1935-36

ARMY CRICKET ASSOCIATION.
President :
LIEUT.
-
GENERAL SIR CHARLEs DEEDEs,
K.C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O.
Hon. Secretary and Treasurer :
L
IEUT.
R
.
G
.
W
.
MELsomE,
The Northamptonshire Re.-t., Aldershot.
Committee :
One Representative from each Ccmmand and District at Hoine.
President and Hon. Secretary ex officio.
THE NAVY v. ARMY MATCH.
It was not until
1910
that a match was arranged to be played
at Lords between the Navy and the Army, the match to rank
'as a first-class match. And in the same year a match was arranged
jbetween the Combined Services and a combined team from Oxford
land Cambridge Universities. Some years before, however, the
Army had made its debut in first-class cricket, when a representa-
tive Army XI played against Hampshire at Aldershot.
In
1911
the Combined Services again played the Combined
Universities, but the match was discontinued in
1912
and has not
'been revived.
Since
1910,
however, with the exception of the years of the
Great War,
1915
to
1918
inclusive, the match between the Navy
and the Army has been played annually at Lords, and has
;continued to rank as a first-class match. From
1910
to 1914 it was
!invariably a three days' match, but since the War the conditions
have been varied backwards and forwards from time to time, and
`at present it is a two days' match, still retaining its first-class
'
k
standing. A proposal was made in
1921
that the match should be
.played at Portsmouth and Aldershot in alternate years, chiefly for
,the purpose of raising money, but the proposal was turned down
on the ground that if this plan were adopted the match would
#lose prestige at once and rapidly degenerate into a second-class
match; and it was decided that the match should be played at
"Lords so long as the M.C.C. were agreeable. In
1924
it received
ithe support it deserved. Great efforts were made to get
the match recognised as a definite event in the social season, and
'these efforts have met with considerable success. Progress in this
direction has been very marked in the last few years.
About this time some doubt appeared to exist concerning the
eligibility of officers home on leave from abroad, and of other
ranks generally, to take part in the match if selected. The Navy
was consulted and stated categorically that they had no objection
to officers home on leave, or to other ranks, playing in the match.
217