The Gentleman's Game
What's in a cricketer's name?
A project I’m working on at the moment is linked to a relatively well known 19th Century cricketer (more on that project to follow) but even he, whose name graces bats to this very day, is not as famous as the most celebrated old-timey player, W.G. Grace (did you notice the pun earlier?) 1
It always fascinated me as a child brought up with cricket as our unique summer sport that the players were often known by their initials rather than their first names. I think this may be public school thing, but I suspect it’s more (pre) Victorian social norm based. Back in the days when everyone playing was amateur, allowing a few paid oiks to play because they were very good, to it becoming a fully professional sport.
There was even a match between the ‘Gentlemen’ (the decent chaps of independent means) and the ‘Players’ (the pros) that took place from 1806 until as late as 1963. It seems that most of the time the Gentlemen were largely batsmen and the Players were bowlers. Presumably because, as F.S. Trueman2 may have said, “Bowlin’s bloody ‘ard work!”
In all, 274 matches were played over 135 years (in 1806, 1819–1825, 1827, 1829–1914, 1919–1939 and 1946–1962). The Players winning 125, the Gentlemen 68, and 80 matches were drawn: the first match of 1883 ended in a tie.3
Anyway, back to the initials. I suspect other middle class sports did this too - Tennis and Rugby Union, although perhaps not so obviously. They didn’t turn full professional until 1968 and 1995 respectively. As a supporter of Rugby League, I could go on a full rant about Rugby Union’s amateurism, but I’ll save that.
As a young lad, I knew all the players by their initials as well as their given name. All scorecards had their full initials on them, including the ones shown on the BBC for Test Matches (internationals) and John Player Trophy/Gillette Cup (domestic limited overs). Sorry for getting sidetracked but the 1970s were peak years for tobacco sponsorship of sports. Cricket had the Benson and Hedges Cup as well, and a lot of players smoked.
Perhaps the ones I remember most were from the 70s and 80s, A.P.E. Knott, I.T. Botham, R.G.D. Willis, D.I.Gower, and so on. There were others who only had one initial, the dour Yorkshire duo of G.Boycott and R.Illingworth being ones I can recall off the top of my head. I therefore learnt what their middle names were - Alan Philip Eric Knott, Ian Terence Botham, Robert George Dylan4 Willis and David Ivon Gower. There were the Australians - I.M.Chappell, G.S.Chappell, D.K.Lillee5, R.W. Marsh, J.R.Thompson, and, later, the greatest of them all, S.K.Warne. New Zealanders like R.J.Hadlee and J.G.Wright6. Very top heavy on just one middle name, the antipodeans. And often dull ones too, probably named after their dad in a lot of cases (as am I).
But perhaps the ones I loved the most were the West Indians, who not only tended not to use the name of their first initial (or modified it) but also had splendid names. Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards (Viv), Sir Anderson Montgomery Everton Roberts (Andy), Sir Cuthbert Gordon Greenidge (Gordon), Colin Everton Hunte Croft, and Balfour Patrick Patterson (Patrick), among many others. I haven’t checked but I’m pretty sure that Roberts and Croft were named after earlier cricketing legends Sir Everton DeCourcy Weekes and Croft after Sir Conrad Cleophas Hunte too.
This tradition of using initials seems to sliding away now, but you can still find cricketers’ full names on espncricinfo.com’s fabulous statistics section, which has the records of every player and all the scorecards of international games. It’s an absolute rabbit warren for stats and cricket nerds like me. There you will find England’s great modern players Joseph Edward (Joe) Root, James Michael (Jimmy) Anderson and Stuart Christopher John Broad. Not quite the same panache as those great Caribbean players, though. Some modern Indian players retain their initials as their known names - MS Dhoni and KL Rahul spring to mind.
A final treat are the Sri Lankans, who clearly have a culture of giving lots of forenames. One of their great players was Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Ushantha Joseph Chaminda Vaas. In one of my cricinfo rabbit warren sessions I found a player with 10 initials - Amunugama Rajapakse Rajakaruna Abeykoon Panditha Wasalamudiyanse Ralahamilage Rajitha Krishantha Bandara Amunugama. I suspect if this had been the norm in the public schools of England in 1800 the scorers would have quickly changed the system to just using one!
Finally, does anyone know W.G.Grace’s forenames without looking them up?
Grace was so famous that he was, allegedly, once out bowled but carried on because ‘people have come to see me’. On another occasion, after a series of appeals turned down, mostly due to powerful stares of WG over his domineering beard, fast bowler Charles Kortright knocked the middle and off stumps down with a vicious yorker. As the great man turned to leave, the bowler said: “Surely you’re not going Doctor, there’s one stump still standing.”
Frederick Sewards Trueman, Yorkshire’s finest fast bowler and, he would have argued, England’s too. 307 Test wickets in 67 matches in Test cricket. Trueman was the captain of the ‘Players’ in the very last Gentlemen v Players game in 1962, taking 4-11 in the second innings. Despite hating socialism, he also disliked the privelege and selection benefits that came with being upper class.
Bob Willis added Dylan to his name by deed poll, after Bob Dylan, who also changed his name to honour the poet Dylan Thomas.
I met Dennis Lillee in 1975 at Chesterfield as a teenager. He scared me with his size and fierce moustache but he was really friendly. Taught me a lot about on-field and off-field personalities. I met Jeff Thompson too - he was a bit grumpier.
I once bowled at John Wright in the nets at Chesterfield. Early in his Derbyshire career (1977 or 1978) I had turned up early at Queen’s Park and was mooching around when he came out in full gear with his bat. None of the bowlers were there so he asked me to bowl at him for a few minutes. I got most of them straight at least. I noticed his bat had “J.G.Wright” written on it in pen. He was another top bloke.
A lovely article. I have never been much of a cricket fan, but those initialled names are redolent of a bygone age. A bit like listening to the shipping forecast on a valve wireless radio.