The start of something big

One hundred and fifty years ago, on May 20, 1854, a group of gentlemen formed an exclusive club to play cricket on Wimbledon Common. On a previously untended area they had a pitch cut and erected tents for a match with Surbiton in late July. No reports survive, but the scores give some idea of the game: Surbiton 84 and 87, Wimbledon 26 and 45 for 4, with extras easily the leading scorer on both sides.

They were an amateur club, and they employed professionals to bowl to them on practice afternoons. When one of these men, George Brockwell of the Surrey Club, made up their team against Price's Candle Company in Vauxhall, they called themselves `The Wimbledon Club (with Brockwell)'. James Southerton, later to play in England's first Test side, worked on their square for a while, but he was not invited to play.

Travel to the games was eventful. Both Wimbledon's opening bowlers were tipped out of a dog cart on the way to Richmond and arrived limping. On another occasion Southgate, making the long trip from north of London, arrived three hours late and encountered a volley of abuse from the Wimbledon captain. "There's still time to finish the game," they insisted and, with two of the Walker brothers taking all the wickets, they dismissed their hosts for 32 and 42.

Each year Wimbledon staged a match with the great wandering side I Zingari, who loved the setting: "There is not a prettier spot for a cricket match than the green on Wimbledon Common on a fine summer's day." But there were problems when the 1858 match was won on first innings by Wimbledon. A full four years later Wimbledon were forced to alter their records, with the note that "I Zingari did not accept the universal custom of deciding one-day matches by first innings."

The new Waterloo to Southampton railway line was opened, allowing journeys to Hampshire and even a tour of the Isle of Wight in 1865. Eight days of cricket were played, with only Sunday off, with nine of the 14 tourists playing every day. Their only defeat occurred at Shanklin where "in consequence of the roughness of the ground, an agreement was made not to bowl fast on either side."

Club rules were passed, with five shilling fines handed out to members who agreed to play and failed to turn up, also to `any player in a match who shall smoke in the field, after having been requested not to smoke by an Officer of the Club.'

It was gentlemen's cricket. Few of the Wimbledon Club played with any regularity, but their matches attracted enough notice for their specialist wicketkeeper John Oliphant to be selected to play in the Gentlemen v Players match at Lord's in 1861.

Long stop was a vital fielding position, underarm bowling was a common sight, and one summer three hats - costing 10 shillings and sixpence each - were awarded to members who took three wickets with consecutive balls.

The Wimbledon Club today comprises cricket, tennis, hockey and squash sections. But hockey did not start in Wimbledon till the 1880s, and lawn tennis only gained popularity when the All England Croquet Club, down by the railway line in Wimbledon, decided to stage a tennis tournament in July 1877. Twenty-two competitors entered, and the final was held over to the following week, "on account of its being the Eton and Harrow Cricket Match at Lord's."

The first All England champion was a Wimbledon Cricket Club member, Spencer Gore, an Old Harrovian who cycled each day from Wandsworth and introduced the new tactic of running forward and playing the ball on the volley. Nine days later he was back on the Common, scoring 58 for I Zingari. "Anyone who really plays well at cricket," he said, "will never give attention to lawn tennis. The monotony of the game will choke him off."

By the 1880s cricket had become more sophisticated, and the best clubs no longer wished to change in tents and play on unenclosed fields. So the Wimbledon Club found a new home in Church Road, opposite the site where the tennis championships are now played, and they are still there 104 years and three clubhouses later.

In that time their membership has included five Test captains, not to mention Jim Swanton and Willie Rushton, and they have won the Surrey Championship five times in the last twelve years. As at all times in their history there is still a strong public school air about the place, though the rule book no longer contains a fine for smoking in the field.

The Wimbledon Club is bringing out a book telling the story of its 150 years of cricket, hockey, tennis and squash. It will be available from early June from the Club (telephone 020 8971 8090). Price £15, post free.