EPW040466 ENGLAND (1932). West Herts Sports Club and environs, Watford, 1932

At the time (1932), this was the main cricket ground in Hertfordshire, hosting the Minor County match with Norfolk on July 13 and 14, in addition to West Herts being one of the strongest club sides in the district. Altogether, this is a fine, clear image of a well-known location in central Watford, which has remained intact to the present day despite the huge postwar changes in transport links and urban landscape in the vicinity.

The West Herts Sports Ground began in late Victorin times when the Earl of Essex and Lord Capell offered generous terms which allowed for the purchase/lease of eight acres of Harwoods Farm for the proposed cricket and football ground in 1890. West Herts became the first purpose-built sports arena in Hertfordshire, and football was played from September 1890 and the first game of cricket occurred on the 10th June of the following year. A combination of its central location and fine facilities soon resulted in the ground being used during the cricket season for County matches as early as 1891. The future of the Cassio Road ground was made secure in 1922, after Watford FC departed for Vicarage Road, as the land had been sold by Lady Essex to Benskin's Brewery, a firm who were ready to assist the progress of cricket and football in the town.



Cassio Road became the official County Ground and the Golden Jubilee of Herts CCC was celebrated there in 1925. From 1919 until 1939, West Herts staged 32 county matches, easily exceeding Stevenage with 22.



The above notes have been largely taken from "Cricket in Hertfordshire", by R.G.Simons, published by the Hertfordshire Cricket Association in 1996.



The writer watched minor county cricket on this pitch sixty years ago, before playing in several club games here in the period from 1958 until 1972, initially for Watford Boys' Grammar School 1st XI and then for Chorleywood CC in the newly-formed Hertfordshire Competition. In the final game in June '72, he played against Terry Finn, father of the current England fast bowler, Steve Finn!