by Arunabha Sengupta
Contrary to a rather widely held misconception, GK Chesterton did not play for Allahakbarries—the famous wandering cricket team of writers and artists created by JM Barrie.
The prince of paradox, the philosopher and lay theologian of writers, the creator of Father Brown—Chesterton was not really an active cricketer.
Cricket is mentioned in some of his stories. It is difficult to write about pastoral Britain without gracing the game every now and then. As his Roman Catholic priest and amateur detective protagonist went about solving crimes based on intuition and spirituality rather than deduction and science, references to the game did flit through once in a while.
In The Green Man Lieutenant Rook says that Mr Harker’s to and fro movements on the lawn reminds him of someone making runs at cricket. In The Pursuit of Mr Blue, Father Brown himself plays vicarious games of cricket as conducted by clockwork figures on the automatic penny-slot machines on the seashore. In The Crime of the Communist, Mr Cracken neatly catches a thrown tobacco-pouch with the dexterity never forgotten by a cricketer even when he adopts opinions generally regarded as not cricket.
But Chesterton himself was not really built for the sport. As the years went by, he became more and more suited for the role of a sight screen on the cricket ground, but little else.
In the spring of 1914, when the government felt that writers did have a part to play in the war effort, several of the luminaries were invited to Wellington House in London, the headquarters of the new Propaganda Bureau. There were seven members of the Allahakbarries: Barrie himself, Conan Doyle, Maurice Hewlett, EV Lucas, AEW Mason, Gilbery Murray and Owen Seaman. Alongside, there were four other writers of note: Thomas Hardy, GK Chesterton, HG Wells and John Buchan.
Among these HG Wells had a cricketing father. Joseph Wells was the first man to capture four wickets in as many deliveries in first-class cricket; and later as a cricket master at Repton almost got killed by an unorthodox pull stroke by the schoolboy CB Fry. Besides, Wells had often been invited by Barrie to join his team. Hence, even though he never played for them, the legend persists that he did.
However, there is no record that Chesterton was actually asked to join the curious cricketing brigade. It was most probably this meeting at the Wellington House that has somehow been linked to his being a member of the team.
That and perhaps the delightful piece of verse that he wrote about the game.
The poem, titled Lines on a Cricket Match, is a lovely concoction of cricketing and literary terms, frequently interchanged for one another. From Kipling’s allusion to cricketers as flannelled fools to Cricket on the hearth, the Christmas story of Charles Dickens, and that irresistible question “where was Henry Fielding?” it is a sparkling work of literature.
How was my spirit torn in twain
When on the field arrayed
My neighbours with my comrades strove,
My town against my trade.
And are the penmen players all?
Did Shakespeare shine at cricket?
And in what hour did Bunyan wait
Like Christian at the wicket?
When did domestic Dickens stand
A fireside willow wielding?
And playing cricket — on the hearth,
And where was Henry Fielding?
Is Kipling, as a flannelled fool,
Or Belloc bowling guns,
The name that he who runs may read
By reading of his runs?
Come all; our land hath laurels too,
While round our beech-tree grows
The shamrock of the exiled Burke
Or Waller's lovely rose.
Who ever win or lose, our flags
Of fun and honour furled,
The glory of the game shall stand
Stonewalling all the world,
While those historic types survive
For England to admire,
Twin pillars of our storied past,
The Burgess and the Squire.
GK Chesterton was born on 29 May 1874.
Illustration: Maha