04/09/2026
Everyone at Bentley Cricket Club is deeply saddened by the passing of Mark Windley.
Mark, known affectionately at Bentley as 'Cyril', joined Bentley aged 11, and continued playing as recently as 2021. During this time he took 981 wickets for the club in 744 matches, making him Bentley's all time leading wicket-taker. On top of this, he captained the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and Sunday teams, playing an instrumental role in introducing many Bentley Colts to adult cricket, and many current adult players had their first taste of adult cricket with Cyril as captain.
Since stepping back from cricket, Cyril continued as Club Treasurer, as well as becoming first-team scorer, widely regarded as one of the best. He dedicated many hours to our club each week, and in his loss we are only beginning to appreciate everything that he did to keep the club running. His shoes will be very difficult ones to fill. However above all else we will miss his presence at the club; a friendly face always there to laugh when things went badly, and to congratulate when the cricket went well. Win, lose or draw, we could always count on Cyril to be there supporting Bentley, and his loss will be felt most in those moments outside of the matches when we would expect to see him at the club, chatting away and bringing smiles to people's faces.
Tomorrow, the 1st and 2nd XIs will finish their league campaigns, with the 1st XI playing at home against Neo. In both games, we will commemorate Cyril with black armbands and a minute's silence. After the games, however, instead of our usual end of season party we would like to take the opportunity to get people together to remember Cyril and to celebrate his life. We would love to welcome anyone who knew Cyril to the club to join us for this occasion. On top of this, there will be a book of condolences available at the club on Friday, Saturday and Sunday so that people can pay their tributes.
In due course, we will decide how best to commemorate Cyril's life and contribution to Bentley Cricket Club more permanently.
