Allahakbarries
Encyclopedia
Allahakbarries was an amateur cricket team founded by author J. M. Barrie
, and was active from 1890 to 1913. The team was named in the mistaken belief that Allah akbar meant Heaven help us in Arabic (rather than God is great). Notable figures to have featured for the side included Arthur Conan Doyle
, Jerome K. Jerome
, A. A. Milne
, Walter Raleigh
, A. E. W. Mason, E. V. Lucas
, Maurice Hewlett
, E. W. Hornung, P. G. Wodehouse
, Owen Seaman
, Bernard Partridge, Augustine Birrell
, Paul du Chaillu
, and George Llewelyn Davies, as well as the son of Alfred Tennyson.
Barrie wrote a 40 page book on his team, Allahakbarries C.C., which was published privately in 1890 and in a revised version in 1899. It was reprinted in 1950 with a forward by Donald Bradman
http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/559230. These rare books are now highly sought by collectors.
Barrie's enthusiasm for the game eclipsed his talent for it; asked to describe his bowling, he replied that after delivering the ball he would go and sit on the turf at mid-off and wait for it to reach the other end which 'it sometimes did'. The team played for the love of the game, rather than the results it achieved, and Barrie was generous in his praise for his team mates and opposition alike. He praised one team mate's performance by observing that 'You scored a good single in the first innings but were not so successful in the second' while he lauded the oppositions effort by pointing out how 'You ran up a fine total of 14, and very nearly won'. He instructed Bernard Partridge, an illustrator from Punch
magazine who was afflicted with a lazy eye, to 'Keep your eye on square leg' while bowling and told square-leg, 'when Partridge is bowling, keep your eye on him.' He forbade his team to practise on an opponents ground before a match because 'this can only give them confidence'. The book notes that his most calamitous performance was being cleaned bowled by the American actress Mary Anderson
in the 1897 "test" against the village of Broadway
, in the Midlands.
Peter Pan's First XI, a book on the exploits of the Allahakbarries, is due for publication in 2010 http://www.kevintelfer.com/book.php?frmBookId=4.
J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. The child of a family of small-town weavers, he was educated in Scotland. He moved to London, where he developed a career as a novelist and playwright...
, and was active from 1890 to 1913. The team was named in the mistaken belief that Allah akbar meant Heaven help us in Arabic (rather than God is great). Notable figures to have featured for the side included Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
, Jerome K. Jerome
Jerome K. Jerome
Jerome Klapka Jerome was an English writer and humorist, best known for the humorous travelogue Three Men in a Boat.Jerome was born in Caldmore, Walsall, England, and was brought up in poverty in London...
, A. A. Milne
A. A. Milne
Alan Alexander Milne was an English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various children's poems. Milne was a noted writer, primarily as a playwright, before the huge success of Pooh overshadowed all his previous work.-Biography:A. A...
, Walter Raleigh
Walter Raleigh (professor)
Professor Sir Walter Alexander Raleigh was an English scholar, poet and author.He was born in London, the fifth child and only son of a local Congregationalist minister...
, A. E. W. Mason, E. V. Lucas
E. V. Lucas
Edward Verrall Lucas was a versatile and popular English writer. His nearly 100 books demonstrate great facility with style, and are generally acknowledged as humorous by contemporary readers and critics. Some of his essays about the sport cricket are still considered among the best instructional...
, Maurice Hewlett
Maurice Hewlett
Maurice Henry Hewlett , was an English historical novelist, poet and essayist. He was born at Weybridge, the eldest son of Henry Gay Hewlett, of Shaw Hall, Addington, Kent. He was educated at the London International College, Spring Grove, Isleworth, and was called to the bar in 1891. He gave up...
, E. W. Hornung, P. G. Wodehouse
P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE was an English humorist, whose body of work includes novels, short stories, plays, poems, song lyrics, and numerous pieces of journalism. He enjoyed enormous popular success during a career that lasted more than seventy years and his many writings continue to be...
, Owen Seaman
Owen Seaman
Sir Owen Seaman, 1st Baronet was a British writer, journalist and poet. He is best known as editor of Punch, from 1906 to 1932.-Biography:...
, Bernard Partridge, Augustine Birrell
Augustine Birrell
Augustine Birrell PC, KC was an English politician, barrister, academic and author. He was Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1907 to 1916, resigning in the immediate aftermath of the Easter Rising.-Early life:...
, Paul du Chaillu
Paul du Chaillu
Paul Belloni du Chaillu was a French-American traveler and anthropologist. He became famous in the 1860s as the first modern outsider to confirm the existence of gorillas and the Pygmy people of central Africa. He later researched the prehistory of Scandinavia.-Early life:His date and place of...
, and George Llewelyn Davies, as well as the son of Alfred Tennyson.
Barrie wrote a 40 page book on his team, Allahakbarries C.C., which was published privately in 1890 and in a revised version in 1899. It was reprinted in 1950 with a forward by Donald Bradman
Donald Bradman
Sir Donald George Bradman, AC , often referred to as "The Don", was an Australian cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time...
http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/559230. These rare books are now highly sought by collectors.
Barrie's enthusiasm for the game eclipsed his talent for it; asked to describe his bowling, he replied that after delivering the ball he would go and sit on the turf at mid-off and wait for it to reach the other end which 'it sometimes did'. The team played for the love of the game, rather than the results it achieved, and Barrie was generous in his praise for his team mates and opposition alike. He praised one team mate's performance by observing that 'You scored a good single in the first innings but were not so successful in the second' while he lauded the oppositions effort by pointing out how 'You ran up a fine total of 14, and very nearly won'. He instructed Bernard Partridge, an illustrator from Punch
Punch (magazine)
Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...
magazine who was afflicted with a lazy eye, to 'Keep your eye on square leg' while bowling and told square-leg, 'when Partridge is bowling, keep your eye on him.' He forbade his team to practise on an opponents ground before a match because 'this can only give them confidence'. The book notes that his most calamitous performance was being cleaned bowled by the American actress Mary Anderson
Mary Anderson (stage actress)
Mary Anderson was an American stage actress.-Early life:...
in the 1897 "test" against the village of Broadway
Broadway, Worcestershire
Broadway is a village and civil parish in the Worcestershire part of the Cotswolds in England.Often referred to as the "Jewel of the Cotswolds", Broadway village lies beneath Fish Hill on the western Cotswold escarpment...
, in the Midlands.
Peter Pan's First XI, a book on the exploits of the Allahakbarries, is due for publication in 2010 http://www.kevintelfer.com/book.php?frmBookId=4.