History
The Erratics have a remarkably well documented history, thanks to two books charting the same. Edited by the late economic historian Stephen Fisher, the first book - 'The Erratics: Fifty Not Out' - covers the first 50 years of the Club's existence from 1934-1984. The second - 'The Erratics: The Glory Decade to 1994' - likewise edited by Fisher, covers the period from 1984-1994. There are usually copies of both books available on amazon: clicking on the images to the right of this page will take you there. Plans to produce a third book to bring the Club's history in print up to date have oft been mooted, and there are some such plans currently doing the rounds.
The books bring together reflections by key players, Club statistics and records, and collections of match reports from the 1984 and 1994 seasons. The latter are often crafted with great style and wit, and they have inspired the establishment of match report writing as a key part of the Club's culture. Since 2005 we have produced reports for the majority of our fixtures, and you can view these by visiting the 'fixtures' page via the tab at the top of this page. (When on the fixtures page simply select the relevant year from the drop-down list at the top of the page where it says 'Showing Erratics fixtures for' and the click on the result of the game to access the report.) We also have an extensive collection of photographs of both on-and-off field antics, which can be viewed by clicking the 'Photo Galleries' link on the left hand side of this page.
A Very Brief History
The Erratics have been playing friendly cricket, mostly in Devon, since c.1934. In 1931 the Club's first skipper, John Lloyd, was appointed Assistant Lecturer in English at the University College of the South West (the institution that would go on to become the University of Exeter), and within a few years he was organising a team of staff members to compete in an annual cricket fixture against the students. By the late 1930s, when our earliest surviving scorebooks date from, the Club was also playing staff teams from a handful of other local education institutions, as well as some village sides such as Clyst St George.
From 1946 until the mid-1960s the Club generally played fewer than 10 games per season, but from the 1960s that number expanded rapidly and by the mid-1980s we were playing in excess of 50 fixtures per season, the number we generally aim for today. Whilst the Club maintains its historic link with the University of Exeter, its membership now extends well beyond members of staff at the University - indeed, we welcome all women and men of all ages who share our love of cricket played in a friendly spirit.
At present we are a nomadic club, playing almost exclusively away fixtures. For many years the Erratics played at Gras Lawn in Exeter, but in the 1990s the University sold the land to housing developers, and we last played there in 1998. Since that time we spent many happy years sharing Dunsford CC's beautiful Dartmoor ground, but that arrangement came to an end at the close of the 2013 season when ownership of the land changed hands, leaving us in our current state of itinerancy. The club remains in good health though, and 2015 was one of our most successful seasons in recent memory.