Nurtured in the lap of comfort, educated at Eton and Cambridge, the hero of the British sport-loving public, C.T. Studd, whose Cambridge career has been described as "one long blaze of cricketing glory", created a stir in the secular world of his youth by renouncing wealth and position to follow Christ. He was captain of the Eton XI in 1879, and of Cambridge University in 1883, being accorded in the latter year (vide The Cricketing Annual) "the premier position as an all-round cricketer for the second year in succession". The illness of a brother brought him face to face with realities and the transitoriness of worldly riches and fame. He obeyed the divine command, "Go thy way, sell that thou hast and give to the poor ... take up thy cross and follow me", throwing himself into the work which had called him with the same thoroughness and earnestness with which he had learned to "play a straight bat". Henceforward his life was dedicated to the service of God and his fellow men, first becoming a missionary in China, as the leader of the 'Cambridge Seven'. After spending fifteen years in China and six in India, he devoted the rest of his life to spreading the Gospel message in Africa, founding the Worldwide Evangelisation Crusade. His name remains particularly linked with the evangelisation of the Congo Basin. Norman Grubb, Studd's own son-in-law, has written an exciting description of the life that he led, showing the enormous impact that he had on his contemporaries. Translated into over 40 languages, C.T. Studd: Cricketer and Pioneer remains a best-selling biography of a great Christian, an epic of faith and courage against great odds that will be an inspiration to all who rejoice in a tale of high endeavour.
