Our History
The Eastlake Cricket Club (ECC) is the only foundation Club still playing in the ACT Premier Cricket Competition and we have a rich and colourful history.
The club was founded by Mr William (Bill) Findlay and Mr John (Jack) Esmond in 1922, with the original team formed from the staff of the Canberra Cooperative Society Store, located next to the Canberra Railway Station in Eastlake (now known as Kingston). Jack Esmond led the Cooperative Store staff in a cricket team which became the core of the Eastlake team when it was founded in late 1922, often playing in local competition at a pitch adjacent to the store.
The first club match played under the auspices of the new Federal Territory Cricket Association was on 7 October 1922 between Eastlake and Cadets. The location of this match is unknown, with the first reference to the Kingston Oval location being in 1926/27 when Eastlake listed its home ground as an area “south of the Printers Headquarters” believed to be the current site of Kingston Oval.
1922 Eastlake Cricket Club Team
Timeline
1922 - Eastlake Cricket Club participated in the inaugural season of the Federal Territory Cricket Association.
1927 - From October, the Association referred to itself as Federal Capital Territory Cricket Association (FCTCA). South Eastlake Cricket Club, which had existed prior to this, join the FCTCA competition.
1928 - The competition became a district competition. At a meeting on 6 August, Eastlake Cricket club and South Eastlake Cricket Club amalgamated to form the Kingston Cricket Club. Manuka Cricket Club joined the competition as one of the six district clubs, along with Kingston.
1938 - The Association became the Australian Capital Territory Cricket Association.
1940 - The Kingston Cricket Club withdrew from the competition due to the impacts of World War 2 – its oval had been requisitioned and many players had left to fight in the war.
1945 - The Kingston Cricket Club rejoined the competition.
1954 - Manuka took the name Manuka-Yarralumla.
1965 - The Woden Cricket Club joined the competition.
1969 - Kingston and Manuka amalgamated and formed the East Canberra Cricket Club. South Woden Cricket Club was formed and joined the competition.
1983 - The East Canberra Cricket club became the Eastern Suburbs Cricket Club.
1984 - Woden and South Woden amalgamated to become the Woden Valley Cricket Club.
1989 - Eastern Suburbs and Woden Valley amalgamated to become South Canberra Cricket Club.
1998 - The South Canberra Cricket Club was renamed to the South Canberra Eastlake Cricket Club.
1999 - The South Canberra Eastlake Cricket Club was renamed to the Eastlake Cricket Club.
2002 - Eastlake entered a team in the women’s competition.
2022 - The Eastlake Cricket Club celebrated its centenary. In addition, the Junior and Senior cricket programs formally merged to make a single united club.