A cricket match at Le Jardin des Bastions, Geneva

The present watercolour is one of the earliest records of cricket being played in Switzerland. It was probably executed after the appointment in the summer of 1823 of Sir Henry Wynn as British Ambassador to the Swiss cantons. Sir Henry was the third son of Sir Watkins Williams Wynn, a keen cricketer and friend of the 3rd Duke of Dorset, one of the greatest patrons of the game in the 18th Century. Details within the watercolour help to corroborate this early date. A third wicket had been introduced in 1777, but the non-curved bat dates the drawing no earlier than 1800. The bowler is preparing for an under arm bowl, which dates the drawing not later than 1828 when round arm (later over arm) was recognised by the laws of cricket. Trousers first came into general use in the 1820s when, for the first time white shirts and trousers became the accepted dress code. The teams in our drawing are twelve a side and the position of the umpires at neither square leg nor behind the wicket indicates that the runs were to be recorded by touching the umpires stick rather than grounding the bat beyond the popping crease.