William Caffyn — later one of the great Surrey professionals of the 1850s, member of both the 1861-62 Stephenson and the 1863-64 Parr tours of Australia, and eventually the most influential coach in colonial Australian cricket — was a small boy at Reigate in the late 1830s, learning his cricket at a village green where his father ran a barber's shop. His memoir *71 Not Out* (1899) preserves a vivid picture of the cricketing world of his late-1830s boyhood.
Reigate in the 1830s was a small market town in Surrey on the road from London to Brighton. The village green held cricket every summer and the All-England eleven would later make Reigate a regular fixture. The Caffyn family lived close enough to the green that the young William grew up steeped in cricket from infancy.
Caffyn was born at Reigate in Surrey on 2 February 1828. His father was a barber and the family lived in the High Street, a few minutes' walk from the village cricket green. By the late 1830s, when Caffyn was around ten, he was already a fixture at the green, watching the village men play and being allowed, when an extra player was needed, to field at long-stop. His memoir *71 Not Out* — published in 1899 when he was 71 — records the cricketing culture of his Reigate boyhood: the village team's annual matches against neighbouring parishes, the visits of the All-England eleven to Reigate (which began in the 1840s), the underarm and roundarm bowlers his father's friends used, and the way the boys of the village imitated the famous men they had read about in the papers. He records seeing Pilch bat as a small boy, and being told stories of Mynn's fast bowling. *71 Not Out* is one of the great Victorian cricket memoirs and is a unique source for the texture of late-1830s village cricket — a world that survives in print only because Caffyn was a boy who would grow up to play first-class cricket and to write about it.
2 Feb 1828: William Caffyn born at Reigate
Late 1830s: Caffyn a small boy watching cricket on Reigate Green
Late 1830s: Allowed to field at long-stop in village matches
1840s: First sight of Pilch and Mynn at Reigate
1849: Caffyn's first match for Surrey, aged 21
1899: Publishes 71 Not Out, recording his late-1830s memories
2 Feb 1828
Caffyn born at Reigate
Late 1830s
Boyhood cricket on Reigate Green
1849
Surrey debut
1861-62
First Australian tour with Stephenson
1864
Emigrates permanently to Sydney
1899
Publishes 71 Not Out
“I was born at Reigate in 1828 and my earliest memories are of cricket on the green.”
“Pilch came to Reigate to play and I, a boy of ten, watched him bat — I never forgot the way he stood at the wicket.”
Caffyn went on to play for Surrey through the 1850s and 1860s, to tour Australia twice (1861-62 with Stephenson, 1863-64 with Parr), and finally to emigrate permanently to Sydney in 1864 to coach the Albert Club. He is generally regarded as the most influential single coach in early Australian cricket and one of the founding figures of the colonial game.
The late-1830s village cricketing apprenticeship of a boy who would become one of the most travelled professionals of the Victorian era.
*71 Not Out* (1899) is one of the canonical Victorian cricket memoirs. Caffyn's late-1830s recollections preserve the village cricketing culture of the Pilch-Mynn era for posterity. His later coaching role in Australia means his life-story spans the entire arc from late-1830s English village cricket to the first Australian Test sides of 1877.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
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