The Combined Services cricket team represents the

British Armed Forces The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, su ...

. The team played at first-class level in England for more than forty years in the mid-twentieth century. Their first first-class match was against Gentlemen of England at Lord's in 1920, while their last was against Oxford University at

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the Engli ...

in 1964. Combined Services have continued to play cricket thereafter, albeit at minor level. They played only six first-class matches prior to World War II, but a further 57 afterwards, when the individual services had ceased to play at first-class level (apart from two matches by the Royal Air Force immediately after the War). Of these 63 matches, they won 7 (5 of them between 1946 and 1949), lost 34 and drew 22. In the 1950s, most young men had to do two years National Service in one of the armed forces, so that Combined Services was able to field some reasonably strong sides. For example, in the 1951 match against the touring South Africans the side included

Brian Close Dennis Brian Close, (24 February 1931 – 13 September 2015) was an English first-class cricketer. He was picked to play against New Zealand in July 1949, when he was 18 years old. Close went on to play 22 Test matches for England, ...

, who had already played for England, and Jim Parks,

Fred Titmus Frederick John Titmus (24 November 1932 – 23 March 2011) was an English cricketer, whose first-class career, mostly for Middlesex with a shortish stint for Surrey, spanned five decades. He was the fourth man after W.G. Grace, Wilfred Rh ...

and

Alan Moss Alan Edward Moss (14 November 1930 – 12 March 2019) was an English cricketer, who played in nine Tests for England from 1954 to 1960. The cricket writer, Colin Bateman, opined, "Alan Moss was a thoughtful, enthusiastic swing bowler who, gi ...

, who would all go on to do so. In one of the later matches against Warwickshire at the

Mitchells and Butlers' Ground Edgbaston Foundation Ground, formerly Mitchells and Butlers' Ground, is a cricket ground in Birmingham, Warwickshire. The ground, near the Mitchells & Butlers brewery, was owned by Mitchells & Butlers, which had its headquarters in Birmingham ...

in Birmingham, the county fast-medium bowler

Jack Bannister John David Bannister (23 August 1930 – 23 January 2016) was an English cricket commentator and former first-class cricketer who played for Warwickshire County Cricket Club. He was, for many years, a BBC television cricket commentator and late ...

took all 10 Services wickets in an innings for 41 runs. The Combined Services team continues to play at sub-first-class level.

References

External links

Lists of matches played by Combined Services at CricketArchive
Former senior cricket clubs English club cricket teams Military cricket teams Military of the United Kingdom Military sport in the United Kingdom {{england-cricket-team-stub

See also

References

External links