Lives in Cricket No 34 - Frank Mitchell

76 its last match, and now the only reminder of cricket is the bell hanging in the golf club bar. For his country house cricket, Mitchell played for a variety of sides and clubs, with two of the famous clubs for which he turned out being Quidnuncs, and Incogniti. The Quidnuncs team is confined to Cambridge University players awarded Blues, or who have come close to that honour. The Club was founded in 1851 so is one of the longest established clubs. At one time a highlight of their season would have been the match against their Oxford counterparts, Harlequins. Incogniti are one of the oldest wandering cricket clubs in the world, their history originating in 1861. Over 650 Incogniti players have also played first-class cricket, and they can boast nine Test captains amidst their ranks – Frank Mitchell being one of them. Probably World War I brought to an end Mitchell’s opportunities to play regularly for the teams of his country hosts, or for the teams that were invited to play at those houses. That such cricket was one of the great delights of his life is a fact of which there can be no doubt. Country house cricket before World War I