BELLVILLE
CRICKET CLUB
OUR HISTORY
Bellville Cricket Club was established in 1896 and is one of the oldest clubs in the Western Province. Cricket is in fact the oldest organised sport played in Bellville. The club was originally known as the Willows Cricket club and cricket was played at the well known 'Hardekraaltjie' situated in Voortrekker Road in Bellville. The name of the club soon changed to Bellville Cricket club in 1908 to correspond with the name of the town in which cricket was played.
The first 1st Team Captain was W Morkel who was the father of Dennis Morkel, our first Springbok.
In 1914 the field was moved a little further up Voortrekker Road and the pitch was laid by members of the club who used white gravel obtained from the Kuils River. In 1938 the first turf wicket was constructed.
In 1975/1976 the club moved to the present day P.P. Smit Stadium. This prime land was bequeathed by P.P. Smit to the Bellville Municipality for sport only. By 1985 the area was very well developed and as a consequence there was a wealth of cricket talent at the club. The committee realised that the club would have to attain first division status in order to retain their players. Intense negotiations ensued with the WPCA and BCC was finally instrumental in amending the constitution of the Western Province Cricket Union so that automatic promotion to the first division was made possible from the 2A league in 1988/1989. BCC won the 2A League that season and achieved first division status for the first time in the 1989/90 season.
The WPCU united with the Western Province Cricket Board in 1990/1991 and formed the Western Province Cricket Association. Since unification, Bellville Cricket Club is the only club in the Western Province to have retained its first division status.
The cricket club embarked on a building project in 1989 in order to expand the clubhouse and this came to completion in 1991. The club established a junior section in 1992 and also united with the Bellville South Cricket Club. In 1993/1994 BCC won the first division for the first time ever and repeated this feat in 1994/1995...two years in a row.
1996 heralded in our Centenary Celebrations. Numerous activities were embarked upon successfully which included a spectacular Gala dinner.
In 2003, South Africa hosted the World Cup and the facilities of BCC were used by the international teams for pre-tournament practices. BCC also hosted a pre-tournament match between the Proteas and an invitational WP team.
In 2007, the facilities were earmarked once again in preparation of the Twenty/20 World Cup and much acclaim was received. As a consequence, when the IPL was hosted by SA in 2009, our practice facilities were in demand.
In 2016 BCC celebrated 120 years of existence. This milestone bears testimony to the esprit de corps that exists among the membership and the devotion and loyalty of the administrators.
The 1st team celebrated the milestone by winning the 2-day Premier League and the ladies followed the example by winning the Women Premier One Day League.
Between 2017 and 2021 natural disasters limited cricket activity not only in the Western Cape, but also on National level.
The drought In the Western Cape resulted in the 2-day League competition being withdrawn from the fixture list in the 2018/19 season and the number of matches played in the season were reduced drastically due to the condition of the outfields. Good rainfall in the winter ensured that the cricket fields recovered to such an extent that the start of the 2019/20 season was ensured.
In March 2020, disaster struck again when a National Lockdown was declared due tp a Corona 19 Virus pandemic, resulting in outstanding fixtures being cancelled which brought an early end to the season.
The 2020/21 season never got underway and was finally abandoned in February 2021 without any league matches taking place. Only practices and friendly matches under strict control measures were permissible according to the Level of Lockdown promulgated by the government.
In the 2021/22 season the club will celebrate its 125th anniversary.
BCC has a rich and proud history. There have been numerous provincial, national and international players who have come through the ranks, the most recent of which are Stiaan van Zyl and Beuren Hendricks. Long may this continue!