There is no doubt that cricket existed at Illingworth during the 1850’s as is proved by Tom Emmett in Old Ebor’s"Talks with Old Yorkshire Cricketers". In fact Tom Emmett can claim to be Illingworth’s one player to have reached County and England standards. At one time he was known to live in or close to Cousin Lane before moving to a cottage at the top of Moor Lane. He stated that his early cricket was played "close to my Uncle, John Dilworth of Illingworth, near Ovenden, who was fond of cricket. One of the great traders of this place was Mr. Henry Ambler who owned Holmfield Mills (now Smith, Bulmer & Co.) and he had a fine carriage drive leading up to his residence, Ovenden Grange. At the entrance to the drive were two stone posts and it was one of these that we used for our wickets. That is where I was first initiated into cricket and found that I could hit the post with a round-arm delivery One of the two gates of the entrance to the Grange with the stone posts still exists today in Keighley Road, almost next door to the Queens Head public house.

As Tom had been born in 1841 in Crib Lane, Halifax, this must have occurred in the early 1850’s at the very latest. He talks of becoming the "cock of Ambler’s Walk Top" and having dodged a fearsome police constable by the name of Nicholson. While’p laying here he once struck a ball through the window of an adjoining combing shed and hit a man called Harrowby, who was persuaded not to carry on with magistrates proceedings after Tom promised to pay for the broken glass.

Emmett relates that his first Club was called "Illingworth" with its headquarters at the White Lion Inn at the corner of Cousin Lane and Keighley Road, later to be converted to cottages known as North View and which are still there today. By this time he had removed to the top of Moor Lane but he was made a member of the Club and once played in an Illingworth Feast Match against Thornton. He also mentioned that he was with the Illingworth Club when a Mr. Priestley, a fellow member who had connections with the Todmorden Club, engaged him to play for the latter against George Farr’s XI. In this match Emmett related that he scored a century and took 6 or more wickets. No trace of this match appears to have been handed down but it was prior to 1864 and was almost certainly not against the All England Eleven with which Fan was connected. It was not long before he joined the Halifax Club as a professional and was paid 2s 6d a match. In 1863 Keighley acquired his services where he stayed until he joined the County Club three years later

When one examines the geography of the area, it is little short of astonishing that cricket should already have such deep-seated roots in this severely hilly district where suitable cricket fields were by no means easy to find.

From the start, the connection with the Church was a strong one; the President of the Club was always the Vicar, who was persuaded to take an active part at the more important meetings of the Club, a practice which was to continue until 1960 when Mr. Frank Fox became the first layman to hold office. The Club in its early days was little more than one of many Church and Sunday School sides which were formed at this time and some of which still survive today. In Ilingworth itself, and possibly founded earlier than St. Mary’s C.C., were Illingworth Wesleyans who played just off Keighley Road, close to the Wesleyan Chuch. The Club soon became an important part of the community. Most of its members had strong ties with the Church, but a glance at the early Minutes shows that the early ambitions of the Club were modest to a degree. At the inaugural General Meeting held in Illingworth Church Institute on Friday, 22nd February, 1884, there was drawn up a very comprehensive set of rules and the wisdom of these suggests some previous experience.

From the outset there was an entrance fee of 1/- and an annual subscription of 5/-. There were various fines of 6d. for transgressions committed by members. The original rule on membership was quite emphatic "that no person be admitted as a member of this Club unless he be a teacher or scholar in St. Mary’s Sunday School or a member of the congregation of that Church". Discipline was also evident in Rule 8 — "that no member be allowed to smoke or lie down when he is engaged on the field".

On 3rd March, 1884 it was decided to erect a "Cricket Tent" at a cost of £15.10.0d. while on 7th April it was decided that the youths of the village be allowed to the ground on payment of 3d. after paying an entrance fee of 6d.. The following month two bats were to be bought in Halifax, along with two smaller bats for boys under 16. The youngsters in the village were thus being encouraged and the tent (a cricket pavillion of wood was known as a "tent") was insured.

It was 9th June before Harry Hustwick, the doyen of Illingworth St. Mary’s Cricket Club, joined them at a monthly meeting which the Club then held. It was decided at the meeting that "members should have 7 minutes play each unless they be twice out within the time" (later reduced to 5 minutes in the following year). The playing record of the Club in 1884 showed them winning 9 and losing the other 4 of their 13 matches. Among their opponents were Thornton Free Church, Beech Hill Rovers (who played at Savile Park) Moor End (Mixenden), Bradshaw St. Johns, Brighouse Zingari as well as the second elevens of Dean dough, Mountain United and Halifax St. Thomas’s.

Illingworth 2nd XI made an appearance too as they succeeded in dismissing an Ovenden Albion XI for just eight runs. In the following year, 1885, Illingworth lost only 3 out of 17 matches and the President’s batting prize was won by Mr. Ellis Hellawell with an average of 9.7. This is very informative with regard to the state of the square if indeed such a description was warranted. At that time an innings total of 100 was considered very high, and an individual score of 50 a comparative rarity comparedwith today, even though the opinions of many on the state of present-day pitches tend to be critical.