Club History

The first game of cricket in the Var was played at Entrecasteaux in June 1996 . A tournament comprising teams from Antibes, Cabris, Marseille and Montpelier took place on the football pitch adjacent to our current ground. Local resident Len Terry, who was travelling regularly to Marseille to play cricket, gained the agreement of the local Commune to use the overgrown Grand Pré behind the castle as a cricket pitch. Entrecasteaux Cricket Club (ECC) was founded in 1999 with Len as its President. A committee was formed and Len, Maurice Mitchem and a few other enthusiasts laid a mat on a concrete bed.

The first official match took place on May 1st 2000. In 2001 ECC qualified for the quarter-finals of the French Club Championship, having beaten local rivals, Cabris and Marseille during the season. In 2004 ECC reached the semi-finals of the French Club Championship at Bordeaux. In 2005 and 2006 we lost to a Paris-based team, Stains, in the quarter-finals of the same competition.

We play in the South East League each year, and have been winners in 2001 and 2004-2006. We also have a large number of fixtures against visiting teams from across Europe. Our fixture list has expanded from 4 matches in our first season to 22 in 2006. 

In the winter of 2003 we laid a second pitch and for the last four years have held the Entrecasteaux Cricket Festival in late September; the main feature being a seven-a-side tournament, in which eight teams participated in 2006. In 2005 the MCC toured France, Entrecasteaux was honoured with a match against them. In our first "overseas" tour in 2005 we won the Golden Duck Tournament at Lodi in Italy.

In 2006, thanks to our fund-raising ladies, led by Jane Bartlett, we purchased a Bowla bowling machine, a catering caravan and a new scoreboard.