Cricket (1950)

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The British Council Film Collection is an archive of more than 120 short documentary films made by the British Council during the 1940s designed to show the world how Britain lived, worked and played. Preserved by the BFI National Film Archive and digitised by means of a generous donation by Google, the films are now yours to view, to download and to play with for the first time.
This fascinating film of England v Australia at Lord's, narrated by John Arlott and Ralph Richardson, introduces the viewer "to a very revered patch of English turf, plumb in line with the Pavilion" and guides us through the game.
It features footage of Bradman, Compton, Hutton, and Dexter, as well as a spin-bowling master-class from Bert Rhodes who pitches balls that Graeme Swann would be proud of.
Beautifully shot, the film is an incredible tribute to a game that "began in quiet places, and lives on in quiet places, deep in the hearts of those who love it".
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[@anthonywalsh785]

as a 71 year old australian i remember growing up through the 50's & particularly the 60's listening to the bbc radio with john arlott and brian johnston. we had the great alan mcgilvray of course. all 3 were fair and unbiased commentators, unlike today. thanks for posting.

[@mdfahim8792]

Wow❤️ Are you the big fan of cricket?

[@Sreeprayag]

@anthonywalsh You seem to have forgotten the late Don Mosey

[@jonathonjubb6626]

Jack Bannister, Rex Alston, Jim Swanton, Jim Maxwell, Jim Laker.... Loved them all because they loved cricket!

[@martm216]

Very true.

[@IrfanKha-zr6dv]

Amazing❤❤❤

[@SubhajitM85]

Thanks YT for suggesting this gem of a vintage video.

[@divyanshukumarchaudhary716]

True

[@sabual6193]

ക്രിക്കറ്റ്‌ 🏏.

[@knicklas48]

Cricket as a game is a mystery to me, but this film is real art.

[@sabual6193]

ക്രിക്കറ്റ്‌ 🏏.

[@LeoDragon34]

It takes a lot of time to fully understand cricket without playing the game.

[@naqihaider849]

you can ask if you have any doubts.

[@Shibajit_shorts]

Cricket is emotion Cricket is love cricket is way of life ~ From India ❤

[@tharushasachinthaka4035]

but you country dead cricket 💔🖐️

[@Shibajit_shorts]

@@tharushasachinthaka4035 what do you mean??

[@Statistica101]

You crazy sob

[@mohitkirade1]

​@@Shibajit_shortsIt's means politics are dying indian cricket nowadays..

[@Shiejif]

Cricket isn't a religion

[@alangeorgebarstow]

In the 1950s I'd play cricket in the street or on the park with my schoolboy friends. These days youngsters sit and stare like zombies at small hand-held screens. I'm so thankful I lived my life when I did.

[@Stokesy-]

How old are you sir?

[@alangeorgebarstow]

@@Stokesy- I am now 73 years young and getting fitter each day through eating animal protein and exercising frequently. I do not eat carbohydrates or sugars (or seed oils, which are poisonous and found in all manner of highly-processed substances bought by and consumed by fools as 'food').

[@priuss6109]

Same here. I played in the 90s in India. Grateful I was born in the 80s.

[@alangeorgebarstow]

@@Stokesy- I was 70 when I wrote that comment. I am now 73.

[@Stokesy-]

@@alangeorgebarstow I am 16 but I hate this generation no one can live without mobiles or computers everyone is addicted to mobiles and most of the kids don't play outside they just play with mobiles or stay home full day I loved when mobiles were not there I used to play cricket with my friends then but now I feel alone I wish I could go back in time in 90s or 80s

[@terranceparsons5185]

Quite possibly the most English thing I've ever watched. Even down to getting thrashed at Lords! Just excellent. Thanks for posting.

[@Dewiart16]

What a truly wonderful game that brings people of different races and colours together in peace...and sledging!

[@alandent2434]

"The game knows no class" is an extraordinary statement in the days when "gentlemen" and "players" had different changing rooms, and only the former could captain a side. And when great players were listed, the "player" Harold Larwood, then the greatest fast bowler (to whom Lindwall acknowledged he owed much) was not mentioned because he was persona non grata, having refused to apologise for doing what his captain, Jardine, told him to do in the bodyline series, while "Gentleman" Jardine was not told to say sorry. I love cricket, but its class bias is undeniable. Even in so-called classless Australia, over 40% of their test players are educated privately.

[@JohnyG29]

No one cares mate.

[@relathan1]

How perfect to have Ralph Richardson narrating this jewel of a film.

[@AMPProf]

meh

[@normanpearson8753]

Not nasal enough for Ralphie .

[@Cosmonaut07]

Thank you, YT for recommending this vintage gem!

[@tuoul481]

This is documentary film making at its finest. So beautiful & calming to watch.

[@Crikitkeeda]

Long live cricket ❤

[@haseebejazmusic9125]

Those are some beautiful cricket balls. My favorite are still the dukes cherries coming from England today.

[@lkijju]

20 years to the day since the great John died (14/12/91) Sadly missed.

[@imperator791]

9 years from your comment

[@razzsonu_07]

3 year to your comment​@@imperator791

[@gurnamgill1618]

12 years more

[@gyanusingh9416]

Are we gonna die 😭😭😭😭

[@realsrnsh]

@@gyanusingh9416 never

[@vengeance5020]

By then Who would have thought how popular this beautiful game would become.

[@saravinds1992]

Wasn’t it popular at england and Australia even back then?

[@MirGaming24]

pure form of cricket no ads no comersion just pure game love to see ❤😊

[@Whyshashi]

I love test cricket, what a great documentry.

[@anshumalishukla4626]

My father also used to told me about older Golden days of this Gentleman's game of his time.

[@gmfam5424]

Wow, this is a beautifully made film. I remember seeing it many years ago but it popped up on my feed again 🙂

[@bishalmandal7754]

"But victory is the least that men play cricket for. They play it for a host of reasons, ill defined and hard to see." Oh what words!

[@steveJ1957]

Rest in Peace John Arlott

[@safeerahmedx11]

Cricket is a beautiful game .

[@ajaynair7417]

Such a beautiful documentary! Loved it.

[@11Cricnews]

We want this golden old days in cricket ❤❤❤❤

[@Mickey.AJ8]

It was quite pleasant to watch the history of the game we love so much

[@rubiksharma5387]

U guys are superb. History always enriches the game.

[@glover361]

memories of young happy cricketing days

[@AMPProf]

Foootballlllllllllllllll

[@abhishektoshniwal8147]

On this day of 19th December 2020 Indian batting collapsed so bad in Adelaide that we were all out for 36 runs. I am facing such an existential crisis as an Indian cricket fan that I am watching these really old documentaries on cricket designed for romantics of the game.

[@anuradhainamdar8967]

If you are a romantic of the cricket game you should read Dr. Ram Chandra Guha non- fiction book on the how the game began in India and its origins in India named " A small corner of a foreign country ". That could be better for a Indian fan. Because Dr. Guha first wanted to be a professional cricketer but have turned out to be India 's outstanding historian and now he has written " The Commenweath of Cricket ".

[@thedogwhowearsasuit.9425]

I hope you felt better later.

[@ruturajborse874]

Who’s telling him guys 😇?

[@uditadityaroll-2253]

One of the best videos of KZbin ❤worth to watch thnkuu so much for uploading

[@venom1101]

This is gold.. thanks for recommending KZbin ❤

[@gautamsubhash48]

today is my exam and yt is suggesting me this golden video.. watching from nepal.

[@alanhayward8237]

Remember those small score books.

[@rajivmurkejee7498]

The behaviour in the Long Room at Lords is rather different these days.

[@gplunk]

"One possible source for the sport's name is the Old English word 'cryce' (or 'cricc') meaning a crutch or staff. In Samuel Johnson's Dictionary, he derived cricket from "cryce, Saxon, a stick". In Old French, the word 'criquet' seems to have meant a kind of club or stick. Given the strong medieval trade connections between south-east England and the County of Flanders when the latter belonged to the Duchy of Burgundy, the name may have been derived from the Middle Dutch (in use in Flanders at the time) 'krick'(-e), meaning a stick (crook). Another possible source is the Middle Dutch word 'krickstoel', meaning a long low stool used for kneeling in church and which resembled the long low wicket with two stumps used in early cricket. According to Heiner Gillmeister, a European language expert of Bonn University, 'cricket' derives from the Middle Dutch phrase for hockey, met de (krik ket)sen (i.e., 'with the stick chase'). Gillmeister has suggested that not only the name but also the sport itself may be of Flemish origin." -Wiki

[@gourobkumar7575]

What a video! Complete gem💗

[@tariqismail1051]

For the batter this game is still complex because eyeing on the ball is not easy.. The British had ample time to sit for five days

[@Flagfalls]

Simply splendid! Many cricketers of the 20s & 30s make an appearance in this video, don't they? I thought I saw Jack Hobbs, Herbert Sutcliffe, Dennis Compton among others.

[@anann5712]

Looked like Bill Bose was in this as well as a reporter in the Lord's Press room

[@normanpearson8753]

Bowes , yes , it was .

[@DaimlerSleeveValve]

I remember once tuning in to Test Match Special and being rivetted to the conversation between John Arlott and Brian Johnston. The car radio was left tuned in until I reached my destination over an hour later. True giants of broadcasting. I should mention that not a ball was bowled in that time. Rain had stopped play. I didn't care.

[@antonyhobbs1144]

Sir Jack Hobbs is my late father's uncle 3 times removed

[@maharshi.s4392]

The most beautiful of everything, Cricket!

[@ramiyer4387]

Fantastic!

[@rnilu86]

5:24, that stamping was very fast

[@abc..6533]

That was most probably an out

[@TheArka300]

Unfortunately this sport is not popular in the US.

[@NikhilPanchal-ct3cv]

Cricket should be introduced in US at school level.

[@antorukbo1]

Such a beautiful documentary.

[@43-arijitpal78]

I miss this cricket these mordern days

[@radheshyamgoyal9116]

The best was how the score board man changes the score 4.11 in the videro

[@Hassanali-881]

who came in 2024

[@kaycey7361]

I cams here after 🇺🇸 beat kangladeshis 🇧🇩 🇵🇰 🦵 😂😂😂

[@kumarutkarsh6713]

Na na i came exactly in 1864.. I don't know why u ppl keep on asking this rubbish in the comments as if u have to maintain a repository of who came here and when😂

[@Hassanali-881]

@@kumarutkarsh6713 behave yourself

[@kumarutkarsh6713]

@@Hassanali-881 and if I won't!?

[@Hassanali-881]

@@kumarutkarsh6713 Charo mere lore te

[@amitsinghyadav3519]

Great documentry ❤

[@spoboy]

Greatful, to watch this ❤!!

[@anshuman1021]

Heart warming

[@Alex-l6r9n]

Amazing how little the game has changed really

[@colinayki2350]

Brilliant commentary

[@SatoruGojo-iluvu]

Now it's all flat pitches batsman dominance

[@amateurguitarist2102]

This is Beautiful and Pure at the time ❤ I just Wanna watch this video when I got so old...just lying there thinking what if I would be a cricketer...how would my life goes then?? The thinking, the strategies, the assumptions, the facts, the execution we do while playing the game....we don't just watch and play it...We Live Cricket 🏏...It is Big part of our lives...and without it I would personally be dead

[@sabual6193]

ക്രിക്കറ്റ്‌ 🏏.

[@NAPPLEB25]

Oh....the shiny shoes, the suits, trilby hats, John Arlott !! Yes please take me back to real Great Britain

[@berbatov3890]

NAPPLEB25 this is lords, where only the most privileged in society would go. elsewhere there were slums, disease, rationing and shortage. pollution was so bad that a smog in 1952 killed hundreds of Londoners.

[@petrasant5495]

Ee Bah Gum, we were appy though.

[@youngguy1992]

Back in my day... well if you ask them they’d say things are a million times better now.

[@battlewaterloo]

@@berbatov3890 You are a prick

[@battlewaterloo]

@@youngguy1992 Really! You are also a prick

[@Hell-boyyi]

3:44 that swag , ciggar smoking while commentating 👌👌

[@sabual6193]

ക്രിക്കറ്റ്‌ 🏏.

[@redline5003]

23 from india ....We don't know where we get success. See cricket discovered in England and succeed in India

[@sabual6193]

ക്രിക്കറ്റ്‌ 🏏.

[@soundnicetome]

So many many comments..all saying what we all know...our country has changed for the worst Im afraid...really sad. In my lifetime I have seen it systematically destroyed,bit by bit..criminal??

[@miguelsolano4648]

Hard comment, indeed, but the lest bad expressed. In other words: THE WHOLE TRUTH...

[@Kidraver555]

Well you are one of the millions who just sat and watched it all happen, well done, british apathy is legendary.

[@Whyshashi]

what a great documentry

[@user-ty6tq9oy4r]

back when it was more of a emotion not just money lord's cricket ground truly a spectacular stadium in all the world

[@peterjohnson617]

As a yank I really have no clue to what is going on here but I find it great that so very many people are out there enjoying themselves......

[@tonypickles2389]

Wonderful

[@akashjogdand8654]

Great movie

[@Dattebayo3089]

Lol who would have thought that time that today PPL will play franchise cricket more with colouring jersey just for 4 hrs😂

[@TheRAFfc]

THANK YOU FOR THIS MEMORY, THERE'S A CHANCE THAT I WAS AT THAT GAME. IN HIS OFF TIME COMPTON WOULD PLAY RIGHT WING AT HIGHBURY, HIS BROTHER LESLIE "BIG HEAD" PLAYED CENTRE HALF FOR ARSENAL I SO RMEMBER THEN WHEN I WAS WITH ARSENAL, THANK YOU AGAIN FOR THIS WONDERFUL MEMORY. A VERY " OLD TIMER" :):):)

[@SDG.12]

bless your heart old geezer

[@RohanMoog]

So good to see this video

[@michaelkemp6857]

Happy days!!

[@karanjeetsinghthakur1869]

Cricket losing its charm due to T20 cricket lots of unworthy rules....Those were the olden days of cricket ❤

[@dennisthemenace57]

When Britain was still Great. Now look at it. And my Australia is also lost forever. How and why did we let it happen?

[@lee4171]

Totally agree. Two great countries with such strong ties. Blame liberal socialist, for everything.

[@lee4171]

@@jpip1382 ANZACS are experiencing massive wokism. They aren't dealing with it too well either.

[@Elitist20]

Millions of Poms showed their faith in Britain by...becoming expats(!) The biggest group of them now being in Australia - but even that wasn't good enough, hence the expression 'whingeing pom.' And you should have seen their teeth.

[@ray.shoesmith]

​@@lee4171what's wokism?

[@lee4171]

@@ray.shoesmith Just google it. It personifies everything wrong with the modern world.

[@CHIRADIPMAJUMDAR]

Exceptional upload .❤❤

[@awais2148]

Wish i was born in that era

[@tomace7924]

When cricket was still a Gentleman’s Game.

[@sabual6193]

ക്രിക്കറ്റ്‌ 🏏.

[@shashankrajput5510]

Cricket My First Love 🧡🤍💚

[@brajeshnandi2043]

We for sure missed those days of cricket but we are witnessing some true legends of this sports ❤

[@Collect12]

very good cricket

[@fluffypuppy2918]

Love cricket

[@sabual6193]

ക്രിക്കറ്റ്‌ 🏏.

[@WilliamSmith-mx6ze]

16:24 - 16:31 What on earth is going on at the wicket nearest the Nursery End?

[@adamchambers5599]

😂Players fighting over stumps

[@priyashmukherjee8284]

Best game ❤❤❤

[@bibekdas7449]

Wow This is a nice find

[@philclennell]

Odd that the keeper was standing up to both the English opening bowlers !

[@divyanshuraj18]

I love to play 🏏❣️🇮🇳

[@RaymonsinghRawat]

Mast video bnai hn😊

[@stephenmatura1086]

Distances on Britain's railways are still measured in miles and chains.

[@kiwitrainguy]

That was how I was taught the length of a Chain: 22 yards, the length of a cricket pitch.

[@abirajanmsd]

I think this is match from 1948 Ashes (Aus tour of Eng) where Aus won 4-0

[@swarajya43]

But how did they managed to play in such darkness ....even ball is no visible?

[@Baap0097]

Abe lavde the camera is black and white 😅

[@arpitachatterjee3483]

19 August 2024❤

[@squarecutatul6834]

I have heard cricket commentaries by these commentators in 1970s. I realise now that I heard these voices half a century ago. I remember John Arlott retired from comnentary in 1976.

[@sabual6193]

ക്രിക്കറ്റ്‌ 🏏.

[@taxpayer_revolt]

No, he retired in 1980 from Test Match Special.

[@squarecutatul6834]

@@taxpayer_revolt I confused him with Jim Swanton, who retired from Test Match special in 1976 or 1977.

[@ptam43]

Cricket more famous then now😢

[@KavinduHandapangoda]

3:35 Was King Charles III the commentator?

[@petrasant5495]

John Arlott, mic in one hand, cigarette in the other.

[@Sanjaychamlingrai27]

Looks like cricket had a big audience at that time, nowadays it is losing that 😮😮😮

[@adityaprakash5588]

Watching in May,24

[@56bluegold]

I think the 50's was a much better time, to have lived in. I think the times that we are living in now, have really changed for the Worse !

[@amoralis123]

+56bluegold Yes, and no. Yes for some no for a lot of people in England and elsewhere. Times have changed for better in most cases: Healthcare, Prosperity for most and technical advancement for all. Each era brings its own good and evil. People are not isolated anymore. Most people do find time and resources to travel and enjoy.

[@gerrysastri7374]

+56bluegold If we had internet and smart phones etc in the 1950's it would have been heaven . LOL.

[@MrDaiseymay]

+amoralis123 A good answer, and I'd say, the only realistic one. I grew up during the 40's onwards, and remember the shortages and rationing up to 1954. BUT--our freedom to roam was wonderful. Our parents never worried about our safety, as we would be in our local park most days, from morning till almost dark, when the 'Keeper' would sound the Bell and lock the gates. As hardships etc were shared by all those we lived and played with, we were not aware of being deprived at all.

[@thegreathadoken6808]

People live to a higher standard: they can afford to go on holiday to a foreign country; most families own at least one vehicle; modern convenience such as television; mobile phones; computers; the wealth and choice of entertainment; working conditions and more. All these things have changed our lives for the better. We have not sent our sons to war on the scale of the two industrial-scale meat-grinders in the 1 half of the 20th Century, but then that is only because if this were to happen today, civilisation would be bombed to extinction. Despite the recent pandemic disease is under the tightest grip from our medical technology that it has ever been, even to the point where science now begins to entertain the possibility of legitimate age-delay and even age-reversal within the lifetimes of anyone aged around 40 or younger. Violent crime falls more and more all the time unless you live in a major city centre. But community; togetherness; the feeling that one can walk through one's own neighbourhood without risk or leave one's front door unlocked without fear; I cannot help but feel that many, or most people who lived then and who still live now would exclaim those times to have given them something they no longer have. A sense of place, belonging, a firm feeling of roots. The creep of Shariah - an ultra-conservative ideology from Islam - I cannot imagine is taken as a positive for very many of the descendants of the people in this video. To lose one's job back then often meant little more than a day's, or weekend's, inconvenience. Today, the loss of one's job can mean disaster. The pace of life in days gone by, even in my own living memory, was noticeably more relaxed, everyone was, while always with work to do, nevertheless seemingly more at liberty to press on in their own time rather than someone else's. Other things have changed for which most could claim neither for the better nor the worst, more a sideways step. A change with some will prefer one way or t'other, but on the whole is split evenly. Birth control; Women having careers on the one hand is good, on the other hand affects many more children than ever as millions of children now come home from school to an empty house where neither parent (if they are lucky enough to still have both parents living together) will arrive home for hours. Increased freedom of movement is a plus, but this does mean more people take opportunities further afield, which uproots entire families leaving some feeling isolated from what might have been their community hub once upon a time, but then again such a community as existed once upon a time invariably does not exist today as once it did. There is much to lament in the passing of the old world, while simulataneously much to be grateful for in the coming of the new. I only wish for a slight recalibrating of what we have rather than its wholesale demolition as is being attempted by more radical portions of far left & far-right ideological camps even as we speak.

[@anuradhainamdar8967]

Blame it all on a faster pace of life ,space exploration, rocket age, Artificial intelligence 🤣😂😂🤣, look in the 21 century we have T - 20, so fast spaced.In a country like India which is not rich in educational insitutions or standards we have IPL tournaments which is a sear waste of money and time, for a young generation. Causing great harm to environment( Because these tournaments need lawn turf and scarce water is needed).In a scenario where climate change is occurring this is preposterous.

[@ShubhamBhushanCC]

This is how it should be played not the savage manner in which it has denigrated into especially in the subcontinent

[@sabual6193]

ക്രിക്കറ്റ്‌ 🏏.

[@justsimplethings01]

Did anyone notice that the Batsman was stumped at @5:27. But the umpire did not raise the finger. Glad we have technology now.

[@seeyamgaming3871]

That's not out watch it in .25

[@justsimplethings01]

@@seeyamgaming3871 I did watch it in 0.25, I still think its out. Very Very close, but out

[@TheNumbardar128]

Captain Russel practiced here at Lords & still lost !😁

[@Abhishek.negi7]

Watching from india

[@DigantaSarker-gv3fv]

❤❤❤

[@jerry2976]

Cricket 🫶🫠

[@mas2491]

Excellent 👍 sri lanka 🇱🇰

[@paulbroderick8438]

Ah, those were the days of 5day test matches. Now I believe, it is 40 overs per innings! Pass me another corn beef sandwich Mr. Arlott.

[@stevetaylor8698]

Test matches are still five days.

[@kiwitrainguy]

I'm not sure but that may have still been the era of unrestricted cricket matches, when they weren't limited to a certain number of days. They would simply keep playing until the end of the fourth innings of the game and so always get a result. The downside was that sometimes the game took so long that it would have to be curtailed in order for the touring team to catch their ship back home.

[@johnp515]

@@kiwitrainguy Wrong. They were five day tests.