Col. L. C. Stevens' XI, sometimes shortened to L. C. Stevens' XI, was an English

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

team that played 30 matches (two of them first-class) at

The Saffrons The Saffrons is a multi-purpose sports ground in Eastbourne, East Sussex. The ground is home to Eastbourne Cricket Club, Eastbourne Town Football Club, Eastbourne Hockey Club and Compton Croquet Club. There is also a sand dressed astroturf pitch ...

ground in

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...

from 1949 to 1968. The teams were raised by Lieutenant-Colonel Leonard Cording Stevens OBE (born 1891, died 27 May 1968) who was president of Eastbourne Cricket and Football Club and Eastbourne Rugby Football Club. He also founded the Eastbourne school Chelmsford Hall Preparatory in 1920. The matches ranged from one to three days' duration. Six were against touring

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sides, played at the beginning of their tours as warm-up matches. Most of the other matches were against

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

or the

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. The two matches that were accorded first-class status were against Cambridge University in 1960 and 1961.

Tom Graveney Thomas William Graveney (16 June 1927 – 3 November 2015) was an English first-class cricketer, representing his country in 79 Test matches and scoring over 4,800 runs. In a career lasting from 1948 to 1972, he became the 15th player to scor ...

scored the team's only first-class

century A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. ...

in the 1961 match. The 1960 match was a draw; Cambridge won the 1961 match. Five Col. L. C. Stevens' XI players made their first-class debuts in the 1960 match, including Dr David Rice, at the age of 46, who captained the side in both matches. Two more players made their first-class debuts in the 1961 match. In contrast, the 1960 match was Sir

Len Hutton Sir Leonard Hutton (23 June 1916 – 6 September 1990) was an English cricketer. He played as an Batting order (cricket)#Opening batsmen, opening batsman for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1934 to 1955 and for England national cricket team ...

's second-last first-class match. The match against Cambridge University in 1963 was scheduled and played as a first-class match, but the MCC later rescinded its status.

Derrick Robins Derrick Harold Robins (27 June 1914 – 3 May 2004) was an English cricketer and sports promoter, twice chairman of Coventry City Football Club. He was born in Bexleyheath, Kent and became a self-made millionaire running Banbury Buildings, a fi ...

played in several non-first-class matches for Col. L. C. Stevens' XI in the 1950s and 1960s. After Colonel Stevens' death he organised his own team, D. H. Robins' XI, which also played matches at The Saffrons, some of them first-class, from 1969 to 1978.

References

External links

Lists of matches played by L. C. Stevens' XI
Former senior cricket clubs of England Sport in Eastbourne {{england-cricket-team-stub