History of Cricket Part 2

Cricket literature in English also gets off to a flying start with the appearance of Cricket: an Heroic Poem. illlustrated with the Critical Observations of Scriblerus Maximus. In 316 lines it describes the earliest match for which individual scores have been recorded, between Kent and England at the Artillery Ground, London, on June 18th 1744. It was written by James Love (really Dance), the bankrupt son of the architect of the Mansion House, who had taken to acting and writing for the stage to earn his living. It contains the much quoted couplet "Hail, cricket! Glorious manly, British Game! / First of all Sports! be first alike in Fame", as it lauds cricket to the detriment of "puny Billiards, where, with sluggish Pace, / The dull Ball trails before the feeble Mace" and even "Tennis self, thy sister sport" that cannot "charm, / Or with thy fierce Delights our Bosoms warm". Its style may, however, be better judged by the description of the fall of the famous lefthander Richard Newland of Slindon:

The champion strikes. When scarce arriving fair,
The glancing ball mounts upward in the air.
The batsman sees it, and with mournful eyes
Fixed on the ascending pellet as it flies,
Thus suppliant claims the favour of the skies
And now illustrious Sackville where he stood
The approaching ball with cautious pleasure viewed,
At once he sees the chiefs impending doom,
And pants for mighty honours yet to come.
Swift as the falcon darting on its prey,
He springs elastic on the verdant way;
Sure of success, flies upward with a bound,
Derides the slow approach, and spurns the ground.
Prone slips the youth, yet glories in his fall,
With arm extended shows the captive ball.

The notes are worth reading, being partly informative of participants in the match and literary inspirations from Vergil and partly mock scholarly like that on Book 2, verse 47: "A Place there is.) Est in secessu Locus. The Author here has exactly follow'd the Example of all great Poets, both ancient and modern, who never fail to prepare you with a pompous Description of the Place where any great Action is to be perform'd."

A more frivolous poem on a cricket match appeared in 1773 when the Rev. John Duncombe wrote a parody on the ballad Chevy Chace called Burry Triumphant:

The active Earl of Tankerville
An even bet did make,
That in Bourn paddock he would cause
Kent's chief est hands to quake.

And so he did, for:

Of byes and overthows but three
The Kentish heroes gain'd,
And Surry victor on the score,
Twice seventy-five remain'd.

Of near three hundred notches made
By Surry, eight were byes;
The rest were balls, which, boldly struck,
Re-echo'd to the skies!

This called forth a rejoinder from John Burn by, an attorney-at-law in Canterbury. His description of the Duke of Dorset is memorable:

His Grace the Duke of Dorset came,...
Equall'd by few, he plays with glee,
Nor peevish seeks for victory...
And for unlike the Modern way
Of blocking every ball at play,
He firmly stands with bat upright,
And strikes with athletic might,
Sends forth the ball across the mead,
And scores six notches for the deed.

A more unusual match was the subject of an anonymous poem of 1796: it was played between the one-legged and the one armed:

...Though bloody deeds by fortress wall
Are parodied when bat and ball
Defend and storm the stubborn wicket.
Thus thought I, when with vision dim,
With feeble step and loss of limb,
Old warriors in the strife contended...