International cricket was quite a crowd puller in USA long before Ranji's visit. In 1881, when Daft's English side played Philadelphia, 25,000 spectators turned up to watch!

A very illustrious Indian - a Maharaja to boot, led a first class English side to USA over a hundred years ago. The year was 1899 and the man was Maharaja Kumar Shri Ranjit Sinhji.

The rise of Ranji

Ranji was a peer of such greats as Jessop during his time at Cambridge. And the great CB Fry was a close friend.

Playing county cricket for Sussex, Ranji quickly made a name for himself and it was a matter of time (under a year) before he started playing for England.

There was considerable debate about whether an Indian should play for England. In 1897, racism surfaced among the members of the Marylebone Cricket Club who resented a ‘nigger showing us how to play the game of cricket’ but his performances quickly won them over.

Ranji scored 62 and 154 not out against Australia at Old Trafford in his first Test, becoming the second batsman after W. G. Grace to score a century on his debut for England and also the first batsman to score 100 before lunch (on the third day, moving from 41 not out to 154 not out in just over 2 hours).

Ranji scored 175 in the first innings of his first overseas Test, also against Australia in 1897 (at that time it was the highest score that had ever been made for England in Test cricket). Ranji's feat of scoring hundreds in his debut home and away Tests was not emulated by any English player until Andrew Strauss repeated the feat in 2004.

Gentlemen of Philadelphia - The USA team whose star was rising

International cricket captured the imagination of the Americans and was quite a crowd puller long before Ranji's side visited USA. In 1881, when Daft's English side played Philadelphia, 25,000 spectators turned up to watch!

Cricket was extremely profitable to the clubs that hosted these fixtures and cricketers were paid nice salaries to tour USA. Several of Ranji's teammates had already toured USA before 1899 - some with Lord Hawke in 1891 and some others with Warner in 1897.

Philadelphia was the place to play and the team to beat throughout 1890's. Lord Hawke's team lost to Gentlemen of Philadelphia in 1891. In 1892, it was the turn of Gentlemen of Ireland to lose to Philadelphia. Philly defeated the visiting Aussies in 1893 and another Lord Hawke led English side lost to Philly in 1894. A Cambridge-Oxford side lost to Philly in 1895 and another team of visiting Aussies were defeated at the hands of Philadelphia the following year.

This kind of exposure and track record boosted Philadelphia's confidence tremendously and Gentlemen of Philadelphia became the best USA cricket team ever to tour England - and this was in 1897.

It was on the 1897 USA tour of England that Ranji got a glimpse of failure at the hands of an underdog. Playing for Sussex at Brighton, Ranji was out for a first ball duck triggering a batting collapse for Sussex. Sussex was all out for 46 in response to Philadelphia's first innings total of 216. Philadelphia's star bowler JB King (7 for 14) surprised everyone with his superlative spell. In the second innings, Ranji scored a respectable 74 but his side was bowled out for 252. Philly needing just 83 runs to win did so easily with 8 wickets to spare.

There is no doubt that Ranji was looking forward to the tour of USA in 1899.

Ranji comes to USA

Ranji's tour was funded by the Associated Clubs of Philadelphia, which was founded in 1895 to ensure schedules did not conflict in an era of unprecedented growth for cricket in USA.

Ranji-mania in 1899 was not unlike Beatlemania some decades later. NY Times reported Ranji's departure on September 16th from Liverpool on board Cunard's SS Etruria. Ranji's team comprised England's best players - Ranji, Jessop, BJT Bossie Bosanquet, Sir Arthur Priestley, Brann, Llewellyn, Maclaren, Robson, Robertson, Stoddart, Townsend, Samuel Moses and James Woods.

NY Times was at the harbor when the ship arrived in Philadelphia on September 25, 1899 and the paper reported that "a committee comprising Colohan of Belmont Cricket Club, ES Sayres of Merion Cricket Club and George Patterson of Germantown Cricket Club went to the bay and escorted the English side" to a tumultuous welcome.

"The Prince of Hindoo"

Kipling, by now living in Vermont, had just tasted success on Harry Potter proportions after his 'Jungle Book' achieved best-seller status. The book ensured that India was seen as an "exotic" land.

The arrival of the exotic "Prince of Hindoo" in USA aroused a lot of curiosity and some enthusiastic rumor-mongering all over New York. Stories were already going around that Ranji was looking to marry an American lady. There was talk about how the Prince's royal father sacrificed two slaves every time his son scored a century. If that was the case, the slaves had no reason to worry because Ranji did not have the opportunity to score a whole lot of runs on this tour.

The first match versus Philadelphia was rained out.

In the second match at Staten Island versus New York XIV (XIV and XVI was not unusual those days) NY's opener Cobb, now in his 5th year of international cricket, scored 77 out of the opening partnership of 109 against bowlers of such high calibre as Jessop (9 for 17). In response, England scored 330 for 8. Cobb was impressive with the ball as well and took 5 for 93. In any event, NYXIV were playing on 132 for XI when the match ended in a draw.

In the third match, Gentlemen of Philadelphia were all out for 143 after Jessop wrecked them completely with 6 for 52. Ranji scored a quickfire 57. GOP showed little resistance in the second innings and caved for 106 losing to Ranji's side by an innings and 175 runs!

Ranji's side had a cakewalk in Chicago. In the fifth match at Manheim, Ranji (68) featured in a 120 run partnership with Stoddart which was the foundation of an easy victory. Their last match was against Toronto, which they won without breaking a sweat.

Throughout Ranji was treated like royalty and the press (as well as the society columnists) followed him wherever he went. Unlike today's players, he was not bound by contract to stay with the rest of his team. In Canada, his host was the Canadian PM, Wilfred Lauvier.

Back in England after the successful tour of USA, Ranji had another 3000+ run season at an average of 87.57. 


Scorecards and details:

KS Ranjitsinhji's XI in USA, 1899
Gentlemen of Philadelphia v KS Ranjitsinhji's XI
Merion Cricket Club Ground, Philadelphia
29,30 September 2 October 1899 (3-day match)
 
Result: KS Ranjitsinhji's XI won by an innings and 173 runs
 
Toss: Gentlemen of Philadelphia
Gentlemen of Philadelphia first innings      RunsBalls  Mins  4s      6s
JB King       b Jessop     0                                  
AM Wood    c Stoddart b Jessop      39                                
HC Thayer  b Jessop     0                                  
NZ Graves  c and b Woods     43                                
FH Bates    b Woods     0                                  
JEC Mortonc Brann b Woods4                                  
*JH Mason  c Robson b Jessop        8                                  
PH Clark     b Woods     22                                
EM Cregar  b Jessop     16                                
WP O'Neill   c Bosanquet b Jessop   4                                  
+JH Scattergood  not out        8                                  
Extras         (9 b, 2 nb, 1 w)     12
Total  (all out, 61 overs)156
Fall of wickets:
1-0, 2-0, 3-63, 4-63, 5-69, 6-95, 7-101, 8-133, 9-145, 10-156 (61 ov)
KS Ranjitsinhji's XI bowling     OversMdnsRunsWkts  Wides         No-Balls
Jessop        27    13     52     6       -        -
Llewellyn     9       3       22     0       -        -
Woods        20    6       53     4       -        -
Bosanquet  5       0       17     0       -        -
KS Ranjitsinhji's XI first innings         RunsBalls  Mins  4s      6s
AC MacLaren       c Scattergood b Clark    149           200            
G Brann      b Clark        0                                  
CL Townsend       c Mason b Clark   28                                
*KS Ranjitsinhji     c Clark b Cregar   57                                
AE Stoddart         c Wood b Morton  56                                
SMJ Woodsc Graves b Clark   7                                  
GL Jessop  b King         64             35              
BJT Bosanquet    c Thayer b Cregar42                                
CB Llewellyn        b Cregar     6                                  
C Robson   not out        0                                  
+WP Robertson    c O'Neill b Cregar0                                  
Extras         (23 b, 1 nb, 2 w)   26
Total  (all out, 123 overs)         435
Fall of wickets:
1-0, 2-81, 3-202, 4-273, 5-283, 6-365, 7-390, 8-434, 9-434, 10-435 (123 ov)
Gentlemen of Philadelphia bowling  OversMdnsRunsWkts  Wides         No-Balls
King  30     7       102   1       -        -
Clark  37     9       104   4       -        -
Morton        20    3       62     1       -        -
Cregar        13    3       47     4       -        -
Bates10     1       46     0       -        -
O'Neill         13    0       48     0       -        -
Gentlemen of Philadelphia second innings         RunsBalls  Mins  4s      6s
JB King       c Robson b Jessop        11                                
HC Thayer  b Jessop     0                                  
NZ Graves  b Stoddart  36                                
*JH Mason  b Stoddart  17                                
AM Wood    c Townsend b Stoddart6                                  
FH Bates    b Llewellyn  15                                
PH Clark     run out        0                                  
JEC Mortonb Woods     0                                  
EM Cregar  c MacLaren b Woods     0                                  
WP O'Neill   not out        2                                  
+JH Scattergood  b Stoddart  9                                  
Extras         (9 b, 1 nb)   10
Total  (all out, 46.1 overs)        106
Fall of wickets:
1-1, 2-16, 3-66, 4-76, 5-83, 6-88, 7-88, 8-94, 9-95, 10-106 (46.1 ov)
KS Ranjitsinhji's XI bowling     OversMdnsRunsWkts  Wides         No-Balls
Jessop        8      3       30     2       -        -
Llewellyn     2       0       5       1       -        -
Woods        22    7       43     2       -        -
Stoddart     14.1  7       18     4       -        -
         
Notes
--> NZ Graves (1) passed his previous highest First-Class Matches score of 37
--> JH Mason made his debut in First-Class Matches
--> WP O'Neill made his debut in First-Class Matches
--> EM Cregar achieved his best innings bowling analysis in First-Class Matches in the KS Ranjitsinhji's XI first innings (previous best was 4-83)
    * MacLaren batted for 200 minutes for his innings of 149. Jessop's 64 was made in only 35 minutes and at one time he had scored 49 runs to Stoddart's 1
 
All New York

JF Curran lbw b Jessop..29
MR Cobb c Robson b Stoddart..77
FG Warburton c MacLaren b Stoddart..4
W Bunce b Jessop..1
Lehmann c Robson b Stoddart..0
JW Hooper b Jessop..0
AV Clarke b Jessop..2
J Adam b Jessop..12
WSR Ogilby b Jessop..0
CEH Griffith b Jessop..0
TG Clarke b Jessop..0
RE Bonner b Stoddart..4
C Byers not out..0
JE Roberts b Jessop..1
Byes..18
Leg byes..1
Total..149

Fall of wickets:
1-114, 2-119, 3-121, 4-122, 5-122, 6-124, 7-129, 8-133, 9-133, 10-143, 11-144, 12-148, 13-149 (50.1 ov)
KS Ranjitsinhji's XI bowling     OversMdnsRunsWkts  Wides         No-Balls
Jessop        15.1  8       17     9       -        -
Llewellyn     5       1       11     0       -        -
Townsend   10     4       16     0       -        -
Woods        3      1       11     0       -        -
Stoddart     13     3       54     4       -        -
Robson       4      0       21     0       -        -

K. Ranjitsinhji's XI Batting
G Brann not out..137
SMJ Woods c Bunce b Cobb..3
J Robertson c Byers b Cobb..0
CL Townsend c Byers b Cobb..10
CL Robson b Adam..41
GL Jessop c TG Clarke b Cobb..51
CB Llewellyn        b Cobb       0                                  
BJT Bosanquet    c Bonner b Adam30                                
AE Stoddart         c and b Roberts   34                                
AC MacLaren       did not bat  
AA Priestley         did not bat  
Extras         (22 b, 2 lb)  24
Total  (8 wickets, declared, 84 overs)         330
 
 
Fall of wickets:
1-9, 2-18, 3-51, 4-121, 5-208, 6-209, 7-255, 8-330 (84 ov)

All New York bowling     OversMdnsRunsWkts  Wides         No-Balls
Cobb26     3       93     5       -        -
Roberts       20    3       45     1       -        -
Hooper       10    1       58     0       -        -
Adam19     3       68     2       -        -
AV Clarke   6       2       22     0       -        -
Lohmann    3       0       20     0       -        -
All New York second innings   RunsBalls  Mins  4s      6s
JF Curran    c and b Woods     23                                
MR Cobb    b Llewellyn  22                                
FG Warburton      b Stoddart  0                                  
W Bunce     c Jessop b Robson        1                                  
SB Lohmann        b Stoddart  0                                  
JW Hooper  c Stoddart b Woods       19                                
AV Clarke   run out        12                                
J Adam       c and b Stoddart  5                                  
WSR Ogilbynot out        2                                  
TG Clarke   c Jessop b Robson        3                                  
CJ Byers     c Llewellyn b Robson     2                                  
JE Roberts  b Jessop     10                                
CHE Griffithdid not bat  
RE Bonner  did not bat  
Extras         (17 b, 16 lb)         33
Total  (11 wickets, 65 overs)    132
Fall of wickets:
1-14, 2-14, 3-24, 4-24, 5-58, 6-83, 7-123, 8-126, 9-128, 10-130, 11-130
KS Ranjitsinhji's XI bowling     OversMdnsRunsWkts  Wides         No-Balls
Jessop        14    6       20     1       -        -
Stoddart     17     11     23     3       -        -
Llewellyn     10     5       15     1       -        -
Bosanquet  8       4       17     0       -        -
Woods        9      8       16     2       -        -
Brann         5      3       6       0       -        -
Robson       2      1       2       3       -        -
         

KS Ranjitsinhji's XI in USA, 1899
Gentlemen of Philadelphia v KS Ranjitsinhji's XI
Germantown Cricket Club Ground, Manheim, Philadelphia
6,7,9,10 October 1899 (3-day match)
 
Result: KS Ranjitsinhji's XI won by an innings and 131 runs
 
Toss: KS Ranjitsinhji's XI
KS Ranjitsinhji's XI first innings         RunsBalls  Mins  4s      6s
AC MacLaren       c Wood b King     52                                
G Brann      c Clark b King       3                                  
CL Townsend       c Clark b O'Neill    27                                
*KS Ranjitsinhji     c Bates b Clark     68                                
AE Stoddart         c Goodman b King        74                                
GL Jessop  c Brown b O'Neill  8                                  
SMJ Woodsc Scattergood b Clark    38                                
BJT Bosanquet    b Clark        35                                
CB Llewellyn        b Clark        0                                  
+C Robsonc Graves b Clark   16                                
WP Robertson      not out        8                                  
Extras         (29 b, 3 lb, 2 w)    34
Total  (all out, 128.2 overs)      363
Fall of wickets:
1-16, 2-96, 3-101, 4-221, 5-246, 6-268, 7-337, 8-337, 9-340, 10-363 (128.2 ov)
Gentlemen of Philadelphia bowling  OversMdnsRunsWkts  Wides         No-Balls
O'Neill         39    6       104   2       -        -
King  39     12     89     3       -        -
Climenson   15     3       42     0       -        -
Clark  31.2  8       77     5       -        -
Bates4       1       17     0       -        -
Gentlemen of Philadelphia first innings      RunsBalls  Mins  4s      6s
FH Bates    b Jessop     1                                  
AW Jones   b Llewellyn  2                                  
AM Wood    lbw b Llewellyn     29                                
*RD Brown  run out        4                                  
NZ Graves  b Llewellyn  12                                
JB King       b Bosanquet        0                                  
WE Goodman      b Bosanquet        0                                  
PH Clark     b Bosanquet        0                                  
WP O'Neill   not out        3                                  
+JH Scattergood  st Robson b Llewellyn    4                                  
SG Climenson      b Bosanquet        7                                  
Extras         (17 b, 6 lb)  23
Total  (all out, 53.3 overs)        85
Fall of wickets:
1-7, 2-23, 3-41, 4-58, 5-63, 6-67, 7-71, 8-71, 9-84, 10-85 (53.3 ov)
KS Ranjitsinhji's XI bowling     OversMdnsRunsWkts  Wides         No-Balls
Llewellyn     27     9       45     4       -        -
Stoddart     7       6       3       0       -        -
Jessop        7      4       7       1       -        -
Bosanquet  12.3  8       7       4       -        -
Gentlemen of Philadelphia second innings (following on)       RunsBalls  Mins4s        6s
FH Bates    b Bosanquet        17                                
AM Wood    c Woods b Jessop         10                                
*RD Brown  b Bosanquet        13                                
NZ Graves  run out        13                                
JB King       c and b Bosanquet        40                                
AW Jones   b Jessop     8                                  
WE Goodman      c Jessop b Llewellyn      0                                  
PH Clark     b Llewellyn  18                                
WP O'Neill   not out        6                                  
+JH Scattergood  b Robson    1                                  
SG Climenson      c Robertson b Llewellyn1                                  
Extras         (14 b, 6 lb)  20
Total  (all out, 82.1 overs)        147
Fall of wickets:
1-21, 2-37, 3-57, 4-60, 5-60, 6-121, 7-125, 8-144, 9-146, 10-147 (82.1 ov)
KS Ranjitsinhji's XI bowling     OversMdnsRunsWkts  Wides         No-Balls
Llewellyn     30.1  14     47     3       -        -
Stoddart     12     3       18     0       -        -
Jessop        9      5       14     2       -        -
Bosanquet  25     11     33     3       -        -
Woods        3      0       13     0       -        -
Robson       3      1       2       1       -        -
         
Notes
--> The match was scheduled for three days but extended to four.
--> AW Jones made his debut in First-Class Matches
--> WE Goodman made his debut in First-Class Matches
--> SG Climenson made his debut in First-Class Matches
--> BJT Bosanquet reached 100 wickets in First-Class Matches when he dismissed , his 1st wicket in the Gentlemen of Philadelphia second innings
 
    * Match extended by 1 day (after no play possible on Day 1)
    * Heavy rain on the Sunday followed by hot sunshine on the Monday turned the wicket into a real "sticky" for the Gentlemen of Philadelphia innings