{{Short description|English cricketer (1858–1914)}} {{refimprove|date=September 2022}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}} {{Use British English|date=December 2016}} {{Infobox cricketer | name = A. G. Steel | image = AG Steel c1895.jpg | caption = Steel photographed in about 1895 | country = England | fullname = Allan Gibson Steel | birth_date = {{birth date|1858|9|24|df=y}} | birth_place = West Derby, Liverpool | death_date = {{death date and age|1914|6|15|1858|9|24|df=y}} | death_place = Paddington, Middlesex | family = Allan Ivo Steel (son) | batting = Right-handed | bowling = {{ubl|Right-arm fast-medium|Right-arm slow-medium}} | international = true | testdebutdate = 6 September | testdebutyear = 1880 | testdebutagainst = Australia | testcap = 28 | lasttestdate = 17 July | lasttestyear = 1888 | lasttestagainst = Australia | club1 = Lancashire | year1 = 1877–1893 | club3 = MCC | year3 = 1880–1890 | club2 = Cambridge University | year2 = 1878–1881 | columns = 2 | column1 = Test | matches1 = 13 | runs1 = 600 | bat avg1 = 35.29 | 100s/50s1 = 2/0 | top score1 = 148 | deliveries1 = 1,360 | wickets1 = 29 | bowl avg1 = 20.86 | fivefor1 = 0 | tenfor1 = 0 | best bowling1 = 3/27 | catches/stumpings1 = 5/– | column2 = First-class | matches2 = 162 | runs2 = 7,000 | bat avg2 = 29.41 | 100s/50s2 = 8/36 | top score2 = 171 | deliveries2 = 31,137 | wickets2 = 789 | bowl avg2 = 14.78 | fivefor2 = 64 | tenfor2 = 20 | best bowling2 = 9/63 | catches/stumpings2 = 141/– | date = 23 September | year = 2008 | source = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/0/52/52.html CricketArchive }} '''Allan Gibson Steel''' (24 September 1858 – 15 June 1914)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://wisden.com/players/allan-steel |title=Allan Steel |work=Wisden |access-date=9 September 2022}}</ref> was an English amateur cricketer who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club from 1877 to 1893, and in Test cricket for England from 1880 to 1888. He was born in West Derby, Liverpool, and died in Paddington, Middlesex.
Steel was an all-rounder. As a right-handed batsman, he scored 7,000 career runs in 162 first-class matches at an average of 29.41 runs per completed innings with a highest score of 171 as one of eight centuries. He was a right-arm bowler with a varied action in that he could bowl both fast medium and slow medium; he also had the ability to spin the ball off the pitch as either an off break or a leg break. He took 789 first-class wickets with a best return of 9/63. He took five wickets in an innings 64 times and ten wickets in a match 20 times with a best return of 14/80. As a fielder, Steel completed 141 catches.
==Playing career== A. G. Steel was born in West Derby, Liverpool. His father, Joseph Steel, was a Liverpool shipowner. Steel was one of seven cricketing brothers and three of his brothers Ernest (EE), Douglas (DQ) and Harold (HB) also played first-class cricket for Lancashire. After his school days at Marlborough College, where he played cricket, he proceeded to Trinity Hall, Cambridge.<ref>{{acad|id=STL877AG|name=Steel, Allan Gibson}}</ref> He was a member of the Cambridge University team of 1878 and topped the bowling averages for the whole of England as a freshman. According to H. S. Altham, "it was unquestionably A. G. Steel's bowling that made the difference between a good and a great eleven".{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}
Steel is mentioned in the opening article of the first issue of ''Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game''. Comparing bowlers of the Hambledon Era with those of the 1880s, the editor says that the "old bowling" must, as a rule, have been "quite plain" whereas most modern bowlers attempt to emulate Steel's expertise in "twisting the ball from both sides of the wicket", meaning Steel could bowl both off breaks and leg breaks.<ref name="C12">[https://archive.acscricket.com/cricket/1882/10/index.html "Cricket Fifty Years Ago"], ''Cricket'', issue 1, 10 May 1882, p. 2.</ref>
Steel played in the first-ever Test Match in England at The Oval in 1880, then in the famous Test which England narrowly lost in 1882. The mock obituary was published in ''The Sporting Times'' saying "R.I.P. English Cricket...the body will be cremated and the Ashes will be taken to Australia".<ref name="ashes">{{cite web |last1=Williamson |first1=Martin |title=A short history of the Ashes |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/a-short-history-of-the-ashes-259985 |website=ESPNcricinfo |access-date=13 June 2024 |date=19 September 2006}}</ref>
Soon afterwards, Steel set off for Australia with his Cambridge University friends Ivo Bligh and the Studd brothers George and Charles, and a team they had put together. They toured Australia in 1882–83 and won the agreed series 2–1, thus being given a small urn. They are commemorated by the poem inscribed on the side of the urn:<ref name="ashes"/>
:''When Ivo goes back with the urn, the urn;'' :''Studds, Steel, Read and Tylecote return, return;'' :''The welkin will ring loud,'' :''The great crowd will feel proud,'' :''Seeing Barlow and Bates with the urn, the urn;'' :''And the rest coming home with the urn.''
Steel scored 135 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in a Fourth Test match arranged as an "extra" on that tour, in 1883. Over the whole tour, he topped both the batting and the bowling averages.<ref>{{cite web |title=IFW Bligh's XI in Australia 1882/83 - First-class batting and fielding for IFW Bligh's XI |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/0/IFW_Blighs_XI_in_Australia_1882-83/f_IFW_Blighs_XI_Batting.html |website=CricketArchive |access-date=13 June 2024 |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=IFW Bligh's XI in Australia 1882/83 - First-class bowling for IFW Bligh's XI |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/0/IFW_Blighs_XI_in_Australia_1882-83/f_IFW_Blighs_XI_Bowling.html |website=CricketArchive |access-date=13 June 2024 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>
Steel, who was known by his initials to differentiate him from his brothers, then made his highest Test score, of 148, in 1884 which was the first-ever Test match century scored at Lord's.<ref name="OTD">{{Cite web |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/149810.html |title=India's fairy-tale T20 triumph |access-date=25 September 2017 |work=ESPN cricinfo}}</ref> His name still heads the Honours Board. These efforts led him to achieve the hypothetical number 1 ranking in ICC Test Batsman Ranking in 1884 (he retained it in 1885 as well), well over a century before that meant anything at all. He captained England in 1886 winning all three times – whitewashing the Australians 3–0. His last Test was in 1888, again as captain but losing this one.<ref>{{cite web |title=England vs Australia, 1st Test, Lord's, July 16 - 17, 1888 |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/australia-tour-of-england-1888-61333/england-vs-australia-1st-test-62423/full-scorecard |website=ESPNcricinfo |access-date=13 June 2024}}</ref>
==Later life== In 1884, Steel became a Christian through Dwight L. Moody's preaching, after C. T. Studd invited him to attend Moody's campaign meeting.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pollock |first1=J. C. |title=The Cambridge Seven |date=1955 |page=70}}</ref> Steel wrote the chapter on bowling in the cricket volume of the Badminton Library (1888).<ref name="tribute">{{cite journal |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/133901.html |title=Allan Gibson Steel – A tribute |journal=Wisden Cricketers' Almanack |year=1915}}</ref>
He was president of the Marylebone Cricket Club for 1902.<ref name="tribute"/> His son Allan Ivo Steel played a handful of first-class matches for MCC and Middlesex but was killed in the First World War.<ref>{{cite book |title=Wisden Cricketers' Almanack |date=1918 |chapter-url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/228158.html |via=ESPNcricinfo |access-date=13 June 2024 |chapter=Obituaries during the war, 1917}}</ref> Another of his sons, Jack Steel, also died in the war after being washed overboard while on route to take command of HMS ''Munster''.<ref>{{cite news |author1=Jamie Bowman |title=Revealed: the Scouse cricketer whose name is on the Ashes urn |url=https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/cricket/revealed-scouse-cricketer-whose-name-9605949 |access-date=8 August 2024 |work=Liverpool Echo |date=7 July 2015}}</ref>
Steel died on 15 June 1914 in Paddington and is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery.<ref name=Paths>{{cite book |title=Paths of Glory |date=1997 |publisher=Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery |page=93}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commonscat-inline|A. G. Steel}} * {{cricinfo|id=20350}}
{{s-start}} {{s-sports}} {{succession box|before=Arthur Shrewsbury|title=English national cricket captain|after=Arthur Shrewsbury|years=1886}} {{s-end}} {{England Test cricket captains}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Steel, A. G.}} Category:1858 births Category:1914 deaths Category:English cricketers Category:Lancashire cricketers Category:England Test cricket captains Category:England Test cricketers Category:Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge Category:Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery Category:Cambridge University cricketers Category:Cricketers from Liverpool Category:Gentlemen cricketers Category:Gentlemen of England cricketers Category:Gentlemen of the North cricketers Category:I Zingari cricketers Category:Liverpool and District cricketers Category:Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Category:Middlesex cricketers Category:North v South cricketers Category:Orleans Club cricketers Category:People educated at Marlborough College Category:Presidents of the Marylebone Cricket Club