The Rest was an Indian

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

team which took part in the annual

Bombay Pentangular The Bombay Quadrangular was an influential cricket tournament held in Bombay, British India between 1892–93 and 1945–46. At other times it was known variously as the Presidency Match, Bombay Triangular, and the Bombay Pentangular. Presidency ...

from 1937-38 to 1945-46. It comprised those players who did not fit into any of the teams that took part in the Quadrangular, including Catholics, Jews and mixed-race

Anglo-Indian Anglo-Indian people fall into two different groups: those with mixed Indian and British ancestry, and people of British descent born or residing in India. The latter sense is now mainly historical, but confusions can arise. The ''Oxford English ...

s. Several leading players from

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

also took part. The team reached the final of the Pentangular twice, in 1940–41 and 1943–44. In the 1943–44 final

Vijay Hazare Vijay Samuel Hazare (11 March 1915 – 18 December 2004) was an Indian cricketer. He captained India in 14 matches between 1951 and 1953. In India's 25th Test match, nearly 20 years after India achieved Test status, he led India to its first ...

scored 309 out of the team's total of 387. The Rest also played two first-class matches in the one-off Amritsar Tournament, competing against the

Hindus Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

and

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...

, in 1940-41. In all, The Rest played 12 first-class matches, losing six and drawing six. The Rest also competed in the five-team Sind Tournament in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

from 1919-20 to 1946-47, but these matches are not considered first-class. The Rest were unsuccessful in this tournament except in the last season, when they beat

Parsees Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim co ...

by two wickets in the final.

Other teams called "The Rest"

The appellation "The Rest" has been applied on an ''ad hoc'' basis to teams in other countries: * In England, it is generally understood that teams which represent "the rest of England", usually assembled to play against a particular county club team, are called "England" or "All-England" or "The Rest". They are in fact

non-international England cricket teams In English cricket since the first half of the 18th century, various ''ad hoc'' teams have been formed for short-term purposes which have been called England (or sometimes "All-England"; i.e., in the sense of "the rest of England") to play against, ...

and such teams have been organised since the 1730s. A team specifically called "The Rest" took part in a

single wicket Single wicket cricket is a form of cricket played between two individuals, who take turns to bat and bowl against each other. The one bowling is assisted by a team of fielders, who remain as fielders at the change of innings. The winner is the one w ...

"fives" match on Monday, 6 June 1748, playing against Addington at the

Artillery Ground The Artillery Ground in Finsbury is an open space originally set aside for archery and later known also as a cricket venue. Today it is used for military exercises, cricket, rugby and football matches. It belongs to the Honourable Artillery Co ...

; this appears to be the first instance of the name. A team called "The Rest" played a combined

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

and

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

team in 1883. Between then and 1997, "The Rest" teams played irregular first-class matches. At the end of most seasons from 1901 to 1960, "The Rest" played the winner of the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

in a first-class match. * In Australia, a team called

The Rest ''The Rest'' is a compilation album released by the Scottish band Deacon Blue in October 2012. It is part of the band's catalogue reissue program. ''The Rest'', as the title implies, contains tracks that were not necessarily associated with t ...

played irregular first-class matches, usually against an Australian XI, between 1872–73 and 1939–40. * In New Zealand, a team called "The Rest" played six first-class matches against a New Zealand XI between 1927–28 and 1981–82. * In Pakistan, a team called "The Rest" played four first-class matches against a Pakistan XI between 1952–53 and 1969–70. In 2009–10 a team called "The Rest" competed in the RBS Pentangular Cup, finishing third. * Teams called "The Rest" have also played first-class matches in the West Indies (two matches) and South Africa (one match).

References

Sources

Vasant Raiji Vasant Naisadrai Raiji (26 January 1920 – 13 June 2020) was an Indian first-class cricketer and cricket historian. He featured in nine first class matches between 1939 and 1950. Life and career Raiji was born in Baroda. Representing a Crick ...

, ''India's Hambledon Men'', Tyeby Press, 1986 *

Mihir Bose Mihir Bose (born 12 January 1947) is a British Indian journalist and author. He writes a weekly "Big Sports Interview" for the ''London Evening Standard'', and also writes and broadcasts on sport and social and historical issues for several ou ...

, ''A History of Indian Cricket'', Andre-Deutsch, 1990 *

Ramachandra Guha Ramachandra "Ram" Guha (born 29 April 1958) is an Indian historian, environmentalist, writer and public intellectual whose research interests include social, political, contemporary, environmental and cricket history, and the field of economics. ...

, ''A Corner of a Foreign Field - An Indian History of a British Sport'', Picador, 2001 Indian first-class cricket teams Former senior cricket clubs of India {{India-cricket-team-stub