Lives in Cricket No 37 - William Clarke

27 withdrew from the contest. In October it was reported that William Clarke was involved in a single- wicket match. The game was played on The Forest, William Clarke and John Hewitt opposing five of the New Radford Club. Clarke scored nine and none, Hewitt four and four, but New Radford made 16 in their first innings and their opening bat, Charles Howitt, completed the match by hitting the two runs required for victory. The last mention of William Clarke in 1821 came in a match on 18, 19 and 22 October on the Nottingham Cricket Ground when he scored 16 and one for a combined Cropwell and Bingham eleven v sixteen of the Fallowfield Club. Clarke’s 16 was the highest score in the combined side’s first innings. As before, though, is this our William Clarke? The first Nottinghammatch of 1822 was staged on The Forest v the Norfolk club of Holt for £100. Nottingham won by 105 runs; William Clarke is shown as opening the batting for Nottingham – only seven Holt wickets fell ‘bowled’ out of the twenty: Clarke took three of the seven. The two major Nottingham games of the year were home and away against Sheffield, Nottingham allowing Sheffield fifteen men against the Nottingham eleven. Both produced overwhelming victories for Nottingham – by 10 wickets and by an innings and 113 runs. In the latter match Clarke again opened the Nottingham batting and this time made the highest score of 45, though he is not credited with any wickets in either match. The Sheffield match was the first important game staged on George Steer’s ground at Darnall. The public interest was overwhelming and a temporary grandstand to accommodate 2,000 people was erected for the occasion. Unfortunately the structure was not capable of such a crowd and collapsed on the first afternoon. Initial reports gave two dead and 50 injured, but later these figures were reduced to 17 admitted to the Infirmary – there were no deaths. The press stated that the matches were each played for 60 sovereigns. On The Forest, a curious incident was reported – Thomas Warsop was judged out by the umpire for stopping the ball with his bat, when it had been thrown in; the note also adds ‘his running was defective owing to gout’. Thomas Warsop at the time was considered one of only two Nottingham players – the other being Joe Dennis – who, given the right inducement, wouldn’t sell a match. Warsop was down to play in the match at Holt in 1821, but owing to gout was reduced to being a spectator. The following story is told of an incident concerning Warsop during the game. He had, as a mere façon de parler , a habit of saying, ‘Done with you for a hundred,’ which of course was properly estimated by his friends, but, like his bowling, was misleading to a stranger. After lunch on the second day, Warsop was in a group drinking wine − not recommended for gout. One of the Holt supporters exclaimed, ‘Why, we shall beat you Nottingham gents yet.’ Warsop responded, ‘Done with you for a hundred.’ On the third day Nottingham won by ten wickets; the Holt gentleman handed over twenty ‘fivers’ to Warsop, but was immediately told, ‘Oh, pooh, pooh, take your The 1820s