UK post free only, please e-mail for overseas postage charges

Lionel Robinson and the Australian Imperial Forces The Rebirth of International Cricket after the War

Stephen Musk

Published by Red Rose Books, 2023

Original pictorial hard cloth.

(iv) + 52 pages, illustrated.

Limited edition of 20 copies, signed by the author.

After the Great War, there

UK post free only, please e-mail for overseas postage charges

Lionel Robinson and the Australian Imperial Forces The Rebirth of International Cricket after the War

Stephen Musk

Published by Red Rose Books, 2023

Original pictorial hard cloth.

(iv) + 52 pages, illustrated.

Limited edition of 20 copies, signed by the author.

After the Great War, there was a demand for international cricket to be resumed as quickly as possible in the summer of 1919. A fully representative Ashes series proved impossible to organise - instead, a squad of Australian servicemen who were then based in England was put together, known as the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) side. This squad made a full-length tour of England, playing 28 first class matches in front of large crowds. Their first fixture was against a team raised by Lionel Robinson, which was played at his estate deep in the Norfolk countryside. This book describes the genesis of this, the first international first-class match after the War. It gives a full report of the play, which ended tantalizingly when the AIF, who needed just nine runs to win with two wickets remaining, had to leave to catch a train. The subsequent fortunes of the Australians are also briefly considered.