Bar Hill Cricket Club was reformed during the winter of 1986 after a meeting of the primary school PTA. Three of the clubs founder members, Tony Moffat, Nick Jones and John Fuller met for a quick half at the Fox (local pub). The discussion turned to the subject of how Bar Hill Football Club wanted an extra pitch and the only available position was across the old cricket square! The square had only been re-discovered the previous summer for an inter-church match. The square had been 'lost' after the original Cricket Club was disbanded some years earlier and it had become just another part of the village green. It was decided amongst the three that it would be a shame to lose the square and therefore the possibility of playing cricket within the village.
Our story begins here.
A notice was posted in the Bar Hill News (the Village magazine) for anyone that was interested in forming a new cricket club. Local resident Ben Pedderson was approached and led them to the original square and equipment. As a Cambridge college groundsman he also assisted with the preparation of the wicket.
During the summer of 1987, Nick Jones was appointed Secretary and arranged a series of 7 friendly matches against local companies and organisations, Tony Moffat was elected as Captain for these matches.
In 1988 Niall Dunwoody took the helm as Captain of Bar Hill Cricket club and Tony Moffat became club secretary and joined four other local teams to form an unofficial Mid-Week league. This progressed to joining the C.C.A. league in 1989 in division 6B, which we went on to win that season, setting a league record in a match against Fordham III of 326 for 9. This was also the season our annual 'Wrinklies v Smoothies' match was started, as the original team against the new side. A game that has become Bar Hill Cricket Club against Bar Hill Sports and Social Club, which is our local watering hole. The League team went on to be promoted in two of the next three seasons.
During the Annual General Meeting in 1992 Fred Styles was appointed as our first President. Our club colours were also decided, that originated from a bobble hat of the daughter of Tony Moffat which were maroon and gold (These were later found to be the colours of Northants County Cricket Club). In this season our first century was scored by John Simpson, 101 not out, for the newly formed Bar Hill 2nd Team. The following year the club was large enough to support a friendly Under 15's side . This team only played one season before becoming the 2nd Team.
Over the next six years both League Teams experienced the delights of promotion and the despair of relegation. In 1994 John Fuller twice came close to becoming our second centurion failing firstly by 17 runs and secondly by a tantalising 4 runs. In the same season Ian Dunk took 8-22 against Melbourn. In 1998 'the two Daves' Fletcher & Sandham shared a 144 record-breaking partnership against Royal Mail.
During the 1999 season, the club was forced into a state of turmoil after only two matches, as the 1st Team was forced to disband due to a lack of commited players. The 2nd Team players who had won their first two matches of the season had to jump up a division to fulfil the 1st Teams fixtures. Not suprisingly the 'new' 1st Team were relegated that season. On the brighter side the Club formed a Youth Team (at Under 12's level).
In 2000, the 1st Team narrowly missed out on promotion back to Division 2, although the Youth side (now at Under 13's level) won their League with a game to spare. The Club also formed a regular Sunday Friendly side which played a full list of fixtures.
The following year in 2001, the 1st Team remained unbeaten in Division 3 until early September. Not suprisingly, they were promoted as Champions. The Club also formed a second Youth side, at Under 11's level, to join the existing side (now playing at Under 14's level).
In Division 2 for the first time for a while, the 1st team struggled but did enough to avoid relegation against some very strong opposition. Ian Basser hit the record individual score for the 1st Team with 92 against Milton II. The Under 14's side stayed at that level but the Under 11's went up to the Under 12's level. Cameron Scott re-wrote the Youth record books by hitting the first four Youth half-centuries in Bar Hills history. His top score was 89 not out.
2003 was a season of two halves for the 1st Team. They lost 6 out of their first 7 matches and were dumped out of the Cup. Then a tie against Waterbeach (which included a David Fletcher hat-trick) turned the season around and they won 7 out of the last 8. The performance of the season was undoubtedly David Rush who hit a record 158 not out against The Globe in a friendly. Cameron Scott carried on from his exploits the previous season by hitting another seven half centuries with a high score of 90 not out.
The 1st Team actually looked reasonable bets for promotion in 2004 but couldn't quite keep pace with a strong Cambridge Granta side. Cameron Scott started making the transition from youth to adult cricket by taking 5-11 in less than three overs against Sutton II in the League. Phil Walmsley narrowly missed out on a century running out of partners on 93 in a Cup match. The 'highlight' of the friendly season was undoubtedly Simon Smith contributing towards the seasons highest Friendly Team 10th wicket partnership after suffering a heart attack as he was waiting to bat. The Under 15's came close to winning their League but were pipped by Ely/Haddenham. The Under 14's season started poorly (7 all out!) but improved throughout the season with Cameron Scott getting his long awaited maiden century with an unbeaten 110 against Cambridge Granta.
In the 2004 close season ex-Bar Hill player Ben Thapa hit the headlines as a member of G4 who were runners up on X-Factor.
The 1st Team finished mid-table in 2005, not being good enough to go up but also being too good to go down. The second Twenty20 tournament actually produced a winner after it was rain affected in 2004 and proved to be a great success. There were two youth teams at Under 15's and at Under 12's. Craig Driver broke Cameron Scotts total domination on batting scores by hitting 73 for the Under 15's. However, the Under 12's produced the best individual performance of the season with Sam Clare taking 6-8 against Camden, the second best youth figures for Bar Hill. 2005 also saw the first Bar Hill cricket tour, to Torquay.
2006 saw a promotion push by the 1st Team but they finally finished a close third with a strong Needingworth side winning the division. Scott Stanford decided to rewrite the Bar Hill record books, scoring the most CCA runs for Bar Hill in a season, including scoring the Clubs highest CCA score (and only the Clubs 2nd CCA century) when he hit 119 against Cottenham II. He had also posted the Clubs second highest CCA partnership earlier in the season as he and Mark Thompson put on 134 against Histon III. He also finished top CCA wicket taker for the Club with 30 wickets and managed to pouch 4 catches in a match, which is only one off the Bar Hill record. Barry Driver also managed to chip in with the third best CCA bowling figures for Bar Hill taking 7-12 against Cottenham II. 2006 also saw Bar Hill managing to put out a 2nd Team again for the first time in six years. Another first was that Bar Hill also managed to field three youth teams, at Under 12's, 13's and 15's. The Under 13's managed to come second in their division, only losing out to unbeaten Milton side. Dom Gedny managed to take 6-6, the second best youth bowling performance for the Club and Sam Clare managed to take four catches in a match, the first time this had been acheived at youth level for the Club.
2007 was arguably the most successful season ever for the Club. Both adult league teams got promoted, the 1sts winning their league and being promoted to Junior Division 1 for the first time in the Clubs history and the 2nd Team finishing a close second behind Histon IV to grab the second promotion spot. Scott Stanford was at it again when he smashed 183 against Cottenham II beating his and the Clubs previous highest score by 64 runs. In doing so he, and Phil Pelling, posted the record partnership for the Club with 228. He also excelled with the ball taking 7-14 in the Twenty/20 Cup match with Cherry Hinton which saw Bar Hill through to the quarter-finals. The Youth sides were successful also, with both the Under 14's & 13's finishing as runners up in their respective leagues both losing out to Histon sides. Sam Clare dominated the youth batting hitting five 50's and his maiden century, an unbeaten 103 against Cottenham.