Grandparents, great-grandparents, other ancestors in international cricket

16-year-old leg-spinners do not come by the dozen. Even if they do, they rarely feature in World Cup cricket for one of the most imposing sides in the world. Amelia Kerr was the focus of attention even before she arrived in England for the tournament. While she has not met with spectacular success, she has certainly done a decent job. And like most spinners, it is extremely likely that she will thrive with age.

There is, however, more to Kerr than that. Her grandfather Bruce Alexander Grenfell Murray (whose initials earned him the nickname Bags) had played 12 Tests for New Zealand. His daughter Jo married Robbie Kerr, and both husband and wife played for Wellington. While neither made it to the highest level, Amelia did, much to everyone’s delight.

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Bruce Murray and Amelia Kerr are the first known instance of a grandfather-granddaughter pair to play international cricket. Let us look at a few others where cricketing talent has made its way across at least two generations.

Grandparents

Let me start with the only two families to have given three consecutive generations to international cricket. Jahangir Khan played the first Test in the history of Indian cricket, acting as the perfect foil to Mohammad Nissar and Amar Singh. He played 4 Tests in all.

Jahangir’s Khan’s son Majid captained Pakistan, and remains the only non-Australian to score a hundred in the first session of the Test. Majid’s son Bazid played for Pakistan as well, and is a commentator these days. Of course, Majid’s cousins Imran Khan and Javed Burki had also led Pakistan, but that is not relevant for this article.

Then there was George Headley, the man they called the Black Bradman. Headley’s averages (61 in Tests, 70 in First-Class cricket) may tell you why. His son Ron played for West Indies as well, and Ron’s son, the Worcestershire-born Dean, had an oft-forgotten career for England (why did Dean not play more despite taking 60 Test wickets at 28 and winning a Test at Melbourne?).

Sometimes talent skipped a generation. Vic Richardson led Australia in cricket and played baseball for them (along with state-level AFL, tennis, and golf, and district-level lacrosse; he was also proficient in basketball and swimming). An outstanding fielder, Richardson is unfortunately remembered for conflicts with Don Bradman — a trait inherited by his grandson Ian Chappell (son of Jeanne) another Test captain. Ian’s brother Greg also led Australia, while youngest brother Trevor played for Australia as well.

Trivia: Richardson held the world record for most catches in a Test (6). Greg Chappell set a new one with 7.

Denis Compton obviously needs no introduction. One of England’s most spectacular batsmen, he captured the imagination of many a child in the early years of the post-War era, more so after that golden summer of 1947. Denis’ son Richard played for Natal, but it was Richard’s son Nick who made it to Test cricket. A limpet at the crease (in other words, the exact antithesis of his flamboyant grandfather), Nick came agonisingly close to scoring 1,000 runs before end of May in 2012 (he fell 50 short) — a feat that even had eluded even his illustrious grandfather.

Trivia: Denis’ brother (Nick’s granduncle) Leslie had played football for England.

Maurice Tremlett played 3 Tests when West Indies toured England in 1948. He did not exactly take the world by storm, but in 1956 he was named Somerset’s first professional captain, a hat he donned with reasonable success. Maurice’s son Timothy was a Hampshire all-rounder. Timothy’s son, the tall and strapping fast bowler Chris, unfortunately, was given only 12 Tests despite taking 53 wickets at 27.

Wicketkeeper Sammy Guillen toured Australia and New Zealand with West Indies in 1951-52. He later relocated to New Zealand, and remains the only cricketer to play for both West Indies and New Zealand. His last Test was also New Zealand’s first ever Test win, and it was his stumping that resulted in the last wicket, against — West Indies. Guillen’s wife Val Berg played for Canterbury.

Their two grandsons, Justin Guillen and Logan van Beek, played First-Class cricket in different countries (for Trinidad and Canterbury, respectively). Of them, van Beek has also played T20Is for Netherlands, thanks to his father’s Dutch roots. In other words, grandfather and grandson have represented three countries between them.

Of course, we have already mentioned Murray and Kerr.

Great-grandparents

Leg-spinner William Cooper played only 2 Tests for Australia despite taking 3 for 80 and 6 for 120 on debut. That was in the early 1880s. Paul Sheahan, his great-grandson, had a reasonably longer career (31 Tests and 3 ODIs).

Charles Leslie played 4 Tests for England. His son John played for Oxford as well, while his son-in-law Hubert Pilkington made it to Middlesex. The Pilkington clan produced at least two other First-Class cricketers. However, the only other international cricketer of the family was Charles’ great-grandson Matthew Fleming, who played 4 ODIs for England.

Trivia: Neither Leslie nor Fleming is the most famous member of the family. That tag belongs to Matthew’s granduncle Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond.

Granduncles

This is where things get complicated, for complete family trees of cricketers, especially older ones, are still under progress.

For a batsman who played a chunk of his cricket in the 19th century, Joe Darling’s batting average of 28.56 makes impressive reading. Darling also led Australia in 21 of his 34 Tests (including in three Ashes tours), and was one of the greatest names in Australian cricket of the era. His grandnephew Rick (whose full name was Warwick Maxwell Darling) played 14 Tests as well. Cricket remembers Rick as the partner of Graeme Wood: the pair had a penchant of running each other out, and was labelled Kamikaze Kids.

We all know about Madhav Mantri, that doyen of Bombay and Dadar Union. Mantri led, opened batting, and kept wickets for Bombay, and played 4 Tests. While his nephew Sunil Gavaskar needs no introduction, it is often forgotten that Sunil’s son Rohan (Mantri’s grandnephew) also played for India, albeit in ODIs.

As mentioned above, Jahangir Khan was Bazid’s grandfather. That makes Baqa Jilani (Jahangir’s brother-in-law) the granduncle of Bazid Khan. However, this is slightly disputed.

Note: Kamran Wasti, one of the columnists on our website, has researched on this. According to him Baqa Jilani was Jahangir’s brother-in-law’s brother. That possibly makes him Bazid’s ‘something’ (whether you will call him a granduncle is up to you).

Eyewitnesses hailed Dattaram Hindlekar as one of the finest wicketkeepers produced by India, but his career — on either side of World War II — amounted to only 4 matches. His nephew Vijay Manjrekar was considered by some as the finest Indian batsman of the 1950s and early 1960s. Vijay’s son Sanjay, known mostly for his success on the 1989-90 tour of Pakistan, is the grandnephew of Hindlekar.

Neville Lindsay got a solitary Test when Australia toured South Africa in 1921-22. His nephew John got 3 caps, all of them on South Africa’s 1947 tour of England. However, the superstar of the family was John’s son Denis Lindsay, hero of the 1966-67 series against Australia (he scored 606 runs at 87). Many consider Denis as one of South Africa’s greatest wicketkeeper-batsmen. He later became an ICC match referee.

Great-granduncle

It is difficult to choose one between Johnny and Ernest Tyldesley. Johnny, 16 years older, played 31 Tests to Ernest’s 14, but Ernest had better numbers (55 to Johnny’s 30). However, Johnny batted in an earlier era, and while Ernest played only 5 Tests against Australia (the team to beat in that era), Johnny played 26. In the all-time First-Class runs chart, Ernest comes 22nd with 38,874 runs; with 37,897 runs Johnny is at 23rd.

Their sister’s great-grandson goes by the name of Michael Vaughan.

A family that deserves special mention

KS Ranjitsinhji obviously played for England, as did his nephew (brother’s son) KS Duleepsinhji. Opinions are still divided regarding who was the greater of the two. Two of Duleep’s nephews (KS Indrajitsinhji and Hanumant Singh) played Tests for India, which make them Ranji’s nephew’s nephew (what is one word for that?). Hanumant’s brother Suryaveer also for Rajasthan and later became Maharawal of Banswara.

However, Ranji had another nephew, KS Digvijaysinhji, who played a match for Western India; his son KS Shatrushalyasinhji played for Saurashtra; his cousin KS Chhatrapalsinhji played Ranji Trophy for four teams; his nephew Ajay Jadeja played 15 Tests but is remembered more for his ODI exploits. He even led India in ODIs.

Some names that got missed

There are some families that deserve a mention, mostly because the grandparent (or equivalent) had played for their countries an era when they did not have international status (or the sides were not given the status).

For example, George Bailey toured England (and North America) in 1878 with Australia, but the matches were not given Test status. His great-great-grandson of the same name led Australia.

Similarly, ‘Bunny’ de Grandhomme played for Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe). His nephew Laurence did the same, albeit after the name was changed. Laurence’s son Colin, however, has had a bright start to his New Zealand career. A similar case can be made for Alexander Den (Rhodesia) and his grandsons Sean and Craig Ervine.

George Learmond played for West Indies in the first decade of the 20th century when they did not have Test status. There was no such problem for his grandson Steve Camacho, who played 11 Tests.

There will, of course, be more revelations as families come up with relations that remain unknown. Some may be happening as I write this piece. One can only wait…