CRICKET has only once been held at the Olympics, at Paris in 1900, and Great Britain, courtesy of the Devon and Somerset Wanderers beat France by 158 runs in the only match played.

Belgium and the Netherlands originally entered the cricket tournament but withdrew when their bid to co-host the 1900 Olympics with Paris failed. They took the hump and withdrew their cricket teams. That must have been some loss!

Scorecard

Great Britain - 1st Innings			2nd Innings
Beachcroft b Attrill	23		run out	54
Birkett b Andersen	1
Symes c Andersen b Robinson	15		c Attrill b Roques	1
Cuming c Browning b McEvoy	38		c Attrill b McEvoy	18
Toller b McEvoy	2
Bowerman b Andersen	7		b Roques	59
Powlesland c Browning b Robinson	10		b Roques	4
Donne run out	6
Christian b Andersen	0
Buckley b Attrill	2
Burchell not out	0
Corner lbw Andersen	4		not out	5
Extras	9			4
Total	117		5 wkts dec	145
Bowling			Bowling
Andersen 4 wkts			Roques 3 wkts
Attrill 2 wkts			McEvoy 1 wkt
McEvoy 2 wkts
Robinson 2 wkts
France - 1st Innings			2nd Innings
Jordan c Corner b Christian	11		b Toller	0
Schneideau b Christian	8		b Powlesland	1
Horne c Buckley b Christian	15		b Powlesland	1
Terry c Cuming b Powlesland	2		b Toller	1
Roques b Powlesland	0		b Toller	0
Andersen b Christian	0		b Toller	8
Robinson b Christian	0		b Powlesland	0
Attrill lbw Christian	0		b Toller	0
Browning b Christian	0		b Toller	0
McEvoy b Bowerman	1		c Christian b Corner	0
Tomalin not out	3		not out	6
Braid run out	25		b Toller	7
Extras	11			2
Total	78			26
Bowling			Bowling
Christian 7 wkts			Toller 7-9
Powlesland 2 wkts			Powlesland 3-15
Bowerman 1 wkt			Corner 1-0

For further information see the entry for the Devon and Somerset Wanderers in the British Sports Club and Teams who have won Olympic Gold Medals section

British gold medallists

BEACHCROFT, Charles Beachey Kay
Born: 1870 Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, England
Died: 1928 Australia
Olympics competed in: 1 (1900)
Olympic medals: 1900 Gold

Beachcroft was born Charles Beachey Kay and was the son of a Manchester-born vicar who died when Charles was just seven.

In 1896 Kay, who was married with four children, ran away from Devon to London with a 17-year-old girl, and whilst in London they lived as 'Mr & Mrs Beachcroft'.

Kay was charged with abduction but was found not guilty after he told the court he was to marry the girl after he obtained his divorce. He kept to his word and later that year he married again but using the name Charles Beachey Kay Beachcroft.

Beachcroft was the opening bat for Exeter in 1900 and he also played for a local team called Starcross. As the captain he opened the batting with Arthur Birkett against the French and scored 23 runs in the first innings. In the second innings he scored 54 before being run out and therefore made a considerable contribution to the British win.

At the time of the Paris tournament, Beachcroft was the landlord of the Royal Hotel, Dawlish, but the business failed in 1901 when he was declared bankrupt.

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Some sources say Birkett was the captain of the Britain's gold medal winning team but newspaper reports of the day credit Beachcroft with that honour.

Devonian Birkett was an Old Blundellian and also played for Castle Cary. He inherited the family wool merchants business on the death of his father in 1902.

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BOWERMAN, Alfred James
Born: 22 November 1873, Broomfield, Somerset, England
Died : 20 June 1947, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Olympics competed in: 1 (1900)
Olympic medals: 1900 Gold

Bowerman played two first class matches for Somerset, against Lancashire in 1900 and the other against Middlesex in 1905. A Bridgwater timber merchant, Bowerman was the top scorer in the second innings at the Paris Olympics with 59 runs. He emigrated to Australia in 1912 and died in his adopted country in 1947.

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BUCKLEY, George John
Born: 20 May 1875 Clapton, London, England
Died: 14 February 1955, Shanklin, Isle of Wight, England
Olympics competed in: 1 (1900)
Olympic medals: 1900 Gold

Little is known about George Buckley other than he was a member of the Castle Cary cricket club and also the gold medal winning Devon Wanderers team in 1900.

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BURCHELL, Francis Romulus
Born: 25 September 1873, Clifton, Bristol, England
Died: 6 July 1947, Worthing, West Sussex, England
Olympics competed in: 1 (1900)
Olympic medals: 1900 Gold

Little is also known about Burchell, other than he was a member of the gold medal winning team batting only in the first innings at number 11 (out of 12) without failing to score.   

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CHRISTIAN, Frederick William
Born: 1877, Burton on Trent, Staffordshire, England
Died: 13 May 1941, Reading, Berkshire, England
Olympics competed in: 1 (1900)
Olympic medals: 1900 Gold

Fred Christian dismissed seven members of the French team in the first innings at the 1900 Olympics and thus played a significant part in the British securing the one and only cricket gold medal.

* There is some doubt about Christian's forenames and also his boirth and death details

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CORNER, Harry Richard 'Henry'
Born: 9 July 1874, Taunton, Somerset, England
Died: 7 June 1938, Radyr, Glamorgan, Wales
Olympics competed in: 1 (1900)
Olympic medals: 1900 Gold

Educated at Blundell's school, Henry Corner was a member of the Castle Cary cricket team at the time of the Devon and Somerset Wanderers tour of France in 1900. When they were asked to represent Great Britain at the Olympics, Corner, a partner in a wool merchants, was originally left out of the starting XI but when it was agreed to play 12-a-side, Corner was added to the team, contributing four runs in the first innings and taking one French wicket

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CUMING, Frederick
Born: 27 May 1875, Tiverton, Devon, England
Died: 22 March 1942, London, England
Olympics competed in: 1 (1900)
Olympic medals: 1900 Gold

Frederick Cuming was top scorer, with 38, in the first innings of the Paris final He as the only batsman dismissed by the same bowler in both innings in the Paris match.. Between 1900-1903 Cuming played for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) although he never played in a first class match. An Old Blundellian, he played for Exeter and Bradnich in 1900

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DONNE, William Stephens
Born: 2 April 1875, Wincanton, Somerset, England
Died: 24 March 1934, Castle Cary, Somerset, England
Olympics competed in: 1 (1900)
Olympic medals: 1900 Gold

William Donne was an influential man throughout his life.

It was Donne who founded the Devon and Somerset Wanderers cricket team in 1894 and it was this team that lifted the gold medal for Great Britain at the 1900 Paris Olympics. The captain of Castle Cary Cricket Club he organised several tours to France.

Donne was also a JP in Somerset, County Council Alderman and former Governor of his old school, King's school, Bruton. He also served as a captain in the Somerset Light Infantry,

He served as an administrator with the Somerset Rugby Union, acting as a committee member for 38 years and was appointed President in 1905. He also served on the Rugby Football Union (RFU) from 1902 and was the RFU President in 1924-25.

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POWLESLAND, Alfred James
Born: 1875 Newton Abbott, Devon, England
Died: 25 March 1941 Chudleigh, Devon, England
Olympics competed in: 1 (1900)
Olympic medals: 1900 Gold

One of the more experienced members of the Devon and Somerset Wanderers who represented Britain at the 1900 Olympics, he played for Exeter and Minor Counties cricket for Devon in 1901, and on his debut against Surrey Second XI he took 3-22 in their first innings.

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SYMES, John
Born: 11 January 1879, Crediton, Devon, England
Died: 23 September 1944 Sandford, Devon, England
Olympics competed in: 1 (1900)
Olympic medals: 1900 Gold

A high order batsmen in both innings in the Paris match, John Symes' contribution to the match was minimal, but in bringing home a hand written scorecard of the match, it meant that he had possession of the only recorded documentation of the match to which historians are eternally grateful. He also kept a diary of the tour and quite simply summed it all up by saying: "we won easily!"

Educated at Marlborough College, he was the son of a Crediton solicitor he joined his father's practice after qualifying in 1902. He played cricket and rugby for Crediton and was also a member of the Devon Dumplings criucket club.

Symes served in World War One as a Captain with the 6th Devon Regiment attached to the 9th Batallion and was awarded the OBE in 1919. Symes, a bachelor, collapsed and died while out shooting at a Crediton farm at the age of 65.

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Montagu Toller played for Devon between 1889-95 and he played six first class matches for Somerset in 1897. He was also selected to play for W G Grace's XI against W W Read's XI at Reigate in 1895.

At the 1900 Paris Olympics he performed perhaps his best bowling feat when he was instrumental in the French team's collapse to 26 all out in the second innings with a haul of seven wickets for nine runs - all clean bowled.

A fast right-arm bowler, Toller was educated at Blundells School and played for both the cricket XI and rugby XV. He was a solicitor by profession.

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