A slim, saddle-stapled souvenir programme with a cream card cover printed in black and jade green. The cover carries an illustration of a batsman playing an attacking shot with a wicketkeeper crouched behind the stumps, backed by trees and a marquee. Beneath it the printed text reads CRICKET MATCH - H.R.H. THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH'S TEAM versus HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF NORFOLK'S TEAM, followed by Arundel Castle Sussex, Sunday 4 August 1957 and 'by kind permission of HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF NORFOLK E.M. K.G.'. A green rule runs across the lower cover above the lines 'IN AID OF THE NATIONAL PLAYING FIELDS ASSOCIATION' and 'SOUVENIR PROGRAMME 2/6'.

Inside, the title page repeats the fixture details, gives the National Playing Fields Association address as 71 Eccleston Square, London SW1, and notes that the Regimental Band of the Grenadier Guards would play during the course of the afternoon under their Director of Music, Major Harris, M.B.E., by kind permission of Col. Sir Thomas Butler, D.S.O., O.B.E. Facing pages carry the twelve-a-side score cards. The Duke of Edinburgh's Team is printed as H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh (capt.), Sqn.-Ldr. H. M. Chinnery A.F.C., E. R. T. Holmes (Surrey), A. Brian Sellers (Yorkshire), Stuart Surridge (Surrey), S. C. Griffith (Sussex), B. A. Barnett (Australia), Ian Craig (Australia), J. H. Parks Snr. (Sussex), J. M. Sims (Middlesex), James Langridge (Sussex) and George Cox (Sussex), with umpires given as E. Hendren and W. H. Cornford. The Duke of Norfolk's Team is printed as the Duke of Norfolk (capt.), Desmond Eagar (Gloucestershire and Hampshire), A. C. D. Ingleby-Mackenzie (Hampshire), T. W. Graveney (Gloucestershire), D. E. Blake (Hampshire), Don Smith (Sussex), J. J. Warr (Middlesex), A. E. Moss (Middlesex), D. Barrick (Northamptonshire), G. Tribe (Northamptonshire) and Roy Marshall (Hampshire), with scorers F. C. Quaife and Major A. R. Ginn. Hours of play are shown as 12 to 6.30 p.m. Both score card grids are completely blank. The back cover is plain and unprinted.

Background
The cricket ground on the lawns below Arundel Castle was the creation of Bernard Fitzalan-Howard, 16th Duke of Norfolk - Earl Marshal of England and one of the game's great patrons, who served as President of MCC and later managed an MCC tour of Australia. His Duke of Norfolk's XI fixtures at Arundel became a much-loved part of the English summer, traditionally opening the season against the touring side.

The two showpiece meetings between the Duke of Norfolk's team and a team captained by H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh were played at Arundel in 1953 and 1957, the earlier match reportedly drawing a crowd of around 20,000. Prince Philip was a keen and genuinely capable cricketer, and both games raised funds for the National Playing Fields Association, the charity of which he was a long-serving and famously energetic President. The printed teams read as a who's who of 1950s county cricket - Tom Graveney, Roy Marshall, Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie, Billy Griffith, Stuart Surridge, Brian Sellers, James Langridge and George Cox among them - while the umpires named are the former Middlesex and England batsman Patsy Hendren and the Sussex wicketkeeper Walter Cornford. Programmes for these one-off royal charity occasions were printed in small numbers for sale on the day only, and surviving copies rarely reach the open market.

Condition
Pre-owned in Good condition for its age. Honest, well-handled condition for a paper item approaching seventy years old. A full-length vertical crease runs from top to bottom slightly off-centre, clearly visible on both the front and the back cover, and along that fold on the back cover the paper has begun to split open over a short section near the middle. A corresponding short tear runs through the same fold on the Duke of Edinburgh's score card page, crossing the fall-of-wickets and bowling analysis grids; the printing there remains completely legible. The cream cover carries scattered foxing and light brown spotting, most noticeably a small cluster to the left of centre and a spot towards the lower left, together with general age-toning and a slightly grubby, dust-soiled look around the edges. The corners are softened and lightly creased, with minor edge wear and a small nick to the lower edge of the back cover. Inside there is light foxing to the title page and some toning to the score card leaves. The staples are present and the programme holds together as a unit; the photographs do not show them closely enough to judge any rusting. Both score cards are entirely blank - they have never been filled in. No pages appear to be missing, and there are no signatures, inscriptions, stamps or ownership names visible anywhere. Supplied loose exactly as shown, with no inserts, sleeve or packaging. Please review all of the photographs closely, as they show the actual item you will receive and form part of this description.

Who it's for
This will appeal to cricket memorabilia collectors, particularly anyone building a run of Arundel Castle and Duke of Norfolk's XI material, and to collectors of Sussex, Hampshire, Surrey, Middlesex and Gloucestershire county cricketing history. It crosses over strongly into royal memorabilia, where anything connected with Prince Philip has become markedly more collectable in recent years, and it will interest collectors of 1950s charity and National Playing Fields Association ephemera. It also makes a genuinely characterful framed piece for a cricket lover, and a useful primary source for anyone researching the Arundel ground or Prince Philip's sporting life.

Estimated Date
Sunday 4 August 1957 - printed for sale on the day of the match. The date is stated in full on both the front cover and the interior title page. The 2/6 pre-decimal cover price, the team line-ups and the National Playing Fields Association address at 71 Eccleston Square, London SW1 all sit correctly with that date, and the paper toning, foxing and staple binding are consistent with an original period printing rather than a modern reproduction.

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