The Napa Valley Cricket Club (NVCC) is set to mark its 10th season this coming weekend with a marquee match at the Napa Valley Expo in downtown Napa. The match at the Expo will be the clubs first there since October 2019 and will take place on the Silverado Green on the east side of the property.
The teams for the match will be made up of club members, with the Founders Team consisting of members who have played with the club since the first season in 2012. The Newcomers Team will be made up of members who joined the club after that first season.
The club has an active playing roster of over 30 players in 2021 and NVCC has already played a number of matches this year. Their record for 2021 stands at 1 and 7 with their sole win to date recorded against Marin CC back in May at Piper Park in Larkspur.
“With the Expo being used for so many community services through the pandemic we are grateful to have been able to play a number of our matches this season at Kimberly Park in American Canyon.” said NVCC Vice President, Andrew Healy “The City of American Canyon Parks & Rec Department have facilitated us at a great park and we look forward to hosting more matches there in the future.”
The club traces its 10-year history back to 2012 when they played their first match at the Fairgrounds in Calistoga. That first match – The Napa Valley World Series of Cricket – has been played eight times since and is being replaced by the Founders v Newcomers match in 2021.
During the club’s history, they have hosted teams from around the Bay Area in addition to touring teams from Philadelphia, Hoboken, Vancouver (BC), and Los Angeles. On two occasions NVCC hosted international cricketers as Alvin Kallicharran, former West Indian captain, and Nick Compton, former England, and Middlesex batsman both played in Calistoga.
In 2017 NVCC moved to Napa and have played the bulk of their home matches since then on the Midway Green at the Napa Valley Expo.
“It’s great to be back playing cricket in 2021,” said NVCC founding Club Captain, Tim Irwin, who will captain the Founders Team on Saturday “and to get all of the club members together for a competitive and fun game of cricket. We managed to play just the one match in 2020, away in Gilroy, so to have had a season in 2021 with ten or so matches feels like a giant step back towards normality.”
The club draws its members mainly for expatriates who live in the Napa Valley and close by and over the years has welcomed members from Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, Jamaica, New Zealand, Pakistan, and South Africa in addition to a number of American born cricketers.
The inspiration for the Founders v Newcomers match was Phil Bourke, founding NVCC President and now Club Treasurer. Bourke also came up with the annual World Series concept but thought something different was needed to mark the clubs 10th season. “I was thinking how do we mark such a fantastic milestone for the club and realized that there are still a sizable number of members from our first season still playing regularly for the club. While we’ve all added 10 years in age there’s still great enthusiasm amongst many of the founding members for the game of cricket and playing for NVCC, so we thought why not.”
The game will start at 10am (approx.) this coming Saturday 9/25 and the NVCC invites everyone to watch their Founders v Newcomers match on the Silverado Green at the Napa Valley Expo in downtown Napa.
Remaining 2021 Matches for NVCC
Saturday 9th October, 2021 – NVCC hosts the San Francisco Seals on the Silverado Green at the Napa Valley Expo in downtown Napa from 10:30am.
Saturday 24th October, 2021 – NVCC host the Sonoma Gullies at Kimberly Park in American Canyon from 10:30am.