On a summer’s day in 1887, in the middle of a Surrey village green, you may just have heard the men behind Sherlock Holmes, Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh crying in unison: “Howzat?!”
It could seem far-fetched to imagine some of Britain’s most celebrated authors lined up in a slip cordon, but it was entirely possible as Peter Pan author JM Barrie had enlisted fellow writers AA Milne and Arthur Conan Doyle to join his cricket team.
And on a cricket pitch near Shere, Barrie’s band of illustrious authors came together for the first time for their joint sporting pursuit.
But while their writing lives on for generations, their cricketing ability, by their own account, left much to be desired.
“They got absolutely trashed,” said Andrew Baker, a Shere historian.
“Everyone else took it seriously and they came along being much less serious.
“Some of them didn’t get a lot of runs or wickets. Barrie was very proud of occasionally scoring one run.”
‘Heaven help us’
Formed by Barrie, the team was named the Allahakhbarries, a play on the Arabic phrase meaning “God is great” and the author’s surname.
Pointing to his humour and recognition of his cricketing ability, however, the name reportedly came from a mistaken belief that the phrase actually meant “heaven help us”.
In their first game, on a pitch in Albury Heath, Barrie and his band of authors were beaten by the landlord of The White Horse in Shere, who as a handy cricketer scored many of the opposition’s runs and took many of their wickets.
The Allahakbarries, regarded by some as the first celebrity cricket team, originally included Barrie and Conan Doyle alongside Jeeves and Wooster creator PG Wodehouse.
AA Milne joined later and unsuccessful attempts were made to recruit Rudyard Kipling and HG Wells.
Of the group, Conan Doyle stood out for his sporting aptitude. Having also featured for the Lords-based Marylebone Cricket Club, the Sherlock Holmes’ writer’s ability towered over that of his teammates.
On Barrie, Mr Baker said: “He wasn’t an athletic man, he was short, asthmatic and wore glasses.
“There’s a picture of him bowling left handed where his arm is not quite at the vertical.”
Writing in a booklet on the team, Barrie recalled the tails of the team, including allegedly only learning on the way to a game that a new player did not know which side of the bat to use to hit the ball.
The team played semi-regularly until the outbreak of World War One, when they disbanded.
In his diary, Barrie reportedly wrote: “The Last Cricket Match. One or two days before war declared – my anxiety and premonition – boys gaily playing cricket at Auch, seen from my window.
“I know they’re to suffer. I see them dropping out one by one, fewer and fewer.”
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