Lions in sheep's clothing
Philip Barker
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The American satirist Ambrose Bierce called the sweater a "garment worn by a child when its mother is feeling chilly". This may explain the almost parental coo that echoed around Twitter when it emerged in November that England's Test team were planning to revert to the traditional cream-coloured cable-knit sweater for the 2017 summer. It felt like more than the return of pure new wool, which they had last worn in 2008: it felt like the return of an entire way of life.
It also called into question the judgment of Michael Vaughan, then the England captain, who had thrilled at the demise of the cable knit, calling it "my bugbear for many a year", and claiming that the new, brilliant-white Climawarm top would give his players a "lighter feel". It made little difference to England's fortunes: four months later, after leading his side to defeat by South Africa, Vaughan was out of a job. Lancashire started the trend in 2000 and, by the time England began wearing the Climawarm, most counties had already switched to a fleece. This was not just a fleece, but - in the words of Adidas, its creator - "an integrated system of technologies which work together to regulate the temperature of the athlete".
Before England's volte-face - the result of a change of supplier, with American firm New Balance keen to show they are in touch with cricket's traditions - only Australia and New Zealand had championed the cable knit. Yet a trusty woollen top had once been synonymous with the game. Two summers ago, there was a false dawn, with the introduction of a hybrid - part fleece, part knitted - with red trim at the base. Now the real thing is back.
England's away sweater actually came first. Between the wars, the touring model - yellow, red and blue trim - became a familiar sight. Supplied by Jaeger of London, it was topped off with a dark blue cap bearing St George and the dragon. This design had first been seen in 1903, when MCC began organising England's tours, and captain Pelham Warner was despatched to the outfitters Beale and Inman to obtain a sample. MCC records indicate that home England sweaters, with their crown and three lions, did not appear until 1948. Before that, players wore MCC or county colours in home Tests. Post-war rationing may explain why those worn by Len Hutton and Cyril Washbrook look distinctly modest compared with Ian Botham's chunkier version for his 1981 Ashes heroics, or the MCC touring knit he sported in his Shredded Wheat adverts.
The England badge was introduced during the reign of Edward VII, in 1908. Former Test captain R. E. "Tip" Foster suggested silver lions on "a cap for all England". Sir Alfred Scott-Gatty of the College of Arms wrote to Lord Harris at Lord's, with a self-satisfied chuckle about "Mr Foster's Tip": "These beasts are always gold - silver lions remind one of Aesop's fables. Sport and Heraldry do not mix!" Undeterred, MCC introduced their (home) cap a few months later, "with the gracious approval of His Majesty the King". In away series, England's caps retained George and the dragon until 1996-97.
In 1953, Anthony Asquith's film of Terence Rattigan's play The Final Test was released, the cast including Hutton and Denis Compton. The star was Jack Warner, later Dixon of Dock Green, and the costume the official England cable sweater, then made by Paine of Godalming. By now, MCC had sought "covering authority for the badge being used for all purposes connected with the Test team". The Home Office gave permission grudgingly, with a stern warning: "The incorporation of the crown is a special privilege and not one to be abused." It was, they added, to be worn only "on cricket occasions". This complicated matters when the BBC commissioned another adaptation of Rattigan's play in 1961. "We have to dress certain artistes as cricketers," wrote theatrical agents Bermans, requesting six England sweaters from MCC. The club's assistant secretary Billy Griffith replied: "I regret we cannot give permission because the badge has on it a Tudor crown."
The allocation of one long-sleeved and one sleeveless sweater, both meant to last five years, seems parsimonious today. There were no on-field presentations back then, but the sweaters were treasured just as much. In 1966, Warwickshire's Dennis Amiss was said to have kept his under his pillow. The sweater belonging to Glamorgan's Alan Jones, meanwhile, assumed an elegiac air. After the cancellation of South Africa's tour in 1970, he was called up to face the Rest of the World at Lord's, twice falling cheaply to Mike Procter. But the game later lost its Test status, and Jones never did appear in an official Test.
The Tudor crown had its last outing against Pakistan in August 1996. At the start of the following year, the ECB came into being, with the first series under the new order taking place in New Zealand. England wore old-style tour sweaters over mix-and-match logos on their shirts - a nightmare for the marketing men. From then on, the official ECB cap and sweater were to be used home and away, and issued to substitute fielders too. The Kent and Curwen woollens were still cable knit, but the crown was replaced by a stylised coronet.
Freed from crown copyright, a range of replica gear appeared, all with the newly registered badge. For England A the logo was rendered in red, for the Under-19s in gold. Women's cricket came under the ECB's umbrella in 1998, and used the same kit. Before that, their jumpers were plain white, or trimmed with blue and red - as when they lifted the 1993 World Cup.
A different sweater had been introduced for home one-day internationals from 1972 to 1976, with an embroidered single lion in lighter blue. It was worn by, among others, David Gower, Derek Randall and David Lloyd to make their international debuts - in whites, of course. England did not play in coloured clothing at home until the late 1990s.
Their first day/night matches were part of a 1979-80 tri-series on what Scyld Berry dubbed the technicolour tour. Australia and West Indies also took part, and Australian sporting goods firm Whitmont supplied the kit. The teams were offered a predominantly white top with coloured flashes, and the media launch featured England's jumper being modelled by an Australian, Ross Edwards. Mike Brearley and his team were unimpressed with the design: they would have been happy with full colour outfits, but felt stripes alone did not provide a sufficiently clear background to pick up the white ball.
As the floodlights blazed, England cut a strange sight in traditional whites and MCC sweaters, and dark blue pads - while Australia stuck with the Whitmont kit.
England finally embraced technicolour in 1983 (Hampshire's Trevor Jesty spent his entire ten-match international career in light-blue pyjamas). By the 1992 World Cup, all nine participating teams wore similar jerseys: a multicoloured yoke across the top, with the remainder in national colours (light blue for England). A decade later, Twenty20 presented a further marketing opportunity: England wear dark-blue tops in one-day internationals; red in Twenty20.
Since 2001, their shirts have included the player's place in the grand scheme, just under the badge: in December, Liam Dawson became their 676th Test player. The first English batsman to achieve that feat played his entire career long before such official recognition: the closest W. G. Grace came was the purple, red and gold cap - still on display at Lord's - from Lord Sheffield's 1891-92 tour of Australia. Philip Barker is a writer, broadcaster and specialist in sporting history. Wolf in sheep's clothing: Australia's Ross Edwards models the proposed England kit for the 1979-80 technicolour tour.
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