{"id":523,"date":"2017-09-16T11:10:58","date_gmt":"2017-09-16T10:10:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itmgames.co.uk\/blog\/?p=523"},"modified":"2017-09-16T11:10:58","modified_gmt":"2017-09-16T10:10:58","slug":"couldnt-get-you-out-had-to-set-you-on-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itmgames.co.uk\/blog\/?p=523","title":{"rendered":"\u201cCouldn\u2019t get you out \u2014 had to set you on fire.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Watching a TV quiz show, I was surprised by a question asking which author was set on fire while playing cricket\u00a0at Lord’s.\u00a0I correctly guessed\u00a0Sir Arthur Conan Doyle\u00a0<\/a>but wanted to know more of the story about the man behind Sherlock Holmes.<\/p>\n

\"conan_doyle\"<\/p>\n

First Class Cricket<\/h2>\n

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle played for MCC until 1907. He finished with 231 runs at 19.25 and a solitary wicket. His only wicket was off the greatest English batsman of the era. Conan Doyle had dismissed the great\u00a0WG Grace<\/a>\u00a0at Crystal Palace on 25th August 1900. \u00a0In recognition of the feat, he composed a poem <\/a>about it.<\/p>\n

The pair met on the cricket pitch again when MCC played Kent at Lord\u2019s in 1903. This time, however, Conan Doyle and\u00a0WG Grace both\u00a0played for the same side.<\/p>\n

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Doctor on fire!<\/b><\/h2>\n

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Conan Doyle himself noted\u00a0in\u00a0Memories and Adventures<\/i>:<\/p>\n

\u201cHis first delivery I hardly saw, and it landed with a terrific thud upon my thigh. A little occasional pain is one of the chances of cricket, and one takes it as cheerfully as one can, but on this occasion it suddenly became sharp to an unbearable degree. I clapped my hand to the spot, and found to my amazement that I was on fire. The ball had landed straight on a small tin vesta box in my trousers pocket, had splintered the box, and set the matches ablaze.\u201d<\/p>\n