The family was thankful that Edward Studd had left a clearly worded will that allowed for each of his sons to inherit a large sum of money on his twenty-sixth birthday. As the oldest child, Kinny inherited the family estate, with the provision that his mother be allowed to live in the house at Hyde Park until her death.
Within a week of the funeral, C.T. was back in school to finish off his final year at Eton. He still had difficulty believing that his father was really dead. It had all happened so quickly.
Like his two older brothers, at the end of his time at Eton, C.T. enrolled at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was immediately recognized for his potential as a great cricket player. In his freshman year he was given his cricket blue, an honor conferred on those who demonstrated great skill in the sport, and he played for the second eleven cricket team. His game continued to improve, and in his second year C.T. joined Kinny and George on the first eleven team.
The brothers made for an unstoppable combination. In one match the three of them made 249 of the 504 runs the Cambridge cricket team scored. C.T. turned out to be the most promising of the three brothers, and on another occasion he made 267 of the 362 runs scored.
In 1882 the three brothers were once again on the Cambridge cricket team. It was also the year the Australian cricket team made its third visit to England. The Australians fielded a particularly strong team, winning all their games in the run up to the test match with the English team.
Before the test match was played, the Australian team captain asked if they could play a game against the Cambridge first eleven. Most people, including the president of the Cambridge Cricket Club, thought that this was a terrible idea. If the Australians had beaten every team they had played so far, what would they do to a university team? If the Cambridge team agreed to the match, everyone was sure they would disgrace themselves playing against such a strong colonial side. Despite the misgivings, the Cambridge team agreed, and a match was scheduled.
It was a gloriously clear and sunny Monday when the two teams took the field for the match. A huge crowd had gathered to watch. The Australians batted first, and as the two opening batsmen began to score run after run, people were sure their worst fears would be realized—Cambridge would be soundly beaten by the Australians.
C.T., who was one of the opening bowlers for Cambridge, did his best to get the Australian batsmen out, but the opponents managed to hit nearly every ball he bowled to them. Then just as the situation seemed hopeless for Cambridge, one of the Australian batsmen swung at a ball bowled by C.T. However, he did not get his bat squarely on the ball, and the ball glanced sideways, where it was caught by one of the Cambridge fielders. The first Australian batsman was out. Now all Cambridge needed to do was get nine more batsmen out to end the inning. To everyone’s surprise, this did not take very long, as one batsman after another was bowled out, leaving Australia with a paltry 139 runs for the inning.
Now it was Cambridge’s turn to bat. Kinny and George batted first. Kinny was eventually bowled out and then two other Cambridge batsmen. It was then C.T.’s turn to bat. C.T. joined George on the pitch, and between them they scored most of Cambridge’s runs.
The match continued on Tuesday, with an even larger crowd gathered to watch than the day before. Cambridge was eventually out for 266 runs, and Australia began their second inning at bat. They scored 290 runs in the inning, leaving Cambridge 164 runs to score to win the match. Kinny and George were once again the leadoff batsmen, scoring 106 runs between them before George was bowled out. Finally it was C.T.’s turn to bat, and he scored fifteen runs not out, including the winning run. Cambridge had done what no one thought they could do—beat the formidable Australian team.
The authoritative book Lillywhite’s Cricket Record summed up C.T.’s achievement this way: “Very few players have a finer style: brilliant leg hitting and driving, with a very hard wrist stroke in front of point, a real straight bat, and a resolute nerve to make together a batsman whose back bowlers are very glad to see.”
Although C.T. was still only in his third year of college, he was ranked at the top of his sport, a young player who could outdo amateurs and professionals alike. Yet he was still surprised and delighted to be asked to be a member of the English National Cricket team to play the test match against Australia.
Critics ranked the team among one of England’s finest, and twenty thousand people turned out at the Oval in London to witness the contest. It was a hard-fought match, and when it was all over, Australia had beaten England in cricket for the first time.
While the Australians celebrated, a gloom settled over many English cricket fans. After the match the Sporting Times newspaper printed an epitaph for English cricket:
In Affectionate Remembrance
of
English Cricket,
Which died at the Oval on
29th August, 1882,
Deeply lamented by a large circle of
Sorrowing Friends and
Acquaintances.
R.I.P.
N.B. The body will be cremated and
the ashes taken to Australia
Despite the loss, C.T. Studd found himself a household name in England. Back at Cambridge everyone offered him congratulations and invited him to the most popular parties. And then that winter C.T. and George were picked for the English team going to Australia to play a series of test matches.
On his first trip outside of England, C.T. enjoyed every minute of the long ship voyage to Australia. Once there, the English and the Australians played three cricket matches, and with some brilliant playing on the part of C.T., the English won two of them.
As the English team prepared to board ship for the trip home, a group of Melbourne women arrived to make a presentation. They had put some ashes in a small silver urn, which they gave to the captain of the team. As they turned the urn over, they announced that the English had won back their “ashes,” but they had better watch out next time, as the Australians fully intended to win the ashes back again.
Everyone cheered as the urn was brought aboard the ship, and a newspaper reporter telegraphed news of it to England. When the ship docked in London, a crowd was waiting for the team, calling to see the hard-won ashes. It was the beginning of a long tradition between Australia and England of playing for possession of the ashes.
By now it was impossible for C.T. to go anywhere without being recognized and asked for his autograph. C.T. captained the Cambridge first eleven in his final year, and the team enjoyed another winning season.
The Cricketing Annual summed up C.T.’s performance by saying, “Mr. C.T. Studd must for the second year in succession be accorded the premier position as an all-round cricketer, and some years have elapsed since the post has been filled by a player so excellent in all the three departments of the game. His batting especially has been of the highest class.”
After C.T. passed his final exams, earning a B.A. degree, he left college for London. He planned to enjoy himself there and prepare for another season with the English cricket team. Indeed, he intended to play for the team for the next several years. C.T. pictured for himself a famous and comfortable future. What he did not account for was a serious illness.
Chapter 4
The Cambridge Seven
I’m afraid there is not much more we can do for him except make him comfortable. I don’t expect him to recover from this illness,” the doctor said as he snapped shut his bag. Then, in a softer tone, he turned to Mrs. Studd. “He is a strong young man. We can only pray for a miracle.”
C.T. turned his head away so as not to see his mother cry. The truth was, he felt like crying himself. How could George be dying? It did not seem possible—or fair—but his brother lay unconscious in his bed. The illness, a bad case of pneumonia, had come on suddenly, and the doctor said there was little he could do to save George.
Hour after hour C.T. sat at George’s bedside. He recalled the great cricketing moments that he and his brother had shared, beating Australia on the Cambridge team and taking the trip to Australia to retrieve the ashes. But what use are they to George now? C.T. asked himself. What is all that fame and flattery worth? What is the point of spending your life chasing fame and wealth, when in the end you die and have to answer to God for the way you have lived? It could just as easily be me lying there, and George wiping my brow. What would happen if I were to die now? Where would I go?
Such questions haunted C.T. He realized that even though he had become a Christian six years before, his life had continued to revolve around cricket. And although he had met his goal and become the most famous cricket player in England, it now seemed a silly thing to have spent his life pursuing. No, C.T. decided as he watched George gurgle and gasp for breath, cricket would not last, honor would not last, nothing in the world would last.
On the third day of the vigil at his brother’s bedside, C.T. watched in amazement as George opened his eyes and grunted. This was the beginning of George’s long, slow journey back from the brink of death to life.
C.T. was so grateful to think that God had spared his brother’s life that when he heard that Dwight Moody was back in London for another mission, he vowed to go and hear him as soon as he could get away.
One wet night in November 1883, C.T. slipped into the back of the Moody Mission. Even before Dwight Moody stood to speak, tears welled in C.T.’s eyes. C.T. bowed his head quietly and asked God to forgive him for getting caught up in worldly things rather than working for things of eternal value.
By the end of the meeting, C.T. felt a fire in his soul. When he had prayed with Mr. Weatherby, he had been too ashamed to tell people what he had done. This time his heart was overflowing with excitement. He arranged to meet with fellow members of the English cricket team and challenged them to come along to the Moody Mission with him. Many of them went, including the team captain, Ivo Bligh, and C.T.’s good friend Alan Steel. Much to C.T.’s delight, both men became Christians at the meetings, and this inspired C.T. to invite still more people. Within a week there were several more converts, and everyone in the cricket world knew that C.T. Studd had a new set of priorities.
In June 1884 the Moody Mission came to an end, and C.T. wondered what to do next. He had plenty of money to last him until his twenty-sixth birthday, when he would inherit enough to live comfortably for the rest of his life. As a result he did not need to enter a business or profession, and more and more his thoughts turned toward the thousands of people dying every day without having ever heard the gospel. The best years of C.T.’s life lay ahead, and C.T. determined to spend them serving Christ, though he was not sure how.
One evening a friend gave C.T. a tract written by an atheist. In the tract the atheist explained what he would do if he really thought Christianity was true, as so many Englishmen claimed it was. C.T. started to read.
Did I firmly believe, as millions say they do, that the knowledge and practice of religion in this life influences destiny in another, religion would mean to me everything. I would cast away earthly enjoyments as dross, earthly cares as follies, and earthly thoughts and feelings as vanity. Religion would be my first waking thought, and my last image before sleep sank me into unconsciousness. I would labor in its cause alone. I would take thought for the morrow of eternity alone. I would esteem one soul gained for heaven worth a life of suffering.… I would strive to look upon eternity alone, and on the immortal souls around me, soon to be everlastingly happy or everlastingly miserable. I would go forth to the world and preach to it in season and out of season, and my text would be, WHAT SHALL IT PROFIT A MAN IF HE GAIN THE WHOLE WORLD AND LOSE HIS OWN SOUL?
Although the tract had been written to shame Christians because of their lack of action, it had the opposite effect on C.T. It made him want to act! Until then he had thought about preaching and teaching in England, but suddenly he felt as if he should go overseas, though he did not know where.
