Sport of Army and Empire
An Ordnance Corps officer takes guard, c1858. NAM 1984-07-9-79
Cricket in the Army goes back a long way. One of the first recorded cricket matches actually took place at the Artillery Ground, City Road, central London. This is still the cricketing home of the Honourable Artillery Company, one of the oldest units in the British Army.
Moral benefit
Keeping troops occupied and out of trouble was a constant headache for the authorities. Eager to distract men from drink and prostitutes, senior officers recommended a range of leisure activities, including cricket. Cricket was thought to embody certain 'English virtues' such as strength, persistence, courage, leadership, camaraderie and sportsmanship. Such were the supposed moral and character-building powers of the game that in 1841 General Sir Rowland Hill, Commander in Chief of the British Army, ordered that a cricket ground be built in every military barracks in the country.
Army and the SCG
Australian troops of the 8th Army enjoy a game of cricket, North Africa, c1943. NAM 2005-08-84-3
This policy was continued abroad as British settlers and soldiers spread the game throughout the Empire. A match between two army regiments in 1806 attracted 2,000 spectators to a ground in Sydney. In 1851, this piece of land, south of Victoria Barracks, was granted to the Army for use as a cricket ground.
This area became known as Moore Park and for many years was the main location for cricket matches in Sydney. In 1870 the British soldiers left Victoria Barracks and it was taken over by the New South Wales Government.
It eventually became the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). Cricket has always been embedded into Australian culture and has played an important role in defining that nation.
Cricket spreads
Parian ware bust of Major-General Robert Baden-Powell, c1900. NAM 2006-08-36
At about the same time, British troops introduced cricket to South Africa. It was mainly played in military bases until 1889 when Sir Donald Currie introduced the Currie Cup. Perhaps the most famous Army cricket matches in South Africa were the games that took place during the Siege of Mafeking (1899-1900).
200 not out
When the British garrison there started playing on Sundays, the Boer commander, General Snyman, was so shocked that he threatened to fire upon the players if they continued. Eventually Snyman overcame his religous sensibilities and even invited the British to a game. The garrison commander, Major-General Robert Baden-Powell, replied that first he had to finish the present match, in which the score was '200 days, not out'!
No baseball here
Cricketing soldier, sketched by Lieutenant N. Wilkinson, Coldstream Guards, Boer War, 1900. NAM 1960-01-73-14
The Army even introduced cricket to America. Army officers and the local landed gentry established the first cricket clubs there in the early 18th century. The earliest account of a cricket match in America comes from a plantation owner in Westover, Virginia, named William Byrd. He noted in a diary he kept between 1709 and 1712: 'About 10 o'clock Dr Blair, and Major and Captain Harrison came to see us. After I had given them a glass of sack we played cricket. I ate boiled beef for my dinner'.
Cricket became a major recreation for the American gentlemen of leisure and several Founding Fathers of the United States were known to be keen players, including John Adams, the second President of the USA. The sport remained popular well into the 19th century and the first official international match took place in the USA when that country played Canada in 1844.
Cricket and the Raj
The British also introduced cricket to India in the 18th century. Initially, Indians were only spectators to contests played between Army and Navy units, but by the late 19th century the game had acquired popular appeal. Both Hindu and Muslim native soldiers took up cricket with enthusiasum. For the British, cricket was part of their colonising mission. The cricketing historian Cecil Headlam, travelling in India during the 1903 Delhi Durbar, reflected on its place in the imperial scheme:
Army cricket team, Calcutta, 1861. NAM 1984-07-9-77
Cricketers of the 9th Madras Infantry, 1890. NAM 1956-08-4-1
'First the hunter, the missionary, and the merchant, next the soldier and the politician, and then the cricketer - that is the history of British colonisation. And of these civilizing influences the last may, perhaps, be said to do least harm. The hunter may exterminate deserving species, the missionary may cause quarrels, the soldier may hector, the politician blunder - but cricket unites, as in India, the rulers and the ruled. It also provides a moral training, an education in pluck, nerve and self-restraint [that is] valuable to the character of the ordinary native'.
Like their British counterparts, Indian Army regiments took part in competitions against both Indian and British units stationed on the sub-continent. Today, Pakistan and India are both cricket-mad nations. The game is also played by the armies of both countries.
