What is known is that Stevens was the bowler who made the most careful study of flight and worked out all the implications of variations in pace, length and direction mentioned above.
He continued as a player until he was 54, playing his last match in 1789 for England against Hampshire at Sevenoaks Vine.
[1] It is not known what took place in his career following this game, but John Major suspected that Stevens enlisted in the British Army: on 20 May 1793 a letter signed by 'A Kentish Cricketer' written to Sporting Magazine describes an incident where an Ensign Hamilton, a member of the Sevenoaks Vine Club, had a cannonball deflected away from his head by a Sergeant.
[2] How he came by his legendary nickname is uncertain[3] but it may have been because he was adept at choosing a pitch to suit his very subtle variations of pace, length and direction.
According to the famous verse:[4] For honest Lumpy did allow He ne'er would pitch but o'er a brow Stevens was a gardener by trade and his bowling prowess earned him a job on the Walton-on-Thames estate of the Earl of Tankerville, a noted patron of the game.