The Authors Xi

THE AUTHORS XI The Authors are one of the world’s oldest wandering cricket teams and many eminent writers and cricketers have played for them. An offshoot of the Authors’ Club, they played regular matches at Lord’s against the Actors, Artists, Jockeys and Publishers until 1912. Arthur Conan Doyle and PG Wodehouse turned out regularly for the side, even opening the batting together. AA Milne was the best fielder, JM Barrie probably the worst and EW Hornung somewhere in between. The one-time England captain and Prisoner of Zenda star C Aubrey Smith led the Actors, and went on to found the Hollywood Cricket Club with Boris Karloff. Wodehouse was the club’s first secretary. In the 1950s, the Authors played regular matches at Vincent Square against the Publishers. Alec Waugh and Edmund Blunden were joined by Test legends, including Len Hutton, Douglas Jardine and Denis Compton. In 2012, a century after their last match at Lord’s, the Authors took the field again. They revived the traditional games against the Actors and Publishers and faced other opposition, including the Lords and Commons at Sir Paul Getty’s beautiful Wormsley ground, the Gaieties at Lord’s (covered by Radio 4’s Front Row) and a Wisden XI in Victorian garb to celebrate the 150th edition of the Almanack. That winter, the Authors toured India, playing at Bombay Gymkhana, the venue for England’s first Test on the subcontinent, and opening the Jaipur literary festival with a spectacular match against a Rajasthan Royals XI. The captains rode out for the toss on camels and the Authors made the front page of the world’s largest newspaper, The Times of India, the next day. Since then, the Authors have beaten the national team of Japan and toured Sri Lanka, where they played eight matches in nine days, against teams of prison guards, tea planters and the Colombo Colts. They donated two pitches & four kit bags to local schools there, sponsored a promising young player, and were, very briefly, mistaken for Riding out for the toss in Jaipur the England team. THE AUTHORS XI In 2015, they travelled to Rome to play the Vatican and presented Pope Francis with his own Authors cap. In 2017, they faced the national team of Iceland in a three-match series in Reykjavik, losing to the Puffins 2-1. Their book, The Authors XI: A Season of English Cricket from Hackney to Hambledon, is published by Bloomsbury’s Wisden imprint. Their 2012 season is relived in themed chapters by Tom Holland, William Fiennes, Kamila Shamsie, Ed Smith, Dan Stevens, Alex Preston, Andy Zaltzman, Amol Rajan, Thomas Penn, Anthony McGowan, James Holland, Jon Hotten, Matthew Parker, Sam Carter, Richard Beard, Peter Frankopan, Nicholas Hogg and Charlie Campbell, with a foreword from Sebastian Faulks. It was shortlisted for the MCC Cricket Society award and named by Hilary Mantel as one of her books of the year. The Authors have played at numerous festivals, including their own EFG Words & Wickets, which celebrates cricket’s long and great literary tradition. They have received extensive press coverage, appearing in The Times, Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Observer, Daily Mail, Independent, Independent on Sunday, Evening Standard, Financial Times, Town & Country, Wall Street Journal, Spectator, MCC & BBC magazines and many others. They have also featured on Sky Sports and BBC1 and have over 600,000 Twitter followers between them. Since 2012, they have raised tens of thousands of pounds for charity. For more information please contact Charlie Campbell ([email protected]) The Authors and the Artists, 1903 .

Load more