Alfred Mynn

Who was Alfred Mynn?

Alfred Mynn was an English cricketer during the game's "Roundarm Era". He was a genuine all-rounder, being both an attacking right-handed batsman and a formidable right arm fast bowler. The noted cricket writer John Woodcock ranked him as the fourth greatest cricketer of all time. Simon Wilde wrote of him: "The speed at which Mynn bowled... and his life-size personality captured the imagination of the public in a way no cricketer had before."

Mynn was born at Twisden, near Goudhurst in Kent, the fourth son of a gentleman farmer. He was a hop farmer, and was married to Sarah, in 1828. They had many children, five of his daughters survived to adulthood and Sarah Mynn outlived her husband by twenty years.

He was a very large man by any standard, bearing comparison with WG Grace. He was well over six feet tall and weighed more than 21 stones. He was known as "the Lion of Kent" and it was for Kent that most of his greatest feats occurred, though he also played a substantial number of matches for Sussex, MCC and the All-England Eleven. His brother, Walter Parker Mynn, was also an early cricketer with the Kent team.