Эдвард "Лампи" Стивенс: Первый великий боулер в крикете

English cricketer (1735 – 1819)

Edward "Lumpy" Stevens (1735 – 7 September 1819) was an English professional cricketer who played first class cricket in the 18th century. He was an outstanding bowler who is generally regarded as the first great bowler in the game's history. He was universally known by his nickname and was always called "Lumpy" in contemporary scorecards and reports.

Stevens was born in 1735 at Send, Surrey. The beginning of Stevens' career, in 1756, was before scorecards began to be kept on a regular basis. It is not known if Stevens was the first to "give the ball air", but he was certainly around when that particular revolution occurred, probably before 1770. What is known is that Stevens was the bowler who made the most careful study of flight and worked out all the implications of variations in pace, length and direction mentioned above. He became a master of his craft. Stevens is normally associated with Surrey teams. He continued as a player until he was 54, playing his last match in 1789 for England against Hampshire at Sevenoaks Vine. It is not known what took place in his career following this game, but John Major suspected that Stevens enlisted in the British Army: on 20 May 1793 a letter signed by 'A Kentish Cricketer' written to Sporting Magazine describes an incident where an Ensign Hamilton, a member of the Sevenoaks Vine Club, had a cannonball deflected away from his head by a Sergeant. The magazine and the Maidstone Journal both linked the story to Stevens.

Stevens was a gardener by trade and his bowling prowess earned him a job on the Walton on Thames estate of the Earl of Tankerville, a noted patron of the game. Partly as a result, a third stump was agreed.