Soldier in pith helmet brandishing a cricket bat, 1900 (c)

Sketch from a sketchbook by Lieutenant N R Wilkinson, Coldstream Guards, 1900 (c).

Keeping troops occupied and out of trouble was a constant headache for the authorities. Eager to distract men from drink and prostitutes, senior officers recommended a range of leisure activities, including cricket. Cricket was thought to embody certain 'English virtues' such as strength, persistence, courage, leadership, camaraderie and sportsmanship.

Such were the supposed moral and character-building powers of the game that in 1841 General Sir Rowland Hill, Commander in Chief of the British Army, ordered that a cricket ground be built in every military barracks in the country.