Lives in Cricket No 37 - William Clarke

38 contains the first report of cricket in the county that summer with: ‘The season commenced with a practice Match of Nottingham Old Cricket Club: Town v County.’ The detailed score then follows. The term ‘Nottingham Old Club’ seems to first appear in William North’s book of scores published in 1830. The book is dedicated thus: ‘To the Gentlemen of the Nottingham Old Cricket Club and to the Admirers of the Noble Game of Cricket.’ Prior to that the main cricket eleven in the town went just by the name Nottingham Club. There was no immediate follow-up to the successes against Sussex, despite the following note in the Nottingham Review of 10 June 1836: ‘We understand that Sussex wish to play Nottinghamshire and hope steps will be taken to arrange a match.’ The now usual Town v County game was played in late May. Billy Good was not available, engaged at Lord’s, nor was Sam Redgate, engaged at Cambridge. A young amateur, Charles Creswell, was brought in to replace Redgate and was described as bowling with ‘great precision’. The cricket season was dominated by an MCC proposal for two matches between the North of England and the South. The first match was arranged to take place at Lord’s on 11, 12 and 13 July. No definite decision was taken regarding the return match, save that it was to be in the North. For the initial fixture six Nottingham men – Barker, Jarvis, Clarke, Good, Redgate and Creswell – were picked; two from Sheffield, Marsden and Vincent (Vincent had returned to that town in 1833); two from Cambridge, Fenner and D.Hayward; plus Fuller Pilch from Norfolk. The North won by six wickets – Barker, Redgate and Creswell took all the South wickets. There is no indication that Clarke bowled, but it was Clarke’s first match at Lord’s. Who captained the North is not mentioned in the reports. The match was played for £500 and one of the major promoters of the North was Capt Richard Cheslyn, Leicestershire-born and a fair club cricketer. Eric Snow in A History of Leicestershire Cricket points out that some years later a job was found for him, when ‘betting losses had brought him down in the world.’ Cheslyn persuaded MCC that the return match should be played at Leicester. This fact produced a violent reaction from the Nottingham press on 16 July: The return match has been fixed to be played at Leicester on Monday the 22d of August, which has given universal dissatisfaction, nay, even disgust, to the supporters and admirers of the game in Nottingham and its neighbourhood, and well it may, for who is the party to be benefitted by the match being played there? Is he a cricketer? No! Has he furnished or has the town and county furnished a player in the late match? No! Has the game of cricket been better or longer supported at Leicester than at Nottingham? We answer ‘No!’ Have the players been in the habit of treating their opponents with greater courtesy or civility than at Nottingham? In giving an answer to this, we confidently assert, ‘No!’ Then what is it that has caused Leicester to be fixed upon? This, we confess, we are unable to answer, unless it be that Leicester First Matches with Sussex and the Consequences