Our History
The Bergvliet Sports Association had a proud legacy of cricket from its early inception. The original cricket club was named Southern’s Cricket Club, which stopped playing in 1995.
Bergvliet Cricket Club was established in 2012 in preparation for the 2012/13 season. The club was founded by Adam van Willingh and Jonathan Thomas and started with two sides competing in the 3D and 3E WPCA Leagues. The original plan was to only enter one team, but a breakaway team from Mowbray Cricket Club had been in contact with the club and indicated their willingness to come across and bring their entire team and league spot to Bergvliet – and off the Mighty BCC went.
Unfortunately, with every successful run within a club, we had a bunch of players leave in 2017/2018 (immigrating, seeking alternative clubs, retiring from cricket, etc.) which led to Bergvliet CC having to withdraw their 3C side. While it was unfortunate, it allowed the loyal players to again show what Bergvliet Cricket Club means to them.
A series of really bad years for cricket ensued. Day Zero in Cape Town severely limited the amount of cricket played in 2018/2019 with only half the normal league fixtures being played, which was followed by the last full season of cricket before Covid-19 emerged in South Africa.
Despite the Covid pandemic’s destructive effects on the country, the BCC committee saw it as an opportunity to consolidate and start actively recruiting new players. In conjunction with this, the club applied for one of our 3A sides to be promoted to the 2nd Division for the first time. The plan worked and more than 20 new members joined the ranks of BCC. With this increased interest, the committee took a chance and entered a third side for the first time since 2017. An even bolder move was taken to enter a 4th side in 2021, which would begin playing in the Reserve Leagues.
This takes us up to the last couple of seasons. Having our first side in 1D for the 2022 season was a massive achievement. Not only did they merely compete, but the team won the league with a match to spare. The 2nd XI won the Reserve G league with two matches to go and followed this up by winning Res F with three matches to go. There is a T20 competition which is played in the 1D league. Bergvliet did extremely well and were honoured by playing the final at Newlands Cricket Ground - and WON! Those who were there that day will never forget it! We missed out in 2023/24 by being knocked out in the Semi-Final by Cravenby CC.
Where it Started and Where we are Now….
The club first started training in the Bergvliet Primary School nets along Children’s Way. Our home fields were ‘The Stamp’ on Children’s Way, and ‘Frank Firth’ on Glen Alpine Way. This was our home base for three years till the club actually outgrew these facilities. We were fortunate to have connections within the school sports world and managed to secure net training facilities at Bergvliet High School for a season.
BUT… We needed our own nets. The Chairman managed to secure Lotto funding through many years of hard work, and in 2016, our new nets were installed at our home club. These remain in use to this day and have revolutionised our club. A note of thanks will also be mentioned to Allan Dolby who helped make this happen.
We unfortunately lost ‘The Stamp’ field in 2020 when it was decided that an Astro turf would be built there to service the almost 200 hockey players at the club. Despite this being a blow for cricket, it was a positive move for the Association and was supported by BCC.
Notable Highlights / Lowlights & Life…
The first major highlight was our teams realising that we were a strong club which achieved great things on the field, namely seven league titles in three years and nine in four years. We have now won 17 promotions in 15 years, an average of one per season. 3A still eludes us though….
The Day/Night match that was played between the 1st XI and 2nd XI in 2016 at Bergvliet High School.
We unfortunately mourned the passing of Bergvliet’s co-founder Jonathan 'Frank' Thomas in 2021 who passed away from Covid complications – he was 35. His spirit lives on through our club culture and of course our field, now known as ‘Franks’ Firth’.
The promotion of the 1st XI in First Division Cricket in 2022 and winning the 1D league in their first year playing.
Being AMA20 1D Champions
The building of and usage of the new clubhouse on Frank Firth in 2020
Entering our first ever ladies’ side in 2023
While we have seen many faces come and go, we are always part of this amazing family. There are only two active ‘original’ members who played in that opening season – Tim Scholtz and Russell Garman. The average age of our club is certainly lowering as we constantly see newer, younger and diverse members join who want to be part of this amazing club.
We look forward to the future and whatever challenges it may bring, knowing that Bergvliet Cricket Club will be part of history and an attractive club to whoever wishes to play this game that we love. It is us, our culture and camaraderie that sets us apart from any other club in the leagues.
#MightyBCC