WHILE England are thrashing the Aussies in the current Ashes test series, Wantage and Grove Cricket Club are celebrating their own victory.

When they played their first match against Abingdon Queen Victoria was 44, Abraham Lincoln was president and John Betjeman wasn’t even born.

Now, 150 years later, Wantage and Grove Cricket Club is still going strong and in division three in the league.

On Sunday, the members are celebrating by holding a six-aside tournament at their club in Charlton with teams from King Alfred’s Academy, Williams F1 in Grove and even the local constabulary.

Saturday team captain Ian Challand, 26, from Charlton, joined the club when he moved to the area in 2009 for a little social activity, but got “sucked in”.

“It was such a good club I ended up heavily involved,” he said.

“We have waited 150 years for this and what better time than when the country is on the verge of winning the Ashes?”

The club now has 50 adult members and the first team have been promoted four times in the last four years in the Oxfordshire league.

Nowadays they keep their fans updated on their success via wantagecc.co.uk. But the club looked very different in 1863.

Players then had more time for tea, which often included joints of cold roast beef, lamb and ham on the bone.

Flagons of ale and cider were always present with the occasional sherry and malt liquor.

Mr Challand added: “It is said that frequently there was some wild batting and bowling in the half hour after the resumption of play.”

Until the 1940s the club played at Wantage Recreation Ground on Manor Road when local farmer Bertie Castle offered the club a peppercorn lease on his land in Charlton, its home since then.

Veteran bowler Mike Hill, 74, joined the club in 1968; when he started, the club changing rooms were just big enough for three players to get changed in at a time, and the shower left something to be desired.

He also said the team were much less competitive. “When I joined we only played friendlies,” said Mr Hill, who lives in Charlton, “nowadays they take it a lot more seriously, but they’re doing very well”.

Club president Adrien Porter, from Wantage, said “Cricket plays an important part in any local community.

“This is what the club has been doing for 150 years, and will continue to do for many years to come.”

The club have chosen to use their birthday party to fundraise for the Helen and Douglas House children’s hospice, Oxford, where member Stewart Bulpitt worked for seven years.

He said: “Working there gave me first-hand experience of the excellent work they do for children, young adults and their families.

“It is brilliant to be able to give them something back.”

As well as the cricket tournament the club are putting on a mini beer festival, barbecue, face-painting, a raffle and other fun and games starting at 10am.