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Old Ebor

@oldebor.bsky.social
367 followers 210 following 206 posts

A cricket tragic who writes about the pre-war history of the game oldebor77.substack.com

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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Between 1919 and 1939, the Roses Match was probably the most intense game in English cricket. Crowds flocked to see, attracted by the drama. But not by the excitement. And all of it was chronicled — sometimes lovingly, sometimes not — by Neville Cardus oldebor77.substack.com/p/glimpses-i...
oldebor77.substack.com
Glimpses into Eternity
Neville Cardus and the Roses Match, 1919–1939
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
In 1921, England were overwhelmed by an Australian team playing a very modern kind of cricket. The response was to look backwards. That was how the extraordinary figure of Lionel Tennyson became England captain oldebor77.substack.com/p/the-wrong-...
oldebor77.substack.com
The Wrong Lesson
Lionel Tennyson’s Appointment as England Captain in 1921
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Outclassed by Armstrong’s Australians in 1921, England's selectors thrashed around for solutions. Their answer: to look backwards, to find a throwback into cricket’s glorious past. They appointed Lionel Tennyson as captain, a man who was already an anachronism. oldebor77.substack.com/p/the-wrong-...
oldebor77.substack.com
The Wrong Lesson
Lionel Tennyson’s Appointment as England Captain in 1921
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
But no-one loved him more than his friends at the Fylingdales Inn, near Whitby, where he spent many happy days.
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Charles Ollivierre was popular wherever life took him: from his early days playing cricket for St Vincent to his career at Derbyshire, in the first years of the twentieth century, when he was the first black West Indian to play county cricket. oldebor77.substack.com/p/the-cricke...
oldebor77.substack.com
The Cricketer at the Fylingdales Inn
The Life of Charles Ollivierre
103
Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Charles Ollivierre was popular wherever life took him: from his early days playing cricket for St Vincent to his career at Derbyshire, in the first years of the twentieth century, when he was the first black West Indian to play county cricket. oldebor77.substack.com/p/the-cricke...
oldebor77.substack.com
The Cricketer at the Fylingdales Inn
The Life of Charles Ollivierre
103
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
There were few more popular cricketers than Surrey’s Bill Hitch. An enthusiastic fast bowler, a big-hitting batter and an exceptional fielder, particularly at short leg. For a time, he was the fastest bowler in England. And the Oval crowds adored him. oldebor77.substack.com/p/bill-hitch...
oldebor77.substack.com
Bill Hitch
Adored at the Oval
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
There were few more popular cricketers than Surrey’s Bill Hitch. An enthusiastic fast bowler, a big-hitting batter and an exceptional fielder, particularly at short leg. For a time, he was the fastest bowler in England. And the Oval crowds adored him. oldebor77.substack.com/p/bill-hitch...
oldebor77.substack.com
Bill Hitch
Adored at the Oval
002
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
In 1922, Lord Harris twice intervened to stop players representing their counties after he discovered that they were not qualified owing to loopholes in the rules. But for Harris it was not about rules: it was about fighting Bolshevism! oldebor77.substack.com/p/lord-harri...
oldebor77.substack.com
Lord Harris and the Bolsheviks
“It means revolt, revolt against law and rule”
022
Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
In 1922, Lord Harris twice intervened to stop players representing their counties after he discovered that they were not qualified owing to loopholes in the rules. But for Harris it was not about rules: it was about fighting Bolshevism! oldebor77.substack.com/p/lord-harri...
oldebor77.substack.com
Lord Harris and the Bolsheviks
“It means revolt, revolt against law and rule”
022
Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Everyone who saw Frank Woolley admired his beautiful style. Yet he is forgotten today; contemporaries said that neither words nor figures did him justice. But underneath the star-struck wonder was a far more complicated figure than legend allows oldebor77.substack.com/p/easy-to-wa...
oldebor77.substack.com
“Easy to Watch, Difficult to Bowl to, Impossible to Write About”
The Puzzle of Frank Woolley
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
In 1919, the Australian Imperial Forces Cricket Team toured England, initially captained by the Australian Test batter Charlie Kelleway. But he was soon replaced by Herbie Collins. No official explanation was ever offered. But there have been plenty of theories oldebor77.substack.com/p/owing-to-s...
oldebor77.substack.com
"Owing to Some Disagreement"
The Sacking of Charlie Kelleway
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
In 1919, the Australian Imperial Forces Cricket Team toured England, initially captained by the Australian Test batter Charlie Kelleway. But he was soon replaced by Herbie Collins. No official explanation was ever offered. But there have been plenty of theories oldebor77.substack.com/p/owing-to-s...
oldebor77.substack.com
"Owing to Some Disagreement"
The Sacking of Charlie Kelleway
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
JWHT Douglas captained England 18 times but he was rarely the first choice of the selectors. His face never quite fitted: an amateur who played like a professional, who treated every game as a battle and was dubbed by the crowd “Johnny Won’t Hit Today”. oldebor77.substack.com/p/a-battle-a...
oldebor77.substack.com
"A Battle, and Nothing But"
J. W. H. T. Douglas: Cricketer, Fighter, Second Choice
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
JWHT Douglas captained England 18 times but he was rarely the first choice of the selectors. His face never quite fitted: an amateur who played like a professional, who treated every game as a battle and was dubbed by the crowd “Johnny Won’t Hit Today”. oldebor77.substack.com/p/a-battle-a...
oldebor77.substack.com
"A Battle, and Nothing But"
J. W. H. T. Douglas: Cricketer, Fighter, Second Choice
012
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
John Vallencey, the Vicar of Rosliston, had absolute faith in his own authority. And he was prepared to go to war with his parishioners to demonstrate it. lostlives.substack.com/p/the-vicar-...
lostlives.substack.com
The Vicar of Rosliston
"I will not yield to any who insist on having a right to do as they like"
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
John Vallencey, the Vicar of Rosliston, had absolute faith in his own authority. And he was prepared to go to war with his parishioners to demonstrate it. lostlives.substack.com/p/the-vicar-...
lostlives.substack.com
The Vicar of Rosliston
"I will not yield to any who insist on having a right to do as they like"
001
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
In 1919, league cricket in England became a genuine competitor to county cricket, able to attract the best players. For a time, administrators feared the effects of the Lancashire League and Bradford League. It was largely, but not entirely, a question of money. open.substack.com/pub/oldebor7...
open.substack.com
"There is only one question — a financial one"
County Cricket and the Lure of the Leagues
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
In 1919, league cricket in England became a genuine competitor to county cricket, able to attract the best players. For a time, administrators feared the effects of the Lancashire League and Bradford League. It was largely, but not entirely, a question of money. open.substack.com/pub/oldebor7...
open.substack.com
"There is only one question — a financial one"
County Cricket and the Lure of the Leagues
163
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Andy Newell was an excellent club cricketer who never quite made it at first-class level. But his disappearance and apparent suicide in 1907 made headlines. His obituary even featured in Wisden. The problem was that Newell was not dead. open.substack.com/pub/oldebor7...
open.substack.com
Secret Lives and Wasted Sympathy
The Disappearance of Andy Newell
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Andy Newell was an excellent club cricketer who never quite made it at first-class level. But his disappearance and apparent suicide in 1907 made headlines. His obituary even featured in Wisden. The problem was that Newell was not dead. open.substack.com/pub/oldebor7...
open.substack.com
Secret Lives and Wasted Sympathy
The Disappearance of Andy Newell
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Hedley Verity was one of the greatest spinners to play for England. But the man — and his cricket — have been submerged beneath the hagiography of the valiant and tragic war hero. His career was less straightforward than the legend ever allows. open.substack.com/pub/oldebor7...
open.substack.com
Hedley Verity
Before the Hagiography
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Hedley Verity was one of the greatest spinners to play for England. But the man — and his cricket — have been submerged beneath the hagiography of the valiant and tragic war hero. His career was less straightforward than the legend ever allows. open.substack.com/pub/oldebor7...
open.substack.com
Hedley Verity
Before the Hagiography
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
I never saw Sobers unfortunately, as he was before my time. But if he isn't the greatest ever, then the word has no meaning. Raising a glass to Sir Garry
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Nottinghamshire CCC @trentbridge.co.uk · 17/07/2026
Cricket's greatest-ever all-rounder, and an iconic figure in Nottinghamshire history. We are extremely saddened to hear of the passing of Sir Garfield Sobers. f.mtr.cool/hkzezavgyc
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
It has become a legend that as well as being Hampshire’s wicket-keeper in the 1920s (and one of the heroes of a match his county won after being bowled out for 15), Walter Livsey was also the valet of his captain, Lionel Tennyson. The truth was less clear-cut.. open.substack.com/pub/oldebor7...
open.substack.com
The Legends of Walter Livsey
Wicket-keeper, Coach, Writer … and Valet?
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
It has become a legend that as well as being Hampshire’s wicket-keeper in the 1920s (and one of the heroes of a match his county won after being bowled out for 15), Walter Livsey was also the valet of his captain, Lionel Tennyson. The truth was less clear-cut.. open.substack.com/pub/oldebor7...
open.substack.com
The Legends of Walter Livsey
Wicket-keeper, Coach, Writer … and Valet?
031
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Walter Gilbert, a cousin of WG Grace, fell into disgrace in 1886. Not just for his arrest and conviction for theft, nor for financial struggles that already had resulted in bankruptcy. But for his horrifying decision to turn professional after years as an amateur open.substack.com/pub/oldebor7...
open.substack.com
The Thin Partition
The Fall of Mr W. R. Gilbert
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Walter Gilbert, a cousin of WG Grace, fell into disgrace in 1886. Not just for his arrest and conviction for theft, nor for financial struggles that already had resulted in bankruptcy. But for his horrifying decision to turn professional after years as an amateur open.substack.com/pub/oldebor7...
open.substack.com
The Thin Partition
The Fall of Mr W. R. Gilbert
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
The Agony Column of the Times was full of stories that fascinated the public, but which were never resolved. DEAREST H. — Am in great distress. Pray write at once to same address as last; it will be quite safe. Loving little wife. (10 May 1881) open.substack.com/pub/lostlive...
open.substack.com
"Little Wife" and Other Stories
The Agony Column of The Times in 1881
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Daisie Stanley was one of the most remarkable women to play cricket. Her value lay not in batting or bowling, but in a genius for publicity that made her, in 1890, the heart of the Original English Lady Cricketers, the first professional women’s cricket team. open.substack.com/pub/oldebor7...
open.substack.com
The Captain of the "Blues"
Miss Daisie Stanley and the Original English Lady Cricketers
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Daisie Stanley was one of the most remarkable women to play cricket. Her value lay not in batting or bowling, but in a genius for publicity that made her, in 1890, the heart of the Original English Lady Cricketers, the first professional women’s cricket team. open.substack.com/pub/oldebor7...
open.substack.com
The Captain of the "Blues"
Miss Daisie Stanley and the Original English Lady Cricketers
012
Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
No-one knows what happened to the South African cricketer Jimmy Blanckenberg. After his last Test in 1924, he went on to play league cricket. He vanished from view in the 1930s and from public records in 1947. But it was not his first disappearance oldebor77.substack.com/p/the-man-wh...
oldebor77.substack.com
The Man Who Fled
The Many Disappearances of Jimmy Blanckenberg
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Kate Hudson was the daughter of an optician. After the death of her father in 1895, her husband took her for a break in Helmsley. And he murdered her. open.substack.com/pub/lostlive...
open.substack.com
The Optician's Daughter
The Murder of Kate Hudson
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
R. H. Spooner — with his brilliant, stylish batting — came to be a symbol for an entire period of English cricket: the "Golden Age". Yet it was a period to which he never entirely belonged. Real life got in the way a little too often. open.substack.com/pub/oldebor7...
open.substack.com
"Clothed the Grass with Gold"
Reginald Spooner, the Ghost of the Golden Age
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
R. H. Spooner — with his brilliant, stylish batting — came to be a symbol for an entire period of English cricket: the "Golden Age". Yet it was a period to which he never entirely belonged. Real life got in the way a little too often. open.substack.com/pub/oldebor7...
open.substack.com
"Clothed the Grass with Gold"
Reginald Spooner, the Ghost of the Golden Age
021
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
Andrew Stoddart captained England in two sports in the 1890s. His career encompassed the highest highs and the lowest lows, but his face never quite fitted. And throughout, he remained a tired pessimist. open.substack.com/pub/oldebor7...
open.substack.com
A Tired Pessimist
The Rise and Fall of Andrew Stoddart
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
Andrew Stoddart captained England in two sports in the 1890s. His career encompassed the highest highs and the lowest lows, but his face never quite fitted. And throughout, he remained a tired pessimist. open.substack.com/pub/oldebor7...
open.substack.com
A Tired Pessimist
The Rise and Fall of Andrew Stoddart
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
In 1913, an 18-year-old called Dorothy Vause disappeared from Whitby without explanation. When her family received letters and telegrams from her days later, she said that she had been kidnapped. But the truth was almost certainly very different. open.substack.com/pub/lostlive...
open.substack.com
The Stationmaster's Daughter
The Escape of Dorothy Vause
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Snuffy Browne was one of the most remarkable men ever to play cricket. He should have been impossible. open.substack.com/pub/oldebor7...
open.substack.com
"The Highest Ambition"
Snuffy Browne, the Impossible Cricketer
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Snuffy Browne was one of the most remarkable men ever to play cricket. He should have been impossible. open.substack.com/pub/oldebor7...
open.substack.com
"The Highest Ambition"
Snuffy Browne, the Impossible Cricketer
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
In 1913, an 18-year-old called Dorothy Vause disappeared from Whitby without explanation. When her family received letters and telegrams from her days later, she said that she had been kidnapped. But the truth was almost certainly very different. open.substack.com/pub/lostlive...
open.substack.com
The Stationmaster's Daughter
The Escape of Dorothy Vause
012
Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
I've had the manuscript for my long-term project on early West Indies cricket sitting on my laptop for months now but finding a publisher is … challenging! Interested to hear what people might think about self-publishing, one way or another. Good idea? Bad idea? Terrible idea?
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
“Tiger” Smith was the Warwickshire wicket-keeper for 20 years and England’s first-choice before the First World War. He went on to be an umpire and a coach. But his most extraordinary achievement might have been the autobiography published after his death open.substack.com/pub/oldebor7...
open.substack.com
On His Own Terms
The Unquiet Life of Tiger Smith
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Ranjitsinhji was acclaimed during his lifetime as the greatest cricketer of all time. But his ultimate aim was not cricketing greatness — which he unquestionably achieved — but a throne to which he never had any real claim. open.substack.com/pub/oldebor7...
open.substack.com
Ranjitsinhji
A Conjuror of Runs and Myths
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
In 1904, in a boarding house at the heart of Liverpool’s Chinese community, a man called Pong Lun shot dead his friend John Go Hing. But no-one in the story proved quite as straightforward as the press claimed, not least the widow of John Go Hing. open.substack.com/pub/lostlive...
open.substack.com
The Murder of John Go Hing
And the Many Lives of His Widow
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
In 1904, in a boarding house at the heart of Liverpool’s Chinese community, a man called Pong Lun shot dead his friend John Go Hing. But no-one in the story proved quite as straightforward as the press claimed, not least the widow of John Go Hing. open.substack.com/pub/lostlive...
open.substack.com
The Murder of John Go Hing
And the Many Lives of His Widow
011
Reposted by Old Ebor
Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Wilfred Rhodes was a cricketing legend, taking more first-class wickets than anyone ever will, opening the batting for England and playing Test cricket in his 50s. But he constantly worked hard to remain at the cutting edge throughout a 32-year career. open.substack.com/pub/oldebor7...
open.substack.com
"Never Tired of Cricket"
Wilfred Rhodes and the Art of Reinvention
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Wilfred Rhodes was a cricketing legend, taking more first-class wickets than anyone ever will, opening the batting for England and playing Test cricket in his 50s. But he constantly worked hard to remain at the cutting edge throughout a 32-year career. open.substack.com/pub/oldebor7...
open.substack.com
"Never Tired of Cricket"
Wilfred Rhodes and the Art of Reinvention
011
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Old Ebor @oldebor.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
Samuel Richardson was one of the most influential figures in the early years of Derbyshire cricket. Until one day he disappeared, leaving behind a trail of fraud. open.substack.com/pub/oldebor7...
open.substack.com
The Flight of Samuel Richardson
Tailor, Cricketer, Fraudster
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