Lives in Cricket No 37 - William Clarke

75 AEE had played at Leamington. George Parr played in this match −he only missed one AEE game all season. In the penultimate game, John Wisden played as a given man against the AEE, then appeared for Clarke’s side in the game at Itchen. Wisden and Parr clearly became friends because in the winter of 1848/49 they jointly took over the ground at Leamington and Wisden moved house from Brighton to the Spa town. A comment was made above regarding the clash of dates of the AEE fixtures and Nottingham. With John Chapman in charge of Trent Bridge, it is obvious that Clarke was not welcome. Chapman had made a great effort in 1848 to organize some major matches on the ground and at least obtained home and away fixtures with Sussex and Sheffield. However, there are no cricket references in the Nottingham Review between 1 March and 17 June to any fixtures arranged at Trent Bridge. The first reported game was on 17 and 18 July and is described as Nottinghamshire v Leicestershire, though in fact it was the Notts Amateur Club, reinforced by George Parr – Leicester were beaten by an innings and 12 runs. The return game in Leicester was played under the odd title of Trent Bridge (Nottingham) Club v Leicestershire. A note on the Nottingham v Sheffield match states that Mr Chapman lost £40 owing to a payment to the Sheffield players and the lack of support. The return game against Sussex was played as late as 18, 19 and 20 September and was left unfinished because half the Sussex team had to travel to Brighton to start a match on 21 September – Brighton v Mitcham. Nottinghamshire were in dire straits when the match ended, being nearly 300 runs in arrears and Sussex still having one wicket to fall Incredible Success of the All-England Eleven The Lillywhite scorecard of the Sheffield XVI match against the All-England XI played at Hyde Park, Sheffield in late August 1848. Clarke seems to have opened the AEE batting and bowling but his side lost by 55 runs.