When ‘A to C’ cricket team clashed with the ‘Rest of the Alphabet’
Cricket in England has endured all sorts of quirks. First-class cricket took birth in England during the summer of 1772 and soon stood host for a variety of fixtures. The early years witnessed matches between combined teams. England XI would be turning up against County sides while there were few instances of two County teams coming together.
One such event was recorded in the 1786 season when two teams faced who were separated by the surnames starting with certain letters. A team named ‘A to C’ clashed with a team named ‘Rest of the Alphabet’ during a 4-day match at the Moulsey Hurst. The ‘A to C’ team consists of players with surnames starting with A, B and C while the ’Rest of the Alphabet’ team contains players with surnames starting with Alphabets other than A, B and C.
Apparently, the A to C team comprised of players who represent Kent XI team while the Rest of Alphabet team was made of the players from Hampshire XI except Lumpy Stevens of Yorkshire. The match began on August 2nd where the Rest of Alphabet team batted first. Opener Edward Hussey made 19 runs while Thomas Walker, batting at No.4, scored 56 runs. Except these two, no other player of the Rest of Alphabet team reached double digits as they were bowled out for only 116.
A low-scoring thriller!
In reply, the top five of the ‘A to C’ team aggregated only 12 runs with three batsmen getting out for a duck. But lower-order contributions helped the A to C side to end up with a lead of 27 runs. The No.11 batsman Stephen Amherst stood as top-scorer for his 33-run knock which helped his team post 143. The Rest of Alphabet team didn’t put up a better performance with the bat in the second essay as they were bowled out for 144 and set a target of 118 in front of the opposition.
The top-order of A to C fared better this time around as the top five aggregated 28 runs compared to the 12 runs in the first outing. But none of the bottom five came to their rescue this time as all failed to reach double digits. Francis Booker, who scored 26 runs in the first-innings, made 39 runs during the second essay and remained as the top-scorer for A to C team. This knock helped ‘A to C’ team end up with 92 runs but lost the match by 25 runs.
