctant cricketer; AA Milne, who brought Winnie-the-Pooh to life; PG Wodehouse of Jeeves and Wooster fame; Jerome K Jerome (Three Men in a Boat); and GK Chesterton, who joined Conan Doyle in creating a sleuth, Father Brown.
Growing up in the Vale of Evesham, I ventured to the town’s cricket ground a few times. Dumbleton in Gloucestershire is just six miles south of Evesham, yet until now it has not registered with me, but the place is making headlines. It’s a small Cotswold village side built from bottom-up to become a top-tier club on the field across men’s, women’s and junior cricket, but using the game to build a thriving social and community hub bringing generations together, and all underpinned by a strong volunteer culture. In 2026, Dumbleton CC reached the Premier Division of the West of England Premier League for the first time in its history and now competes against the likes of Bath and Bristol. For a village of fewer than 600, that’s some achievement. The vast majority of the team are homegrown players who simply want to play for the club they started with, the club’s rise built on doing things the right way; investing in juniors, coaching, facilities and culture. In a division where other clubs pay all or most players, Dumbleton resolutely doesn’t.
Many would point to the original expansion of the junior section during the mid-2000s as key. A small youth section with an U15 and U13 team has evolved into one of the strongest junior programmes in the region, now with 13 teams across boys and girls. Players have gone on to play professional and international cricket, but more importantly, the love of the game is being nurtured. Dumbleton’s success story is fundamentally a youth development one. The club has produced an extraordinary number of elite cricketers for a village of its size. Danielle Gibson is a regular member of the England women’s senior squad and is about to participate in the Women’s World Cup, while Katie Jones captained England Women’s Under-19s and now plays for Somerset in the pro game’s Tier One. Tommy Boorman represented England U19s and is now a pro with Gloucestershire and Archie Bailey likewise with Durham. Sophie Smith-Graham is part of the current Gloucestershire Women’s squad.
One of the lesser-known stories at Dumbleton is how many young people choose to stay. The current captains of all four senior teams came through the juniors. For many clubs, success is measured by the number of players leaving seeking higher honours; at Dumbleton, success is measured by how many stick around. One of the club’s proudest moments came in 2022 when Dumbleton won the National Village Cup Final at Lord’s. What made the achievement particularly special was that eight members of the side came through the club’s junior system, that victory the culmination of decades of investment in youth cricket.
That memory of local youngsters, who had grown up together, walking out at Lord’s remains one of the defining moments in the club’s history. The club’s Second Team is on another run, entering the competition’s last-32 at the time of writing. It’s also incredible to think that 2026 will be the 13th year of women’s and girls’ cricket at Dumbleton. It was one of the first six clubs in the county to start girls’ cricket, a number which has increased to 67!
For many visitors, the first thing striking them about Dumbleton is the setting. Nestled beneath Bredon Hill and surrounded by open countryside, Dairy Lane regularly features in books and articles celebrating England’s most beautiful grounds. The club takes enormous pride in the quality of its facilities and playing surfaces. The square is regularly rated among the best pitches across the West of England Premier League structure, which spans around 70 clubs across Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Bristol and Somerset. In May 2026 the club opened a second ground, The Park, overlooked by the magnificent Dumbleton Hall Hotel, which has only strengthened the club’s reputation as a beautiful place to play. The new ground enables all home matches to be played in Dumbleton, creating capacity for future growth, and securing the future of the club for the next generation.
And this year there’s Cricket Tots, delivered by a separate coaching company (crickettots.com) and believed to be the first programme of its kind in the area for pre-school children from the age of two-and-a-half. At the other end of the spectrum, many of the club’s most loyal supporters are in their eighties and nineties. One of the club’s greatest strengths is seeing those generations mix together, children who have only just picked up a bat, sharing the same club with people who have been involved for more than 70 years.
Every successful club has its characters. At Dumbleton they are affectionately known as the Bench Committee. Many were born in the village, attended its primary school and have spent a lifetime supporting the club. On matchdays they can usually be found providing advice, analysis and occasional criticism from their preferred vantage point.
Dumbleton may field Premier League cricketers, but the club is built on volunteers and more than 100 people contribute to the running of the club each year. In many ways, Dumbleton’s greatest strength isn’t its players; it’s the willingness of so many people to take part. While cricket remains at the club’s heart, many are surprised by the scale of its social and community activity. Events include: the annual village fete; charity fundraising events; social and community events; and the traditional cricket festival which takes place from Sunday July 26 to Sunday August 2 this year.
Committee member Pete Boorman has been youth manager for the past 20 years: ‘We’re doing well, midtable six games in, and have been competitive in every match so we look like we belong in the Premier Division,’ he says. ‘This is with a team promoted from that junior base over the years that’s experiencing this level of cricket for the first time. There’s a lad of 16, an average age of 21-22 and a captain of 22. The senior player is only 30 so he takes a bit of ribbing!
‘It’s a story that’s been 20 years in the making, when we made a collective decision that we were all getting on and needed to bring on the next generation. That focus on junior cricket has paid dividends.
‘We simply aim to do things the right way and try to be as good as we can be. We don’t want anyone to be excluded, and we have teams for all standards, eg the U13s have three different teams, and there’s 13 junior teams all told, as we’ve seen an explosion in junior members from around 80 to well over 200 over the last decade.
‘Our total club membership is about 450, yet the village population is not much more; we pull people in from the surrounding villages. We will keep doing things our way. It’s a passion within me, and within us all; once a Dumblie, always a Dumblie!’
Thwack! The ball speeds to the boundary yet again. Barrie, Kipling et al would have been proud..
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