Sports historian and author, Dean Allen, will be guest speaker at the second Derbyshire Cricket Society lunch of the winter, on Thursday 23 November at The 3aaa County Ground.
Allen, who lectures in Sports Studies at Bournemouth University, is a specialist in the early development of South African cricket. His talk, Empire, War & Cricket in South Africa tells the fascinating story of how the Scotsman James Douglas Logan, the son of a railwayman, went to South Africa in 1877 aged 19, and became instrumental in the development of cricket in the country.
Despite being an untalented player himself, Logan saw cricket, a game that symbolised the British Empire, as a means of social elevation within colonial society and set about using his newly-acquired wealth to finance it, and achieve personal advancement.
Allen reveals how Logan was responsible for organising the controversial 1901 South African cricket tour to England in the midst of the Anglo-Boer War, and how writer Arthur Conan Doyle was among those who declared his opposition to the timing. He also shows how the tour cemented Logan’s status among the game’s aristocracy and social elite.
Allen will speak at the Derbyshire Cricket Society Lunch on Thursday 23 November in the Legends Lounge of the Elite Performance Centre at The 3aaa County Ground, starting at 12pm.
For more information and to book your place, visit the Derbyshire Cricket Society website HERE.
