The Combined Services cricket team represents the

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

. The team played at first-class level in

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 ...

for more than forty years in the mid-twentieth century. Their first first-class match was against Gentlemen of England 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 ...

in 1920, while their last was against

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 ...

Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...

in 1964. Combined Services have continued to play cricket thereafter, albeit at minor level.

History

They played only six first-class matches prior to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, 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 The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

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 National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

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

, 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 short stint for Surrey, spanned five decades. He was the fourth man after W.G. Grace, Wilfred Rhode ...

and

Alan Moss Alan Edward Moss (14 November 1930 – 12 March 2019) was an English cricketer, who played in nine Tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowled ...

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

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

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 of England Club cricket teams in England Military cricket teams Military of the United Kingdom Military sport in the United Kingdom {{england-cricket-team-stub

History

See also

References

External links