Book Of The Year Award > 2010 > Cricket In The Park
CRICKET IN THE PARK The Life and Times of Lord Sheffield 1832-1909
Roger Packham

Probably only in cricket could such people as the 3rd Earl of Sheffield exist to the degree that an entire book could be devoted to his life and times. Actually, that is not strictly true as most of Lord Sheffield's life is, if not shrouded in mystery, at least, unrecorded. He might well have been said to 'Have risen without trace' were it not for something that he created from his own imagination and from his own pocket.

What he did was to build a cricket ground, albeit on a previously-existing one, at his home in Sheffield Park. The alterations to that ground more or less meant that this was a new ground and having laboured, or rather, employed a large number of labourers, for ten years, Lord Sheffield could have surveyed his work and perhaps preceded Sir Julien Cahn by forming his own team, invited professionals and amateurs to play private matches and made sure that he always got an innings and a few runs. What Lord Sheffield did, however, was to create an XI but take no part in it, other than to lend his name and get tourists, including the Australian teams, to play matches at Sheffield Park with the public invited to watch - for free! Philanthropy at its best.

Roger Packham describes Lord Sheffield as a "complex character" and Alfred Shaw (who I'm guessing was His Lordship's cricket manager) says of him somewhat elliptically, "His Lordship is a very good Fellow but he takes a lot of understanding." Some of the joy in this book lies in unconscious humour such as the fact that as Earl of Pevensey, Lord Sheffield spent eight years as an MP but seems to have left no trace of his sojourn in the House of Commons. Similarly, Lord Sheffield's reputation for generosity is well-founded and it is recorded without irony that both the Australian and South African touring teams were put up at hotels in Brighton; the visiting Parsees were quartered in a neighbouring farmhouse.

The book is sensibly put together with chapters on events at Sheffield Park with pride of place going to the Australian touring matches but all the main matches covered in depth and club cricket getting its proper place. A separate chapter covers travel abroad with His Lordship's sponsored and heavily subsidised 1891/2 England tour of Australia and the presentation of his enduring legacy, the Sheffield Shield, the inter-state championship of Australia, now rescued from its sorrowful period as an advertisement for pasteurised milk. One particularly interesting chapter deals with the instigation of Trial matches at Sheffield Park, when, as the President of Sussex, Lord Sheffield attempted to improve the quality of the Sussex side by playing and assessing new young players at Sheffield Park. It's a matter of opinion whether these trials could be held to explain the improvement in the fortunes of Sussex and Alfred Shaw and William Mycroft, Sheffield's two professionals, were ambivalent about the success of the project but it was an innovative and generous gesture.

A portrait, then, not really of a man but more of an idea and a place and one that opens up a byway that many cricket-lovers might never have considered. And just in case you might think that there is no connection with modern life, the current 8th Baron Sheffield's (and don't try to comprehend the convolutions of British aristocracy) daughter, Samantha, is married to that man of the people David Cameron. I'm sure we can now expect cricket to be high on the political agenda in the future.

review by John Symons

Publisher
Methuen Publishing,
8 Artillery Row,
LONDON
SW1P 1RZ
£18.99