Cricket was widely played in the area in the nineteenth century. There is a record of a Crowle and Huddington team being formed in 1896 and they acquired most of their equipment from a then recently defunct Crowle and Tibberton club. Himbleton Cricket Club in its present form was founded in 1902, as recorded in the Himbleton Parish Magazine of March 1902:

"Cricket. A meeting was held at the Court Farm, in February for the purpose
of starting a new Cricket Club for the Parish of Himbleton. The following officers were
elected: President – Lady Douglas Galton; Vice-Presidents – Mrs Bearcroft (Mere Hall),
Mr. H.C. Willis, Mr. J. Wythes; Hon. Treasurer – Mr. J. H. Tandy; Hon. Secretary – Mr.
G. Bearcroft. The ground (at Fepsinten) will be open for practice every Wednesday
evening commencing April 9th. A further meeting will be held at the Court Farm on Monday
April 7th, at 7 o'clock, when anyone wishing to join is invited to attend. Subscription 2s.0d The following matches have been arranged:-

Not for the last time this report seems to contain an error. April 27, 1902 was a Sunday, and it is most unlikely that a game would have been played on a Sunday in those days.

Almost certainly the first game was played at Fepsinten (now known as Phepson) on Saturday 26 April 1902 and the scorecard which has survived was as follows:-

The fixture list for 1906 read:-
HIMBLETON FIXTURE LIST, 1906

The Rector of Himbleton was not only top scorer with 22, but he also took 6 wickets for 30. Other players taking the field for Himbleton in that season included Commander Browne, Rev. H. Rabon, H. Wythes, P. Rogers, R. Rogers and J. Fincher.

During the 1920's the venue of matches was changed from Phepson to Court Farm, Himbleton. A small shed on the ground served as changing room, and cricket teas were prepared and eaten in the village hall. The composition of the team began to change, although some of the family names continued to sound familiar. The following appeared for Himbleton against Eckington on June 8th 1935:- H. Claridge, B. Price, J. Fincher, A. Rogers, G. Parker, L. Osborne, F. Wale, J. Cook, O. Rogers, E. Stanley and D. Small. At the following year's A.G.M. the officers elected included: President - Colonel Hill, Vice Presidents - Major Rushton, Captain Coles, Rev. R. Craze, R. Willis and G. Bearcroft.

There was again a break in fixtures for the years of the Second World War. The first business of the A.G.M. held on May 6th 1946 was to confirm the minutes of the meeting presided over by Colonel Hill on April 28th 1939. After a break of six years for the war a credit balance of £18. 15s. 0d. was reported. The secretary pointed out that the club could have the use of the field at Court Farm again " but that the pitch would need a lot of work put into it". This proved to be a masterly under-statement. Only with great difficulty could players find the "square". Eventually it was discovered by lining up a particular tree and after much effort fixtures were resumed.

By the late 1950's the members realised that sharing a field with livestock was not going to get them better fixtures, although their landlord, Hugh Barham of Court Farm, was good to the club. An approach was therefore made to the Church Commissioners to see if they would lease the club the field next to the school. Eventually negotiations were successful, and the club set about raising the substantial amount of money (for those days) required to convert uneven farm land into a cricket ground. This was done largely through bingo, held weekly in Himbleton Village Hall, backed up by a 200 club. Preparation of the new ground took longer than anticipated, partly due to an exceptionally wet summer in 1965. The bulk of expenditure was incurred in 1965 and 1966, and in 1967 it was reported that spending on the ground to date had been £1,064. 15s. 7d. A second hand pre-fabricated structure was acquired and erected by club members to serve as a pavilion. This has had two major extensions and several minor improvements since.

In the meantime the club continued to play at Court Farm. The scorebooks for the period seem to have disappeared (perhaps they are in someone's loft?) but there are occasional press reports of the club. John Perkins is pictured after hitting six 6's in an innings of 72 against The Lenches, while Ray Holt is reported to have taken 9 for 31 in an 8 wickets win over Holy Trinity. A press photograph from 1963 shows the Himbleton team to have been John Gwilt, Harold Jenkins, Alec Rogers, Percy Tredwell, Peter Perkins, Maurice Jenkins (scorer), John Collins, Rex Salisbury, Donald Small, Stan Rogers, David White, and a very youthful looking Peter Rogers.

Scores at Court Farm were usually low: the combined result of a lively wicket and a well grassed and manured outfield. An unusually high scoring game in 1964 was headlined in the local paper "MEET THE TEENAGE TERROR - Peter Rogers (15) slams Cookhill". He was top scorer with 41 (run out) in an innings of 120 for 6 declared before bowling out Cookhill for 63, Stan Rogers taking 4 for 19. Against Dominies in the same season however the headline read "HIMBLETON BATSMEN SLUMP" reporting on an innings of 37 all out, with last man John Collins top scorer on 15 not out. Other Himbleton players frequently mentioned in the local newspapers of this period include Brian Partridge (fast bowler), Peter Perkins and David White (batsmen), Rex Salisbury (all rounder) and Ian Mawdsley (wicket keeper/batsman).

At last in 1967 play began at the new ground, where the club still plays to-day. As a reward for mowing the field throughout the first season, David Jenkins was awarded an honorarium of £2 at the 1968 Annual General Meeting! On moving to the new ground the club were able to improve and enlarge the fixture list, and higher scores start to be recorded. Vince Brazier is reported as scoring three centuries, but Himbleton lost two of those games and only drew the third.

The connection with the church continued to be maintained. Club vice-presidents in the post war years included the Revs. Allen, Lewis, Stockley and Corrall. The last such connection was probably Gareth Doyle who played for the club in the 1970's. He was the son of Canon Doyle, the last Rector of Himbleton prior to the Bowbrook Group re-organisation. Gilbert Parker took over from Lord Sandys as President of the Club in 1962 and continued in that office for 30 years before being succeeded by John Goodman.

Lively annual dinner dances were held, often featuring a speaker from the County Club. Venues included Worcester Co-op, the Lenchford Hotel and the Talbot Dog, Harvington. Tickets for the 1973 dinner were £1.75p., to include sherry on arrival, and choice of wine with a meal of roast turkey, followed by apple tart. However members wanted more regular social opportunities, and in 1975 a licence was obtained for a bar in the club pavilion. This has proved to be a major source of income to the club over more recent years, particularly since the demise of bingo, which had served us well over a twenty year period.

Particularly after the move to the new ground active collaboration was maintained with Himbleton School. The cricket club played a prominent part in the School Centenary celebrations in 1974. Successive headmasters played for the club, and the last headmaster and the husband of his headmistress successor (Bob Pritchard and John Brooks) were leading lights in the setting up of the bar, and on the early bar committee.

In 2002 Himbleton Cricket Club would be totally unrecognisable to the founding fathers of 100 years before. The club has 1st and 2nd X1's in the Worcestershire County League (Division 3), a side in the Worcester Evening League, and both senior and junior teams play many friendly matches. The club has always placed great emphasis on the coaching and development of young players, and we are proud to have 3 boys and 1 girl in the current County youth squads. For its Centenary Development Programme the club plans extensive re-development and re-furbishment of the pavilion, and hopes to purchase the freehold of the cricket ground. One can only speculate what Himbleton Cricket Club's second century will hold.