Related Research Articles
Gentlemen v Players was a long-running series of cricket matches that began in July 1806 and was abolished in January 1963. It was a match between a team consisting of amateurs and a team consisting of professionals that reflected the English class structure of the 19th century. Typically, the professionals were working class people who earned their living by playing cricket, while the amateurs were middle- and upper-class products of the public school system, who were supposedly unpaid for playing. The professionals were paid wages by their county clubs and/or fees by match organisers, while the amateurs claimed expenses. However, while rules to distinguish amateurs from professionals were established by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the system of allowable expenses was both controversial and complex, enabling some leading amateurs to be paid more than any professional for playing cricket.
The 1744 cricket season in England is remembered for the earliest known codification of the Laws of Cricket. This was drafted by members of several cricket clubs, though the code was not published until 1755. Much of its terminology such as no ball, over, toss, umpire and wicket remain in current use. The season is also notable for the two earliest known surviving match scorecards. The second of those matches, played on Monday, 18 June, was a celebrated event in which a Kent county team challenged an England team at the Artillery Ground, Kent winning by one wicket.
In the 1772 English cricket season, it became normal practice to complete match scorecards and there are surviving examples from every subsequent season. Scorecards from 1772 have been found for three eleven-a-side matches in which the Hampshire county team played against an England team, and for one top-class single wicket match between Kent and Hampshire. The three Hampshire v England matches have been unofficially recognised by certain sources as first-class, although no such standard existed at the time. Prior to 1772, only four scorecards have survived, the last from a minor match in 1769.
William Clarke was an English cricketer and team manager who played first-class cricket from 1826 to 1855. He founded, managed and captained the All-England Eleven. He has been described as "one of certain figures who, in the history of cricket, stand like milestones along the way". Clarke was born at Nottingham and died at Wandsworth in Surrey.
In English cricket, the years 1826–1845 were dominated by the roundarm bowling issue, which was resolved when the style was legalised in 1835, and by the formation of the first modern county clubs between 1839 and 1845.
A variety of Kent county cricket teams played matches from the early 18th century until the formation of the original county club in 1842. The county's links to cricket go back further with Kent and Sussex generally accepted as the birthplace of the sport. It is widely believed that cricket was first played by children living on the Weald in Saxon or Norman times. The world's earliest known organised match was held in Kent c.1611 and the county has always been at the forefront of cricket's development through the growth of village cricket in the 17th century to representative matches in the 18th. A Kent team took part in the earliest known inter-county match, which was played on Dartford Brent in 1709.
The 1787 cricket season in England is noteworthy for the foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) after the opening of Thomas Lord's first ground in the parish of Marylebone, north of London. MCC soon became the sport's governing body with the new ground as its feature venue. The first match known to have been played at Lord's was on Monday, 21 May, between the White Conduit Club and a Middlesex county team. The first match known to involve a team representing MCC was against White Conduit on Monday, 30 July. Including these two, reports and/or match scorecards have survived of numerous eleven-a-side matches played in 1787. Eleven are retrospectively, but unofficially, recognised as first-class.
1803 was the 17th season of cricket in England since the foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Thomas Howard made his debut in important matches.
1806 was the 20th season of cricket in England since the foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). The first two Gentlemen v Players matches took place, but the fixture was not played again until 1819.
1808 was the 22nd season of cricket in England since the foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). George Osbaldeston made his debut in important matches.
1809 was the 23rd season of cricket in England since the foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Thomas Lord opened his Middle Ground after refusing to pay increased rent at the Old Ground.
In the 1810 English cricket season, William Ward made his top-class debut and The Bs were dismissed for a total of only 6.
Heathfield Harman "HH" Stephenson was an English cricketer during the game's roundarm era.
The North of England and South of England cricket teams appeared in first-class matches between the 1836 and 1961 seasons, most often playing against each other but also individually in games against touring teams, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and others. Until international cricket became firmly established towards the end of the 19th century, the North v South match was one of the major fixtures in the cricketing calendar along with Gentlemen v Players. Indeed, North v South was really the major fixture because it could potentially showcase the best 22 players in the country, whereas Gentlemen teams in the other match were often very weak.
The roundarm trial matches were a series of cricket matches between Sussex and All-England during the 1827 English cricket season. Their purpose was to help the MCC, as the game's lawgivers, to decide if roundarm bowling should be legalised or if the only legitimate style of bowling should be underarm, which had been in use since time immemorial.
Cricket, and hence English amateur cricket, probably began in England during the medieval period but the earliest known reference concerns the game being played c.1550 by children on a plot of land at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, Surrey. It is generally believed that cricket was originally a children's game as it is not until the beginning of the 17th century that reports can be found of adult participation.
The Beverley Ground was a cricket ground in Canterbury in Kent. It was in use in the mid-19th century, with recorded matches taking place between 1839 and 1846. It was the home ground of Beverley Cricket Club and was where the first Kent County Cricket Club was formed in August 1842 during Canterbury Cricket Week which was held at the ground until 1846.
Amateur status had a special meaning in English cricket. The amateur in this context was not merely someone who played cricket in his spare time but a particular type of first-class cricketer who existed officially until 1962, when the distinction between amateurs and professionals was abolished and all first-class players became nominally professional.
William Percival Pickering was an English first-class cricketer with amateur status. He was one of the founders of Surrey County Cricket Club in 1845 and later, having emigrated to Canada, played a significant role in the beginnings of international cricket especially through his proposal to fund an English tour of North America. Pickering is recorded in 29 matches from 1840 to 1848 which are designated first-class by CricketArchive, totalling 445 runs at the low average of 9.67 with a highest score of 51 not out, holding 17 catches and taking 7 wickets.
In English cricket, the years 1846–1863 were the main period of the sport's "roundarm era". Although roundarm had been legalised amid great controversy, its timespan was relatively short. By 1863, there was an increasing demand for the legalisation of overarm bowling and this was achieved on 10 June 1864.
References
- ↑ CricketArchive profile. Retrieved on 3 December 2008.
- ↑ Altham, p. 74.
