The Imperial Cricket Conference, founded at Lord's in June 1909 with England, Australia and South Africa as founding members, became operationally active through 1910-1914 — the body that scheduled the 1912 Triangular and would in time become the modern ICC.
Bailey had pushed the Imperial cricket idea since the early 1900s. The 1909 founding was the culmination of half a decade of correspondence.
Through 1910-1912 the ICC's main project was the Triangular Tournament — its first attempt at a multi-nation event.
The ICC was the brainchild of Sir Abe Bailey, the South African mining magnate who saw an Imperial cricket body as both useful and politically valuable. The founding meeting was on 15 June 1909 at Lord's, with Lord's, Australia and South Africa each represented. From 1910 the body began to function: it set tour rosters, negotiated tournament structures (the 1912 Triangular being its first big project), and standardised some laws. Membership remained limited to the three founders for the entire decade. India, the West Indies and New Zealand were not admitted until 1926; Pakistan, Sri Lanka and others much later. The Triangular's failure in 1912 reduced the ICC's credibility for years; only after the war did it begin to reassert itself. Through the 1910s it also formalised the rules of qualification — the residency periods, definitions of 'colony' eligibility, and the template that would eventually govern Test selection across the Empire.
15 Jun 1909: ICC founded at Lord's
1910: First operational meetings
1912: Triangular Tournament — and its failure
1915-18: ICC business effectively suspended for the war
1919: ICC begins to reorganise post-war Test cricket
Jun 1909
ICC founded at Lord's
1912
Triangular Tournament fails
1915-18
ICC business suspended for war
“An Imperial cricket body must be the next step in the development of the game.”
The ICC's structure of three founding members lasted until 1926, when India, the West Indies and New Zealand were admitted.
The ICC's founding decade — quietly setting the template for international cricket administration even as the Triangular failure dented its early ambitions.
The 1910s ICC was small, gentlemanly and dominated by Lord's, but it set the precedents — admission criteria, scheduling, member voting — that the modern ICC inherited.
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.