Allan Gibson Steel (24 September 1858 – 15 June 1914) was an English amateur cricketer who played for

Lancashire County Cricket Club Lancashire Cricket Club represents the Historic counties of England, historic county of Lancashire in Cricket in England, English cricket. The club has held first-class cricket, first-class status since it was founded in 1864. Lancashire's ho ...

from 1877 to 1893, and in

Test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestigious and traditional form. Often referred to as the "ultimate test" of a cricketer's skill, endurance, and temperament, it is a format of i ...

for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

from 1880 to 1888. He was born in

West Derby West Derby ( ) is an area of Liverpool, Merseyside, England, in the east of the city. At the 2011 Census, the population was 14,382. History West Derby Mentioned in the ''Domesday Book'', West Derby achieved significance far earlier tha ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, and died in

Paddington Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

. Steel was an

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are cons ...

. As a right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

, he scored 7,000 career runs in 162 first-class matches at an average of 29.41 runs per completed

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). In cricket and rounders, "innings" is ...

with a highest score of 171 as one of eight centuries. He was a right-arm bowler with a varied action in that he could bowl both fast medium and slow medium; he also had the ability to

spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

the ball off the pitch as either an

off break Off spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners bowl with their right-arm and a finger spin action. Their normal delivery is called an off break, which spins from left to ...

or a

leg break Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called a leg spinner. Leg spinners bowl with their right-arm and a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery is called a leg break, which spins from ...

. He took 789 first-class

wicket In the sport of cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is either of the two sets of three Stump (cricket), stumps and two Bail (cricket), bails at each end of the Cricket pitch, pitch. The Fielding (cricket), fielding team's playe ...

s with a best return of 9/63. He took five wickets in an innings 64 times and

ten wickets in a match In cricket, a ten-wicket haul occurs when a bowler takes ten wickets in either a single innings or across both innings of a two-innings match. The phrase ten wickets in a match is also used. Taking ten wickets in a match at Lord's earns the bow ...

20 times with a best return of 14/80. As a fielder, Steel completed 141 catches.

Playing career

A. G. Steel was born in

. His father, Joseph Steel, was a Liverpool shipowner. Steel was one of seven cricketing brothers and three of his brothers

Ernest Ernest is a given name derived from the Germanic languages, Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious", often shortened to Ernie. Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People *Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), ...

(EE), Douglas (DQ) and Harold (HB) also played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

for

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

. After his school days at

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English private boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. It was founded as Marlborough School in 1843 by the Dean of Manchester, George ...

, where he played cricket, he proceeded to

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge, colloquially "Tit Hall" ) is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1350, it is th ...

. He was a member of the

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 ...

team of 1878 and topped the

bowling average In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly use ...

s for the whole of England as a freshman. According to H. S. Altham, "it was unquestionably A. G. Steel's bowling that made the difference between a good and a great eleven". Steel is mentioned in the opening article of the first issue of '' Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game''. Comparing bowlers of the Hambledon Era with those of the 1880s, the editor says that the "old bowling" must, as a rule, have been "quite plain" whereas most modern bowlers attempt to emulate Steel's expertise in "twisting the ball from both sides of the wicket", meaning Steel could bowl both

s and

s."Cricket Fifty Years Ago"
''Cricket'', issue 1, 10 May 1882, p. 2. Steel played in the first-ever Test Match in England at

The Oval The Oval, currently named for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club sinc ...

in 1880, then in the famous Test which England narrowly lost in 1882. The mock obituary was published in ''The Sporting Times'' saying "R.I.P. English Cricket...the body will be cremated and

the Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played biennially between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, '' The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, ...

will be taken to Australia". Soon afterwards, Steel set off for Australia with his Cambridge University friends Ivo Bligh and the

Studd brothers The Studd brothers, Sir John Edward Kynaston Studd, Kynaston, George Studd, George (GB) and Charles Studd, Charles (CT), were Victorian gentleman cricketers, educated at Eton College, Eton and University of Cambridge, Cambridge. These three broth ...

George and Charles, and a team they had put together. They toured Australia in 1882–83 and won the agreed series 2–1, thus being given a small urn. They are commemorated by the poem inscribed on the side of the urn: :''When Ivo goes back with the urn, the urn;'' :'' Studds, Steel, Read and Tylecote return, return;'' :''The welkin will ring loud,'' :''The great crowd will feel proud,'' :''Seeing Barlow and

Bates Bates may refer to: Places * Bates, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Bates, Illinois. an unincorporated community in Sangamon County * Bates, Michigan, a community in Grand Traverse County * Bates, New York, a hamlet in the town of Elli ...

with the urn, the urn;'' :''And the rest coming home with the urn.'' Steel scored 135 at the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in the Moore Park, New South Wales, Moore Park suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australi ...

in a Fourth Test match arranged as an "extra" on that tour, in 1883. Over the whole tour, he topped both the batting and the bowling averages. Steel, who was known by his initials to differentiate him from his brothers, then made his highest Test score, of 148, in 1884 which was the first-ever Test match century scored at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

. His name still heads the Honours Board. These efforts led him to achieve the hypothetical number 1 ranking in ICC Test Batsman Ranking in 1884 (he retained it in 1885 as well), well over a century before that meant anything at all. He captained England in 1886 winning all three times – whitewashing the Australians 3–0. His last Test was in 1888, again as captain but losing this one.

Later life

In 1884, Steel became a Christian through

Dwight L. Moody Dwight Lyman Moody (February 5, 1837 – December 22, 1899), also known as D. L. Moody, was an American evangelist and publisher connected with Keswickianism, who founded the Moody Church, Northfield School and Mount Hermon School in Mas ...

's preaching, after C. T. Studd invited him to attend Moody's campaign meeting. Steel wrote the chapter on bowling in the cricket volume of the

Badminton Library The ''Badminton Library'', called in full ''The Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes'', was a sporting and publishing project conceived by Longmans Green & Co. and edited by Henry Somerset, 8th Duke of Beaufort (1824–1899). Between 1885 ...

(1888). He was president of the

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

for 1902. His son Allan Ivo Steel played a handful of first-class matches for MCC and

but was killed in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Another of his sons, Jack Steel, also died in the war after being washed overboard while on route to take command of HMS ''Munster''. Steel died on 15 June 1914 in

and is buried in

Kensal Green Cemetery Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of North Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in P ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Steel, A. G. 1858 births 1914 deaths English cricketers Lancashire cricketers England Test cricket captains England Test cricketers Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery Cambridge University cricketers Cricketers from Liverpool Gentlemen cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers Gentlemen of the North cricketers I Zingari cricketers Liverpool and District cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Middlesex cricketers North v South cricketers Orleans Club cricketers People educated at Marlborough College Presidents of the Marylebone Cricket Club