Alfred Lyttelton, 'English Cricket'

Carlo Pellegrini ('Ape') caricatures the Hon. Alfred Lyttelton—England wicketkeeper and one of the finest amateur cricketers of the Victorian age—in the act of keeping wicket. He crouches in characteristic readiness: gauntleted hands outstretched, pads strapped to his shins, wearing the red, black, and gold sash of I Zingari, the elite wandering cricket club. His small striped cap echoes the same colours. Pellegrini exaggerates Lyttelton's lean jaw and sharp profile in the caricaturist's standard mode. The caption, 'English cricket,' frames Lyttelton as an embodiment of the amateur sporting ideal central to upper-class English culture. Lyttelton later served as Colonial Secretary; in 1884 he was simply England's best wicketkeeper.