ICC T20 WC is on and today it is 6th match at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbadas - generally fast and bouncy pitch and here is some interesting trivia !! England and Scotland, sharing common border are meeting for the first time in a T2oI – of course they have played ODI against. – and their meeting is happening thousands of miles away.
England pacer Jofra Archer is playings first international match in the country where he was born and raised. Today Scotland winning the toss and electing to bat at 5.2 Jordan ran into bowl to Jones and was astonished to see the ball smashed over the roof into carpark. It shattered some solar panels – damaging some and vanquishing the carbon footprints.
Unlikely that one could connect - Charles William Alcock to this match. But after 6.2 overs, play has been halted by more rain, which arrived rather suddenly, sending the players from the field, covers scurried doing not good for Scotland who were coasting nicely at 51 for 0.
The star in the middle denting solar panels and English bowers is : Michael Alexander Jones. Born in Ormskirk, Jones spent time at Lancashire's academy and featured in county 2nd XI matches for Durham, Derbyshire and Leicestershire before signing a senior academy contract with Durham ahead of the 2018 season.
We wait for the match to resume and a possible result. Charles William Alcock (1842 – 1907) was an English sportsman, administrator, author and editor. He was a major instigator in the development of both international football and cricket, as well as being the creator of the FA Cup. In 1870 a foot ball was initiated by Charles W. Alcock who placed advertisements in Scottish newspapers, including the following letter in the Glasgow Herald on 3 November 1870 regarding the second of the five fixtures: (which according to Wikipedia read)
Sir, will you allow me a few lines in your newspaper to notify to Scotch players that a match under the above title will take place in London on Sat 10th inst., according to the rules of the Football Association. It is the object of the committee to select the best elevens at their disposal in the two countries, and I cannot but think that the appearance of some of the more prominent celebrities of football on the northern side of the Tweed would do much to disseminate a healthy feeling of good fellowship among the contestants and tend to promote a still greater extent the extension of the game...
Between 1870 and 1872, the Football Association (FA) organised five representative association football matches between teams representing England and Scotland, all held in London. The first of these matches was held at The Oval on 5 March 1870, and the fifth was on 21 February 1872. The matches, which were organised by Charles W. Alcock, are the precursors to modern international football and were referred to as internationals at the time. They are not recognised, however, as full internationals by FIFA as the players competing in the Scotland team were drawn only from London-based Scottish players. They were followed by the 1872 match in Glasgow between Scotland and England which is recognised as the first international match.
The 1872 association football match between the national teams of Scotland and England is officially recognised by FIFA as the first international. It took place on 30 November 1872 at Hamilton Crescent, the West of Scotland Cricket Club's ground in Partick, Glasgow. The match was watched by 4,000 spectators and finished as a 0–0 draw.
The match of 1870 was about 90 minutes – and the rivalry began thus at the Kennington Oval. It was the place where the first-ever Test on English soil was played in Sept 1880, resulting in an England win over Australia by five wickets, with WG Grace scoring a hundred on debut, and this is where a Test series in England traditionally ends. More pertinently, this is the historic venue where the legend of the Ashes was born a couple of years after the inaugural Test, in August 1882.
Rivalries are interesting !
With regards – S Sampathkumar
4.6.2024
