Alf Gover takes a catch between his thighs while putting sweater on

During the inaugural Kingston-upon-Thames Cricket Festival match at Leyland Motors Ground on August 31, 1946, Alf Gover found a bizarre way to catch Rodney Exton. Abhishek Mukherjee looks back.

The grandson of Test cricketer Stanley Christopherson, Ian Stanley Ackers-Douglas was an amateur who played for Kent for nine seasons, leading them occasionally. One of the leading cricket families in contemporary England, Stanley and his relatives once fielded a team called The Christophersons.

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He was not a great cricketer by any standards (1,965 runs at 23.67 with 2 hundreds are hardly worth talking about when you do not bowl or keep wickets), but Ackers-Douglas’ name will forever be remembered as the founder of the Kingston-upon-Thames Cricket Festival.

Leyland Motors Ground had earlier hosted a match between Leyland’s Athletic and London Counties, followed by another between Surrey and Australian Services. While the hosts included Freddie Brown, Bernard Constable, and Alf Gover, the Australians boasted of Lindsay Hassett, Keith Miller, and Cec Pepper. The match was keenly contested, and in the end Surrey triumphed by 3 wickets. ALSO READ: Patsy Hendren tricks Alf Gover at Lord’s

This, however, was different: not only was this the first match in the history of the Kingston-upon-Thames Festival, it was also the first First-Class match on the ground. Hampshire batted first, and Gover took new ball with Eddie Watts, who married Gover’s sister.

Sweating it out

The pair added 94 before Stan Squires, with his mixed-bag of medium-pace, off-breaks, and leg-breaks, struck. A few quick wickets, all of which fell to Squires, reduced Hampshire to 122 for 4 before debutant Anthony Rimmell and Gerry Hill added 60.

The tireless Squires toiled on, taking out wicket after wicket. By the time he was replaced, he had already taken the first six wickets. Gover bowled in tandem with a young off-spinner, who had played a solitary First-Class match before that day.

The youngster, who had taken 6 for 10 against Australian Servicemen at Cairo during War years, was called Jim Laker. As Gover finished an over and strolled to his place at short-leg, Laker quickly moved to his bowling mark.

Laker had started his run-up and by then Gover had started putting the sweater on. It was pitched short. By the time Rodney Exton pulled it, Gover, though facing Exton, could not see a thing — for the sweater, still in the process of putting a comfortable wrap around his torso, had not gone past his face.

Exton’s pull landed between Gover’s thighs, and did not leave. Perhaps by instinct, Gover did not move, allowing the ball to settle there. Poor Exton had no option but to leave.

What followed?

Hampshire quickly folded for 234, Squires taking a career-best 8 for 52. Opening batting, Eric Bedser scored 101, but Surrey collapsed spectacularly against George Heath and Lofty Herman: from 168 for 1 they were bowled out for 195.

Hampshire had a jittery start to their second innings, but John Arnold and Rimmell took them to 136 for 3 at stumps after they were 43 for 3. Unfortunately, rain ruled out play on the last day, and that was that.

13 years later…

Neil Harvey pulled off something similar at Kanpur (where Jasu Patel took 14 wickets) in 1959-60. Harvey ducked and turned as Nari Contractor hooked ferociously Alan Davidson; the ball lodged between his thighs with his back turned to Contractor, who was given out.

Brief scores:

Hampshire 234 (John Arnold 57, Gerald Hill 45; Stan Squires 8 for 52) and 136 for 3 (John Arnold 79*, Anthony Rimmell 42*) drew with Surrey 195 (Eric Bedser 101; George Heath 5 for 38, Lofty Herman 4 for 52).

(Abhishek Mukherjee is the Chief Editor at CricketCountry and CricLife. He blogs here and can be followed on Twitter here.)