‘Deadly’ Derek Underwood heads a team of former England Test players that will do battle against the French national side at Hastings on August 20 in a game to mark the centenary of cricket’s only ever appearance as an Olympic sport.
The 40-over game will take place at Horntye Park, the magnificent new venue where first-class cricket returned to Hastings earlier this Summer when Sussex played Zimbabwe. Admission is free and other former Test stars on display will include Brian Luckhurst, Roger Tolchard, Robin Hobbs and Martin McCague. Former Sussex favourite Jim Parks will manage the Old England side and his son Bobby, the ex-Hampshire keeper, will be in charge of the French national side, which he has coached since 1999.
France are competing in next year’s ICC Trophy in Canada and their side includes several home-grown youngsters who have received coaching tips from Richie Benaud, France’s national cricket patron. One of the team’s top players is David Holt, who has represented England Under-17s and Middlesex IIs. David’s mother is French—and a qualified cricket coach herself.
The Hastings game is taking place exactly 100 years to the day since England beat France by 158 runs during the 1900 Paris Olympics. Amazing but true! Cricket was once an Olympic sport and the official poster printed by the République Française (under the auspices of the Ministère du Commerce, de l’Industrie, des Postes et des Télégraphes) advertised full details of a MATCH DE CRICKET pitting FRANCE CONTRE ANGLETERRE on August 19/20, 1900 at the VELODROME DE VINCENNES. Tickets were priced 1 franc for a seat in the tribune (stand) and 50 centimes for the secondes (terraces).
The two-day, two-innings, 12-a-side game was reported by various French and English dailies, including The Sporting Life, Cricket—A Weekly Record, The Paris Herald and La Vie au Grand Air, which printed five photographs—including one of the match in progress—to illustrate a detailed report by Géo Lefèvre.
Between 1908 and 1912, with the modern-day Olympic movement firmly established after a hesitant start, the International Olympic Committee officially logged past results and struck plaques for all the players who took part in the 1900 cricket event: in silver (!) for the winners; and in bronze for the runners-up. Reference books like the Enzyklopädie der Olympischen Spielen and The Guinness Book of Olympic Facts & Feats duly list cricket as an Olympic sport that has been ‘discontinued.’
Had cricket stayed in the Olympics, its development could have been vastly different. Most European governments provide funding for Olympic sports—while ignoring others. With cricket now at last gaining a foothold across mainland Europe, the European Cricket Council has chosen August 20 for its first ‘European Cricket Day’ and France’s Under-16 side (who are competing in the Isle of Wight County Youth Festival from August 21-25) will receive top-level coaching at the ground in Hastings just before the Olympic Centenary game.
For further details, please contact:
Simon Hewitt—France’s Director of Cricket on (0033) 608 855 714
Eddie Cannon in the France Cricket Office on (0033) 553 544 095
Bobby Parks, French National Coach, on 01256 389 053