From making the Test Match special team laugh to thrilling Ian Botham on his debut, the latest exclusive excerpt from Wisden 2023 reveals.
Queen Elizabeth II’s reign ended as it began – on the first day of the test match. News of George VI’s death reached Madras in February 1952 at tea. England struggled to the stumps, before introducing the scheduled rest day as a mark of respect.
On resumption, they were bowled over by Vinoo Mankad, before Pankaj Roy and Polly Umrigar made centuries to set up India’s first win.
Seventy years later, only hurling was possible at The Oval before gray skies began to weep, in possible anticipation of events at Balmoral. It allowed Harry Brook to become England’s 339th player to claim his Test cap as a Queen’s subject – Fred Trueman was the first – even though he did not pitch for two days, by which time the country had a King. England beat South Africa by nine wickets.
At Madras, England was captained by Donald Carr, replacing Nigel Howard. It was the second and final Test of Carr’s career, although it had the distinction of taking the first wicket of the New Testament – the first success of the Elizabethan bowlers since Francis Drake, against Spain in 1588.
A special place at the heart of cricket was held by Queen Elizabeth II, who attended Lord’s 36 times – 32 of which were for Tests – between 1947 and her death at the age of 96 last year.
However, cricket and society began to change. That summer, Len Hutton became England’s first professional captain, guiding them to a 3–0 victory over India, before winning back the Ashes the following year.
The coronation also had the distinction of being knighted later than Jack Hobbs, the son of a Cambridge resident who had worked as an apprentice gas designer before finding a county willing to pay for his martial talents.
Like Gordon Richards, the son of a Shropshire coal miner who became the land’s greatest knight and was also knighted in 1953, Hobbes overcame his background, and was honored for his achievement.
Although racing had always been the Queen’s greatest love, she had good reason to take more than a polite interest in cricket.
Her husband, a decent player, was captain of the MCC twice, in 1949 and 1975, and Wisden generously described her father as the greatest Royal cricketer since Frederick, Prince of Wales, in 1751, largely because of his hat-trick in a match at Windsor : Edward VII, George V, and the future Edward VIII were all thrown in, proving that the straight always outshines three kings.
In 1947, 75 years before Lord’s was decked out in red, white and blue to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, she made her first official visit to Earth, in the company of her parents and her sister, Princess Margaret, to watch England play South Africa. It was the first of 36 visits to Lord’s, 32 to watch the Tests.
In 1948, Don Bradman and his fellow indomitable Australians were invited to Balmoral, where they met George VI.
The day before, Bradman had made an unbeaten 123 against Scotland at Aberdeen, his last of his UK innings. Now, he raised eyebrows by being photographed walking with his hands in his pockets as he spoke to the king. Not yet bothered by George, he knighted him in 1949.
The Queen shook hands with Indian Venu Mankad on the fourth day of play, as he became the first Indian to make a century and take five wickets in the same Test
The Queen in conversation with West Indies captain Sir Garfield Sobers in 1966
On 23 June 1952, the Queen visited Lord’s on the fourth day of the match against India, arriving shortly after Mankad became the first Indian to make a century and take five wickets in the same Test.
I congratulated him during tea time. AA Thomson wrote: “One of the most enchanting photographs ever to appear in Wisden, is that of Her Majesty shaking hands with Mancad on that glorious day”.
Until 1999, the Queen was the only woman allowed in the suite. A no doubt apocryphal story was told of an MCC member waking up from a nap and babbling: “Oh my God, there’s a woman in the committee room! And she’s talking to Swanton!”
For all her visits to Lord’s, the 2009 Ashes Test was the first time in 50 years that she had stayed for lunch. This caused problems when I ordered a Dubonnet, and the staff found the drinks cabinet empty.
Someone is sent to buy a bottle in St John’s Wood, but is nearly thwarted by a security guard on their return to the grounds, who says that spirits are off limits. The invocation—”but it’s for the Queen”—was finally accepted.
There is also a royal association with the oval, which is a freehold by the Duchy of Cornwall, and marked by the Surrey crest with the Prince of Wales’s three ostrich feathers. The Queen first went there as a queen in 1955, for a Surrey match against the touring South Africans.
The Queen was introduced to the late Shane Warne of Australia by team captain Alan Border in 1993
The Queen witnessed Sir Ian Botham’s first Test in 1977 (pictured last year)
Alastair Cook couldn’t remember the names of his players when meeting the Queen in 2013 and struggled to remember anything more formal for Graeme Swan (right) than ‘Sane’
Two years later, she visited the Guildford Festival as part of the city’s 700th anniversary celebrations, though not before completing Surrey’s easy win over Hampshire. An exhibition match was quickly arranged to give the royal couple something to watch before the teams met.
For the World Cups in 1975, 1979, 1983 and 1999, the Queen invited all teams to a reception at Buckingham Palace; In 2019, he was only the captain. The 1999 invitation came in the middle of the tournament, by which time England had been knocked out. David Morgan, then vice-president of the European Central Bank, recalls being introduced to the royals as chairman of the steering committee, and hearing the Duke of Edinburgh mumble: “What on earth is there no steering left for us?”
In 1977, the Queen visited Trent Bridge, where she witnessed the first Test appearance of a cricketer she would later field, and then made a peer. “It was a moment I will never forget,” said Ian Botham. “I was on air.” Inspired, he took five wickets in his first innings.
Excerpt taken from WISDEN CRICKETERS’ ALMANACK by Lawrence Booth
The royal visit often left England’s captains confused. Alastair Cook found that he could not remember the names of his players. When he met Queen in 2013, he bashed himself with “This is Jim… er, James Anderson,” but he struggled to remember anything more formal than Graeme Swan’s “Sunny.”
Australians were less affected. At the Centenary Test in Melbourne, Dennis Lilley asked the Queen to sign it; I sent him a signed photo. Four years later, when Lily is invited to the palace to receive her MBE, she greets her with “G’day, Queen”. While lining up at Lord’s, with the Queen not out of earshot, Rodney Hogg remarked that she had “the lovely legs of an old Sheila”.
Deep down, the affection was mutual: When she visited the Test Match Special box in 2001, she held up a brandy-covered fruitcake. “When we opened it, you only had to sniff two sniffs while you were drunk,” Henry Blofeld said. He and Jonathan Agnew were enjoying her presence when she noticed the play was beginning, and asked them how they could be with her and on the air at the same time? “We have an Australian,” Blofeld said. She replied: Yes. “It can be useful.”
Taken from WISDEN CRICKETERS’ ALMANACK edited by Lawrence Booth, and published by Bloomsbury on Thursday at £57. © John Wisden & Co 2023 To order a copy (free UK P&P website), visit www.mailshop.co.uk/books Or call 020 3176 2937.
