I Zingari | |
Established | 1845 |
Founders | John Loraine Baldwin Frederick Ponsonby Spencer Ponsonby Richard Penruddocke Long |
First match | v Newport Pagnell 29, 30 August 1845 |
First-class matches | 17 (1866–1904) |
I Zingari (from dialectalized Italian i zingari, meaning "the Gypsies"; corresponding to standard Italian gli zingari) are English and Australian amateur cricket clubs, founded in 1845 and 1888 respectively. It is the oldest and perhaps the most famous of the 'wandering' cricket clubs (without a home ground), and is well known for its historically aristocratic membership and its colours of black, red and gold, symbolising the motto "Out of darkness, through fire, into light".
The English club was formed on 4 July 1845 by a group of Old Harrovians at a dinner party and thus is one of the oldest cricket clubs still in existence. The English team still plays around 20 matches each year. Also known as IZ, I Zingari is a wandering (or nomadic) club, having no home ground. Uniquely for an amateur club, Wisden reported all of its matches since 1867, but ceased to do so in 2005.
I Zingari was founded by John Loraine Baldwin, the Hon. Frederick Ponsonby (later 6th Earl of Bessborough), the Hon. Spencer Ponsonby (later Sir Spencer Ponsonby-Fane), Richard Penruddocke Long and Edward Dewing, who were dining at the Blenheim Hotel in London's Bond Street after a match against Harrow School. They decided to form a club to foster the spirit of amateur cricket, and the club rules are famously idiosyncratic. William Boland, a barrister, was appointed the Perpetual President, and remains in post after his death. As a result, the leader of the club is termed its "Governor". Recent Governors of I Zingari have included Charles Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham (1956 to 1977), Alec Douglas-Home (1977 to 1989), George Mann (1989 to ?), Dennis Silk (? to 2015) and Mike Griffith (from 2015).
The club was at its strongest in the nineteenth century. It played seventeen first-class matches between 1849 and 1904, including matches against the Australians in 1882 and 1884.
Its club colours are black, red and gold, symbolizing the motto "out of darkness, through fire, into light". The colours inspired the egg-and-bacon colours adopted by the MCC in 1860, except on the tie the stripes go in the opposite direction.
The Australian club, I Zingari Australia, was formed in 1888, and claims to be the oldest social cricket club in Australia, although there are older school, university and district teams. It first played on 29 September 1888, defeating Newington College Past and Present by 37 runs. The Australian club was recognised by the English club in 1891 and given permission to wear the club colours. The Australian team still plays approximately 70 fixtures each year against other club, school and representative sides. Also in Australia, an I Zingari Rowing Club was established in Adelaide in 1882; it was renamed Adelaide Rowing Club shortly afterwards, but retains the same colours and motto as the English cricket club and the club's eight oared boats have all been named "I Zingari".
The fictional "gentleman thief" A. J. Raffles, created by E. W. Hornung, plays for I Zingari.
James Joyce's 1922 novel Ulysses features real-life I Zingari players, and fictional protagonist Leopold Bloom at one time wears I Zingari colours. [1] [2]
Ambrose Abercrombie, the protagonist of Evelyn Waugh's 1948 novel The Loved One , belongs to I Zingari. Waugh based the character on I Zingari member and Hollywood actor C. Aubrey Smith.
In the 1924 novel by Michael Arlen The Green Hat the protagonist has a friend (Napier Harpenden) who wears ‘…his faded I Zingari tie…’
Frederick George Brabazon Ponsonby, 6th Earl of Bessborough, was an Anglo-Irish peer who played first-class cricket 1834–56 for Surrey, Cambridge Town Club, Cambridge University (CUCC) and Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).
The Old Stagers (OS) is an amateur theatre group, founded in 1842 by Hon. Frederick Ponsonby to perform during Kent's annual Canterbury Cricket Week. Originally the Canterbury Old Stagers, it took its current name in 1851. It claims to be the oldest surviving amateur dramatic company in the world, having staged its first shows in Canterbury in 1842. It has continued to give annual performances since. It now stages its plays at the Gulbenkian Theatre in Canterbury.
Sir Edward Chandos Leigh was a British aristocrat of the Victorian era, a barrister by profession, and a first-class cricketer. He served as President of MCC for 1887–88.
Free Foresters Cricket Club is an English amateur cricket club, established in 1856 for players from the Midland counties of England. It is a 'wandering' club, having no home ground.
Cecil Brabazon Ponsonby was an English first-class cricketer: a right-handed batsman and wicket-keeper who played 74 times for Worcestershire between 1911 and 1928, captaining the county in 1927; he also made a single appearance each for Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and HK Foster's XI.
Two English cricket teams toured Australia in 1887–88. They are generally known as A. Shrewsbury's XI and G. F. Vernon's XI. Shrewsbury's XI also visited New Zealand in March.
The England cricket team in Australia in 1886–87, generally known as Alfred Shaw's XI, was described by Wisden as "one of the strongest that ever left England for the Colonies". The team played 10 first-class matches, winning 6 with 2 draws and 2 defeats. It was the 9th English team to visit Australia, the first tour having occurred in the summer of 1861–62.
The Adelaide Rowing Club (ARC) is a rowing club located in Adelaide, South Australia. The Patron of the ARC is the Right Honourable former Lord Mayor of Adelaide, Mr Martin Haese.
The Rev. Cloudesley Dewar Bullock Marsham was an English amateur cricketer who played mainly for Oxford University Cricket Club, The Gentlemen and England in the period between 1854 and 1866.
Sir Spencer Cecil Brabazon Ponsonby-Fane, was an English cricketer and civil servant. He was born in 1824 in Mayfair, the sixth son of John Ponsonby, 4th Earl of Bessborough.
Alfred Henry Evans was an English first-class cricketer and educator. Considered one of the best fast bowlers in England at the time, Evans played in 44 first-class matches between 1878 and 1885, taking over 200 wickets. He would later became a schoolmaster at Winchester College and would found Horris Hill School in 1882, where he was headmaster until 1920.
The Incogniti cricket club was founded in 1861. It claims to be the third oldest "wandering" cricket club – a nomadic cricket club without its own home ground – after I Zingari and Free Foresters. However, this is inaccurate as the Band of Brothers CC of Kent founded in 1858.
Henry Arkwright was an English amateur first-class cricketer. He made seventeen appearances between 1858 and 1866. He is one of only three cricketers to have taken 18 first-class wickets in a match.
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Fleetwood Isham Edwards was Keeper of the Privy Purse to Queen Victoria from 1895 to 1901.
Henry Fitzroy James Langley was an English cricketer who played two first-class cricket matches during the 1866 Canterbury Cricket Week. In the first of the two matches, he appeared for I Zingari, a wandering amateur cricket club, playing as a specialist batsman, albeit low in the batting order. He scored four runs in the match, although he was not out without scoring in the second innings. In his following match, he batted as number eleven for the Marylebone Cricket Club, and made a duck in the first innings, before once again remaining not out without scoring in the second innings. He continued to play for I Zingari on a number of occasions between 1866 and 1878. He made his highest score for the club in an 1871 match against Huntingdonshire, when he remained 27 not out. He served in Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service. He died in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 20 November 1884.
Eustace Charles Mordaunt was an English amateur cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club and Middlesex County Cricket Club at the turn of the 20th century.
Henry Grey Tylecote was an English first-class cricketer and educator. Tylecote appeared in 29 first-class matches between 1874 and 1886, playing the majority of these for Oxford University, as well as appearing for the Marylebone Cricket Club amongst others.
Edward May Dewing was an English first-class cricketer and antiquarian.
Archibald Hope Gibson was a Canadian first-class cricketer.