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Something of a world exclusive (seriously) for the latest Wiv Chat with a wonderful conversation with Jon Wiseman, to help launch his recently published The Story of Wivenhoe Cricket book.

Blimey.

Having moved from living next door to The Oval, missing @surreycricket was always going to be the major factor for me personally in leaving South London. Fifteen years of growing friendships and first class cricket can’t be forgotten over the course of one summer.

I needn’t have worried. My recent visits to Rectory Road have found a similar cricketing experience. Wivenhoe Town is a community cricket club that currently has ambitions to combine a friendly feel with a winning team.

It is an aim that appears to be well on the way to achieving. The first team sits proudly on top of the Two Counties Cricket Championship, fielding mainly local lads each weekend. The support comes from the community, with faces old and new adding to the club ethos.

As an outsider I have been made to feel incredibly welcome. This isn’t an old duffers cricket club with no direction. My awareness was pricked with match day tweets, and a strong online presence to welcome local Wivenhoe folk in.

Emails were exchanged, contacts were made and then just as Cricket Week was kicking in, I was able to welcome Jon Wiseman into my front room / broadcast studio to record the latest programme for Wiv Chat.

The Story of Wivenhoe Cricket has been an eighteen-month labour of love for Jon and the backroom assistance he has had from all within the club. It is not so much the story of Wivenhoe cricket, but the story of Wivenhoe as told through cricket.

World Wars, the decline of industry, the re-birth of the town - all of these events are told through cricket. Sport is a great adhesive in which to frame the social history of a town.

Our forty minute or so conversation of course doesn’t do justice to the volume of research and stories behind the stats that Jon’s worldwide quest for Wivenhoe cricket research has taken him.

I was pleased to find that Jon’s starting point was Nicholas Butler’s absolutely brilliant The Story of Wivenhoe (a nod and a wink at the Bookshop, and I believe copies are still available behind the counter…) as a blueprint for his research.

Butler also believes that sport can be used to track the development of the town. Brevity meant that the complete story of Wivenhoe cricket couldn’t be accommodated in his book. Thankfully Jon has had the foresight to complete the story.

In our chat below, Jon explains more about his own forty year involvement with cricket in Wivenhoe, and the “circle of life” that he believes passes through Rectory Road with each passing generation.

It was a rather sombre Wednesday morning when we recorded it. I found the dialogue genuinely moving and quite emotional as Jon opened up as to how the club has played a major role in his own life.

We then explore the research methods, and the stories that lay within. Cricket is a game for characters; it is to no surprise that Wivenhoe has been able to produce many of these since that first recorded game back in 1765.

The final section of our chat concludes with the current golden age that Wivenhoe Town is now experiencing. It is no coincidence that the cricket club is going through a boom period, five years or so after the Committee decided to focus on the long term future of the club.

A day later and I found myself along the boundary at Rectory Road as Cricket Week was in full swing at Wivenhoe. The occasion was for the formal launch of The Story of Wivenhoe Cricket and to celebrate all that Jon has achieved.

Mid-afternoon and half the town appeared to be up at Rectory Road, with a game taking place between the first eleven and Leg Trappers XI, aka the visiting team from Bermuda - blimey!

Mr Mayor, his supporting cast of Wivenhoe Town Councillors, Colchester Borough Councillors, familiar faces from all the local pubs and general flotsam and jetsam that gets washed up within Wivenhoe life - all were out to enjoy cricket and the clubhouse bar.

Chin chin.

As the tea break came, the sun made a spectacular appearance across the marquee, and it was time to celebrate The Story of Wivenhoe Cricket. Club Chairman Michael Lucking spoke of how this day was the “biggest occasion” in the recent history of the club.

Looking around the marquee as the printed history was about to be made public, and you could see that the five generations of Wivenhoe cricketers past and present clearly felt the same.

Jon explained a little more about the book, clearly playing a straight bat within the banter that surrounds any sporting club. He seemed rightfully proud of what he has achieved.

I’m happy that I managed to catch him with a few off-spinners away from the safety of the pavilion the day before, and allowed Jon to open up more about what cricket in Wivenhoe really means to him.

And then as one would expect from a cricket tea, the most splendid spread was laid out for all to enjoy. Books were purchased; personal messages were left by the author.

I looked around across the outfield, and as well as the expected sight of the elder generation of Wivenhoe cricket having an eager first read of the book, what I shall remember is the reaction from the current first team.

Huddled together around the boundary, the players were equally keen to head straight for the stats page and to eagerly see if their own relatively short contribution to Wivenhoe cricket has made it to print yet.

This is a club that respects tradition, and has built in a culture of keeping this alive and taking it to the next generation. It is the 75th anniversary in two weeks time since the deeds were signed for the cricket club to have a permanent base at Rectory Road. How fitting that the current first team seems to understand the value of what has gone before, and what it means to play cricket in Wivenhoe in 2011.

I returned back to base, and tuned in, as ever, to the magnificent ball-by-ball online commentary from @surreycricket. Mr Ramps had just hit a fine 140 knock, and all was well within my cricketing world.

You can take the cricket nerd out of South London, and just *maybe* you can find something as equally enjoyable away from the splendour of The Oval and out towards the North Essex estuary wilds.

Oh - and as Jon kindly pointed out, there is a Surrey / Wivenhoe connection in Digby Jephson, the demon underarm bowler, known locally as The Lobster. Digby went on to captain Surrey…

Splendid.

The Story of Wivenhoe Cricket by Jon Wiseman is published by Oxford Publishing Services. It is available from the Wivenhoe Bookshop.

Cricket Week at Rectory Road continues up until Sunday 31st July. There is a T20 tournament on Friday, and then afternoon games on Saturday and Sunday.