August 22, 1863. While representing the North of England against Surrey, Edwin Stephenson was so disgruntled that he walked out of the match. Arunabha Senguptarecalls the day the contemporary scorecard showed ‘absent shamefully and disgracefully 0’ against the name of this useful cricketer.
The quintessential Yorkshireman
Yorkshiremen can be expected to do that. Walking off in a huff and refusing to take further part in the match on being run out. Think Geoffrey Boycott.
And this cricketer of the early days, a century and more before Boycott, was almost literally the embodiment of the Yorkshire spirit. At least in name. Edwin Stephenson, popularly called Ned or Teddy, was a regular member of the Elevens of England. A year and a half earlier, he had toured Australia with the All England XI led by his namesake HH Stephenson. To distinguish this Yorkshire cricketer from the Surrey based captain, Ned Stephenson was often called ‘Yorkshire’ Stephenson.
He was Yorkshire to the core. ‘Lugubrious of expression but capable of the droll remark’ was how David Frith describes him in his account of the 1861-62 Australian tour. When their Australia-bound Great Britain had sailed into the Red Sea, Stephenson had remarked, “It’s no redder than any other waters I’ve seen.” And when the trombone had blared on the deck, he had been irritated enough to stuff a towel down its outlet.
When the vessel docked in the southern land, Stephenson had become the first Englishman to score a run against Australian bowling.
A solidly built man of 5’ 8”, Stephenson often kept wickets, and occasionally bowled round-arm fast, but his primary task was batting. He reached forward on his long legs and defended dourly for hours. Think Boycott again to approximate his approach to batting. He scorned risks, mainly because he was a professional who made his living through the fickle game of cricket.
And alongside his only Yorkshire teammate on the 1861-62 tour, the famous Roger Iddison, Stephenson often had his differences with the professionals of Surrey. English cricket during those days in the 1860s was developing a chasm between the different XIs. The behaviour of the Surrey professionals on the field and in the politics of the all-professional touring troupes was beginning to enrage many of the Northern cricketers.
Single-handed resistance
Starting cricket under the patronage of James Wilson Rimington Wilson of Broomhead Hall, Sheffield, Stephenson had joined Whitehaven, Edge Hill (Liverpool), St Helens and Warminster (Wilts) as professional in successive seasons. He had been serving as professional at Christchurch, Oxford, when he was hired as a bowling professional with MCC. That had been in 1857. The year before that he had played for the first time for All England XI led by George Parr.
The first bitter clash with the Surrey men had occurred when Parr had led the North against the southern side at Broughton, Manchester, in 1859. Stephenson had been the bone of contention. He was keeping wickets and his finger was damaged during a take. Parr asked the Surrey captain Fred Miller if a substitute could bat in his place.
Miller had the laws of cricket on his side when he refused, but Parr was not amused. When the ninth North wicket fell at 117, Miller catching Richard Tinley off the great William Caffyn, the home team still trailed their Southern visitors by 72 in the first innings. In an act of great bravado, Stephenson walked out to bat one-handed. But a seething Parr stormed out and ordered him back to the dressing room. Stephenson did not bat in the second innings either and in spite of the valiant efforts of Richard Daft, Surrey had triumphed by 34 runs.
Now, in 1863, Stephenson had developed a major soreness about the Southerners and their moves to destabilise the established itinerant teams by setting up the United South of England XI. Indeed, in 1865, he voiced openly that the wage-earning Northern cricketers had been ‘most cruelly ill-treated by the Surrey men.’
That did not stop him from excelling for Yorkshire against Surrey. Indeed, two and a half months before the infamous match between North and Surrey, the newly established Yorkshire County Cricket Club had contested their first ever First-Class match. It had been at The Oval against Surrey. Iddison had led, the match had ended in a draw, and Stephenson had top-scored for the Yorkshire side with 67 from No 4. He had also caught and stumped four Surrey men in the second innings.
Absent, shamefully and disgracefully
But when the Surrey cricketers came up to Salford to play North at Broughton, Stephenson was not in very good humour. He did not quite enjoy playing against the southern team. Perhaps there were memories of the unsavoury incident on this very ground six years earlier, almost to the day.
And so when he was run out for a duck, Stephenson became hopping mad. With the North batsmen struggling against the high quality bowling of All England stars Caffyn and Tom Sewell, Stephenson thought he had been deliberately run out by his partner.
So miffed was he that he walked out of the game and did not take any further part in the proceedings. A substitute fielder was arranged and North batted with ten men in the second innings.
Having been bowled out for 50, North conceded a lead of 86 as Surrey posted 136, opener Harry Jupp top-scoring with 36. It was the incredible round arm bowling of George Atkinson, 6 for 18, which granted them a fighting chance.
In the second innings, the Northerners battled hard. Edmund Rowley and Luke Greenwood put on 40 for the first wicket, and with wicketkeeper Brian Waud, Iddison and Richard Blackstock all scoring runs, the hundred was registered for the loss of just three wickets. Caffyn was strangely off colour. The second day ended with the match interestingly poised with North at 117 for 4.
In the late order, Frank Wright also got some useful runs. However, when Thomas Humphrey bowled Michael McIntyre and William Slinn in quick succession to leave North at 170 for 9, there was no batsman to follow. Stephenson was not taking any part in the game, and what was more, he was not even in the ground.
The North innings was closed and the scorer at the ground was disgusted enough to jot down:
“E Stephenson absent —shamefully and disgracefully 0.”
Surrey required 85 to win. However, Slinn and Atkinson tore through the batting and dismissed them for 64. The round arm bowling frequently bordered overarm. Slinn was fast, Atkinson more than brisk. Only Sewell, late in the order, managed to reach double figures.
North triumphed by 20 runs, playing virtually with 10 men.
What followed?
Stephenson continued to play for All-England XI till 1866, for North of England till 1869, and for Yorkshire till 1873.
When Lancashire met Yorkshire at Whalley for the first ever Roses match in 1867, he came in at No 3 and top scored with 54. And then he quickly pulled off a catch to dismiss a young AN ‘Monkey’ Hornby off George Freeman. Yorkshire won by an innings.
Later drink got to him. During a match at Winkworth, he guzzled some antique whisky at a local pub and had to leave the field. While he lay in the tent, he began to choke and went black in the face. Luckily, a scorecard-printer arrived at that moment and, discovering him in that condition, sought medical assistance. His life was saved.
He died in 1898, in Tue Brook, Liverpool, in near destitution, and in absolute obscurity.
However, down the years, that scorecard entry has been modified.
‘E Stephenson absent —shamefully and disgracefully 0’ has been truncated to a simple and less offensive ‘E Stephenson absent’.
Brief scores:
North 50 (Thomas Sewell 4 for 16, William Caffyn 5 for 30) and 170 (Edmund Rowley 30, Richard Blackstock 43; Thomas Humphrey 4 for 14) beat Surrey 136 (Harry Jupp 36; George Atkinson 6 for 18) and 64 (William Slinn 5 for 34, George Atkinson 5 for 27) by 20 runs.
(Arunabha Senguptais a cricket historian and Chief Cricket Writer at CricketCountry.He writes about the history of cricket, with occasional statistical pieces and reflections on the modern game. He is also the author of four novels, the most recent being Sherlock Holmes and the Birth of The Ashes. He tweets here.)
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.