Lives in Cricket No 37 - William Clarke

14 On 15 and 16 July 1816 Nottingham opposed Ripon at York Racecourse for 300 guineas a side and W.Clark appears in the Nottingham twelve – the biographical piece in Sutton’s book notes that 1816 was ‘the date of his first public match and he was held as a bowler of great reputation’. However, he is not credited with any wickets in the game and failed to score in his only innings. The scores of the local matches in which he must have played prior to being picked for the representative Nottingham team have been lost, so there is no way of being able to judge whether he was chosen for his batting or his bowling skills – Sutton rather jumps the gun with his comment regarding Clarke’s bowling ability so early in his cricketing career. From his subsequent life and his taking over of the Bell Inn, Clarke was a man set on personal financial advancement. It is worth noting the following passage from G.M.Crauford’s Sporting Life series of articles featuring Nottinghamshire cricket, as this makes clear on the financial possibilities, good or bad, for Nottingham players at the time of Clarke’s debut. Crauford’s interview involves the Nottingham v Barrow and Mountsorrel match played in October 1815. The narrator is Joe Dennis, a Nottingham publican and captain of the Nottingham side. I had invested rather largely on that match, and but for an unexpected slice of luck, should have lost at least £120; imprimis, I had laid one bet of 50 guineas that Nottingham won the game: secondly I had backed my runs in my two innings to be half as many as those made by our opponents in the first innings, and besides these large stakes, I had minor bets, varying from a sovereign to a ‘fiver’ on the result and on various points of the contest. Now, you are aware that the Sixteen got 48 runs in the first innings to our 50 – anybody’s match, so far; but I only made 6 runs in my first, and had consequently 18 to make in my second innings to land my second bet. The Sixteen finished their second innings for 73, thus setting Notts 72 to win, and the odds were decidedly against us, when at five o’clock I sent in Humphrey Hopkin and E.Pacey, with strict instructions to keep up their wickets, if possible, till time should be called, and not to care about getting runs, as we could do better next morning when fresh and in a clearer light, and without the long shadows. To my horror, after Pacey had made two runs off the first ball, he was stumped off the next. I next sent in Richard Warsop, the only man on whom I could depend, telling him to be sure and save his wicket. Soon, however, I had the mortification of seeing him bowled without a run. I was now in a towering passion; my £120 seemed hopelessly lost; and I knew that if the game was to be won I must do it myself. I had lent my favourite bat to Warsop, so I went to meet him; well, when he gives me the bat, he says (you know his way of sometimes shutting one eye when he speaks to you), ‘Joe, what a fool I was to let that there ball knock my wicket down.’ I really felt in such a rage that I yelled out, “Get out of my way, or I’ll Tracing Clarke’s Early Life