87-507: The Authors Cricket Club is a wandering amateur English cricket club founded in 1899 and revived most recently in 2012. Prominent British writers including Arthur Conan Doyle , P. G. Wodehouse , A. A. Milne , E. W. Hornung and J. M. Barrie have been featured as players on the club team, the Authors XI. The original Authors Cricket Club was an offshoot of J.M. Barrie's Allahakbarries team. It also drew some of its membership from
174-617: A New York Times Summer Reading Selection. The Sunday Times called it "an unusually intelligent, funny and readable first book." All of the action in Beard's second novel, Damascus (1998), occurs on 1 November 1993 (the day on which the Maastricht Treaty took effect and all British people became citizens of the European Union ), and in writing it, he used – with twelve notable exceptions – only nouns which appeared in
261-700: A cork core layered with tightly wound string. The earliest known definite reference to cricket is to it being played in South East England in the mid-16th century. It spread globally with the expansion of the British Empire , with the first international matches in the second half of the 19th century. The game's governing body is the International Cricket Council (ICC), which has over 100 members, twelve of which are full members who play Test matches. The game's rules,
348-456: A public school education who had then gone to one of Cambridge or Oxford University . Society insisted that such people were "officers and gentlemen" whose destiny was to provide leadership. In a purely financial sense, the cricketing amateur would theoretically claim expenses for playing while his professional counterpart played under contract and was paid a wage or match fee; in practice, many amateurs claimed more than actual expenditure, and
435-692: A better man It was longlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year . Manly Pursuits (2006), re-titled for subsequent editions to How To Beat the Australians, tells of how his frustration at Australia's regular defeat of Great Britain at sports led him to travel to the Sydney suburb of Manly to figure out just what makes Australians so competitive and attempt to beat them at various sports himself. Becoming Drusilla (2008)
522-474: A book you’ll read in one, frantic gasp." Philip Hensher likewise praised the book in The Guardian , calling it "remarkable" and saying of the author: "Beard is a radical and inventive novelist." Beard's non-fiction works often combine aspects of travel writing and memoir. His first work of non-fiction, Muddied Oafs, The Last Days of Rugger (2003), traces the changes to the game of rugby union in
609-688: A chapter to the Authors' book about their first season playing together, The Authors XI: A Season of English Cricket from Hackney to Hambledon . He taught British Studies at the University of Tokyo from 2003-2006 (and returned as a visiting professor from 2016-2017), and was Director of the National Academy of Writing from 2009 until 2017. He has a creative writing fellowship with the University of East Anglia . In 1997 and 2015, Beard received an Arts Council Authors Award and in 2000, he
696-565: A collared shirt with short or long sleeves; long trousers; woolen pullover (if needed); cricket cap (for fielding) or a safety helmet; and spiked shoes or boots to increase traction. The kit is traditionally all white, and this remains the case in Test and first-class cricket, but in limited overs cricket, team colours are now worn instead. i) A used white ball. White balls are mainly used in limited overs cricket , especially in matches played at night, under floodlights (left). The essence of
783-408: A family holiday, as well as his family's subsequent near-erasure of both the event and of memories of Nicky himself. Widely lauded by critics, the book was described by Publishers Weekly as "stunning...Beard reimagines the brother he lost. His beautifully written story is heartbreaking and unforgettable as he struggles with the grief he chose to forget and, now, attempts to remember again." The memoir
870-454: A fence, part of the stands, a rope, a painted line, or a combination of these; the boundary must if possible be marked along its entire length. In the approximate centre of the field is a rectangular pitch (see image, below) on which a wooden target called a wicket is sited at each end; the wickets are placed 22 yards (20 m) apart. The pitch is a flat surface 10 feet (3.0 m) wide, with very short grass that tends to be worn away as
957-621: A highly popular format, putting the longer formats at risk. The new shorter format also introduced franchise cricket, with new tournaments like the Indian Premier League and the Australian Big Bash League . The ICC has selected the T20 format as cricket's growth format, and has introduced a T20 World Cup which is played every two years; T20 cricket has also been increasingly accepted into major events such as
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#17327756037081044-452: A key difference is the existence of a solid target structure, the wicket (originally, it is thought, a " wicket gate " through which sheep were herded), that the batter must defend. The cricket historian Harry Altham identified three "groups" of "club ball" games: the "hockey group", in which the ball is driven to and from between two targets (the goals); the "golf group", in which the ball is driven towards an undefended target (the hole); and
1131-433: A set of 6 fair opportunities for the batting team to score) and the game generally lasts three to four hours. Traditionally, cricketers play in all-white kit , but in limited overs cricket , they wear club or team colours. In addition to the basic kit, some players wear protective gear to prevent injury caused by the ball, which is a hard, solid spheroid made of compressed leather with a slightly raised sewn seam enclosing
1218-402: A wicket with the ball before a batter can cross the crease line in front of the wicket. When ten batters have been dismissed, the innings (playing phase) ends and the teams swap roles. Forms of cricket range from traditional Test matches played over five days to the newer Twenty20 format (also known as T20 ), in which each team bats for a single innings of 20 overs (each "over" being
1305-416: A winner or tie.) The wicket-keeper (a specialised fielder behind the batter) and the batters wear protective gear because of the hardness of the ball, which can be delivered at speeds of more than 145 kilometres per hour (90 mph) and presents a major health and safety concern. Protective clothing includes pads (designed to protect the knees and shins), batting gloves or wicket-keeper's gloves for
1392-495: Is about Beard's longtime friend Dru Marland, who underwent gender reassignment , and a trip the two of them took hiking and camping across Wales after Marland's transition. Beard's 2017 memoir The Day That Went Missing: A Family's Story is his self-described 'inquest' into the day in 1978 when he was eleven years old and his nine-year-old brother, Nicky, drowned in the sea while the two were swimming together in Cornwall on
1479-453: Is certain that cricket was being played c. 1550 by boys in Surrey . The view that it was originally a children's game is reinforced by Randle Cotgrave 's 1611 English- French dictionary in which he defined the noun " crosse " as "the crooked staff wherewith boys play at cricket", and the verb form " crosser " as "to play at cricket". One possible source for the sport's name
1566-423: Is drawn four feet in front of the bowling crease and parallel to it; although it is drawn as a 12 ft (3.7 m) line (six feet on either side of the wicket), it is, in fact, unlimited in length. The return creases are drawn at right angles to the popping crease so that they intersect the ends of the bowling crease; each return crease is drawn as an 8 ft (2.4 m) line, so that it extends four feet behind
1653-656: Is known, through numerous references found in the records of ecclesiastical court cases, to have been proscribed at times by the Puritans before and during the Commonwealth . The problem was nearly always the issue of Sunday play, as the Puritans considered cricket to be "profane" if played on the Sabbath , especially if large crowds or gambling were involved. According to the social historian Derek Birley , there
1740-570: Is the Old English word " cryce " (or " cricc " ) meaning a crutch or staff. In Samuel Johnson 's Dictionary , he derived cricket from " cryce , Saxon, a stick". In Old French , the word " criquet " seems to have meant a kind of club or stick. Given the strong medieval trade connections between south-east England and the County of Flanders when the latter belonged to the Duchy of Burgundy ,
1827-464: Is the earliest mention of adult participation in cricket and it was around the same time that the earliest known organised inter-parish or village match was played, at Chevening, Kent . In 1624, a player called Jasper Vinall died after he was accidentally struck on the head during a match between two parish teams in Sussex. Cricket remained a low-key local pursuit for much of the 17th century. It
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#17327756037081914-814: The Laws of Cricket , are maintained by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in London . The sport is followed primarily in South Asia , Australia , New Zealand , the United Kingdom , Southern Africa , and the West Indies . Women's cricket , which is organised and played separately, has also achieved international standard. The most successful side playing international cricket is Australia , which has won eight One Day International trophies, including six World Cups , more than any other country, and has been
2001-579: The Asian Games . The resultant growth has seen cricket's fanbase cross one billion people, with 90% of them in South Asia. T20's success has also spawned even shorter formats , such as 10-over cricket (T10) and 100-ball cricket , though not without controversy. Outside factors have also taken their toll on cricket. For example, the 2008 Mumbai attacks led India and Pakistan to suspend their bilateral series indefinitely. The 2009 attack on
2088-596: The Authors' Club , which had been founded in 1891 as a place for British authors to gather and talk. Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle, an excellent cricketer who would go on to play ten first-class matches for the Marylebone Cricket Club in 1903, was the team captain. The bat that Doyle used when he made 101 not out in a game for the Authors' Club vs. the Press in 1896 is still on display at
2175-716: The Bibliothèque nationale de France and spent a year as private secretary and ghostwriter to Mathilda, Duchess of Argyll . An avid sports enthusiast, Beard played professional rugby in France from 1992 to 1994 (as well as in amateur leagues in England, Switzerland and Japan). He is an opening batsman for both the Clifton Hampden Cricket Club and the Authors XI cricket team and he contributed
2262-639: The British Empire had been instrumental in spreading the game overseas, and by the middle of the 19th century it had become well established in Australia , the Caribbean , British India (which includes present-day Pakistan and Bangladesh ), New Zealand , North America and South Africa . In 1862, an English team made the first tour of Australia. The first Australian team to travel overseas consisted of Aboriginal stockmen who toured England in 1868 . In 1876–77, an England team took part in what
2349-465: The Dukes of Richmond , exerted their honour code of noblesse oblige to claim rights of leadership in any sporting contests they took part in, especially as it was necessary for them to play alongside their "social inferiors" if they were to win their bets. In time, a perception took hold that the typical amateur who played in first-class cricket, until 1962 when amateurism was abolished, was someone with
2436-494: The Rajasthan Royals as part of the 2013 Jaipur Literature Festival . The team captains rode onto the cricket pitch atop camels and the next day, the Authors made the front page of the world's largest newspaper, The Times of India . They toured Sri Lanka in 2014 and again in 2016. They donated pitches and kit bags to local schools while there, as well as sponsoring a promising young player. In 2015, they played against
2523-765: The batting and William Fiennes plays in the position of wicket-keeper . The Authors XI play against village cricket clubs in England, as well as against clubs such as the Lords and Commons (made up of members of Parliament ), the Actors XI (a team that includes Damian Lewis and Iain Glen ), the Royal Household (composed of staff of the British royal family ) and the Eton College team. In 2013, they defeated
2610-430: The batting team, the striker and nonstriker, stand in front of either wicket holding bats , while one player from the fielding team, the bowler, bowls the ball toward the striker's wicket from the opposite end of the pitch. The striker's goal is to hit the bowled ball with the bat and then switch places with the nonstriker, with the batting team scoring one run for each of these exchanges. Runs are also scored when
2697-401: The top-rated Test side more than any other country. Cricket is one of many games in the "club ball" sphere that involve hitting a ball with a hand-held implement. Others include baseball (which shares many similarities with cricket, both belonging in the more specific bat-and-ball games category ), golf , hockey , tennis , squash , badminton and table tennis . In cricket's case,
Authors Cricket Club - Misplaced Pages Continue
2784-579: The "cricket group", in which "the ball is aimed at a mark (the wicket) and driven away from it". It is generally believed that cricket originated as a children's game in the south-eastern counties of England, sometime during the medieval period . Although there are claims for prior dates, the earliest definite reference to cricket being played comes from evidence given at a court case in Guildford in January 1597 ( Old Style , equating to January 1598 in
2871-520: The Authors XI starting with the 2012-13 season. In 2019, Rathbones investment firm announced that they would be sponsoring the team in connection with their annual Folio Prize literary award. The team has raised "tens of thousands of pounds" for charities including Chance to Shine , which encourages competitive cricket in state schools and First Story , an organization co-founded by team member William Fiennes which fosters literacy through creative writing in low-income schools. They also raised money for
2958-470: The Authors XI's 2012-13 players (including historian Thomas Penn and editor Sam Carter) contributed chapters about a particular aspect of the game. Among those with chapters: actor Dan Stevens wrote a chapter ("Edwardian Cricket and Downton Abbey ") about filming a cricket game on that television series , Tom Holland wrote in "Youth and Age" about learning to love the game as a boy after at first finding it both tedious and humiliating (as well as about hitting
3045-560: The MCC Museum at Lord's Cricket Ground . This match, predating the 1899 establishment of the 'real' Authors XI, brought together several of the writers who would found the team three years later. Doyle was joined by other writers including Winnie the Pooh creator A. A. Milne, reputed to be the best fielder on the team, and Jeeves author P. G. Wodehouse, who was regarded as a decent player. Peter Pan author J. M. Barrie, however,
3132-584: The Middle Dutch phrase for hockey, " met de (krik ket)sen " ("with the stick chase"). Gillmeister has suggested that not only the name but also the sport itself may be of Flemish origin. Although the main object of the game has always been to score the most runs , the early form of cricket differed from the modern game in certain key technical aspects; the North American variant of cricket known as wicket retained many of these aspects. The ball
3219-575: The Sri Lankan team during their tour of Pakistan led to Pakistan being unable to host matches until 2019. In 2017, Afghanistan and Ireland became the 11th and 12th Test nations. In cricket, the rules of the game are codified in The Laws of Cricket (hereinafter called "the Laws"), which has a global remit. There are 42 Laws (always written with a capital "L"). The earliest known version of
3306-676: The Vatican team in Rome and presented Pope Francis with his own Authors XI cricket cap, and in 2017, they traveled to Reykjavik and played against Iceland's national team in a three-game match, losing 2–1 (but redeemed themselves the following year, defeating Iceland by 20 runs when the latter team came to England). In 2018 and 2019, they visited the island of Corfu, Greece to take part in the first and second Corfu Literary Festivals, where they participated in literary panel discussions and writing workshops and played cricket against local teams. Some of
3393-418: The ball reaches the boundary of the field or when the ball is bowled illegally . The fielding team tries to prevent runs from being scored by dismissing batters (so they are "out"). Means of dismissal include being bowled , when the ball hits the striker's wicket and dislodges the bails, and by the fielding side either catching the ball after it is hit by the bat but before it hits the ground, or hitting
3480-449: The batting team are on the field at any given time. The order of batters is usually announced just before the match, but it can be varied. The main objective of each team is to score more runs than their opponents, but in some forms of cricket, it is also necessary to dismiss all but one of the opposition batters (making their team 'all out') in their final innings in order to win the match, which would otherwise be drawn (not ending with
3567-421: The bowling crease, but is also, in fact, unlimited in length. Before a match begins, the team captains (who are also players) toss a coin to decide which team will bat first and so take the first innings . "Innings" is the term used for each phase of play in the match. In each innings, one team bats, attempting to score runs , while the other team bowls and fields the ball , attempting to restrict
Authors Cricket Club - Misplaced Pages Continue
3654-414: The code was drafted in 1744, and since 1788, it has been owned and maintained by its custodian, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in London . Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played on a cricket field (see image of cricket pitch and creases) between two teams of eleven players each. The field is usually circular or oval in shape, and the edge of the playing area is marked by a boundary , which may be
3741-501: The conservation group Alde and Ore Estuary Trust in 2014. Cricket First-class cricket One Day International Limited overs (domestic) Twenty20 International Twenty20 (domestic) Other forms Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field , at the centre of which is a 22-yard (20-metre; 66-foot) pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails (small sticks) balanced on three stumps . Two players from
3828-561: The derisive term "shamateur" was coined to describe the practice. The game underwent major development in the 18th century to become England's national sport . Its success was underwritten by the twin necessities of patronage and betting. Cricket was prominent in London as early as 1707 and, in the middle years of the century, large crowds flocked to matches on the Artillery Ground in Finsbury . The single wicket form of
3915-405: The earliest known contest that is generally considered a First Class match. The patrons and other players from the gentry began to classify themselves as " amateurs " to establish a clear distinction from the professionals, who were invariably members of the working class , even to the point of having separate changing and dining facilities. The gentry, including such high-ranking nobles as
4002-463: The existence of players like him who were nominally amateur but, in terms of their financial gain, de facto professional. Grace himself was said to have been paid more money for playing cricket than any professional. The last two decades before the First World War have been called the " Golden Age of cricket ". It is a nostalgic name prompted by the collective sense of loss resulting from
4089-437: The first six of his life while playing in a 2012 Authors game, a feat he also recounted in a 2013 Financial Times article), and William Fiennes penned a piece on "Cricket and Memory" that ended with him drifting away in a haze as he was stretchered off the field after snapping his collarbone while diving to make a catch. In Anthony McGowan's chapter, titled "Cricket and Class", he noted that he, Nicholas Hogg and Jon Hotten were
4176-646: The first limited overs Cricket World Cup in 1975 . Sri Lanka joined the ranks in 1982. Meanwhile, South Africa was banned by the ICC due to apartheid from 1970 until 1992. 1992 also brought about the introduction of the Zimbabwe team . The 21st century brought with it the Bangladesh Team , who made their Test debut in 2000. The game itself also grew, with a new format made up of 20-over innings being created. This format, called T20 cricket , quickly became
4263-450: The game at county level led to the creation of the county clubs , starting with Sussex in 1839. In December 1889, the eight leading county clubs formed the official County Championship , which began in 1890. The most famous player of the 19th century was W. G. Grace , who started his long and influential career in 1865. It was especially during the career of Grace that the distinction between amateurs and professionals became blurred by
4350-424: The game progresses (cricket can also be played on artificial surfaces, notably matting). Each wicket is made of three wooden stumps topped by two bails . As illustrated, the pitch is marked at each end with four white painted lines: a bowling crease , a popping crease and two return creases . The three stumps are aligned centrally on the bowling crease, which is eight feet eight inches long. The popping crease
4437-432: The game quickly grew from 500 tests in 84 years to 1000 within the next 23. Cricket entered a new era in 1963 when English counties introduced the limited overs variant. As it was sure to produce a result, limited overs cricket was lucrative, and the number of matches increased. The first Limited Overs International was played in 1971, and the governing International Cricket Council (ICC), seeing its potential, staged
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#17327756037084524-428: The game's extensive and eclectic literature". Sir Michael Parkinson wrote a blurb for the book which read "I once said I never met a cricketer I didn't like and this book goes some way to explaining why. A wonderful celebration of the best of games." Journalist Simon Barnes wrote "Most cricket writers are better at cricket than at writing. Reversing this principle is a revelation." Christie's auction house sponsored
4611-421: The greatest Test batter of all time. To curb his dominance, England employed bodyline tactics during the 1932–33 Ashes series . These involved bowling at the body of the batter and setting a field, resulting in batters having to choose between being hit or risk getting out. This series moved cricket from a game to a matter of national importance , with diplomatic cables being passed between the two countries over
4698-529: The hands, a safety helmet for the head, and a box for male players inside the trousers (to protect the crotch area). Some batters wear additional padding inside their shirts and trousers such as thigh pads, arm pads, rib protectors and shoulder pads. The only fielders allowed to wear protective gear are those in positions very close to the batter (i.e., if they are alongside or in front of him), but they cannot wear gloves or external leg guards. Subject to certain variations, on-field clothing generally includes
4785-528: The incident. During this time, the number of Test nations continued to grow, with the West Indies , New Zealand and India being admitted as full Test members within a four-year period from 1928 to 1932. An enforced break during the Second World War stopped Test Cricket for a time, although the Partition of India caused Pakistan to gain Test status in 1952. As teams began to travel more,
4872-468: The issue of The Times published on that day. The book uses a nonlinear timeline to tell the tale of a young couple who meet in person for the first time since they were children, fall into bed together and then must decide whether or not it is the beginning of a new life. It was a New York Times Notable Book in 1999. Publishers Weekly called Damascus "Good-natured, witty and freshly inventive... Beard's manipulation of language and of events to make
4959-400: The literary tradition of Oulipo , in which an artificial constraint is imposed on the narrative. X20, A Novel of Not Smoking (1996) is constructed in twenty parts, each containing an identical number of words, to represent the twenty cigarettes in a pack (the story's narrator is trying to quit the habit and makes himself write something every time he has the urge to light up). In 1997, it was
5046-413: The modern calendar). The case concerned ownership of a certain plot of land, and the court heard the testimony of a 59-year-old coroner , John Derrick , who gave witness that: Being a scholler in the ffree schoole of Guldeford hee and diverse of his fellows did runne and play there at creckett and other plaies. Given Derrick's age, it was about half a century earlier when he was at school, and so it
5133-552: The name may have been derived from the Middle Dutch (in use in Flanders at the time) " krick " ( -e ), meaning a stick (crook). Another possible source is the Middle Dutch word " krickstoel " , meaning a long low stool used for kneeling in church that resembled the long low wicket with two stumps used in early cricket. According to Heiner Gillmeister, a European language expert of Bonn University , "cricket" derives from
5220-584: The national team of Japan, which was then ranked in the top 40 in the world, in London. In September 2019, they won a celebrity match against a Lord's Taverners team that included Andy Caddick , Matthew Hoggard and Gladstone Small , all former Test and One-Day International (ODI) players for England . Caddick was clean bowled by Tom Holland. In addition to games in England, the Authors XI have traveled to several foreign countries to play cricket. In 2013 and 2015, they went to India, where they played against
5307-445: The only players on the 2012–13 team to have attended state schools: "The Authors CC is crammed to the gills with the quite ludicrously posh… the team is packed with the full range of characters from a Fifties public school story – the hearty, sporty type; the etiolated intellectual; the endearingly modest earl; even an exiled Ruritanian princeling" Reviewing the book for The Guardian , Peter Wilby called it "a distinguished addition to
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#17327756037085394-534: The original team last played, literary agent Charlie Campbell and novelist Nicholas Hogg announced they were starting the Authors XI anew. Campbell serves as captain and Hogg as vice-captain of the revived team. The team adopted as its motto the phrase "Praeter ingenium nihil" (Latin meaning "nothing except intelligence"). This is a reference to a remark Australian cricketer Kim Hughes made dismissing England's Mike Brearley when they captained opposing Ashes teams in 1981: "He had nothing going for him except that he
5481-627: The publication of The Day That Went Missing in 2017, Beard penned two articles for the Guardian . In them, he discussed what he had discovered about both the younger brother he lost and about himself through writing the book, and the emotional impact that it had on him and his family. While beginning his career as a writer, Beard taught school in Hong Kong and was employed as a physical education teacher in Great Britain. He also worked at
5568-627: The relationship between Jesus and Lazarus , and was described by The Guardian as "a shining example of the gospel untruth". 2015's Acts of the Assassins (re-titled The Apostle Killer for the 2016 U.S. release) re-imagines Jesus's death and resurrection as a modern-day crime thriller in a genre Beard described as "gospel noir". It was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize . Alex Preston , writing in The Guardian , called Acts "brilliantly original and absurdly compelling...it's
5655-412: The scoring and dismiss the batters. When the first innings ends, the teams change roles; there can be two to four innings depending upon the type of match. A match with four scheduled innings is played over three to five days; a match with two scheduled innings is usually completed in a single day. During an innings, all eleven members of the fielding team take the field, but usually only two members of
5742-443: The sport attracted huge crowds and wagers to match, its popularity peaking in the 1748 season . Bowling underwent an evolution around 1760 when bowlers began to pitch (bounce) the ball instead of rolling or skimming it towards the batter. This caused a revolution in bat design because, to deal with the bouncing ball, it was necessary to introduce the modern straight bat in place of the old "hockey stick" shape. The Hambledon Club
5829-413: The sport is that a bowler delivers (i.e., bowls) the ball from their end of the pitch towards the batter who, armed with a bat , is "on strike" at the other end (see next sub-section: Basic gameplay ). The bat is made of wood, usually Salix alba (white willow), and has the shape of a blade topped by a cylindrical handle. The blade must not be more than 4.25 inches (10.8 cm) wide and
5916-565: The story "James Joyce, EFL Teacher". The latter story was formatted for the iPad app 'Papercut', which combines sound, video and text to tell stories: Beard could be heard reading aloud parts of the story while video and snippets of text scrolled across the screen. His short stories and short non-fiction have appeared in Granta and Prospect and have been recorded for BBC Radio 4 . He has contributed book reviews to The Times and The Times Literary Supplement . In connection with
6003-434: The team failed to reassemble after World War I ended in 1918, both due to the advancing ages of the players and because many of them found that their appetite for games had been diminished by the war. The Authors Cricket Club has been regularly revived since the original team disbanded. There were revivals with some of the original personnel in the 1920s (including E. W. Hornung and John Snaith) which lasted until 1968. There
6090-410: The team members collectively wrote a book about their first season playing together, The Authors XI: A Season of English Cricket from Hackney to Hambledon (Bloomsbury, 2013). Sebastian Faulks wrote the foreword, in which he noted that "Amateur cricketers tend to be vain, anecdotal, passionate, knowledgeable, neurotic and given to fantasy. So do writers. The game is made for the profession." Eighteen of
6177-510: The television series Downton Abbey , both played on the team during the 2012–2013 season, as did Ed Smith (a former professional cricketer who played for England ). Novelist Kamila Shamsie , the only woman on the team, played during an Authors XI game against the Shepperton Ladies team in the same season. Tom Holland and Matthew Parker are opening bowlers for the team, while Richard Beard, Anthony McGowan and Matt Thacker open
6264-494: The thematic point sometimes mitigates the credibility of the characters' motivations; still, the brilliance and daring of his work earns the reader's appreciation.". Beard set his next novel, The Cartoonist (2000), about a man and his teen-girl cousin who set out for a major theme park with plans for sabotage, in Euro Disney . But after completing the manuscript, he was informed by a libel lawyer that under copyright law, he
6351-441: The total length of the bat not more than 38 inches (97 cm). There is no standard for the weight, which is usually between 2 lb 7 oz and 3 lb (1.1 and 1.4 kg). Richard Beard (author) Richard James Beard (born 12 January 1967) is an English author of fiction and non-fiction books and short literature. He is the winner of the 2018 Ackerley Prize for his memoir The Day That Went Missing . Beard
6438-425: The wake of professionalisation . Beard looks at his own many years of playing the sport, from his school days to amateur British and Swiss clubs and on a professional team in France from 1992 to 1994, where he played in the position of fly-half. He debates how much longer he can continue to play as he accumulates injuries and slows down, yet dreads the thought of giving up the sport that he wants to believe has made him
6525-535: The war, but the period did produce some great players and memorable matches, especially as organised competition at county and Test level developed. In 1844, the first-ever international match took place between what were essentially club teams, from the United States and Canada , in Toronto ; Canada won. In 1859, a team of English players went to North America on the first overseas tour . Meanwhile,
6612-655: Was bowled underarm by the bowler and along the ground towards a batter armed with a bat that in shape resembled a hockey stick ; the batter defended a low, two-stump wicket ; and runs were called notches because the scorers recorded them by notching tally sticks. In 1611, the year Cotgrave 's dictionary was published, ecclesiastical court records at Sidlesham in Sussex state that two parishioners, Bartholomew Wyatt and Richard Latter, failed to attend church on Easter Sunday because they were playing cricket. They were fined 12 d each and ordered to do penance . This
6699-544: Was a "great upsurge of sport after the Restoration " in 1660. Several members of the court of King Charles II took a strong interest in cricket during that era. Gambling on sport became a problem significant enough for Parliament to pass the 1664 Gambling Act, limiting stakes to £ 100, which was, in any case, a colossal sum exceeding the annual income of 99% of the population. Along with horse racing , as well as prizefighting and other types of blood sport , cricket
6786-685: Was a finalist for the Rathbones Folio Prize , the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award , and won the 2018 Ackerley Prize for a literary biography of excellence. Beard was shortlisted for the 2008 BBC National Short Story Award for his short story "Guidelines for Measures to Cope with Disgraceful and Other Events" and longlisted for the 2010 Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award for
6873-464: Was also an unconnected team for a brief period in the 1980s. Poet Edmund Blunden , a fanatical (although untalented) cricketer who celebrated his love of the sport in 1944's Cricket Country , captained a version of the Authors in the 1940s. Among those who joined him on the team were novelists Alec Waugh , John Moore and Thomas Armstrong , as well as Test cricket legends Len Hutton , Douglas Jardine and Denis Compton . In 2012, 100 years after
6960-585: Was born in Swindon , England. He is the second of four sons of Felicity, a former nurse, and Colin, an executive with a family construction company. When he was a teenager, his parents adopted two daughters. When Beard was eleven years old, his younger brother Nicky drowned while the two of them were swimming together in the sea on a family holiday in Cornwall , out of sight of anyone else. This event and its aftermath would be recounted by Beard forty years later in his 2017 memoir The Day That Went Missing . Beard
7047-528: Was educated at Pinewood School, a boys' prep boarding school from the age of eight, and then later at the public school Radley College , leaving in 1985. He earned a bachelor's degree in English from Pembroke College, Cambridge . He later completed a master's degree in Creative Writing (Prose Fiction) at the University of East Anglia . Beard's first few novels are experimental works in
7134-469: Was forbidden to use the name of that theme park at all. He had to re-write the entire book before it could be published, to avoid a defamation suit. His fourth novel, Dry Bones (2004), is about a church deacon in Geneva who finds a lucrative but dangerous new career in robbing the graves of celebrities. Beard has published two novels based on biblical stories: The first, Lazarus is Dead (2011) retraces
7221-592: Was founded in the 1760s and, for the next twenty years until the formation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the opening of Lord's Old Ground in 1787, Hambledon was both the game's greatest club and its focal point. MCC quickly became the sport's premier club and the custodian of the Laws of Cricket . New Laws introduced in the latter part of the 18th century include the three-stump wicket and leg before wicket (lbw). The 19th century saw underarm bowling superseded by first roundarm and then overarm bowling . Both developments were controversial. Organisation of
7308-605: Was intelligent." Writers who joined the revived team included novelists Sebastian Faulks , Richard Beard , Mirza Waheed , and Alex Preston , historical non-fiction writers Tom Holland , James Holland , Matthew Parker and Peter Frankopan , memoirist William Fiennes , young adult novelists Anthony McGowan and Joe Craig , journalists Amol Rajan and Chris Hemmings, sportswriters Jonathan Wilson and Jon Hotten , science writer Adam Rutherford , poet Tim Beard, biographer Ben Falk and editor Matt Thacker. Comedian Andy Zaltzman and actor Dan Stevens , best known for his role on
7395-676: Was not, despite his great enthusiasm for the game. The Authors and Barrie's Allahakbarries existed side-by-side for a number of years, with Doyle, Milne and Wodehouse among the players who featured for both teams. Some of the other writers who played for the team were E. W. Hornung (the team secretary), E. V. Lucas , John Snaith , H. V. Hesketh-Prichard , Albert Kinross , Shan Bullock , George Cecil Ives , and A. E. W. Mason (all pictured left, along with Doyle, Wodehouse, and Barrie). Other players included Gordon Guggisberg , Hugh de Sélincourt , E. Temple Thurston , and Cecil Headlam . The original Authors XI played their last game in 1912. Most of
7482-490: Was perceived to be a gambling sport. Rich patrons made matches for high stakes, forming teams in which they engaged the first professional players. By the end of the century, cricket had developed into a major sport that was spreading throughout England and was already being taken abroad by English mariners and colonisers—the earliest reference to cricket overseas is dated 1676. A 1697 newspaper report survives of "a great cricket match" played in Sussex "for fifty guineas apiece",
7569-481: Was retrospectively recognised as the first-ever Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground against Australia . The rivalry between England and Australia gave birth to The Ashes in 1882, which remains Test cricket's most famous contest. Test cricket began to expand in 1888–89 when South Africa played England. The inter-war years were dominated by Australia 's Don Bradman , statistically
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