The Gentlemen v Players fixture was first played in 1806 and, despite many difficulties in the early years, it had by 1840 become an established annual event in the English cricket calendar. Apart from the years of the two World Wars, it remained so until 1962. The purpose of the fixture was to match the best of the amateur cricketers (the Gentlemen) against the best of the paid professionals (the Players). The table below summarises the cricketers who appeared for the Players in the matches played before 1840.