'Close of Play'
Catalogue for the auction of items from the cricket collection of Chris Saunders
Held on Saturday 13th September 2025 at
The Leonardo Hotel, Gloucester Road, Cheltenham GL51 0TS
Lot 77
Estimate: £30/50
Hammer: £42
Charles William Alcock. M.C.C., 1 match 1862. Large page with ornate watercolour border of flowers and ferns, boldly inscribed in ink ‘C.F. Pardon. Cricket Reporting Agency from C.W.A. 15/5/[18]89’. The page measures 8.5”x11”. Some wear to right edge where previously bound, minor age toning to page edges, otherwise in good/ very good condition.
C.W. Alcock arranged the first cricket Test Match to be played in England, England against Australia at the Kennington Oval in 1880 where he had recently been appointed as Secretary of Surrey C.C.C. He founded and edited James Lillywhite’s Cricketers’ Annual from 1872 to 1900, and was the first editor of the cricket magazine, ‘Cricket a Weekly Record of the Game’ from 1882 to 1907. Alcock was also involved in the organisation of the first England international football match against Scotland in 1870, and proposed the introduction of the F.A. Challenge Cup, which first took place in 1872, played at The Oval, Alcock himself captaining the winning Wanderers side. Charles F. Pardon was editor of the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack from 1887 until his death aged forty in 1890.
The Leonardo Hotel, Gloucester Road, Cheltenham GL51 0TS
Lot 77
Estimate: £30/50
Hammer: £42
C.W. Alcock arranged the first cricket Test Match to be played in England, England against Australia at the Kennington Oval in 1880 where he had recently been appointed as Secretary of Surrey C.C.C. He founded and edited James Lillywhite’s Cricketers’ Annual from 1872 to 1900, and was the first editor of the cricket magazine, ‘Cricket a Weekly Record of the Game’ from 1882 to 1907. Alcock was also involved in the organisation of the first England international football match against Scotland in 1870, and proposed the introduction of the F.A. Challenge Cup, which first took place in 1872, played at The Oval, Alcock himself captaining the winning Wanderers side. Charles F. Pardon was editor of the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack from 1887 until his death aged forty in 1890.