The two teams before the match and the hand-written scorecard
by Arunabha Sengupta
In August, 1900, a motley group of Englishmen, touring France under the name Devon and Somerset Wanderers, played a two-day cricket match against a French side at Velodrome de Vincennes.
The French side, called, All Paris, was a group of devoted English expats who managed to run a couple of clubs.
In the 20,000-seater banked cycling track, they were watched by a few bored and confused gendarmes who exchanged a few comments about the wackiness of their neighbours across the channel.
It was a 12-a-side match contested on Aug 19 and 20. The tourists won by 158 runs and were awarded silver medals for their efforts. Each of the losing side was given a bronze medal.
After the event, they continued to travel around, playing a couple of matches on the side. Neither was the match publicised beyond a few fliers, nor remembered beyond scant mentions in local papers.
The brief scores read Great Britain 117 and 145/5 decl., France 78 and 26.
It was a two-day match. What is not as well-known is that Great Britain won with 5 minutes to spare.
In 1912 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) met to compile the definitive list of all the events in the five modern Olympiads, and a bunch of sporting encounters played as an extension of the 1900 World Fair of Paris were officially included in the record books.
Thus, this game of cricket, which was hardly reported in any English paper, entered the Olympics, much to the bewilderment of the Devon and Somerset XII, who were in no way a nationally selected team. Only two of the 12, Alfred Bowerman and Montagu Toller, ever played First-class cricket.
Toller, a solicitor, played for Devon and supposedly featured in a WG Grace XI against Reigate. He is described as an excellent batsman who lacked steadiness and a striaght fast bowler.
After becoming a Olympic event, the medals were 'upgraded to' gold and silver.
These cricketers are the only medal winners for cricket at the Olympics.
It was a blessing that the opponents of the Wanderers were Englishmen. The visitors struggled with the language throughout the tour, at least one of them ordering cafe au lait with milk.”
Gold medalists:
Charles Beachcroft (c), Arthur Birkett, John Symes, Frederick Cuming, Montagu Toller, Alfred Bowerman, Alfred Powlesland, William Donne, Frederick Christian, George Buckley, Francis Buchell, Harry Corner.
Silver medalists:
Philip Tomalin (c), Timothee Jordan, Alfred Schneidau, Robert Home, Henry Terry, F Roques, William Anderson, Douglas Robinson, William Attrill, W Browning, Arthur McEvoy, J Braid.