In keeping with Remembrance Day observances on November 11th, let us put to one side the war between pre-Confederation Canada and the United States of America that began some 200 years ago in 1812. Instead, let us remember the 150th anniversary, admittedly a couple of months late, of the Military Officers of Canada\u2019s 1862 trip to New York to face the USA and the St George\u2019s Club of New York.
\nThis peaceful remembrance fits in neatly as the USA and Canada cricketers await this week\u2019s 2-day Auty Cup game, the 50-over international and the two T20 matches in Broward County, Florida from November 14th.
\nThe USA won the opening two day game played on September 10th and 11th, 1862 by five wickets. The Military Officers of Canada scored 104 all out and 84 all out; the USA made 71 all out then struck 119 for five wickets to win the match.
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\nCanadian openers Lewis Phillips (15 runs) and Arthur Wilson-Patten (23 runs) added 38 for the first wicket. Robert Elphinstone, who had played cricket for Harrow School, made 12 runs batting at number four. (In the interests of balance, if not \u2018peace\u2019, one might point out that Phillips, had played for Eton. The Old Etonian notching three more runs in this innings than the Old Harrovian.) Wykeham Pemberton top-scored with 27, batting at number six, but only one other batsman, Charles Slade made double figures. Slade scored 10. William Wright took four wickets for 43 and A.H. Gibbes took six for 55.
\nUSA opening bat Harry Sharpe made 20 and found support from number four batsman William Hudson, who notched 19 runs. But after the third USA wicket fell with the score on 54, the inning dissolved as Hamilton picked up five wickets for 37 runs. Cholmeley chipped in with three for 15. The USA, as previously mentioned, tallied 71 all out, giving the Military Officers of Canada a first innings lead of 33 runs.
\nThe Canadian military\u2019s second innings with a promising stand of 56 between Charles Slade (26) and Arthur Wilson-Patten (21). But after the first wicket fell, there was great collapse. A mere 28 runs were collected during the fall of the last nine wickets. Jim Creighton took five wickets for 16 and James Sadler five for 22.
\nHamilton took two early wickets to leave the USA on 15 for two wickets, and needing 103 more runs to win. But opener Harry Sharp made 23, Richard Stevens made the top individual score of the match with 33 not out and AH Gibbes scored 14. Gibbes was fifth out with victory just a couple of runs away. The win came in the 68th overs as the USA reached 119 for five wickets. It should be realized that there were just 4-balls per over in this match. Hamilton took three wickets for 40 in the USA\u2019s second innings.
\nThe second two day game between the USA and the Military of Canada was abandoned without a ball being bowled. A situation that technical advances in the world have yet to fully overcome when it comes to cricket. Although a few grounds, some with international match sized boundaries, have hosted “outdoor” cricket under a retractable roof. Some other stadia, with smaller boundaries have hosted international cricket under a closed roof.
\nThe tour concluded with a win on first innings totals by the Military of Canada against the St George\u2019s Club of New York. Lewis Philips opened with 14 for the Military of Canada, gaining some support from number three batsman Charles Bent, who made 19. Frederick Hamilton top-scored with 24, batting seventh as the Canadian tourists were bowled out for 82.
\nHamilton then took seven wickets for 29 runs, presumably ending the St George\u2019s innings with the caught-and-bowled dismissal of number ten bat Robert Bane, the innings\u2019 top scorer with 10 runs. St George\u2019s Club of New York making just 65 all out.
\nLewis Phillips then made 33 and Robert Elphinstone 14 at the start of the Military of Canada\u2019s second innings, details of the fall of wicket are not available for this stand between the Eton and Harrow pairing. But the one day game ended with the Canadian tourists second innings on 81 for eight. William Wright and Robert Waller each took four wickets for 26.
\nThe first innings scores decided the game in favour of the Military of Canada.
\nIn July 1868 the St George\u2019s Club of New York hosted the Montreal Garrison Knickerbockers in a two day game, which the invaders from Montreal won by four wickets. St George\u2019s Club 109 all out and 63 all out; Montreal Garrison Knickerbockers 79 all out and 95 for six wickets.
\nThis 1868 game was also played with just 4 balls per over, but the scoring rate was not too exciting in the Knickerbockers second innings. It took some 70 overs to reach 95 runs, with number seven batsman Nesbit Wallace scoring 42 not out.
\nWallace was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and played six first class matches : two each for Gloucestershire and Hampshire, with one game for each of The Gentlemen of the South and the MCC.
\nSo far, there has been no mention of that first international cricket match, hosted by the St Georges Club of New York that saw Canada beat the USA by 23 runs in a game played September 24-26, 1844. So now that match has been mentioned. Hopefully the weather will cooperate in southern Florida later this week for the current round of matches between the USA and Canada.
\nEddie Norfolk (with grateful thanks to those who have recorded the scorecards for these matches on Cricket Archive).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In keeping with Remembrance Day observances on November 11th, let us put to one side the war between pre-Confederation Canada and the United States of America that began some 200 years ago in 1812. Instead, let us remember the 150th anniversary, admittedly a couple of months late, of the Military Officers of Canada\u2019s 1862 trip […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3779"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3779"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3780,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3779\/revisions\/3780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}