The gentlemen’s game of cricket has many surprises in store for an aficionado of the sport. The secrets are as difficult to unravel as is coming to grips with the intricacies of the game itself. An ardent fan myself, I thought my pal was pulling my leg when he brought this fact to my attention a decade ago. I always thought that many other sports like chess, soccer, volleyball and even the Olympics which have ancient histories, had the honour of being the first sport played internationally. I was surprised that it is cricket?
Another unexpected fact is that the first International match in any sport ever played was a cricket and a match between the United States of America and the ‘British Empire’s Canadian Province’ in September 1844. That was about 33 years prior to the first international cricket match between the England and Australians in 1877, which is widely presumed to be the first international cricket match.
Cricket was played widely in the British colonies of the Americas prior to the Civil War in the United States. Post the war, baseball took over and many a cricket player in North America shifted over to the new sport. Despite the startling fact, it is a pity that these two nations are not among the group of major cricket playing countries in the world today.
A hoax that led to the first international
That the first ever sport international was played because of a fraudulent epistle by an imposter makes it inevitable that we take a look at the prelude that led to it. The St. George’s Cricket Club, New York, received a letter from one ‘Mr Philpots’, inviting them for a cricket match at the Toronto Cricket Club. When the excited contingent comprising of 18 players reached Toronto on August 28, 1840, after a tiring journey, they realised that the invitation was sent by an imposter.
Mr A G Phillpots, the secretary of the Toronto Cricket Club confirmed that the invitation was a hoax. Nevertheless, the Torontonians decided to make a match of it. A cricket game was played between the two trans-border clubs with a brass band in attendance. Sir George Arthur, the then Governor of the Governor of Upper Canada graced the occasion. The Canadians put together a team and played the game with a stake of $250. St George’s team won the match by ten wickets.
The bonhomie that ensued as a result of the match led to an invitation, four years later, from St. George’s to the Toronto club for an international match to be played in New York. The game was widely advertised by the newspapers of the time and with posters as a match between the United States and Canada. The stakes this time were raised to $1000 and there was excitement all over.
The first international match in any sport
The Canadians undertook an arduous journey by road, rail and by boat to reach New York. The Canadian team is believed to have included cricketers from the Upper Canada College Club and the Guelph Cricket Club beside players from the Toronto Club. In the United States, the team had players from Philadelphia, DC, Boston, Washington and New York. The match was played at St. George’s Cricket Club, Bloomingdales. The address today is 30th St, Broadway, New York.
The match was slated to be played over 24 and 25 September 1844. The rain gods, however, as befits cricket, showed their pleasure and blessed the match with heavy showers on the 25th. This led to the match being continued on 26 September. A sizeable crowd of 5,000 was reported to be in attendance on the first day and it is believed that more than $100,000 (worth more than $3 million today) was bet on the game.
The contest itself, consisting of eleven players a side was closely fought. The USA won the toss and put Canada in to bat. The Canadians scored 82 runs in the first innings with D Winckworth, G Sharpe and Freeling scoring 12 runs each and S Wright claimed 5 wickets. R N Tinson, the captain, top scored with 14 runs in a US reply of 61 for 9 while Winckworth and F French accounted for four wickets each. Wheatcroft playing for the US had arrived late and was substituted by Alfred Marsh who did not bat. The next day was washed out.
On resuming the match on the 26th, Wheatcroft did bat and the US team was all out for 64 runs. Following this, the Canadians scored another 63 runs. Winckworth, again top-scored with 14 runs and Henry Groom of the US accounted for 5 wickets. The US team, set a target of 82 runs for victory, could only manage 58 and lost the match by 23 runs. J Turner with 14 runs top-scored for the Americans while George Sharpe dismissed 7 batsmen.
A few more matches were played between the two teams in the succeeding years. After 1847 the matches have been played intermittently and far apart. Winckworth, who was the outstanding player for team Canada in 1844, was later to migrate to the US and represent them against Canada. He is, therefore, the first cricketer to have represented two different countries in internationals.
In 1859 the first English cricket team toured North America.
Comments