Lives in Cricket No 37 - William Clarke

53 Fate Takes a Hand as ‘Nottinghamshire v Leicestershire’. Haygarth in Scores and Biographies opts for Leicester County Club v Nottinghamshire County Club, but the Nottingham Review , advertising the Nottingham team on 6 June, describes the team as Nottingham Amateur Eleven with Clarke against Leicestershire. The names certainly confirm that the team is the Nottingham Amateur Club based at Trent Bridge. Be that as it may, the detailed score in the newspaper, as well as in Denison and Haygarth, credits Clarke with nine wickets with the tenth lbw by an unnamed bowler. The idea that the game was ‘first-class’ and that Clarke took all ten appears to have been invented by Ashley-Cooper in his Cricket Records section in Wisden. (The feat first appeared in the 1902 Wisden , which was the first year Ashley-Cooper assisted with statistics in general, and last appeared in the 1963 edition, when it was removed following comments made by Rowland Bowen and Keith Warsop.) Clarke also played in the return match at Leicester, when the Nottingham Amateur side lost by an innings. However in the bona fide Notts v Kent game at Trent Bridge Clarke returned figures of 27-11-29-9 and 29-8-40-7, his best match return in ‘first-class’ matches, and in the first fixture at Canterbury he had captured six wickets in the only innings of Kent. It was during these two matches when the well-known tale involving Felix and Clarke was told. Felix scored 54 at Canterbury and when going in to bat at Trent Bridge was encouraged with cries of, ‘Here comes Clarke’s master!’ Felix clearly entered into the spirit of the event and reportedly took his guard four yards in front of the wicket. The scoresheet reads ‘b Clarke 0’. The master bowler had his revenge! When Clarke played for England against Kent at Canterbury, he took 12 wickets in the match. It had been altogether an outstanding season for him. The final fixture he arranged for 1845 at Trent Bridge was Fourteen of Notts v England: Denison comments: A match now-a-days of an unusual character was played at Nottingham in the early part of September, ‘Eleven of England v Fourteen of Nottingham’. From a variety of circumstances, the former were unable to gather their strength, for they went into the field without either Mr Felix, Mr A.Mynn, or Mr C.Taylor. The match was stated to have been made by a gentleman at Manchester, and most probably that was so. At all events it did not owe its origins to the Marylebone Club, of whose members it was much to be regretted so few made their appearance at Nottingham, even as spectators. The fight between the contending parties was severe and led to some of the most brilliant play of the season. Towards the latter part of the match on the Saturday, the third day, the interest became very intense, especially with the many who had sported large sums in the shape of bets upon it. This will readily be conceived when it is stated that an hour before its termination the betting was free at 5 and 6 to 1 against Nottingham, whilst they eventually became conquerors by six wickets.