These are challenging periods for the white-ball male cricketers of England. After a disappointing exit from last year’s ODI World Cup, the team faced a heavy defeat against India in the T20 World Cup, barely making it to the semi-finals. Under the leadership of Jos Buttler, the squad has experienced a significant downturn from the triumphs of 2019 and 2022.
However, there is still a flicker of hope to hold on to. Another esteemed international title remains in English – or more precisely, British – possession and will stay that way until at least 2028.
As excitement builds for the Paris Olympics, cricket fans are already looking forward to the sport’s inclusion in the Los Angeles Games in four years. The athletes chosen for the Great Britain team will arrive in California as reigning champions, with the goal of defending a title won in Paris 128 years prior. It’s an intriguing and quirky narrative.
For millennials and Gen Z members, the Somerset market town of Castle Cary is famous for being the closest railway station to the Glastonbury festival. The nearby village of Ditcheat is the home of Paul Nicholls, a 14-time Champion Trainer, but it’s essential not to overlook Castle Cary’s cricketing heritage.
Founded in 1837, the club enjoyed an era of ambitious tours in the 1890s, organized by a spirited individual named William Donne. A passionate rugby player with a robust build, Donne later became president of the Rugby Football Union in the mid-1920s.
Although he was said to be a limited batsman, Donne excelled as an enthusiastic administrator, forming a Devon & Somerset Wanderers team for excursions to locations such as the Lake District, Channel Islands, and the Netherlands. Their adventures kicked off with a tour to the Isle of Wight in 1894.
In 1900, a variety of sporting events occurred during the Paris Exposition and are often recognized as the 1900 Summer Olympics, albeit not in the modern Olympic style.
Originally, teams from Belgium and Holland were to participate in the cricket tournament, but they withdrew, leading to a two-innings, two-day match between France and Great Britain at the Vélodrome de Vincennes (now known as Vélodrome Jacques Anquetil) in eastern Paris. Spectators were few and far between, with only “two dozen” gendarmes deployed to control the crowd.
Even though Britain’s involvement in the Boer War had made its citizens less popular in France and elsewhere, it appears that the atmosphere was pleasant for those involved, mainly due to the host team comprising Britons residing nearby. It’s said that the somewhat idle gendarmes joined the players in post-match celebrations.
Five of the twelve amateur players who faced the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques – sometimes dubbed an “All Paris” team – hailed from Castle Cary: Arthur Birkett, Alfred Bowerman, Harry Corner, Frederick Cuming, and Donne himself. The team captain and opening batter, Charles Beachcroft, represented Exeter CC at home. Four members of the squad were alumni of Blundell’s School in Tiverton.
This was not an elite lineup: as was typical for amateur tours, team selection was partly a matter of who could afford the journey, manage their work schedules, and gain approval from their families. The scorecard suggests a decisive win – Devon and Somerset Wanderers triumphed by 158 runs – although it’s noted that the final French wicket fell just five minutes before the match ended.
While specifics beyond the score remain scarce, Beachcroft (23 and 54) and Cuming (38 and 18) made significant contributions with the bat for Great Britain. Meanwhile, Montagu Toller took seven wickets for just nine runs in the French second innings, dismissing the hosts for a mere 26 runs. (Toller and Bowerman were the only first-class cricketers in the squad, with Toller having played alongside W.G. Grace in 1895.)
“A cricketer in France is a stranger in a strange land, viewed with a mix of awe and contempt by the average Frenchman,” noted one Old Blundellian in the school’s magazine shortly afterward. “The game is played only by a handful of dedicated Englishmen, who manage a couple of clubs, treated us splendidly, and might have beaten us with a bit of luck … Parisian cricket is not nearly as comical as one might expect.”
Compounding the match’s chaotic nature, it wasn’t officially recognized as an Olympic event at the time; it wasn’t until 1912 that Great Britain’s victory was acknowledged, and gold medals were awarded to the winners. In 2012, Castle Cary celebrated its 175th anniversary by hosting a match against a French Cricket Federation side.
The current whereabouts of the Olympic medals is a mystery, but they likely exist, possibly tucked away in dusty attics across south-west England. Sports historian Keith Gregson, who is continuing the work of the late journalist Richard Streeton, is preparing to publish an updated booklet on this fascinating history.
Cricket’s return to the Olympics has been discussed for many years: the London 2012 Games seemed a fitting opportunity for reinstatement, while incorporating Twenty20 at Tokyo 2020 would have created a nice symmetry.
“We believe we have created a truly exciting product that’s perfectly suited for the Olympics,” remarked Tim Lamb, the ECB’s chief executive in 2004, referring to the emerging 20-over format. “Twenty20 is gaining popularity globally, and this will only continue to grow.” He could not have foreseen how correct this statement would be or the extent of the impact this new format would have on Test cricket.
So, towards Los Angeles we go – a venue perhaps even more incongruous than Paris – where organizers are planning six-team competitions for both men and women, although the qualification process is yet to be established. (The IOC has been reached out to for clarification.) While it seems unlikely France will qualify to defend its silver medal, the country’s historical connections to cricket are stronger than many assume.
In 1998, Sotheby’s auctioned a French and Latin manuscript from 1301, the Ghistelles Calendar, which is thought to contain the earliest known depiction of cricket. The document shows two boys playing with a bat and ball, situated in a reference to Saint-Omer, approximately 25 miles southeast of Calais.
In four years’ time, British cricketers will travel to Los Angeles in hopes of honoring the legacy of Donne and his fellow travelers by retaining their Olympic title. But could it be the French who genuinely lay claim to have invented the game?
