What does Dutch cricket and Sherlock Holmes have in common? Well, more than you think. By Craig Wilkinson.

Delving into the history of Dutch cricket reveals some interesting finds, particularly one match played over 100 years ago that featured the English author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Well, first of all, yes – the Dutch do actually play cricket. They even played in last year’s Cricket World Cup with the likes of England and Australia. What’s more puzzling is how, and why, a celebrated English author behind one of the most iconic characters in crime fiction would be playing cricket against the Dutch in the late 19th Century.

In 1891, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – the man behind the Sherlock Holmes novels – was part of an English cricket team touring the Netherlands. Not only was Conan Doyle a renowned writer, but also a fine cricketer, who took the wicket of WG Grace in 1900. He also made 10 appearances for Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) between 1900 and 1907, averaging 19.25 runs.

On 6 August 1894, Norwood Club played a one day match against The Gentlemen of the Netherlands. The scorecard gives the name of the opening batsman for the English side as ‘AI Conan Doyle’. He went on to score an impressive 64 runs before being caught by WR Solomon from a ball delivered by JE Weiss.

The scorecard also gives the number of balls per over as five, and deems that the match was a tie. It seems that Conan Doyle had a good game: he took two catches that day, including one that dismissed Carst Posthuma, the Dutch international who later played alongside WG Grace in England.

Posthuma, who became the first Dutchman to play first class cricket, was also credited with hitting the first century in domestic cricket, and was the first Dutch player to take 100 wickets in a season.

By 1894, Conan Doyle had already penned four Sherlock Holmes novels, as well as numerous historical novels and other works and, although never establishing himself as a famous cricketer, Cricinfo describes him as a right-handed batsman who could “hit hard and bowl slow with a puzzling flight.”

Another match played by the Dutch team that year was against Conan Doyle’s future team MCC, which took place at Lord’s. However, the Dutch lost by an innings and 169 runs.

So, the English author who created the most famous detective of all time faced an international Dutch cricket team over 100 years ago. Who knows, but if Conan Doyle had decided to pursue a career in cricket instead of literature, Sherlock Holmes may never have been created.

29 May 2008
   
Craig Wilkinson is a British expat.  He lives in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

[Copyright Expatica 2008]