American Cricket: The Story of St Paul’s School 1856 -1902

The Gentlemen of Ireland Cricket team undertook four tours of North America, between 1879 and 1909, and played a total of 40 matches on those tours. Perhaps the most unusual was a one day game that was played on 17 September 1888 in the grounds of St Paul’s school in Concord New Hampshire against a combined team of masters and pupils of that school. Why would a team of Irish cricketers make time in their packed itinerary to play a school team?

This was no ordinary American school; its first dean, Henry Augustus Coit, was a cricket fanatic and, as a result St Paul’s had adopted cricket from its founding in 1856. The school also employed a respected English cricket coach and underwent cricketing tours of America and Canada in its own right.

This is the story of St Paul’s and the important role it played in America’s brief but nevertheless ＂golden age＂ of cricket.