Lives in Cricket No 37 - William Clarke

87 due to a very serious injury. The 1852 edition of Lillywhite’s Guide gives Mr Chapman as the proprietor of the Trent Bridge Cricket Ground, but I would suggest that this is merely a reprint from the 1850 edition, having not been updated. The MCC agreed to play Clarke’s England Eleven at Lord’s, the home side being allowed fourteen players. According to Haygarth, it was the only time MCC fielded more than eleven players against another Eleven. The match ended in an acrimonious row. There had been a great deal of betting on the outcome. Caffyn and Box were batting in the AEE’s second innings, the score being 114 for five. AEE required one run to win, when MCC ordered the drawing of stumps, it being the agreed time to end the match. MCC were acting strictly to the Law, but Haygarth (who played in the match and made the highest score for MCC) commented, ‘it was certainly not cricket or sportsmanlike’. There was uproar at the time and one wonders if this niggled rather with William Clarke, whose relationship with Lord’s and MCC was to break down the following season. With so many more AEE matches in 1851, Clarke found it necessary to recruit four additional professionals, Julius Caesar, George Anderson, James Grundy and Daniel Day. The first two were to remain with All- England until after Clarke’s death, but Day played only in 1851, whilst Grundy ceded to the United during 1852. A biography of Julius Caesar, written by Geoff Amey, was published in 2000 and tells of the life and Incredible Success of the All-England Eleven The hard graft. The All-England Eleven travelling from Spalding, completing the last stage of their journey from Salford, to play a Twenty-Two of Wisbech over three days in June 1851. Clarke opened the batting in both AEE innings and took fifteen wickets.