On the 1st August 1871, the American cricketer, John Ashby Lester , was born in Penrith, Cumbria. Lester was one of the Philadelphian cricketers who played from the end of the 19 century until the outbreak of the first World War.
He began playing cricket at a very young age, and was playing a game in Yorkshire in 1892 when he met Dr. Isaac Sharpless, the President of Haverford College, who invited him to the US to attend the school, where he developed his batting style.
As a student at Haverford, Lester excelled as an athlete and a scholar and played football, track, tennis, and soccer. During his freshman year, he averaged 100.5 runs per innings. Lester also won the Cope Bat every year during his time at Haverford. In his final season with the school in 1896, he scored 1,185 total runs and took 40 wickets for averages of 79 and 23.2, respectively.
He captained Haverford on their first overseas tour, scoring 105 against the MCC, his first appearance at Lord’s. Lester created a great impression on the tour, with an average of over 84 and prepared himself for the Philadelphian’s tour of England the following year.
The tour undertaken by the Philadelphian cricketers was very ambitious, and the results hoped for by its promoters were not achieved. The tour was arranged mainly for educational purposes and few of those on the American side expected to win many matches. Previous tours had tended to involve amateur English sides as opponents, with a low level of competition.
In 1897 a schedule was prepared including all of the top county cricket teams, the Oxford and Cambridge University teams, the Marylebone Cricket Club, and two other sides, though only a few of the counties thought it worthwhile to put their best elevens onto the field. The tour began in June 1897, at Oxford, and lasted for two months ending at The Oval.
Initially it aroused some curiosity, although English fans lost interest, that is until Lester and the Philadelphians sealed a victory against the full Sussex team at Brighton. With Lester and Bart King scored 107 in a fourth-wicket partnership, Lester top-scoring with 92. He continued in the second innings with 34 not out.
Despite the excitement the Americans did not fare well overall. Fifteen matches were played, but the team only won two, the other win coming against Warwickshire. In all the Philadelphians lost nine games and earned a draw in four. During this match at Edgbaston, Lester scored 35 runs in the first innings and 67 in the second.
Lester was the best batsmen on the Philadelphian side, beginning with 72 not out in his first match, he kept up his form all through the tour, scoring 891 runs at an average 37.12.
Despite several counties offering him contracts to play in England, during his career with the Philadelphians, he played 53 matches, 47 of which were first class, scoring 2,552 runs, his top score being 126 not out. He bowled 2,314 balls and collected 57 wickets, his best average being 7 for 31.
From 1897 until his retirement in 1908, Lester led the batting averages in Philadelphia and captained all the international home matches. He died in Haverford, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1969, and as a lasting memorial, the pavilion at Cope Field is named in his honour. His obituary in Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, described him as ‘one of the great figures in American cricket’.
1st August, 2019