Farnham Cricket Club were saddened to learn of the death of Chic Stedman just before Christmas.

A cricketing icon of the club, his career started with Farnham in 1968 and ended in 2005.

In this period of time he took more than 2,000 wickets, the most ever by a Farnham bowler.

He began playing second team cricket as a fast left-arm bowler but soon graduated to the first team.

In 1972 he saw the start of league cricket for Farnham on Saturdays in the Three Counties League, winning the league three times while continuing to play friendly cricket on Sundays and midweek evening knockout competitions such as the Flora Doris.

Chic took 100 wickets in a season for the first time in 1973, with many more to come.

Farnham joined the Surrey Cricketers’ League in 1979, and by 1983 he had more than 1,000 wickets to his name.

Farnham captain Bob Shergold convinced Chic that if he bowled at medium pace he could bowl more overs, be more accurate, concede less runs and take more wickets, and he was proved right.

Many reports in the Farnham Herald would be headlined by his bowling exploits of five wickets plus in a league game.

He captained the side from 1983 to 1990 and 1992 to 1994.

His stature in the league was recognised by playing representative cricket for the Surrey Championship, and he eventually captained the side along with the Surrey over-50s team which went on to win the national competition.

Chic finished his playing career playing for the second team in 2005 a one-club man. He was elected president from 2004 to 2010.

He also had the pleasure of playing first team league cricket with his son Andrew for several seasons, an achievement which many fathers hope for. In one match for Farnham against the I’Anson Rep side the Stedmans took all ten I’Anson wickets between them.

Chic was also a well-regarded local footballer, captaining Farnham Town, Alton Town and Camberley Town. He is the only player to have captained Farnham cricket and football first teams in the same year.

A left-footed centre-half, he captained Alton Town to victory in the Hampshire Senior Cup at The Dell.

Chic was a financial advisor with offices in Downing Street, which allowed him to leave the office under the supervision of Jane his wife to pursue those important midweek games.

Chic was also whole-heartedly supported by his daughter Ruth, who was often in attendance at matches even if it was unlikely to be her first choice of activity for the day.

In 1994 Chic had a cameo appearance in Farnham on ITV Southern Television where he was interviewed for an opinion on Graham Thorpe, whom he had captained for four years from 1986 to 1989, after Thorpe was selected for England against Australia in the 1994-95 Ashes Test series.

Chic went to work in an era to play sport at weekends and given any other opportunity to do so he expected those players who played on Saturdays to be available on Sundays – an attitude rarely seen these days.

He played hard to win but was a gentleman at the bar with observations and comments on the game and funny jokes.

A man very lucky to have married a very understanding lady.