Something wicket this way comes
PREPARE TO BE BOWLED OVER BY THE VARIETY OF MEMORABILIA ON OFFER
THE cricket has been mesmerising so far this year: a tied World Cup final against New Zealand that ended in a controversial win for the Brits; England score a pitiful 85 all out against Ireland who we bowled out for an astonishing record low of just 38 runs.
Even I and my non-cricket following family were transfixed, but will we still be on the edge of our seats as England and Australia slug it out through the Ashes? Who knows?
Either way, perhaps it all might ignite more interest in collecting memorabilia associated with the game. Cricketana has a strong following already but there is still scope for the newcomer and much waits to be discovered.
The hobby took off in 1987 following an important auction of cricketing memorabilia at Lord’s to celebrate the bicentenary of the MCC. The quality of what was on offer and the prices some of it achieved, opened collectors’ eyes to the potential and now cricketana is well established on the collecting wishlist.
The sport has a recorded history of having started in the UK in the 16th century, possibly in Kent or Sussex, having been imported from France or Belgium, where it might have started as a children’s game.
The first recognised English cricket club was Hambledon, in Hampshire, described as the “cradle of cricket”. It was founded in 1750 from what was then a social club for local worthies.
The club continued into the 1790s, but attention shifted to London and the Marylebone Cricket Club, best known today as the MCC, which was founded in 1787.
Lord’s cricket ground, named after MCC founder Thomas Lord, was acquired in 1824 and the club subsequently issued the first code of practices and laws of the game and became its ruling authority.
The first recognised Test Match between England and Australia was played in Melbourne in 1877.
The game was quickly adopted as part of every boy’s school curriculum, not just as a source of healthy exercise, but also as part of the character-building process that would produce honourable gentlemen in later life.
A visit to the MCC Museum, the world’s oldest sports museum, is a must for every collector. Apart from memorabilia belonging to just about every cricketing hero who ever held a bat, it is also where the urn containing the Ashes – said to be the remains of a burnt circle bail – is on permanent display.
No auction (or collection) of cricketana is complete without something relating to the distinctive black-bearded WG Grace, every boy’s sporting hero. He made his entry into first class cricket aged only 15 and from then until his retirement in 1900, scored more than 51,000 runs, representing an average of upwards of 1,300 runs for every year he played.
He scored 126 centuries, 10 double centuries and three times reached the
third century. He was also a deadly accurate bowler who took more than 2,800 wickets.
On one occasion, against an Oxford University side, Grace took all 10 wickets in one innings, each wicket costing fewer than five runs.
Not surprisingly, his likeness was reproduced in a plethora of highly collectable mementoes in every medium from valuable bronze statutes to more readily affordable Staffordshire figures, paintings and prints to silver presentation inkstands and trophies.
The same applies to other cricketing memorabilia whose importance relates directly to its association with a famous player or important match.
International caps, blazers, trophies, signed programmes and team photographs are all cases in point that are much sought after today.
Much has been written about cricket and some collectors and dealers specialise only in literature connected to the game. Of particular note is Wisden’s Cricketers’ Almanack, the most famous of any sporting yearbook which was first published in 1864.
To own a complete set is something many collectors aspire to but few achieve. It is almost unheard of for an unbroken run to appear on the market and its cost would be prohibitive to all but the most well-heeled.
Single volumes are not expensive and comparatively readily found, but early issues are the exact opposite on both scores.
As every schoolboy was taught to look after his cricket bat – patient hours of linseed oil application, and so on – the number of ancient bats surviving today is relatively high.
Signed bats are also commonplace, but it is those associated with legendary players that attract a price premium, even though not all of them were sportsmen true to the ethics of the game.
In 1771, a player known as “Shock” White from Reigate in Surrey, attempted to play with a bat that was wider than the wicket. Since there was no rule to the contrary, there was nothing wrong with the idea in principle but it did make things a little one-sided. So the rules were changed and they remain in place today.
Earliest bats were generally long, heavy club-like implements – redolent of underarm bowling and wild slashing at the ball with little thought for style and finesse. The blade of the bat curved outwards from top to bottom, as can be seen in early paintings.