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Story: Sport and society

'Bachelors vs benedicts' cricket game, 1854

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'Bachelors vs benedicts' cricket game, 1854
This humorous account from the Lyttelton Times in April 1854 records the last game of the season for the Christchurch Cricket Club in which nine married men were soundly defeated by 11 bachelors. Such groupings arose because of the lack of other club teams to play.

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National Library of New Zealand, Papers Past

Reference: Lyttelton Times, 29 April 1854, p. 7

Permission of the National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Greg Ryan, Sport and society – Sport comes to New Zealand, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/document/39374/bachelors-vs-benedicts-cricket-game-1854 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Greg Ryan, published 30 November 2012.