Harbledown CC have been celebrating a title-winning season - once again!

The club, based in Rough Common near Canterbury, went unbeaten this summer as they finished top of Kent Village League Division 1, which is the top-level of club cricket on Sundays.

It was the third time Harbledown had won the league in the past five years.

Chairman Will Halliday said: “There wasn’t any cricket for obvious reasons in the summer of 2020.

“We won Kent Village League’s top division in 2019 and 2021, and then we had a couple of seasons where we did okay but it didn’t quite click for us.

“But this season, we have been unbeaten again in what’s quite a tough division.

“On Saturdays, the Kent League is the place to be and that’s where the really top cricketers are, and there’s some really fantastic players in there.

“Some of them like to play on both days of a weekend so we have played against some top-level guys. We have played against Geraint Jones and Martin McCague - former England and Kent players - in the past.

“But we have had another good season.

“We went unbeaten, despite having some really close games, so it’s been really good.

“Overall, I think there’s 72 teams in the Kent Village League and somewhere between 1,100 and 1,200 cricketers.

“To finish top of that in three years out of five, I’m pretty proud of it. We are a small club.

“We don’t have a women’s team and we don’t have a junior section and, if you come up to our ground in Rough Common, near The University of Kent and the Water Tower, it’s not flashy.

“We’re not a wealthy club but we do have a really good spirit.”

Among Harbledown’s current crop for the Sunday first team are players who play for Kent League Premier Division St Lawrence & Highland Court and Championship club Whitstable on Saturdays.

“We have some really talented players,” said Halliday.

“We’re quite grateful to Kit Sims, who has recommended a couple of guys come and play for our team. That’s really helped.

“Kit has played for us indoors because we have an indoor team that incidentally also won the league last winter so we’ve invited him along to our awards presentation and club dinner [in Canterbury on Saturday] as a guest, basically, as a way of saying thanks for being a good friend of the club.

“We’ll also have Canterbury’s Lord Mayor, Cllr Jean Butcher and the Lady Mayoress of Canterbury, Di Baldock, attend, which is quite exciting.

“Our treasurer is part of the local Canterbury business community and got chatting to her, and she seemed really interested in coming along.”

Youngster Josh Julian and Sudesh Thakur, Division 1’s top run-scorer for the year, are among those to play for St Lawrence on Saturdays and Harbledown on Sundays.

Halliday revealed: “Josh probably was playing for us before he joined St Lawrence, certainly before he joined their men’s set-up.

“I remember five years ago, which was before Covid, taking a catch off his bowling at long-off.

“He bowls spin and someone whacked it down to me, and I remember him being all excited about that! He’s only 18 now so he’s played for us for a long time.

“With Sudesh, he used to be a hand-gliding instructor before he fell in love with an English girl and moved to Canterbury. He wanted to play both days so he actually got in touch with me.

“Although I’d heard that he’s a very good player, I just tried not to give him the hard sell! Both those two guys are key players.

“In the Kent Village League this year, Sudesh is the leading run-scorer and he will be collecting an award at the league’s end-of-season dinner [next weekend].

“While a Harbledown player didn’t win the bowling award, we did have guys in second and third.

“One of them is Gavin Dixon, who is a bit of a legend at Harbledown. He has played for us for a long time.

“He’s actually the all-time leading wicket-taker in the Kent Village League so he’s a really talented guy.”

But the 2024 edition of the squad, skippered by Henry Roberts, is very different to their team which won Division 1 in 2019, with plenty of young prospects coming of age.

Halliday said: “In 2019 and 2021, we had a very different-looking team than the one that we have got now.

“We have got about four or five guys that are still there, including myself.

“But we’ve had a little bit of a re-jig and Josh Julian and Finn Carter, who plays at Whitstable, have come of age a bit and joined the ranks.

“The likes of Sudesh have joined, as well. It’s nice because they’re not a bunch of ringers.

“They’re guys that have had a long association with the club but started young and, now that they’re 17, 18 or 19, they’re really making a difference.

"That’s fantastic.”

Many from abroad have also found a home to play their cricket at Harbledown.

“We had a player from Nepal come and play for us this season,” explained Halliday. “That’s been a first for us as a club.

“We have got a guy called Greg Shields, who is the all-time leading run-scorer in Division 1. He’s an Australian that moved here about 15 years ago.

“We have got a Kiwi keeper and some refugees from Afghanistan, as well as Indian and Pakistani players.

“It’s quite a melting pot. But it shows we’re a very welcoming club.

“I’m the chairman at the club but it’s been a really nice season in terms of everyone mucking in.

“Like many, we don’t have big coffers and we cannot employ a groundsman.

“It’s all just done off our own backs.”

One of the highlights of Harbledown’s latest title-winning campaign was a memorable win over Stone-in-Oxney, near Ashford, which saw them post a huge 40-over total of 380-4.

They were largely inspired by Cameron Monteith as he delivered a record-breaking 241 not out.

Halliday said: “The penultimate league game of the season, we went away to Stone-in-Oxney and posted 380 - Harbledown had never scored 380 before - of which Cameron’s mammoth score was the centrepiece, really.

“It was his last-ever game for the club.

"He was a PE teacher at King’s School and he was sort of poached by another elite school to be their head of cricket. At 22 or 23, you cannot really turn that down.

“So, he’s moved to Hereford and that was his farewell game. His last time ever playing for us, he goes out and breaks a 150-year-old or 160-year-old record.

"It was pretty amazing!

“I think he hit 27 sixes in that innings! It was the highest individual score at the club and the highest score we have got in an innings.”

Their Monteith-inspired win came after Harbledown’s closest league match of the campaign, which almost cost them their unbeaten record, as they edged out title rivals Borstal.

“They needed three runs to win with two wickets left and lots of time,” Halliday said.

“But Gavin Dixon took two wickets in two balls and we, therefore, won the league at a bit of a canter.

“Then in the penultimate game, that was when we went to Stone-in-Oxney and hit that very big score and, sadly, the last league game of the season was rained-off.

"So, we sort of maintained our unbeaten record that way.”

Their 2nds came ninth in Kent Village League Division 4 East.

For more on the club email harbledowncc@gmail.com or find them on Facebook.