Cricket World XI Tours

Not long after the first publication of Club Cricketer weekly in April 1983 invitations were received to raise sides to play in cricket weeks, charity games, benefit matches, cricket book launches and more. So Club Cricketer XI was launched and played occassional matches . CC XI were invited to take part in the inaugural Malaga Cricket Festival December 1986 and then to visit Ibiza to play the newly formed Eivissa CC.

In 1987 Club Cricketer metamorphosed into Cricket World magazine and so the team became Cricket World XI.

For the next thirteen years CW XI made many visits to Continental Europe as well as India and Barbados.

There were also games in UK including a series with Thame CC on the Friday of their cricket week as well as Staten Island CC on tour in UK, Blackheath Wanderers, Abinger, BBC in cricket week and Old Johnians CC. CW XI also played games in the Midlands. In Cheshire CW XI (CCXI) played a series of annual matches with the Cheshire Cricketers League XI and also Hudson’s Hollywood XI.

Cricket World XI played an England XI and Yorkshire in the first ever day night 50/50 matches staged in Sheffield at the stadium originally buit for the World Student Games. Although the press universaly referred to a World Cricket XI, in fact as the match programmes and posters stated, it was a Cricket World XI. CWXI was captained by Richie Richardson.

The pool of players included club cricketers of all ages from all over UK as well as County and International Cricketers such as Roland Butcher, Ezra Moseley, Franklin Stevenson, Kirti Azzad, Derek Randall, Richard Doughty and many others.

Following a change in ownership of Cricket World in late 2000 CWXI overseas tours were taken on by Nomads CC although not formally until the 2001 Nomads AGM. The 2001 March tour to Costa Blanca will be found in the Nomads in Spain section although at the time our hosts thought it was CW XI they were playing and almost all of the tourists had signed up as Cricket World XI even if most were members of Nomads CC.

CW XI in Munich
CW XI in India
CW XI Sporting Alfas
CW XI in Barbados