WG’s Birthday Party By David Kynaston,
Bloomsbury, £9.99

W.G. Grace is perhaps the only cricketer in the annals of cricket to be presented with a first class match as a birthday present for his 50th year. In 1897, the MCC and the various county clubs unanimously decided that in the following year, the annual Gentlemen vs Players at Lord’s would be played over WG’s birthday and this would be his birthday present. WG would, of course, be captain of the Gentlemen. The MCC also decided that over the three days of the match, there would be no county matches so that the best players could be available for selection.

David Kynaston, a professional historian with a passion for cricket, offers in this book a detailed reconstruction of the match. His account deliberately follows the tradition of match reporting that prevailed before the advent and popularity of television. Two chapters act as prologues. One is on the importance of WG in the history of cricket and also on what he represented in late Victorian England. The other is a chapter on the history and significance of the annual Gentlemen vs Players match.

The phenomenon called WG requires no reiteration for the genuine lover of cricket and its history. But it is worth taking note of the Gentlemen-Players match since it is a tradition that is now dead.

Till the middle of the 20th century, cricketers in England were divided between amateurs and professionals. The former were called Gentlemen and the latter Players. They had separate dressing rooms and entered the playing arena through different gates. Modes of address were also different: Gentlemen had ‘Mr’ prefixed to their surname; Players were addressed only by their surname. Thus Mr C.B. Fry but Rhodes. Kynaston describes the system tellingly as “class-based apartheid’’. But the relationship between the two camps was cordial and of mutual respect. From 1819, the Gentlemen vs Players match at Lord’s became an annual event in the English summer calendar, much like the Varsity match and the Eton vs Harrow encounter. The Gentlemen vs Players match was relished by English cricketers and cricket lovers as most often the best talents featured in it.

In the match for WG, two very powerful teams faced each other. Ranji couldn’t play as he was away in India, and such was the competition that Fry was dropped because he was in poor form that year. The Players were led by Arthur Shrewsbury (when WG had been asked about his ideal opening partner, his laconic reply had been, “Give me Arthur’’).

Kynaston provides pen portraits of the 22 players that are made attractive by some remarkable anecdotes and by telling and unknown details.

The weather held fine over three days and good cricket was played. The Players won. The Old Man lost the match but won the popularity stakes.