A cricket match was played as part of the 1900 Summer Olympics, which took place on 19–20 August at the Vélodrome de Vincennes between teams representing Great Britain and France.
Great Britain won the match by 158 runs. The French team included ten British nationals, two of whom were born in France, and two Frenchmen: as such, it is considered to be a mixed team, though it is currently listed by the IOC as representing France.
Originally, four teams entered - Belgium, France, Great Britain, and the Netherlands - and they were scheduled to compete in a knockout tournament, with the semi-finals scheduled for August 4–5 and August 11–12, and the final scheduled for August 19–20.
However, Belgium and the Netherlands both withdrew before the draw as the Netherlands were unable to field a complete cricket team, while Belgium did not send their cricket team to Paris. Therefore, the semi-finals were scratched, and Great Britain played France in a single match on the dates originally scheduled for the final.
Neither team was nationally selected: the side representing Great Britain was a touring club, the Devon and Somerset Wanderers (alias Devon County Wanderers), while the French team, the French Athletic Club Union, was composed mainly of British expatriates living in Paris.
The two-day match commenced on 19 August 1900. Great Britain batted first and scored 117, and bowled France out for 78. Great Britain declared their second innings at 145 for 5, setting the hosts a target of 185 to win: Great Britain then bowled out France for 26 to win the match by 158 runs, a significant margin, but with only five minutes remaining before stumps. The Great Britain team was awarded silver medals and the French team bronze medals, together with miniature statues of the Eiffel Tower.
While 1900 is the only Olympiad where cricket was part of the official programme, it will return at the 2028 Games in the Twenty20 format. The IOC has never decided which events were "Olympic" and which were not.
Background
thumb|right|Poster of the only Olympic cricket match
Cricket had been scheduled as an event at the first modern Olympics in 1896, being listed in the original programme for the Athens Games, and would have been the only team event at the Games, but the tournament was cancelled due to a lack of entries.
Four years later, at the Paris Games, there was also a shortage of entries: Belgium and the Netherlands both withdrew before the draw. Their withdrawal left only Great Britain and the host nation, France, to participate.
Team selection
Neither side was nationally selected, nor representative. Great Britain, or England as they were called in the advertising handbills, were represented by a touring club side, the Devon and Somerset Wanderers. The side, formed by William Donne in 1894 for a tour of the Isle of Wight, had completed five other tours before travelling to France.
The Wanderers were primarily formed from players of Castle Cary Cricket Club, five of whom played in the match, and also included four former pupils of Blundell's School, a public school in Devon. The side was completed by a number of players from the surrounding areas who were able to get away from business and personal commitments for the two-week period of the tour. despite this, it was the only international cricket match played that year.
Medalists
thumb|250px|Players of Devon and Somerset Wanderers club that represented Great Britain, gold medal winners
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See also
- List of Olympic venues in discontinued events
Notes and references
;References
;Notes
External links
- www.icc-cricket.com
- Marylebone Cricket Club