Lives in Cricket No 37 - William Clarke

83 to be apprehended, and against which aspirants for fame, especially of this kind, were hardly equal. The advice of good men – such, for instance, as that of Mr Bass – was often found to be as the evening cloud and morning dew, and the prospects of many a young player of promise were prematurely blighted. Box does not specifically mention that the spread of the railways had materially assisted in Clarke’s ability to take his team to all corners of mainland Britain; however in 1877 readers would have been aware that railways had replaced stage coaches within living memory. Clarke was still, in 1850, rather surprisingly a ground bowler at Lord’s and played his first match for the Club on 3 and 4 June, appearing for MCC Professionals v XV of Middlesex. He played for England (selected by MCC) v Kent at Lord’s on 8, 9 and 10 July, then in the famous North v South match at Lord’s, when John Wisden took all ten wickets. Wisden, living at Leamington, played for the North, and the South were routed – all out for 36 and 76. In the first innings, Clarke and Wisden bowled unchanged, Clarke taking six wickets and Wisden three. Caffyn actually made the highest score in both of the South’s innings, hence perhaps Clarke’s reason for signing him up. Clarke played at Lord’s for Players v Gentlemen and in the unusually titled Young v Old match – Under-36 v Over-36. The Young won by 11 runs, but Haygarth commented that the Old might have succeeded if Mr Rogers had turned up to bat for them on the third day; seemingly he didn’t realize that two-day matches at Lord’s, if unfinished, were continued on a third day! Clarke played in all 24 AEE matches in 1850; Parr missed one, but had a tremendous close to the season, hitting 118 v Amateurs of Sussex at Hove and in the next match 90 v Louth. The final AEE fixture went into the beginning of October, against XXII of Birmingham at Edgbaston. The report of the match at Sheffield on 10 and 11 June 1850 comments on a quite astonishing innings by Bernard Wake, a local solicitor, that it deserves recognition. The Sheffield and Rotherham Independent reported: Mr Wake’s appearance with bat in hand disturbed the compact arrangement of the fielders and signal was given for ‘a spread’. Those who anticipated ‘something smart’ from him were not disappointed. After quickly making a single, he drove Wisden with tremendous force to the leg, where Parr, with his usual alacrity, gathered the ball and ‘shied’ it at the wicket, missing which, it was not stopped until another run was obtained from the overthrow. The ball was then overthrown a second and third time, Mr Wake having, in the meantime, amid the cheers and laughter of the assembled throng obtained five runs from this one stroke. The batting on the part of Mr Wake and Berry was of the most spirited character and adding most effectively to the score. A splendid hit from which Mr Wake ran five, disturbed the equanimity of ‘The Old General’ and a change of tactics was the result. Hillyer was succeeded in bowling by Clarke, who having ‘planted’ the field, commenced his first over to Mr Wake who drove him to the leg for two and the ball being overthrown in ‘shying’ at the wicket, three more Incredible Success of the All-England Eleven