Very rarely do cricket and literature cross each other’s paths. And, it’s almost impossible to imagine that some of the world’s most celebrated authors, poets, and statesmen would come together as a team to play cricket. But thanks to one man, that miracle happened nearly two centuries ago.
In September 1887, James Matthew Barrie–the celebrated Scottish author remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan–founded a rookie cricket team. It was called ‘Allahakbarries.’ The team’s name, intended to be used humorously, was as much an allusion to the phrase “Allah hu Akbar” as it was a pun on James’s surname–Barrie. It came from a mistaken notion amongst the members that the Arabic phrase “Allah hu Akbar” meant “Heaven Help Us” instead of “God is Great.”
Among those who played for the team were literary luminaries–Rudyard Kipling (the creator of Jungle Book), Arthur Conan Doyle (the creator of Sherlock Holmes), AA Milne (creator of Winnie The Pooh), GK Chesterton (Creator of Father Brown), PG Wodehouse, HG Wells, Walter Raleigh, Jerome K. Jerome, and others. The team included Nobel nominees, knights, poet-laureate nominees, politicians, and aristocrats. Between them, they had at least five knights, two barons, and three statesmen. As Kevin Telfer, author of Peter Pan’s First XI puts it; team Allahakbarries is “the first proper celebrity cricket team.”
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