Gentlemen v Players

The Gentlemen team at Lord's, 1899. Back row (l–r): Mordecai Sherwin (umpire), Bill Bradley, Archie MacLaren, Charlie Townsend, William West (umpire). Middle row (l–r): Gregor MacGregor, K. S. Ranjitsinhji, W. G. Grace (captain), Robert Poore. Front row (l–r): F. S. Jackson, C. B. Fry, Digby Jephson. Not in picture: Jack Mason.

In the introduction to his history of the fixture, Pelham Warner calls it "the most time-honoured of all representative matches"[1] and the "standard" match in English domestic cricket.[2] Warner played for the Gentlemen 24 times between 1897 and 1919.[3]

The fixture often confirmed the commonly held view of an imbalance between amateur and professional: amateurs tended to be batsmen first and foremost, hence there were few good amateur bowlers, while the Players could nearly always field a strong bowling side. The match was played over three days on all but a handful of occasions throughout its history. The most frequent venue for the match was Lord's, but a number of other grounds were used, notably The Oval and Scarborough: it was at Scarborough that the last Gentlemen v Players game was played in September 1962.

The same format of amateurs playing professionals was used in a number of other fixtures, some of which were given first-class status (for example, "Gentlemen of Nottinghamshire v Players of Nottinghamshire"), but these matches became less common after the beginning of the 20th century, with the last such game being "Gentlemen of the South v Players of the South" in 1920. Afterwards, all first-class Gentlemen v Players matches were between teams known simply by those names.

The inaugural fixture was advertised in The Morning Post on Monday, 7 July 1806, as a "Grand Match" to be played at Lord's "THIS DAY" between "Nine Gentlemen with Wells and Lambert, against Eleven of England, for 1000 Guineas a side". The expected teams were listed as "PLAYERS" under the titles of "Gentlemen" and "England". The Gentlemen team was pre-announced as Beauclerk, Richard Beckett, Edward Bligh, George Leycester, John Pontifex, T. A. Smith, Arthur Upton, Charles Warren and someone called "Hambleton" with the two professionals John Wells and William Lambert. "Hambleton" should have been spelled "Hambledon" because the player concerned was none other than John Nyren, son of Richard Nyren![4] That piece of confusion aside, there were two changes to the team – John Wells did not take part in the match and was replaced as a given man by Billy Beldham from the professional team. Richard Beckett, the British Army officer from Leeds who was killed at Talavera in 1809, was unavailable. He was replaced by John Willes. The all-professional England team was pre-announced as Beldham, John Bennett, Andrew Freemantle, John Hammond, J. Hampton, Tom Howard, John Pointer, Robert Robinson, Jack Small, John Sparks and Tom Walker. There were three changes as Beldham, Pointer and Sparks were replaced by William Ayling, Henry Bentley and William Fennex.[5]

Arthur Upton, who was not a wicket-keeper, held five catches in the second innings; the current world record is seven. Upton caught six in the whole match. The professionals were weakened by the loss of Beldham, Lambert, Sparks and Wells. The scorecard suggests a good third wicket partnership between Lambert and T. A. Smith for the Gentlemen but there are no details except their individual scores.[5][6]

The Morning Post carried an advertisement for the second match on Friday, 18 July 1806. This announced a "Grand Match" to be played at Lord's the following Monday and Tuesday "between Ten Gentlemen and Lambert against Eleven of all England, for 1000 Guineas a side". As for the first match, the expected teams were listed as "PLAYERS" under the titles of "Gentlemen" and "England". Again, neither team played as advertised.[7] Scheduled for 21–22 July, the match began on the Monday but the second day's play was delayed until Friday, 25 July. The Gentlemen retained Lambert from the first match, while Beldham played for England. The young E. H. Budd took Beldham's place and Thomas Burgoyne was brought in to replace Warren, who was unavailable. The England team was strengthened by the return of Beldham, Sparks and Wells who replaced Bentley, Fennex and Hampton.[5]

A curiosity of these matches is that they featured the veteran professional Tom Walker and the rookie amateur John Willes: these two players were both credited with devising the roundarm style of bowling, but there is no evidence to suggest they used roundarm in 1806.[8]

Described by H. S. Altham as the "most famous of all domestic matches", the fixture disappeared until 1819. Altham says he does not know why, but the Napoleonic War was one factor as cricket went into decline until after Waterloo in 1815.[9]

The fixture was revived in 1819 with a match played 7–9 July. The amateurs agreed to play the professionals on equal terms, but lost by six wickets. The professionals were called the Players this time, not England as in 1806, and the name stuck. In the Morning Post on 6 July, the match was announced as "Eleven Gentlemen of England against Lord Strathavon with Ten Players of England". The expected teams were then listed under the titles of "England" and "Players". Strathavon was the sponsor of the Players and captained the team. Arthur Haygarth dismisses him as a liability but in fact he scored 15 runs in the match and only two of his team-mates, Thomas Beagley and James Sherman, scored appreciably more.[10] There was just one run between the teams on first innings, but the Gentlemen collapsed in the second against the bowling of Tom Howard and John Sherman to be bowled out for 60. This match was held at the "new" Lord's ground, the present one, which had opened in 1814. The fourth match was played at Lord's in June 1820, and the Gentlemen, now with star bowler Howard as a given man, won by 70 runs.

The fifth match earned notoriety: it was scheduled to be played at Lord's from 23 to 25 July 1821 but ended on the second day after the Gentlemen conceded defeat. Batting first, they were quickly dismissed for 60 and then had to spend a long time in the field through most of the first and second days while the Players steadily built a big lead. At 270 for six, the Gentlemen gave up and walked off the field. Thomas Beagley scored 113*, the first century in the series. Billed as the "Coronation Match" because it celebrated the accession of the unpopular George IV, it was described by Derek Birley as "a suitably murky affair".[11]

After the 1821 match, the fixture struggled for many years to regain credibility. Nine of the fourteen matches played from 1824 to 1837 were played at odds: for instance, in the 1836 match, the Gentlemen had eighteen men, and in the 1827 matches, seventeen men. In addition, the 1831 match was arranged as eleven-a-side, but the Players had only nine men appear, while in 1832, the Gentlemen defended an undersized wicket of 22 by 6 inches, and in 1837 – in what became known as the "Barn Door Match" – the Players defended an oversized wicket of four stumps measuring 36 by 12 inches.[12]

The tide turned somewhat in the 1840s, when Alfred Mynn and Nicholas Felix were playing for the amateurs: in nine equal terms matches from 1842 to 1849, the Gentlemen won five against three for the Players and one drawn. Once that run of success ended, the Gentlemen lost 23 of the next 25 games up to July 1865 (with a win in 1853 and a draw in 1862).[13]

According to Harry Altham, the period from about 1860 into the 1880s were the "halcyon days of amateur cricket".[12] This refers in part to the success of cricketers who came through the public schools and universities of the period, but in the main to the achievements of Gentlemen teams who, between 1865 and 1881, won 27 matches against the Players whilst losing only five (seven were drawn).[12]

At its height, from 1865 until 1914, the fixture was prestigious though, in terms of quality, it fell far short of Test matches and did not match the rival North v. South fixture. Until 1865, the Gentlemen teams were often very weak compared to the professional Players, and on occasion the fixture had to be arranged on an odds basis (so that the Players eleven took on a greater number of Gentlemen), with different-sized wickets, or with Players being loaned to the Gentlemen.[12][14]

The Gentlemen becoming competitive coincided with the career of W. G. Grace, whose performances were so outstanding that the Gentlemen could enjoy some long-awaited success (their previous win prior to Grace's career had come in 1853).[12]

The prestige of the fixture was in decline through the inter-war years, partly due to social change after the First World War and then during the Great Depression. The main reason was that there was much greater interest in Test cricket and the County Championship. As in the fixture's first half-century, the Gentlemen were not a match for the Players, especially in bowling and fielding, but also in batting as the Players could call on the likes of Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe.

Social change after the Second World War led to a reaction against the concept of amateurism in English cricket.

The fixture's last season was 1962 when there were two matches. The first was played 18–20 July at Lord's. The Players were captained by Fred Trueman and the Gentlemen by England captain Ted Dexter. The match was halted by rain to end in a draw with the Players looking certain to win.[15][16] The final edition of the fixture was played on 8, 10 and 11 September 1962 at the North Marine Road Ground, Scarborough. The Players were again captained by Trueman and the Gentlemen by Mike Smith, standing in for Dexter who was ill.[17]

On 31 January 1963, the distinction between amateur and professional players was abolished by the MCC. All first-class cricketers became nominally professional, or effectively "Players".[18] With this decision, the "Gentlemen", and the raison d'etre for the Gentlemen v Players fixture, ceased to exist, and the series was ended. Charles Williams has described several reports on the subject which were submitted to MCC by its Amateur Status Standing Committee (ASSC), with the MCC committee unanimously agreeing to abolish amateurism. Williams also says while a substitute fixture was sought, it was decided not to pursue this, as the new Gillette Cup limited-overs competition was beginning in 1963.[19]

There were contrasting views about the end of amateurism and the passing of Gentlemen v Players: some traditionalists like E. W. Swanton and the editor of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack lamented the passing of an era, but noted that social change had rendered the concept an anachronism. Fred Trueman, who captained the last-ever Players team, spoke for many when he described amateurism as a "ludicrous business" that was "thankfully abolished" and said he was glad there would be "no more fancy caps", having previously been "all for the abolition of amateurs" and their "afforded privileges".[20]

• Amateur status in first-class cricket
• List of Gentlemen v Players matches
• Variations in first-class cricket statistics

• Altham, H. S. (1962). A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914). London: George Allen & Unwin. ASIN B0014QE7HQ.
• Birley, Derek (1999). A Social History of English Cricket. London: Aurum Press Ltd. ISBN 978-18-54107-10-7.
• Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. ISBN 978-04-13278-60-9.
• Haygarth, Arthur (1996) [1862]. Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826). Kennington: Frederick Lillywhite. ISBN 978-19-00592-23-9.
• Trueman, Fred (2004). As It Was. London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-03-30427-05-0.
• Warner, Pelham (1950). Gentlemen v. Players, 1806–1949. London: Harrap. ASIN B0000CHNKN.
• Williams, Charles (2012). Gentlemen & Players: The Death of Amateurism in Cricket. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 978-07-53829-27-1.

• Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-00-07183-64-7.
• Playfair Cricket Annual. London: Playfair Books Ltd. 1948–1963.
• Swanton, E. W.; Plumptre, George; Woodcock, George, eds. (1986). Barclays World of Cricket. London: Harper Collins. ISBN 978-00-02181-93-8.
• Webber, Roy (1951). The Playfair Book of Cricket Records. London: Playfair Books. ASIN B0000CHVVU.
• Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. London: John Wisden & Co. Ltd. 1864–1963.