ATTACKING CRICKET

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30218, 24 August 1963, Page 9

ATTACKING CRICKET

Disputes over decisions in sport have been conducted on vastly varying levels of action throughout history, as the “Daily Telegraph,” London, pointed out while discussing a heated dispute at Leyton recently, after a match between Kent and Essex. Kent protested that they were cheated of victory because an Essex fielder caught their last batsman beyond the boundary.

The “Ipswich Journal,” of November 2, 1776, reported that in one such match between two counties at Tilbury Fort: “Feeling ran high, and a fight broke out. Thereupon the Kentish men ran to the guardroom and seizing a gun, killed one of the Essex men. There were only four soldiers on duty, and they were unable to restrain the cricketers, who armed themselves with guns. An elderly invalid was bayonetted and the Sergeant, who was commanding the Fort in the absence of the officer, was shot dead trying to quell them. “At this point the players panicked, the Essex men ran off over the drawbridge and the Kentish men retreated across the river.” Peter Richardson and his men must really learn to take a strong line,” the article said.