On 15 June 1909, representatives of the MCC, the Australian Cricket Board and the South African Cricket Association met at Lord's and founded the Imperial Cricket Conference, the body that became the International Cricket Council. The proposal had been pushed for two years by South African mining magnate Abe Bailey; it created the first international cricket governing structure.
Bailey had built his fortune in Johannesburg gold and diamond mining. He was a personal friend of Cecil Rhodes and had been imprisoned briefly after the Jameson Raid. As SACA president he was the driving force behind South African cricket's international ambitions, including the 1907 tour to England and the 1910-11 tour to Australia.
The MCC of the period was effectively the rule-maker for English cricket; the Australian board (founded only in 1905) was a federation of state associations; the SACA was a federation of provincial unions. The three bodies had no formal relationship before 1909.
Bailey's 1907 letter was followed by extensive correspondence. The South African 1907 tour to England had impressed MCC; the Australian 1909 tour was the moment when face-to-face negotiations could happen. A meeting at Lord's during the tour was agreed.
By 1907 international cricket had three Test-playing nations — England, Australia and South Africa — but no central body to govern relations between them. Tour disputes (notably the row over the 1899-1900 South Africa tour to Australia) had been settled by ad hoc correspondence. Abe Bailey, the South African mining magnate and president of the South African Cricket Association, wrote on 30 November 1907 to Francis Lacey, MCC secretary, proposing an Imperial Cricket Board.
The Australian Cricket Board initially rejected the idea, suspicious of MCC dominance. Bailey lobbied during the 1909 Australia tour of England and the proposal gained traction. On 15 June 1909, at Lord's under the chairmanship of the Earl of Chesterfield (then MCC President), the Imperial Cricket Conference was formally constituted with England, Australia and South Africa as its three members.
The Conference's first concrete project was a Triangular Tournament between the three nations, eventually staged in England in 1912. The body did not meet again until 1921; it was rebranded as the International Cricket Conference in 1965, then as the International Cricket Council in 1989. Its 1909 founding remains the formal start of international cricket governance.
30 Nov 1907: Bailey writes to Lacey proposing an Imperial Cricket Board.
1908: Australian Cricket Board initially rejects.
Spring 1909: Bailey arrives in England; lobbies MCC and Australia.
15 June 1909: ICC founded at Lord's.
Earl of Chesterfield (MCC President) chairs the meeting.
England, Australia, South Africa become the three founding members.
First project: Triangular Tournament (held 1912).
First permanent secretariat not until 1965.
30 Nov 1907
Bailey writes to MCC proposing the body.
1908
Australian board declines to commit.
May 1909
Bailey arrives in England with the Australian touring side.
15 June 1909
ICC founded at Lord's.
1912
Triangular Tournament — the body's first project.
1921
ICC's second meeting.
1965
Renamed International Cricket Conference; non-Commonwealth nations admitted.
1989
Renamed International Cricket Council.
“An imperial body for the regulation of international cricket.”
The Triangular Tournament of 1912 was the first project of the new body. It was a partial failure — an exceptionally wet English summer, weakened Australian and South African teams, and lukewarm public interest combined to ensure it was not repeated. The Imperial Cricket Conference did not meet again until 1921.
The body was renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965 (after which non-Commonwealth nations could join) and the International Cricket Council in 1989. By 2025 the ICC had over 100 members and a permanent headquarters in Dubai.
A founding moment of modern cricket administration, won as much by South African persistence (Bailey) as by English consent. The structure was rudimentary — no permanent secretariat, no rule-making power beyond agreement between members — but it was the first.
The 1909 founding established the principle that international cricket would be governed by a central body rather than by bilateral negotiation between national associations. The principle has held ever since.
The South African role in the founding is sometimes underplayed in English histories. Bailey's tireless lobbying and SACA's institutional patience were essential; without them, the ICC might not have come into existence until after the First World War.
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
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.