Lives in Cricket No 37 - William Clarke

82 wicket during these years. Although William Caffyn played in only four AEE matches 1850, becoming a regular in 1851, he requires some note, if simply because his reminiscences, 71 Not Out , provide such a wealth of information on the All-England players. The book was published in 1899, many years after Clarke had died. Caffyn was born in Reigate in 1828 and played for Surrey from 1849 to 1873, but when he toured Australia with Parr’s 1863/64 side, Caffyn decided to stay in Australia and his coaching had much to do with the improvement of Australian players and specifically those in New South Wales. He returned to England in 1871. Fred Lillywhite notes that Caffyn (in 1850) had a brilliant style of batting and was a very good bowler. Caffyn’s autobiography begins his piece on All-England and Clarke with: After this match [North v South on 15 July 1850, when John Wisden took all ten wickets], I was engaged by William Clarke (always known as ‘Old Clarke’) to play for his All-England Eleven at Cranbrook. A great and noble figure in the annals of our national games is this Old Clarke! A name to be honoured by all cricketers for all time. What an extraordinary and interesting career was his! … Whatever may have been the slight failings as a man of this truly great cricketer (and I am bound to confess that he and myself did not get on too smoothly together), on looking back across a space of nearly half a century one is lost in admiration of this glorious veteran, who did perhaps more than any one else ever has done to popularize our great national game throughout the length and breadth of this country. Caffyn continues by describing Clarke’s bowling style and then goes on to comment on the rest of the matches in which he played during that summer of 1850, ending with the note: Playing so many matches and travelling so much was a great strain on one’s constitution. We often had to travel all night and begin play at eleven o’clock on the morning we arrived at our place of destination, and I have often been so tired that I have almost fallen asleep while in the field. Clarke used to give us £4 a match at this time for the All- England matches. The comprehensive volume, The English Game of Cricket by Charles Box, published in 1877, has some peculiar suggestions, made at great length, about cricket’s early history, before Chapter 4 deals with the second quarter of the nineteenth century. Box comments: The movements of the All-England Eleven had a wonderful effect upon the cricket spirit of the age, for it not only introduced the game to places and peoples hitherto but very imperfectly acquainted with it, but served also to widen the sphere of its popularity to an extent not calculated upon. Wherever the foot of these chieftains trod they left the mark of cricket behind, and, without exception, the imprint remains to this day. … Such was the success of Clarke, the chief manager of these matches, that other bands, imitating his example, convinced the world that professional cricket was not a bad vocation, although a danger of relying too much upon sunshine and smiles had Incredible Success of the All-England Eleven