The Victorian Pioneers

The

Victorian

Pioneers

ROY CASE

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Published by AuthorHouse 10/28/2016

ISBN: 978-1-5246-6459-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-6457-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-6458-9 (e)

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Contents

Chapter 1:   Openers

Chapter 2:   William Clarke

Chapter 3:   Richard ‘Dick’ Daft

Chapter 4:   The Victorian Pioneers

Chapter 5:   The Grand Tour

Chapter 6:   Stumps

Bibliography:

Chapter 1:                                            Openers

T his is the story of a dozen cricketing pioneers which in 1859 embarked upon an historical voyage, the results of which led to irrevocable changes to the configuration of international cricket destined to last for all time.

Before we begin to examine more closely the details of their quest, it will perhaps be advantageous to spend a little time exploring the mystery which surrounds the origins of the captivating game of cricket.

From the scant collection of facts assembled over several centuries, history suggests that in the beginning a simplified version of the game was played by children in the south-east of England in the region known as the Weald, an area of land crossing the counties of Sussex, Hampshire, Surrey and Kent.

This supposition was substantiated in 1597 when a dispute over a piece of common land was brought to court in Guildford, Surrey. A fifty-nine year-old former pupil of the Free School in Guildford, John Derrick, testified that he and a number of his school friends had played the game of ‘creckett’ on the land fifty years previously. As a consequence, it is commonly accepted that Derrick’s evidence is probably the earliest reference to the game. Proving beyond doubt the game was being played in Surrey in the mid-sixteenth century.

It is thought likely the expression ‘cricket’ evolved from the language and dialect of the south-eastern counties of Kent, Sussex and Surrey, when in the sixteenth century the game was known as ‘creckett’.

In the beginning a primitive form of the game was played by children in clearings, or on pieces of land grazed by sheep. When undoubtedly amongst the earliest items of basic equipment used might well have included a matted lump of sheep’s wool as a ball, or perhaps a small lump of wood, or even a stone. A stick probably served as a bat, and a tree stump, or ‘wicket-gate’, as the wicket.

One of the first of the early references of the game being played as an adult sport occurred in 1611, when a couple of Sussex men were prosecuted for playing cricket on Sunday as an alternative to church worship.

By the middle of the seventeeth century it seems a form of village cricket had evolved. With early references suggesting contests were held between parish teams made up of adults. These parish matches continued up until the outbreak of the English Civil War [1642–1651] which was fought between the Parliamentarians [Roundheads] and the Royalists [Cavaliers].

The Oxford historian Sir William Dugdale [1605-1686], an antiquary and herald of arms, is reported to have said that Oliver Cromwell paid little attention to his studies whilst a student at Sydney Sussex College, much preferring a self-indulgent way of life playing ‘football, cricket, cudgelling and wrestling’. If this is to be believed it would place cricket as an active form of sport within Cambridge University as early as 1616.

After the Civil War the new puritanical government demanded stricter observance of the Sabbath, demanding it be respected as a day of worship and relief from work.And since Sunday was usually the only day of the week in which a degree of free-time was available to the lower classes, the popularity of cricket, together with other forms of popular sport such as football, may well have gone into a temporary decline. However, on the face of it this was seemingly not the case for young men fortunate enough to be receiving an education in elite fee-paying public schools.

After the Restoration in 1660 cricket began to flourish again, with the game eagerly taken up by adults. And furthermore, when the ‘freedom of the press’ was granted in 1696 newspapers caught the attention of the public, and for the first time they began publish reports on cricket matches.

One of the earliest references to the game around that time was in 1710 when a complaint was made accusing students at Cambridge University of leaving their meals before grace had been said in order to play cricket and football. While outside the confines of the University one of the earliest references of a game was reported in the Cambridge Journal. Cambridge defeated Saffron Waldon on Monday, the 26 June 1758 in a match played at Saffron Waldon, and went on to win a return match on Wednesday, the 5 July at Jesus Green.

During the early part of the 18th century there is substantial evidence to suggest that cricket attracted widespread gambling. At the time it was commonplace for press reports to lay more emphasis on betting than that of most forms of sport. Indeed a newspaper report published in 1697 gave an account of an important match played in Sussex in which the substantial sum of 50 guineas a side was the stake. And since one of the principal attractions of sport was the potential for gambling, it was not unusual for tenacious gamblers to underpin their chances of success by forming their own teams. Consequently, members of the local nobility, together with other gentlemen of influence, enhanced their potential of realising success by employing the services of competent local village cricketers who functioned as early professionals.

The first acknowledged competitive game of cricket involving teams identified by the name of their respective county took place in 1709, although there seems little doubt this means of recognition and identification was employed long before then.

By 1751 cricket by and large remained a rural game, which for the most part flourished predominately in the southern counties of England. However, the popularity of the sport was beginning to spread further afield. And early references of the game being played in the cricketing counties of Durham, Somerset, Warwickshire and Yorkshire were first mentioned in reports giving details of the cricketing season.

During the season of 1751 cricket was stunned by reports of the death of the Prince of Wales, an eminent patron of the game. At the time, it was suggested he died as a result of being struck on the head by a cricket ball. However, although the Prince may well have suffered a blow to the head, it was not the cause of his death which was brought about by a burst abscess in his lung.

By far the most famous of the early cricket clubs is considered to be the Hambleton Club, which was formed in 1750 in the rural village of Hambledon in the county of Hampshire. The Hambleton Club came into prominence six years later and is recognised by devotees as the ‘cradle of cricket’.

In the beginning the Hambleton Club was a local parish team which played its cricket on the historic ground at Broadhalfpenny Down, next to the famous Bat and Ball Inn. Often referred to as the ‘Squire Land’s Club’, after Squire Thomas Land who was the primary organiser of cricket in the village prior to the formation of the club. In spite of its location Hambledon developed as a private club, numbering amongst its membership several noblemen and a number of the district’s upper social classes. Quite a few of which would from time to time turn out to represent the Club in matches, although by and large the players were professionals.

Cricket faced a major crisis when first-class matches virtually came to a halt during the Seven Years’ War [1755–1764]. The war, which was aimed at curbing the developing power of Britain and Prussia, involved almost all the great powers of the age. With the main conflict ranging throughout the seven-year period from 1756 to 1763, it was considered by many to be the most ferocious of European wars since the thirty years war of the 17th century. Europe was split into two extensive coalitions, led by Britain on the one side and France on the other. With Britain eventually emerging as the predominant power.

Although the war subsequently led to a scarcity of players and lack of investment, the game endured, and the ‘Hambledon era’ began in earnest in the mid-1760s. For more than two decades it was acknowledged as the nation’s foremost cricket club and the focal point of the sport, until the formation of the Marylebone Cricket Club [MCC] and the opening of the Lord’s cricket ground in 1787.

The majority of a notable collection of players produced by the Hambledon Club were by as a rule inclined to limit their appearances to Hambledon. Although one of the most prominent professionals of the day Edward ‘Lumpy’ Stevens [1735-1819] turned out for numerous teams during his playing career. Although usually associated with Surrey teams, and the Chertsey club in particular, Stevens did make a number of appearances for the Hambledon Club. A gardener by trade, he was regarded as the one of the earliest of the great bowlers in the history of the game. At a time when bowlers still trundled the ball along the ground, Stevens was probably the first to ‘give the ball air’. He carefully studied ball flight, and worked out the variations of pace, length and direction and became a master of his craft. A consequence of which was that in order to effectively deal with the flight of the ball or pitched deliveries, the ‘straight bat’ was created. Prior to which, the ‘hockey stick’ style of bat was the only truly effective defence when dealing with a ball trundled along the ground.

In the spring of 1775, during a single-wicket match, a form of cricket played between two individuals who took it in turn to bat and bowl against each other, ‘Lumpy’ got the better of the famous Hambledon batsman John Small on three occasions. Each time the ball passed through the two stump wicket of the day without dislodging the bail. Small’s powerful protest eventually resulted in an agreement to add a third stump in the centre of the wicket.

How Stevens came by the nickname ‘Lumpy’ is unclear, but it may have been because he was extremely skilled in choosing a pitch to suit his bowling technique. For in the 18th century the choice of pitch was granted to one of the competing teams, with the responsibility usually falling to the leading bowler, who was afforded the advantage of choosing the spot where the wickets were to be pitched.

Stevens’ playing career began well before scorecards were routinely maintained, and it was not until 1772 that it became common-place to record scores on a regular basis. Following which the development of the game became much clearer.

The fundamental rules of cricket relating to the bat and the ball, the wicket, pitch dimensions, overs, how out, and so on, seem to have been a part of cricket for so long that it appears they have always been in existence. And yet the early Laws of Cricket were first drawn up by the self-styled ‘Star and Garter Club’, whose members ultimately founded the MCC and Lord’s, which was soon to become the accredited custodian of the laws of the game.

Although during the Regency period, the games leading authority was itself the centre of controversy. For in 1817 a match-fixing scandal resulted in a leading cricketer William Lambert being banned from playing at the Lord’s Cricket Ground for life. Lambert [1779–1851] a right-handed batsman and underarm slow bowler, played mainly for Surrey and the MCC. He was described at the time as ‘one of the most successful cricketers that has ever yet appeared’, his principal claim to fame being that he scored two centuries in a match between Surrey and Epsom. Ironically, this turned out to be his final first-class appearance following his humiliation and life-time ban.

In the late 18th century cricket was recognised as being England’s national sport and has subsequently developed globally to become a most popular spectator sport.

Despite the fact it was the men’s game that dominated the early years, the emergence of ladies cricket