In the 18th century, very large sums of money were wagered on cricket matches which were usually under the patronage of local nobility or gentry. Lord Tankerville of Walton ran one such team which played on Laleham Burway, the land on the Chertsey side of the River Thames close to Laleham Golf Club and the Water Works. Lord Tankerville’s gardener , ‘Lumpy’ Stevens, was an outstanding bowler who would frequently bowl a ball between the two stumps which comprised the wicket, resulting in acrimonious disputes as to whether the batsman was out which obviously affected the outcome of a match.
‘Lumpy’ Stevens's precision bowling against the Hambledon team subsequently resulted in the introduction of a middle wicket stump in the English national game of cricket. It is thought that the first game ever to be played with three stumps was played on the Burway ground at Chertsey in 1776 between the Coulsden team and the local Chertsey team lead by Lord Tankerville.
Cast Iron Cricket Bat Gauge, made in Chertsey 1827,
presumably at W A Herring’s iron foundry.
Note the three stumps inscribed on the two sides
of the gauge.
(The inscribed marks on the top of the gauge are
not very clear, but represent cricket bats.)
On Sunday 28th August 2011 a sporting re-enactment of a 18th century cricket match will be held at Chertsey Cricket Ground, Grove Road, Chertsey as part of the Cultural Olympiad. All are welcome.
Souvenir programmes will be for sale with proceeds being put towards launching a fund for a monument : ‘Before and After the Third Stump’ - A Tribute to Lumpy Stevens. It is proposed that this monument should take the form of two plinths set an appropriate distance apart; one surmounted with a representation of the early form of wicket comprising of two stumps and a single bail together with the early form of curved bat, possibly with a ball passing through the middle of the two stumps, whilst the second plinth should be surmounted by three stumps, with the centre stump splayed over by a ball and the bails flying in the air together with a modern straight cricket bat.
Schematic illustrations are shown in the artist’s impression drawn by Victor Spink.
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