Royal Air Force cricket team
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The Royal Air Force cricket team is a cricket side representing the British Royal Air Force. The team played 11 first-class matches: nine between 1922 and 1932, mostly against other branches of the Services, and another two in 1945 and 1946. Their home ground is the Royal Air Force Sports Ground, Uxbridge.[1]
A number of notable cricketers played for the RAF team in its first-class days. Their side for the first such game, against Rest of England at Eastbourne in September 1922, included no fewer than eight current or future Test cricketers: Jack Hobbs, Wally Hardinge, Frank Woolley, Percy Fender, Harold Gilligan, George Geary, Charlie Parker and Abe Waddington (though none of them was currently serving in the RAF).[2] However after this festival game, the RAF did not play another first-class match for five years.
Douglas Bader's only match of first-class cricket came for the RAF against the Army at The Oval in 1931.[3]
Since the 1940s, the RAF side has continued to compete in minor cricket.
See also: Combined Services cricket team.
[edit] References
- ^ Royal Air Force Sports Ground, Uxbridge. CricketArchive. Retrieved on 2007-12-11.
- ^ Royal Air Force v Rest of England in 1922. CricketArchive. Retrieved on 2007-05-27.
- ^ Army v Royal Air Force in 1931. CricketArchive. Retrieved on 2007-05-27.
