Chapter Two Early Days People flocked to Lord’s, attracted by the great players of the day; Beldham, the Walkers and their ilk. Soon Beldham’s star waned, his mantle taken up by the autocratic and eccentric aristocrat Rev Lord Frederick Beauclerk, the fourth son of the Duke of St Albans, who was a grandson of Charles II and Nell Gwynn. A fine, all-round amateur cricketer, he became a dominant, if somewhat hot tempered, and unscrupulous figure at Lord’s and MCC, openly admitting that he could make 600 guineas a year playing matches for stakes. He preached his sermons as vicar of St Albans from a saddle in the pulpit and it is easy to imagine him haranguing his flock on Whit Sunday before playing cricket on the following day, no doubt with a wager or two thrown in. Beldham and Beauclerk were among the vanguard of batsmen who were forced to move out to the pitch of the ball as the bowling arm was raised higher and higher. David Harris had bowled with his hand about the level of his armpit and round-arm was an inevitable, if controversial, development. John Willes tried to introduce it but in 1822 he was no-balled for throwing, leaving the ground in disgust at the umpire’s ruling. A seed had been sown, however, and the Sussex bowlers William Lillywhite and James Broadbridge formed a devastating combination against batsmen unacquainted with the new style. In 1827 three experimental matches between England and Sussex – the county being permitted to bowl round-arm and the all-professional England XI not - were arranged to try it out. To add spice there was a side bet of 1,000 guineas a side. The first trial was played at the Darnall New Ground two miles north-east of Sheffield, the three-day game beginning on Whit Monday. The ground had terrace seats for 8,000 spectators and a large brick grandstand, with an open balcony supported by seven pillars, provided rooms for the players. In July 1826, Tom Marsden, a 21-year-old left-handed batsman, made 227 for Sheffield & Leicester against Nottingham at Darnall New Ground – only the second double hundred recorded. In the trial he fell hit wicket to Lillywhite before he had scored as the Sussex bowlers took control, England losing their first five wickets for a single. Fuller Pilch’s 38 brought some respectability before he was bowled by Lillywhite for what proved to be the highest score of the match. Marsden top scored with 22 in England’s second innings but Sussex won by seven wickets. It is believed this match is portrayed in an aquatint of the short-lived ground, which eventually became Darnall Cemetery. Sussex won the second of the trials by three wickets but England, with their batting strengthened, edged home by 24 runs in the third at Brighton. But the round-arm revolutionaries had made their point and the bowling was legalised in 1835. The trial was not the only important Whitsun fixture in 1827. For several years there had been a sprinkling of Cambridge University - Cambridge Town fixtures, with Herbert Jenner prominent for the former. Jenner, the first captain of Cambridge University, was a powerful figure; a fine, all-round cricketer – batsman, bowler and wicket-keeper - who became President of MCC and lived 12