Cricketing Characters #4: Arthur Collins

An Indian schoolboy named Pranav Dhanawade from Mumbai last week set a new world record for the most amount of runs scored in a single innings in an officially recorded match. He was playing for his KC Gandhi school against Arya Gurukul school and he racked up 1009 runs (not out) in a total of 1465-3 declared. He plundered 59 sixes and 127 fours in just over 6 hours at the crease. School cricket in Mumbai is renowned for being of high quality, and boasts Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma amongst it's alumni. After seeing a few of Pranav's shots on BBC news it struck me just how stylish he looked. I guess you would have to have a decent technique to score over a thousand runs whoever you were playing! (The boundary did look a little short, and a good proportion of the opposition looked at least a foot shorter than Pranav, but still, you've still got to hit 'em.) It made me wonder who the previous record belonged to. It transpires that the previous record was over 100 years old; this effort belonging to Arthur Collins.

A record that has stood for nearly 116 years deserves recognition and you'd be hard pressed to find many who could've put a name and a face to it. So here he is!



Arthur Collins was born in Hazaribagh, India in 1885, but attended school in Bristol. He started at Clifton College in 1897, attending Clarke's House. Clifton College already had a weighty reputation for sport, particularly cricket. None other that W.G Grace attended the school, and latterly his sons. As well as cricket, Arthur was also represented the school as a boxer, and played rugby for the 1st XI.

There's some debate as to whether Arthur's parents survived his early childhood. In a 1999 article for the Telegraph newspaper, Tim Rice described Arthur as "an orphan boy" who's adopted parents lived in Devon. However, the 1901 census shows that Arthur's Mother Esther Ida Collins was still alive at that time.

Arthur was only 13 years old during the match in 1899 that immortalised him in the cricketing history books. He was captaining the Clarke's House side against North Town House on a ground at Guthrie Road, Bristol. The match was timeless, but was played in breaks between lessons. The school houses had 2 half-days scheduled for the match to complete, so the first ball was bowled at 3:30pm on Thursday 22nd June after the day's lessons were over. By the close of play on the first day (6pm), Arthur had already notched up his double ton. Admittedly this was helped by some rather generous fielding from the opposition as he was dropped on 50, 100 and 140. The next day brought 2 more hours play after lessons and again Arthur was in no mood to hang around. As the first hour concluded, the crowd was building as news of Arthur's innings spread around the school. After a dolly of catch was dropped by an poor unfortunate 11 year old named Victor Fuller-Eburle when Arthur was on 400, the previous world record of 485 was in sight. It was downed by 5:30pm. He finished the day on 509 undefeated out of a Clarke's House total of 680-8. By now the news of Arthur's exploits had not just travelled around the local area as, thanks to an article in The Times newspaper the next day, it was declared to the world that a world record has been set (they reported his name, age and overnight score incorrectly however!)

When the match recommenced after the weekend break, a large crowd was gathered to see just how high Arthur could reach. He was still unmovable on 598 not out at the end of the day, but wickets were steadily falling at the other end. Finally, after 25 minutes of play on the 4th day, the last Clarke's House batsman lost his wicket, leaving Arthur stranded on 628 not out after carrying bat for just over 7 hours of play.

The Times remained interested, giving a full report of Arthur's innings on the Wednesday, thus providing him with nationwide acclaim.

The match concluded rather quickly after this with the opposition being bowled out for just 87 in their first innings and a paltry 61 in their second innings, leading to a rather ignominious defeat for North Town House by an innings and 688 runs.

One of the scorers for the match was Edward Pelgar. He was quoted as having said after the match "The score was 628 plus or minus twenty shall we say". It seems it was all a bit much to take in even for the ones with the coloured pencils!

What has endeared me to Arthur the most is his story afterwards. Far from revelling in his new found fame, the schoolboy was reported to have mostly tried to distance himself from it in the proceeding years. It seems many of the national newspapers revered him in the next few years, creating an almost legendary status. Arthur was always going to be the boy who broke the record. One paper wrote "he has a reputation as great as the most advertised soap. He will be immortalised..". To be considered a legend at such a young age took its toll on Arthur, and the constant attention he courted proved to be too much for him by the time he left school. A reluctant hero, he was earmarked for great things in the game, but after finishing at Clifton he chose to pursue a military career, playing cricket sparingly. He did once play at Lord's representing the Royal Engineers in 1913, but never progressed further into First Class cricket.

During his time in the army he served in India, rising to the rank of Lieutenant in 1907 and then to Captain in 1913. He married in spring 1914. Sadly however, Arthur was unfortunate to be of the generation of young men in the prime of their lives at the outbreak of the First World War and, after only a few months of marriage, he was called to action at Ypres. He was killed on duty with the Royal Engineers on 11th September 1914 on the Belgian battlefields. He was 29.

Here's hoping that the future for Pranav Dhanawade is more prosperous. There will certainly be plenty of Indian eyes upon him in the upcoming years. I'm sure there are many cricket fans who may consider both Pranav's and Arthur's records quite perfunctory considering the rather loose definition of "an organised game of cricket". Both were at schoolboy level with opposition of questionable quality. I understand that these may not compare to for example, some of Brian Lara's modern day efforts, but I feel they fully deserve to stand side by side with the big boys. There's a wonderful human quality to both performances. They walked out the middle, casually broke world records, then went back to school again the following day. I certainly would never have contemplated being able to score that many runs in any of my school matches, even if the straight boundaries were only 15 yards in both directions (as was the case with Arthur's). My school record reads 34, 0, 0 and 0 not out in case you were wondering.
It evokes feelings of cricket being played the way we all wish we could hold on to throughout life - a joyful, uninhibited freedom- of-childhood way. It serves to remind you that cricket is indeed, just a game.

Any record that stands for 116 years deserves recognition, and although it seems he was ill at ease with this recognition, I believe the newspaper got it right. In cricketing circles at lease, he has been immortalised.

Cricketing characters #3: Napoleon Einstein

Is it a glut stretch or a pose?

Napoleon Einstein is probably destined to answer questions about the origin of his name for the rest of life. I first came across his name in about 2007/08 when he broke into the India team for the under-19 World Cup in Malaysia. It instantly caught my eye. I mean, how could it not?! He's called Napoleon Einstein!

Instantly questions need to be answered. Why Napoleon? Why Einstein? Why Napoleon and Einstein together? What on earth was going through the minds of his parents?

It's easy to make fun I guess, but the more I read about him, the more it makes sense, and the more likeable he becomes. Purely by walking onto a cricket field he enriches the eccentric tapestry of the game further. If you're going through life with such an unorthodox name, the sport of cricket will of course welcome you with open arms. And that's why he deserves a place in my Cricketing Characters series.

The sad fact for the man himself, is that there isn't a great deal to read about. He has played a few List A games in India for Tamil Nadu. On debut he scored 92 opening the batting in a stand of 203 with current Indian Test opening batsman Murali Vijay against Kerala in the 2006 Ranji Trophy. A second opportunity arose a month later against Assam, but his score of 1 was enough to see him out of List A cricket. He has played several games for Chemplast in the BCCI corporate trophy over the last few years however. The BCCI corporate trophy is an annual competition preceeding the Ranji Trophy, and acts as a high profile starter to the Indian domestic league. The BCCI invites 12 of the country's largest corporations to compete and India's star players are expected to turn out. The aim is to encourage employment opportunities for cricketers in the country, with a rather progressive eye towards looking after its players that come from poorer backgrounds if their dreams of cricketing success do not materialise. Against an Air India XI in 2010 he score a century for Chemplast coming in at number 3 against a strong bowling attack that included India international stars RP Singh and Dhawal Kulkarni. He has never repeated that success however, with just the 1 more half century in the past 4 seasons. He made a brief comeback to the Tamil Nadu side with a solitary T20 performance versus Hyderabad in 2014, scoring 19.

The Under 19 World Cup in Malaysia in 2008 was perhaps Napoleon's greatest triumph as he came away with a winner's medal (despite only playing in 1 game). His reward was to be was drafted into the Chennai Super Kings squad for the IPL in 2008, but he did not get a chance to showcase his talents on India's biggest stage. He was not retained for the 2009 season.

So that's about all there is to talk about in a career that perhaps was never destined to live up to the potential of his ridiculously powerful name. The thought of his name being in lights on the biggest cricketing stages is still a gloriously exciting prospect. Just imagine what the TMS team would make of it. Hearing Blowers introduce him as he walks out to bat would probably be enough to make me weep. He's still only 26 so perhaps I can live in hope for a little while longer.

As for the name itself, Napoleon has provided an insight:  "My grandfather was a scientist. He wrote a letter to Albert Einstein and even got a reply from him. I've got no idea [what the letter was about] even though I've read it. My mother was a physics graduate and she teaches Physics in one of the schools. So I'm Einstein. Napoleon is my father's name." 

"We don't believe in God. In our family, we're rationalists. Other people are named Krishna and Ram after Gods, so we were named Einstein and Napoleon after great people."

I love this last quote. As a rationalist myself, there's something very endearing about the statement that Napoleon's parents have made. It must've been quite clear to them that the name they chose for their son would bring him attention. Although India isn't as religiously conservative as neighbouring cricketing nations such as Pakistan or Bangladesh, it is conceivable that this open statement to rationalism would've brought some consternation in some circles.

Maybe I'm overplaying it slightly to suggest he is a walking philosophical statement, but it seems unjust to dismiss him as just a slightly silly footnote in the annals of cricket. Yes, most people will laugh at his name. Yes, most will agree that I wouldn't be writing about him if it wasn't for his name. His minor fame is testament to a game that celebrates such eccentric anomalies, and I love his story more for that. But it is worth remembering that he is man who's family have aimed high for him. Living up to his namesakes will certainly prove challenging, but the fact that they follow him will certainly mean that he'll be remembered warmly by cricket fans the world over.