Alfred Mynn 'The Lion of Kent' — The Giant of 1830s Cricket

Fast bowling of the 1830s was newly possible because of the 1828 and 1835 roundarm law changes. The new style allowed bowlers to deliver from height with a long arm action; Mynn's combination of size, strength and accuracy was the first to fully exploit the freedom.

Mynn was born at Twisden Lodge near Goudhurst in Kent on 19 January 1807 and grew up at Bearsted, where he and his elder brother Walter played village cricket from boyhood. By the late 1820s the brothers were playing for Kent. Walter was a talented batsman; Alfred had something the cricket world had not seen before — sheer physical presence allied to fast roundarm bowling of devastating effect. He was unusually tall for the era at 6 ft 1 in and weighed close to twenty stone in his prime. His action was a smooth high roundarm with a long stride; the ball came out at speeds that no contemporary bowler could match and rose sharply from a length on the rough pitches of the day. By 1834 he was a regular for the Players against the Gentlemen and the leading bowler in any side he played for. The 1836 single-wicket victories over Dearman cemented his reputation. The Leicester injury of 1836 and the Brighton rematch of 1837 made him a national figure. Off the field he was famously good-tempered, a popular man with a generous nature; his nickname 'the Lion of Kent' was given by friends as much for his courage and bearing as for his on-field power.

“With his hand uplifted, his body swung free, the great man delivered the ball at a pace which no batsman could face with comfort.”

“And the Lion of Kent, in his might and his pride, / Walked unmatched through the game.”

Mynn dominated single-wicket cricket through the 1840s. Financial problems (a brewing failure, an unsuccessful inn-keeping venture and chronic generosity to friends) dogged him; he spent time in the Queen's Bench debtors' prison in 1842 and only the intervention of Kent supporters secured his release. He died in 1861 at the age of 54 and was buried at Thurnham, Kent. The poet William Jeffrey Prowse wrote 'In Memoriam Alfred Mynn' as a national elegy.