{"id":868,"date":"2023-09-28T10:26:32","date_gmt":"2023-09-28T10:26:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/?page_id=868"},"modified":"2025-08-24T08:03:46","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T08:03:46","slug":"the-star-and-garter","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/the-star-and-garter\/","title":{"rendered":"Star and Garter"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-page pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/868?print=print\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_blank\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/the-star-and-garter\/#Introduction\" >Introduction<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/the-star-and-garter\/#Location\" >Location<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/the-star-and-garter\/#Connections_with_cricket\" >Connections with cricket<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/the-star-and-garter\/#The_London_Club\" >The London Club<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/the-star-and-garter\/#The_Laws\" >The Laws<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/the-star-and-garter\/#The_Je-ne-sais-quoi_White_Conduit_Club\" >The Je-ne-sais-quoi \/ White Conduit Club<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/the-star-and-garter\/#Marylebone_Cricket_Club\" >Marylebone Cricket Club<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/the-star-and-garter\/#Are_all_of_these_teams_really_the_MCC\" >Are all of these teams really the MCC?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/the-star-and-garter\/#Further_reading\" >Further reading<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/the-star-and-garter\/#Footnotes\" >Footnotes<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Introduction\"><\/span>Introduction<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Let me start by saying that the Star and Garter was not a cricket club as such; rather, it was the headquarters of a Noblemen&#8217;s and Gentlemen&#8217;s club. It was located in Pall Mall, a prestigious road in Central London where aristos gathered in the Eighteenth Century. Its facilities largely consisted of a series of dining rooms which could be hired by groups and where fine wines would be served.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As we will see, it played a huge role in cricket history. After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the nobiliry enjoyed new prestige and confidence. The Great Fire of 1666 had opened up the possibility of rebuilding the city, and many noble families had taken advantage of this by constructing palaces and other large houses in the area to the West of the City. Hence, there was a population of young affluent men in this area with the time and money to set about having a thoroughly good time; many of these attended the Star and Garter. Amongst them, in 1765, was the fifth Lord Byron (grandfather of the poet), and it was there that he killed a man in a duel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:55%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Union-Club.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Union-Club.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4134\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Union-Club.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Union-Club-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Union-Club-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><sup><strong>The Union Club (1801) by James Gillray<\/strong><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:45%\">\n<p style=\"border-style:none;border-width:0px\">Derek Birley writes of this period &#8220;The passion for gambling [in the early Eighteenth Century] was an indication of a certain characteristics of the English upper classes, particularly a new town-bred sort, that came to flower in Restoration times &#8211; a reckless tendency to to plunge into quarrels and a keen interest in money&#8221;<sup data-fn=\"f990e03c-02f6-4a1a-b4e8-5556fed7dbf1\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#f990e03c-02f6-4a1a-b4e8-5556fed7dbf1\" id=\"f990e03c-02f6-4a1a-b4e8-5556fed7dbf1-link\">1<\/a><\/sup>. He encapsulates the prevailing atmosphere of the Star and Garter. The Club was the venue for the first meetings of the Jockey Club in the 1750s, which giving an indication of the interests of the membership. More particularly, it played an important role in the development of cricket in London.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:26px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The club&#8217;s status as a fashionable venue is confirmed in Vanity Fair, a novel by William Thackeray written in 1841 but set around the Napoleonic Wars, this except coming from perhaps 1810. The novel&#8217;s anti-hero, Becky Sharp, is addressing her new husband, the rakish Captain Rawdon Crawley:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;I\u2019ll make your fortune,\u201d she said; and Delilah patted Samson\u2019s cheek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou can do anything,\u201d he said, kissing the little hand. \u201cBy Jove you can; and we\u2019ll drive down to the Star and Garter, and dine, by Jove.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Location\"><\/span>Location<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"602\" height=\"404\" src=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Pall-Mall.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-872\" style=\"width:602px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Pall-Mall.jpg 602w, https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Pall-Mall-300x201.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 602px) 100vw, 602px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><sup><strong>Pall Mall in the Eighteenth Century. St James Palace is on the right of the picture, Pall Mall is the road disappearing into the distance. The Star and Garter would have been about 100 yards along this road, on the right; maybe one of the houses with prominent chimneys. <\/strong><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Some writers have tried to muddy the waters by pointing out that there were at least two taverns on Pall Mall that bore the name Star and Garter. However, one was&nbsp;a modest Inn (on the north side of the street, on the site of the present No. 44 Pall Mall, opposite to Schomberg House) which would never have attracted the aristocracy. The other Star and Garter stood on the south side of Pall Mall, numbered 94-95, and was altogether a grander establishment, famous for its fine claret and exclusive dining rooms, and there is universal agreement that this is the tavern we are interested in. We have a drawing by John Coney in 1796 of its outward appearance (relevant buildings underlined in red):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"578\" height=\"352\" src=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Drawing-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-882\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Drawing-2.jpg 578w, https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Drawing-2-300x183.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This shows a four-storeyed building of early eighteenth-century character, probably two houses originally; that to the east (to the left above) having a narrow front projecting from its neighbour. It is described in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.british-history.ac.uk\/survey-london\/vols29-30\/pt1\/pp351-352#fnn4\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.british-history.ac.uk\/survey-london\/vols29-30\/pt1\/pp351-352#fnn4\">British History<\/a> as follows: &#8220;The east house had a shop at ground-floor level, a prominent canted bay on the first floor, and two windows in each succeeding storey, the front being quoined at the angles and finished with an eaves-cornice and a hipped roof. The western house had a rusticated Doric porch to the west of the three ground-floor windows, and four windows in each upper storey. The angle quoins and eaves-cornice were uniform with those of the eastern house.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:31%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"259\" height=\"184\" src=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Today.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-875\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:69%\">\n<p>The buildings in this terrace were demolished in the nineteenth century and replaced by the Carlton Club. In the twentieth century, the building was again replaced, this time by a bland office block numbered 100 and covering the numbers 90 &#8211; 100 (left). The precise location of the Inn would be near the centre of this building; sadly, there is no plaque to mark the significance of this site. The older building next door, a fragment of which is visible on the right of the picture, is the Royal Automobile Club. The street on the far side of the building is Carlton Gardens.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:43px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Coincidentally, the Rugby Football Union was founded nearby, at a meeting at the Pall Mall Restaurant on 26 January 1871.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Connections_with_cricket\"><\/span>Connections with cricket<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The aristocrats who made use of the Star and Garter were drawn to sport, not least for its potential for gambling, and this was to feature prominently in their agenda. As noted above. it was here that the early meetings of the Jockey Club were held around 1750. The club members were interested in cricket as well, setting up matches and then wagering on results. Their enthusiasm and wealth were to move cricket from a rural game into something approaching a professional business. There are at least four important developments in which attendees of the Inn played a major part:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_London_Club\"><\/span>The London Club<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The original&nbsp;London Club&nbsp;was formed around 1722 by members of  the Noblemen&#8217;s and Gentlemen&#8217;s Club and was one of the foremost teams in English&nbsp;cricket&nbsp;over the next four decades. In essence, it was the team of the Star and Garter members, often fielding their members, but sometimes drawing on other talent and staging matches with a strong financial element &#8211; betting, entrance money, refreshment sale, stakes or fees. They were based at the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/the-artillery-ground\/\">Artillery Ground<\/a>&nbsp;in Finsbury, where their matches often attracted large, even huge crowds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Out of the total of 845&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/match-listing-double-wicket-matches\/\">Important Matches<\/a>&nbsp;played before 1800, an astonishing 297 featured London as one of the teams, and there were numerous others where London fielded a team merged with those of somewhere else. Sadly though, very few scorecards exist so our knowledge of those matches is very limited. We know the names of about thirty players, but nothing about their prowess or achievements. The heyday of the team came to an end with the Seven Years War (1756-1763) when many of the aristocracy and gentry retreated to the countryside, leaving the London scene without players and, more importantly, patronage. The London Club only played 20 of its many Important matches after 1756.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Laws\"><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/rules\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"614\">The Laws<\/a><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The Star and Garter was the location for important meetings concerning the formal codification of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Laws.jpg\" data-type=\"attachment\" data-id=\"1539\">Laws of Cricket<\/a>. In particular, there are the editions printed in 1755 and in 1774, both of which specify that they were agreed at the Star and Garter. The 1774 code is recorded as being settled by a Committee of Noblemen and Gentlemen of Kent, Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex, Middlesex, and London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Je-ne-sais-quoi_White_Conduit_Club\"><\/span>The <em>Je-ne-sais-quoi<\/em> \/ White Conduit Club<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Pelham Warner, in his history of the Marylebone Cricket Club, records that the Star and Garter was the location where members of an aristocratic group called the <em>Je-ne-saisfollowsquoi<\/em> were wont to meet. From at least 1782, when cricket was beginning to reestablish itself in the capital, a subgroup of these also played cricket close to the pleasure park in Islington known as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/white-conduit-ground\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"442\">White Conduit Fields<\/a>, where the game had been played since at least 1718.&nbsp;They seem to have filled the space left by the now defunct London Club and comprised what became known as the White Conduit Club. In 1785, they went so far as to formally constitute themselves as a club with 144 members, all of them members of the upper orders. Their rules have survived and were as follows<sup data-fn=\"16d996f9-a7aa-41b9-81e5-758d44f78c43\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#16d996f9-a7aa-41b9-81e5-758d44f78c43\" id=\"16d996f9-a7aa-41b9-81e5-758d44f78c43-link\">2<\/a><\/sup>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"356\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/WCC3.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1960\" style=\"width:476px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/WCC3.jpg 356w, https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/WCC3-156x300.jpg 156w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 356px) 100vw, 356px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>None but gentlemen ever to play<\/em> &#8211; oh dear. The club though was to be a short-lived affair, a precursor to something much more resilient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Marylebone_Cricket_Club\"><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/marylebone-cricket-club\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"896\">Marylebone Cricket Club<\/a><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The ground at White Conduit Fields, however, was not satisfactory. A public footpath crossed over it, and there was no privacy for the players. The attendant at the ground, and someone who bowled to the players if they wanted practice, was Thomas Lord, an enterprising and ambitious wine merchant with contacts in the world of property. He was given the task of finding a ground where the gentlemen players could perform behind a barrier, to afford them decent privacy or, perhaps, so an entrance fee could be charged. He came up with the ground at what is now Dorset Square, which he purchased himself and rented to the players, or at least, to some of them. The first match was played there in 1787, and those who hired the ground were to organise themselves as the Marylebone Cricket Club, a club that was to change cricket forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The transition, though, was not entirely straightforward. The MCC&#8217;s first match was against the White Condit Club, which shows that there were two distinct identities. Perhaps there was some kind of rift within the Star and Garter membership &#8211; maybe some wanted to go with Thomas Lord, others to stay at Islington? We cannot know, but by the end of 1787, the White Conduit Club had ceased to play matches, and the MCC was up and running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Are_all_of_these_teams_really_the_MCC\"><\/span>Are all of these teams really the MCC?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Some writers, notably Peter Wynne-Thomas<sup data-fn=\"4ddab0e0-c000-4f9b-92d1-d9533d29033b\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#4ddab0e0-c000-4f9b-92d1-d9533d29033b\" id=\"4ddab0e0-c000-4f9b-92d1-d9533d29033b-link\">3<\/a><\/sup>, suggest that the London Club, the White Conduit Club and the MCC are all so inter-connected that they are, de facto, the same entity and MCC&#8217;s founding date should be no later than 1744, when the first Laws were settled and probably earlier. This view, though, is not shared by the Club itself, who see the break with the White Conduit ground as being a fresh start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Further_reading\"><\/span>Further reading<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/my-library-of-early-cricket\/#Double_Century_The_Story_of_MCC_and_Cricket_%E2%80%93_Tony_Lewis_1987\">Double Century : The Story of MCC and Cricket &#8211; Tony Lewis (1987)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Footnotes\"><\/span>Footnotes<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-footnotes\"><li id=\"f990e03c-02f6-4a1a-b4e8-5556fed7dbf1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/my-library-of-early-cricket\/#Derek_Birley_%E2%80%93_A_Social_History_of_English_Cricket_1999\">Birley<\/a>, page 12  <a href=\"#f990e03c-02f6-4a1a-b4e8-5556fed7dbf1-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 1\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"16d996f9-a7aa-41b9-81e5-758d44f78c43\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/my-library-of-early-cricket\/#More_Than_a_Game_%E2%80%93_John_Major_2007\">Major<\/a>, appendix 2 <a href=\"#16d996f9-a7aa-41b9-81e5-758d44f78c43-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 2\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"4ddab0e0-c000-4f9b-92d1-d9533d29033b\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/my-library-of-early-cricket\/#The_History_of_Cricket_%E2%80%93_Peter_Wynne-Thomas_1997\">Wynne-Thomas<\/a> page 31 <a href=\"#4ddab0e0-c000-4f9b-92d1-d9533d29033b-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 3\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Introduction Let me start by saying that the Star and Garter was not a cricket club as such; rather, it was the headquarters of a Noblemen&#8217;s and Gentlemen&#8217;s club. It was located in Pall Mall, a prestigious road in Central London where aristos gathered in the Eighteenth Century. Its facilities largely consisted of a series [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":true,"footnotes":"[{\"content\":\"<a href=\\\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/my-library-of-early-cricket\/#Derek_Birley_%E2%80%93_A_Social_History_of_English_Cricket_1999\\\">Birley<\/a>, page 12 \",\"id\":\"f990e03c-02f6-4a1a-b4e8-5556fed7dbf1\"},{\"content\":\"<a href=\\\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/my-library-of-early-cricket\/#More_Than_a_Game_%E2%80%93_John_Major_2007\\\">Major<\/a>, appendix 2\",\"id\":\"16d996f9-a7aa-41b9-81e5-758d44f78c43\"},{\"content\":\"<a href=\\\"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/my-library-of-early-cricket\/#The_History_of_Cricket_%E2%80%93_Peter_Wynne-Thomas_1997\\\">Wynne-Thomas<\/a> page 31\",\"id\":\"4ddab0e0-c000-4f9b-92d1-d9533d29033b\"}]"},"class_list":["post-868","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/PdOpLv-e0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868"}],"version-history":[{"count":62,"href":"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5134,"href":"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/868\/revisions\/5134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earlycricket.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}