Lumpy Stevens

Stevens was born in 1735 at Send, Surrey.

The beginning of Stevens' career was before scorecards began to be kept on a regular basis. Stevens probably began playing in great matches around the mid-1750s at a time when bowlers still bowled (i.e., trundled) the ball all along the ground, as in crown green bowls. It is not known if Stevens was the first to "give the ball air" but he was certainly around when that particular revolution occurred, probably before 1770. What is known is that Stevens was the bowler who made the most careful study of flight and worked out all the implications of variations in pace, length and direction mentioned above. He became a master of his craft.[1]

Unlike the Hambledon players who tended to represent their club only, Stevens made appearances for just about every team, including Hambledon. He is normally associated with Surrey teams in general and with the famous Chertsey club in particular. He continued as a player until he was 50 and played his last match on 2–5 September 1789 for All-England v Hampshire at Sevenoaks Vine.[2] It is not known what took place in his career following this game, but John Major suspected that Stevens enlisted in the British Army: on 20 May 1793 a letter signed by 'A Kentish Cricketer' written to Sporting Magazine describes an incident where an Ensign Hamilton, a member of the Sevenoaks Vine Club, had a cannonball deflected away from his head by a Sergeant. The magazine and the Maidstone Journal both linked the story to Stevens.[3]

How he came by his legendary nickname is uncertain[4] but it may have been because he was adept at choosing a pitch to suit his very subtle variations of pace, length and direction. In the 18th century, choice of pitch was granted to one team according to the rules in situ and it was generally the leading bowler on that team who chose the place where the wickets would be pitched. According to the famous verse:

For honest Lumpy did allow

He ne'er would pitch but o'er a brow[5]

Stevens was a gardener by trade and his bowling prowess earned him a job on the Walton-on-Thames estate of the Earl of Tankerville, a noted patron of the game.[5]

It is known that in a single wicket match on 22–23 May 1775, Stevens beat the great Hambledon batsman John Small three times with the ball going through the two stump wicket of the day.[6] As a result of his protests, the patrons agreed that a third stump should be added.[5]

• Harry Altham, A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914), George Allen & Unwin, 1926.
• Derek Birley, A Social History of English Cricket, Aurum, 1999.
• Rowland Bowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970.
• G. B. Buckley, Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket, Cotterell, 1935.
• David Frith, The Fast Men, Van Nostrand Rheinhold, 1975.
• Arthur Haygarth, Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826), Lillywhite, 1862.
• Ashley Mote, The Glory Days of Cricket, Robson, 1997.
• John Nyren, The Cricketers of my Time (ed. Ashley Mote), Robson, 1998.
• David Underdown, Start of Play, Allen Lane, 2000.
• H. T. Waghorn, Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730–1773), Blackwood, 1899.
• H. T. Waghorn, The Dawn of Cricket, Electric Press, 1906.