Best known for creating Sherlock Holmes, the world’s most famous fictional detective, Arthur Conan Doyle also had a deep connection with cricket, as a player, writer, and lifelong fan
Think of literary titan Arthur Conan Doyle, and the image of Sherlock Holmes pops up automatically. But not many are aware that the author of the world’s most famous fictional detective had a deep and enduring bond with cricket. The name ‘Sherlock’ in Sherlock Holmes, in fact, has an umbilical link to the gentlemen’s game.
Before I reached the iconic Old Trafford ground to cover the crucial fourth Test between India and England, I, like many others, had no idea of the connection between Doyle, Holmes and cricket. But a chance conversation with a few club officials in Manchester put me on the trail of this amazing discovery. Digging deeper, I found a fascinating but often overlooked aspect of Doyle’s life: his abiding connection to cricket, both as a player and as a source of inspiration.
A man of diverse passions, Doyle was not just a medical practitioner writing groundbreaking fiction, but also harboured a profound affection for cricket. By all accounts, he was an active cricketer long before his literary stature turned him into a legend. Though he never reached the same heights of fame on the pitch as he did with the pen, Doyle was a solid all-rounder who played regularly during his student days.
Cricket as a parallel stage
The writer played several matches for many amateur sides, including the prestigious Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), rubbing shoulders with some of the greatest cricketers of his times. His biggest claim to fame in cricket came in 1900 when, playing for MCC, he dismissed the legendary W.G. Grace, the most famous cricketer of the 19th century, and took seven wickets in the match, a source of much amusement to this day.
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Doyle also played for the Authors XI, a cricket team made up of writers and poets. His teammates included J.M. Barrie (of Peter Pan fame) and A.A. Milne (the famous creator of Winnie-the-Pooh). He was especially identified with the ‘Allahakbarries’, a literary cricket club he founded. The club’s whimsical name, a pun on ‘Allah Akbar’ and ‘All our hacks’, reflected the light-hearted spirit with which they approached the game, despite often being outmatched by their opponents.
In fact, Conan Doyle did not just play cricket; he also wrote about it. He often contributed to The Cricketer magazine and penned several poems and essays about the game which depict his deep understanding of the game’s nuances. For him, cricket was not about competition but about the values of fairness, discipline and mental strength. He once described cricket as “the keenest pleasure which life has to give.”
Cricket has always demanded close observation. A grasp of its nuances and its subtleties often lead to introspective narrations, exactly the tools a writer needs. For Doyle, cricket was not just recreation but a parallel stage where character, conflict, and intelligence played for victory. In a sense, this link between cricket and the sports lover in Doyle clearly shaped the pen of one of literature’s greatest minds.
A meaningful thread
With its multitude rhythms, strategies and contests of character, cricket provided the ideal training ground for the observant writer who gave us the ultimate strategist in fiction. As Doyle respected and followed the regimen of observation and planning that went into cricket, the same qualities later seeped into his detective fiction and his most iconic character.
The name ‘Sherlock’ in Sherlock Holmes, too, is directly linked to a cricket match where Doyle scored 30 runs against a bowler named Shacklock. Literary experts say the name ‘Mycroft’ for Holmes’ brother was also inspired by cricket, potentially referencing a major fast bowler from Derbyshire, William Mycroft.
Authors v Artists cricket match in London, May 1903. Arthur Conan Doyle is stood in the back row, sixth from the left. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Beyond the naming, Doyle’s fiction reveals a mindset cultivated in cricket. Qualities of observation and composure which Holmes employed effectively in his various investigations. Though Sherlock is never shown playing cricket in Doyle’s stories, yet he dissects crime scenes with the spirit of a good captain who studies a pitch and surrounding conditions with care as his decision is paramount to the team’s fate.
Like a skipper readjusts the field or makes a prudent bowling change but has emotions under control, Holmes, too, is a dignified detective who walks away with a quiet satisfaction after solving a crime.
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The elements of logic and elegance run deep in Doyle’s fiction and Holmes’ persona reflects an intuitive captain, an observant bowler and a skilled batsman rolled into one who is focused on defeating the opposition. Inevitably, his methodical conclusions help him set traps for criminals and it seems apparent that cricket served a meaningful thread in the life and literature of one of Britain’s most admired authors.
A detective’s strategy
In fact, Holmes is perhaps the most “cricketing” detective in literature, embodying the Victorian ideals of the calm, composed English gentleman, metaphors that distinguished cricket for a long time. In a way, Doyle portrays Holmes and Watson as representatives of the “British gentleman” who believe in fairplay, restraint, and strategy, hallmarks of cricket as also of crime-solving. Though not a cricketer in the mysteries he solves, Sherlock seems to have been cut from the same cloth.
During our conversation, I also discovered Jerome Caminada, an exceptional local detective who many call a ‘real-life Sherlock Holmes’. Joining the police as an average cop, Caminada rose to be the city’s top detective in the mid-19th century. A master of disguise with a keen eye for detail and ingenious methods of detection, Caminada is said to have tracked Manchester’s criminals in a masterful manner just like Sherlock Holmes. Many literary scholars claim Caminada’s life story and his detective style bear uncanny links to the Sherlock persona which Doyle created.
The creative genius of Sir Doyle is a reminder that art and sport are not separate worlds rather they often nourish each other. Though Doyle’s love of cricket may not be as well-known as his creation of Sherlock Holmes, it reveals that great writers, like great athletes, require sharp focus, tactical thinking and a deep understanding of human behaviour to succeed in their craft.
In a sense, the meandering tenor of a Test match is not so different from the build-up of a great mystery. Though Holmes never picked up a bat, it’s easy to imagine him watching a Test match at Lord’s or Old Trafford, silently analysing each field change and wondering what the bowler was planning next. In that quiet, watchful moment, the detective and the cricketer become one.
