Norman Lang Stevenson (25 November 1875 – 21 August 1967) was a Scottish all-round amateur sportsman. In international terms his greatest sporting achievement was winning a bronze medal for hockey at the 1908 Summer Olympics as a member of the Scotland hockey team. However it was for cricket that he was best known, as a veteran cricket captain for a leading Scottish cricket club. Between 1902 and 1948 he was Captain of Edinburgh’s Carlton Cricket Club for a total of 29 seasons, retiring at the age of 73. At every stage of his long captaincy there were years when Carlton won over 80% of their matches. He was “one of the great characters of Scottish cricket” according to The Encyclopedia of Scottish Cricket. Carlton members dubbed him the ‘W.G. Grace’ of Scottish cricket in comparison with England’s famously long playing cricketer. Stevenson also wrote a substantial book about the Scottish cricket of his era which has remained in use as a reference book into the 21st century. Early life and talent for sport Norman Lang Stevenson was born in 1875, the sixth son among six boys and a younger sister. His father was a prosperous manufacturer and retailer of drapery who died when Stevenson was three years old. The family lived in the Grange district of Edinburgh, where Stevenson was to raise his own family and play much of his cricket at the nearby Carlton Club ground. By his early teens Stevenson was a promising rugby player while also spending much spare time at Carlton’s cricket ground. By the age of 21 he was at Edinburgh University, training as a doctor. He was also building a reputation as a University rugby player, cricketer and sprinter. According to the Carlton Cricket Club website, he trialled for the Scotland rugby team. Then in 1898 a serious skull fracture during a rugby match led him to abandon his rugby career. After qualifying as a doctor, Stevenson specialised lifelong as a dental surgeon, a workstyle easier to combine with a busy amateur sporting life. In consequence of his medical qualification, Scotland’s cricket enthusiasts later sometimes referred to Stevenson simply as ‘The Doctor’. Stevenson formally joined Edinburgh’s Carlton Cricket Club in 1892 and in 1895 was selected for its First XI. He distinguished himself as a fast bowler, then in 1902 became Carlton Captain. Hockey career and 1908 Olympic Bronze Medal Stevenson’s meteoric hockey career