Duke of Norfolk's XI
Encyclopedia
The Duke of Norfolk's XI is a scratch cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

 team. It was originally named for the 16th Duke, but following his death in 1975 the team played on in his widow
Lavinia Fitzalan-Howard, Duchess of Norfolk
Lavinia Mary Fitzalan-Howard, Duchess of Norfolk LG CBE was a British peeress....

's name as Lavinia, Duchess of Norfolk's XI. After her own death in 1995, the title reverted to the original, in the name of the 17th (until 2002) and then 18th Dukes
Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk
Edward William Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk, is the son of Miles Stapleton-Fitzalan-Howard, 17th Duke of Norfolk and his wife Anne Mary Teresa Constable-Maxwell. The principal seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle....

.

The English international summer has traditionally been marked by a fixture between this team and the tourists at Arundel Castle
Arundel Castle
Arundel Castle in Arundel, West Sussex, England is a restored medieval castle. It was founded by Roger de Montgomery on Christmas Day 1067. Roger became the first to hold the earldom of Arundel by the graces of William the Conqueror...

, the seat of the Dukes of Norfolk. Indeed the team has played almost all its matches in England at that ground, although one match against the International Cavaliers
International Cavaliers
The International Cavaliers were an ad hoc cricket team made up of famous cricketers in order to encourage local cricket. Their teams included many prominent cricketers from the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s as many retired veterans and talented young players were in the team at one point or another...

 in 1966 was played at Hove. The team was typically largely made up of county
County cricket
County cricket is the highest level of domestic cricket in England and Wales. For the 2010 season, see 2010 English cricket season.-First-class counties:...

 players not involved in other games, mixed with recently retired internationals. Derek Randall
Derek Randall
Derek William Randall is an English former cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Nottinghamshire, and Tests and ODIs for England in the late 1970s and early 1980s....

, Robin Smith
Robin Smith (cricketer)
Robin Arnold Smith is a former cricketer for Hampshire and England.Smith was nicknamed Judge or Judgie for his resemblance to a judge when he grew his hair long...

 and Andy Flower
Andy Flower
Andrew "Andy" Flower OBE is a former international cricketer for Zimbabwe and is currently the England coach.-Playing career:...

 are among those to have played for the Duke's team.

The Duke of Norfolk's XI has played a small number of first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

 games: in 1956-57 they embarked on the first of two overseas tours, playing three first-class matches against Jamaica; the touring team won two with the other match being drawn. The other important tour was also to the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

, in 1969-70, when three first-class and one List A games were played against the island teams, with one win, two losses and one draw for the Duke's side.
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