Lives in Cricket No 37 - William Clarke

58 match of 1846 was a curious affair, the Oxford University players splitting themselves into those from the North and those from the South, then the two resulting teams being reinforced by several professionals. Clarke played for the North and took eight of the ten wickets in the South’s only innings – the North batsmen failed miserably twice before Hillyer and Dean. His first recorded game at Lord’s in 1846 was played in honour of N.Felix, the match title being Pilch’s XI v Felix’s XI. Clarke was in Felix’s team, taking just three wickets in a low-scoring match. North v MCC at Lord’s was another low-scoring affair, Clarke took ten wickets for the North. For England v Kent at Lord’s, Clarke obtained five wickets in the first innings, but wasn’t required in the second, when Lillywhite and Dean bowled Kent out for 66. Being on the Lord’s staff meant that Clarke was picked for Players v Gentlemen, his debut in this series. His first match actually for MCC as such, was not until 27 and 28 July when he played against Norfolk – the wickets of the county were shared, with Lillywhite taking 11, Clarke six , Hillyer three. He went to Canterbury, being part of the England eleven (picked by MCC) to play Kent, and again took a number of wickets and afterwards travelled on to Brighton for the England match v Sussex – Clarke opened the batting in both these England matches. That game saw the end of his MCC involvement for 1846. On 27 and 28 August a match was played for Clarke’s benefit at Southwell. It was entitled Five Gentlemen of the Southwell Club and Five Players of Nottinghamshire with Mynn v England. This was the match when George Parr seemingly rowed from Radcliffe to Southwell along the Trent and underestimated the time it would take – he arrived late. Clarke was exceedingly angry and despite Parr scoring 51, the highest for the local team, Clarke omitted him from the three ground-breaking All-England Eleven matches arranged for the following fortnight. Haygarth in Scores and Biographies states Parr was taken ill and unable to play: in a third version, Parr left Southwell before the match ended – whether or not by boat is not stated! The Southwell game seems to have been a ‘warm-up’ fixture prior to the first England matches – ten of the eleven in the first England game played in the match at Southwell. The first All-England Eleven match took place v XVIII of Sheffield at Hyde Park on 31 August and the two following days. The games at Manchester and Leeds came directly afterwards. The way in which Clarke was going, knowingly or unknowingly, to change cricket’s history, was just beginning. From the 1780s, the Cricket Club which became known as Marylebone Cricket Club when it established itself at the first of Thomas Lord’s grounds, effectively, though perhaps not deliberately, took control of cricket. The Cricket Club became the game’s equivalent of The Jockey Club, which organization had been formed at the same venue in Pall Mall. The Cricket Club, soon described as MCC, assumed control of the Laws of the game and, due to their income from subscriptions, employed a staff of professional cricketers, which by the 1840s, as noted, numbered 12. F.S.Ashley-Cooper’s book on the MCC states that in 1835, the Club had in membership one Duke, two Marquesses, eleven Earls, eight Baronets Leaving Trent Bridge