Another piece from the hard drive that was intended to become part of a novel set partly in India and partly in the UK in the nineteenth century. Although an entirely fabricated event, all the cricketers here of both teams were actual cricketers of this time. The England team is made up of players from South East England counties, and the Indian team with players from the first Indian tours to England in 1886 and 1888. This match, though, is entirely fictional.

Image: cricket matches in progress on the Maidan, Kolkata.

It was the 13^th August 1887, and a cricket match was in progress on the Higher Ground at Tunbridge Wells. It had begun two days previously, with a forecast of fine weather for the whole of its three-day duration and the visiting team, on losing the toss, had been asked to bat first. So far, the match had gone perfectly according to script. The touring Indian team had been bowled out for 117 under sunny skies, the United England XI, under The Honourable G R C Harris, the Kent County Captain, had scored 293 in reply, Harris himself top scoring with a magnificent 109, then the Indians had rallied to 236 in their second innings, a lead of exactly 60. The watching citizens of Tunbridge Wells had applauded politely and dutifully, expecting the openers to knock off the required runs before tea.

It was then that the weather changed.

As the United England openers walked out to bat, the skies suddenly darkened and a few drops of rain began to fall. The umpires looked up, Square Leg umpire wandered across to consult with his colleague, then the rain ceased. The clouds, although fat and dark, refused to release any more rain, so Square Leg umpire wandered back to his mark and the opening batsman took his guard. As he marked out his crease, a light wind whisked away the dust from his scratching bat and the crowd immediately noticed that they had begun to sweat. It was a warm, humid wind, blowing from left to right across the square from the opening bowler’s perspective. The old India hands amongst the spectators looked around in an unconscious, puzzled recognition.

M D Kanga, opening bowler for the touring Indian team, was not particularly fast, but he possessed the ability to swing the ball into the right hander. As he ran in to bowl the first ball of the innings, the wind strengthened slightly. He reached the crease, banged down into his delivery stride and released the ball, which started towards the batsman’s off stump, then curved through the muggy air and struck the batsman on the pad dead in front of leg stump. The batsman, back in his crease and looking to play to cover, was clearly LBW. Kanga and the rest of the Indian team went up in unison to appeal and the umpire, sheepishly, had no choice but to give the Honourable G R C Harris out, first ball. There was a scattered applause from the spectators, which was followed by an appalled silence as Arthur Shrewsbury, England Captain, was clean bowled by Kanga’s second delivery. The England IX were 0 for 2 and Kanga was on a hat trick.

To the relief of the spectators, the Sussex batsman and fast bowler J B Hide kept out the hat trick ball, blocked the next two deliveries, and then opened the scoring with a beautifully struck four back past the bowler. Tunbridge Wells heaved a collective sigh of relief and the world jerked back into motion.

Alec Hearne, Kent opening bat, had watched this carnage from the other end, and played the first ball of the next over carefully back to the bowler. Dhunjishaw Patel, the Indian Captain, bowled old-fashioned, fast underarm – surprisingly difficult to bat against, with its variations in pace, line and length, and with pitches still often fairly uneven. His second and third balls, too, were defended back, until a looser delivery popped up in front of the batsman, asking to be put away. Gratefully he walloped it towards the boundary and called Hide through for a couple of runs. A misfield handed them a third run, however, and the fifth ball was faced by Hide, who also defended carefully. A single off the last ball meant that Hide had kept the strike for the next over. 8 for 2.

Kanga’s next ball went for four, while the second was blocked. As the score went into double figures and the batsmen carefully pushed the score on towards the sixty-one needed for victory, the crowd began to smile again around the boundary edge. 12 for 2 became 14 for 2 and as Kanga came in to bowl the last ball of the over, Hide raised his bat in anticipation and began the pace forward towards the pitch of the ball. As he did so, and exactly at the point at which the bowler released the ball, a small boy in the crowd jumped up directly behind the bowler’s arm. There was no time to call a halt and as Hide quickly tried to refocus his attention on the ball and adjust the stroke, the ball took the edge of the bat and dropped into the waiting hands of first slip. 14 for 3.

Hide stamped off furiously, to be replaced by the number five, W A Humphreys of Sussex. The steady procession of returning batsmen continued then as Hearne decided to take the fight to the Indians, aiming a huge hit at the first ball of Patel’s next over, only to pick out the man at deep mid off. 14 for 4. Henderson, in at number six, survived the rest of Patel’s over, leaving Humphreys to face his first ball from Kanga; straight and fast, kept out. The second swung in sharply – blocked. The third on off stump and edged through slips for two. The fourth blocked. The fifth swung out, again taking the edge but this time taken at second slip. One ball left and the new batsman, Ford of Middlesex, was able to leave one that was too wide. 16 for 5.

The next six overs saw a recovery that saw the score climb to 36 for 5 when, off the last ball of the over, Ford mistimed a drive and was bowled off his legs. 36 for 6.

F Hearne, brother of Alec, usually opened the batting for Kent and was down at number eight for this match, as he had been used as the opening bowler. With only twenty-five needed to win, he decided to swing the bat after taking a couple of balls to get his eye in. The first went for four, the second took the edge and the wicket keeper took a fine catch diving away to his right. 40 for 7.

Pentecost, the English wicket keeper, often batted down the bottom of the order for Kent. In fact, between himself, W Hearne (another brother) and A B Hide of Sussex, there was fierce competition for the number eleven spot. The crowd had begun to get nervous again. He survived the last two balls of Patel’s over, then for the next over Patel took off Kanga and brought on Shaparjee Bhedwar. Bhedwar began by sending down a bit of a loosener which Henderson, playing completely down the wrong line, allowed to cannon into his pads for another LBW decision. W Hearne kept out the next ball, but played all around the third and looked back to see middle and off stump knocked back. A B Hide came in last, to a deafening silence, and kept Bhedwar at bay for the rest of the over. 40 for 9.

All at sea against Patel, Pentecost attempted to block the first ball of the next over, only to see it miss off stump by a whisker and his bat by a country mile. He therefore slogged at the next one, which shot away through cover enabling them to run two. The next one clipped his off stump, the bails came off and it was all over. United England IX second innings all out for forty-two and the Indian tourists had won by eighteen runs. There was a little polite clapping around the ground, but the general feeling was one of anger. The reporter from the local paper sat writing and then crossing out lines in his notebook, his mouth a thin line. The spectators were leaving faster than was usual, but in the refreshment marquee there were heated voices raised.