The seeds were sown for the birth of Stoke Gabriel Cricket Club in the late 1960's and early 1970's when the local football club decided to form a cricket section in order to keep the players together throughout the whole year. For a number of years, their home ground was King George V^th Playing Field in Torquay. With increasing interest within the village, Stoke Gabriel Cricket Club was officially formed in 1976 with several of the footballers continuing to form the backbone of the club.

In the early days, the club led a nomadic existence, renting a field owned by Lewis Tennison-Mosse from 1976 to 1978, then moving to Churston Grammar School for the ensuing seven years. Following 'the itch', the club moved moved into it's present-day ground at Hoile Lane, which it owns, in 1986. The ground was name the J.E.Eastleigh Memorial Field in memory of a local resident, and officially opened by former Chelsea & England footballer David Webb who at the time was the manager of Torquay United F.C. and renting a property in Stoke Village. Since moving to the ground, significant re-development has taken place: it has been levelled, an artificial wicket has been installed and the new changing rooms that have recently been installed.

Then Torquay United manager David Webb opening up the ground in 1986.

The club has been built on a solid base over the years with stability and continuity being the key areas in it's steady progress. Only two Presidents, Maurice Knapman and Foster Stackhouse, have served the Club and during the '80s and '90s only three people, Geoff Bradford, Tony Rowe and the incumbent Mike Philpott, have acted as Chairperson. Brian Lewis, until his untimely death in 2001 and John Webber are the only people to have held the positions of Treasurer and Fixture Secretary respectively since the Club's inception. Ashley Hill Captained the 1^st XI during eleven of the club's first twenty-five years, and his wife Siobhan is currently the Club Secretary.

On the playing front, from an almost full schedule of friendly fixtures in the early days, League and Cup cricket now take up the majority of the centre stage. In 1978 Stoke Gabriel Cricket Club entered the South Devon League and competed in this competition until 1983 when the League Title was captured following victory over Stokeinteignhead in the Final! Along with a number of clubs from this League, Stoke Gabriel joined the Devon League in 1984, twice gaining promotion in the 1990 and 1996 campaigns and twice being relegated following the 1993 and 1999 campaigns, the latter occurring when the Leagues were reduced in size from twelve teams to ten teams, in order to comply with the regulations of the English Cricket Board. Our 2^nd XI joined the Devon League in 1991 and the club rejoined the South Devon League in 2006.

Stoke Gabriel Cricket Club currently competes in both the Corinthian Cup , the Aaron Printers Narracott Cup and the Brockman Cup, a competition that Stoke Gabriel won in 1990 and the 2^nd XI won in 2006. Always mindful of how important a part the youngsters play in the future of the Club, 'Kwik' Cricket has been introduced in recent years, with boys and girls as young as five years old regularly using the facilities at Hoile Lane. The club has a thriving colts set up , competing at all levels U11 , U13 , U15 and U17 and the South Devon youth league.

The beginning of Colts cricket at the club , 1999.

Many of the long-serving club members will also have fond memories of the regular tours to the Worcester area. The first trip was in 1976 when Ludlow, Tenbury Wells and Malvern Ramblers provided the opposition. These tours continued for several summers before a short break, and were undertaken again in 1983 and '84.

The last couple of seasons have been two of the most momentous in the club's history. The 2000 Season was our 25^th Anniversary during which we played three representative matches to commemorate this milestone, against The Presidents XI, the Brockman 1990 XI and a mixed 1970's XI. The 2001 Season then saw both the 1^st XI and the 2^nd XI teams win their respective Divisional Titles, the first time the club has captured a Title since joining the Devon League. Unfortunately due to a nationwide outbreak of 'foot and mouth' disease, the Devon League had cancelled both promotion and relegation for a year, denying the club the chance to compete at a higher level.