More Than A Game: The Story of Cricket's Early Years

More Than A Game: The Story of Cricket's Early Years
John Major

The former Prime Minister examines the early history of one of the great loves of his life in a book that sheds new light on the summer game’s social origins.All his life John Major has loved cricket. In ‘More Than a Game’ he examines it from its origins up to the coming of the First World War. Along the way he considers the crucial role of the wealthy patrons who gambled huge sums on early matches; the truth behind the legends that have grown up around the famous Hambledon Club; changes in rules and techniques, including the transition from underarm to overarm bowling; the long-standing, but often blurred, distinction between 'gentlemen' and 'players'; the coming of the MCC and its role as the supreme arbiter of the game; the spread of cricket throughout the British Empire; and the emergence of the county game and international competition.It is a story rich in anecdote and colourful characters. Many of the great names from the 'Golden Age' of cricket – C.B. Fry, Ranjitsinhji, 'Demon' Spofforth and of course the towering figure of W.G. Grace – are still well-known today. But long before then the game already had its stars: men like the Kentish innkeeper's son 'Lumpy' Stevens, who played at the highest level until he was nearly sixty; 'Silver Billy' Beldham, who was taught how to play by a gingerbread baker; the notoriously avaricious and ill-tempered Lord Frederic Beauclerk, a direct descendant of Charles II and Nell Gwynne; and the mighty 'Lion of Kent' Alfred Mynn.

MORE THAN A GAME

The Story of Cricket’s Early Years

JOHN MAJOR

To Norma, Elizabeth, James and Luke

Contents

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS (#u5790b70e-3732-597d-bbd5-27f2325e8218)

PREFACE (#u8bbbb1b1-336a-52df-9fab-7b172b8d6239)

1 The Lost Century of Cricket (#ud48f78fb-cf42-5793-b1f8-3ae185969c6c)

2 The Early Patrons (#u96e3ed52-deb3-5c8d-9005-b74afa5d58b9)

3 The Later Patrons (#u881d71da-9fd4-5be1-91d7-d5b553cf5f83)

4 The Men Who Made Cricket (#u1f4e47a0-c90d-537a-94fd-4cdf0dd70b79)

5 Cricket Spreads: Early Roots (#litres_trial_promo)

6 The Round-Arm Rebellion (#litres_trial_promo)

7 The Mandarins of Lord’s (#litres_trial_promo)

8 The Rise and Fall of Single-Wicket (#litres_trial_promo)

9 The Missionary and the Mercenaries (#litres_trial_promo)

10 Wider Still and Wider: Cricket Goes Abroad (#litres_trial_promo)

11 The Birth of the Ashes (#litres_trial_promo)

12 The Boom in Leisure: Competition for Cricket (#litres_trial_promo)

13 The Cricketers and the Counties (#litres_trial_promo)

14 The Chroniclers and the Scribes (#litres_trial_promo)

15 The Autocrats (#litres_trial_promo)

16 The Grand Old Man and the Backroom Boy (#litres_trial_promo)

17 Your English Summer’s Done (#litres_trial_promo)

AFTERWORD (#litres_trial_promo)

APPENDIX 1: ‘Articles of Agreement by & between His Grace the Duke of Richmond and Mr. Brodrick (for two Cricket Matches) concluded the Eleventh of July 1727’ (#litres_trial_promo)

APPENDIX 2: Rules of the White Conduit Club (#litres_trial_promo)

APPENDIX 3: ‘Laws for Single Wicket’ (1831) (#litres_trial_promo)

APPENDIX 4: Important Single-Wicket Matches 1800–1848 (#litres_trial_promo)

APPENDIX 5: W.J. Prowse, ‘In Memoriam, Alfred Mynn 1807–1861’ (#litres_trial_promo)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (#litres_trial_promo)

INDEX (#litres_trial_promo)

COPYRIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)

ABOUT THE PUBLISHER (#litres_trial_promo)

Illustrations (#u0843e381-a358-5c6d-8f3e-f8b7be1731e8)

Charles Lennox, second Duke of Richmond, a keen gambler with a lifelong love of cricket. Mezzotint by John Faber Jr, after John Vanderbank. (Courtesy National Portrait Gallery, London)

Sir William Gage, whose estate Firle in East Sussex was one of the cradles of eighteenth-century cricket. (Courtesy of the Firle EstateTrustees)

Cricket being played in 1743 at the Artillery Ground in Finsbury, London. (The Roger Mann Collection)

Lionel Sackville, first Duke of Dorset, one of the great early patrons of the game. Portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1717. (Private Collection,© NTPL/John Hammond)

Charles Sackville, second Duke of Dorset. Portrait by Rosalba Carriera. (Private Collection, © NTPL/John Hammond)

Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, an enthusiastic early patron of cricket. Portrait miniature by Gaetano Manini, 1755. (© AshmoleanMuseum, University of Oxford/The Bridgeman Art Library)

The Duke of Cumberland, a better judge of a soldier than a cricketer. Portrait by David Morier. (© Private Collection/Philip Mould Ltd/TheBridgeman Art Library)

A match at Moulsey Hurst, on the banks of the river Mole in Surrey. (The Roger Mann Collection)

‘Lumpy’ Stevens, the most deadly underarm bowler of his day. (TheRoger Mann Collection)

Sir Horace Mann, the most amiable of cricket’s early benefactors. (TheRoger Mann Collection)

John Frederick Sackville, third Duke of Dorset, the third in a line of great cricketing patrons. Portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1769. (Private Collection, © NTPL/John Hammond)

The Countess of Derby plays cricket with other ladies at The Oaks, in Surrey, in 1779. (The Roger Mann Collection)

John Nyren, whose memories of Hambledon have given us a vivid picture of early cricket. (The Roger Mann Collection)