Hadrian to the Antonines

Cricket's regional identities: the development of cricket and identity in Yorkshire and Surrey

“…Despite the occasional match in Sheffield versus fellow 'northerners' Nottinghamshire in 1771, 16 the cricket being played in Yorkshire is not mentioned in modern cricket histories with any regularity until the mid to late nineteenth century. Whether this reflects a bias of research into the early game in the south, or a genuine absence of cricket, is uncertain.…”

“…and [was instrumental in the] fostering of religious and educational ethics among the working class'. 17 Who introduced cricket to Yorkshire, 18 or why Yorkshire, rather than perhaps Cumbria or anywhere else for that matter, became such a hotbed of cricketing activity, has been left unexplained by the authors of cricket histories. These histories suggest that the touring professional XIs were the only regular visitors to 'unfashionable' 19 northern cricket fields after 1846.…”

“…22 Under the leadership of Lord Hawke, captain for 28 years on the field, and later President off the field, YCCC developed into a cricketing super-power -with no other county winning the ECC more times prior to 1914 -in spite of YCCC's strict regional selection policy. Yet, historically YCCC, thanks to it's administrators, was one of the most conservative of cricket clubs -with big and small 'c's -initially being in the shadow of Nottinghamshire, the early 'northern stronghold', 23 and tended to be a follower of trends, rather than a club that set them. Richard Holt has noted that 'Yorkshire cricket was based upon a particularly fierce sense of territory', 24 which, Lord Hawke and the subsequent 'deportation' 25 of Cecil Parkin apart, forbade a player born outside of Yorkshire officially representing the white rose county until 1992.…”

“…Birley notes that Frederick Louis was killed 'according to one account, by the delayed affects of a cricket ball'. 47 It is not surprising that a member of the Royal Family would be associated with the county, Surrey having been regarded as the playground of Royalty, court and the aristocracy since the times of Henry VIII. As a consequence, organised cricket in Surrey, once aristocratic patronage was established, for the most part existed, in its more developed form, solely for these men, with their retained professionals relatively dependent upon their patronage.…”

“…Their famous pastoral descriptions (edited and published 40 years after they were written in Nyren's case) 75 symbolized cricket as a particularly genteel 'southern' sport, in tune with nature and representing all that is great and good about England and the English cricketing classes. The authors who have described specific identity traits associated with cricket regions have, like Mitford and Nyren, achieved this both by accident and the deliberate manipulation of myth and stereotypes.…”