American Cricket: American Cricket

George Lane was born in Kimberley, Nottinghamshire in 1853. Despite showing promise as a left-handed medium pace bowler he failed to break into the Nottinghamshire county side so moved to the USA in 1879. He then accepted an offer to become the professional of the Staten Island Cricket Club.
Nicknamed "The Crab", due to his side on action, he quickly established a reputation as the finest professional bowler in America. He was also in demand as a groundsman and played an important role in the development of the new first-class Philadelphia cricket venues at Wissahickon Heights and Haverford He established a successful business as a sports outfitter in America, and was the patentee of some useful inventions connected with various branches of sport. This is the story of a fascinating individual who helped to establish Philadelphia as an important centre of first-class cricket in the latter part of the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth centuries.