Lives in Cricket No 37 - William Clarke

88 Incredible Success of the All-England Eleven tragic last years of Caesar, who died aged 47 in 1878. Richard Daft in Kings of Cricket describes Caesar as ‘one of the smartest men altogether I ever came across. … His hitting was as smart and clean as anything that could be witnessed.’ Caesar played for his native county of Surrey from 1849 to 1867. George Anderson, the Yorkshire batsman from Bedale, is one of the cricketers who feature in Old English Cricketers by Old Ebor, published in 1900. Anderson states that William Clarke used to come up to Bedale to coach the young players and also laid out the Bedale cricket ground. Anderson relates two Clarke stories: Life in the All-England Eleven was very jolly and I often look back upon those days with pleasant feelings. Old Clarke, our General, as we called him, was a very dry customer. I remember one gay young spark telling him he wished to learn cricketing, and asked what was the first thing to do. ‘Get your finger nails cut,’ was the laconic reply. On another occasion a lady asked Clarke’s advice about her son. She thought he would make an excellent cricketer, as he ‘stood six feet in his stockings’. ‘Dear me, what a large number of toes he must have,’ was the dry, if not polite, comment by which Clarke crushed the maternal feelings. Anderson states in the same piece that he was paid £5 a match, or up to £6 for long journeys, but that after expenses there was not much left. In view of later comments on the misery that Clarke supposedly caused his players, Anderson’s memories of how he enjoyed travelling with Clarke and the AEE provides another version of the atmosphere and general bonhomie. Anderson played intermittently for Yorkshire from 1850 to 1869 and went with Parr’s team to Australia and New Zealand in 1863/64. He died at Bedale in North Yorkshire in 1902. James ‘Jemmy’ Grundy (1824-1873) was born in Radford, Nottingham and was engaged in Norfolk for four years before he joined the MCC groundstaff in 1851. In the same year he made his Notts debut and proved an excellent all-rounder, both for MCC and the county. Caffyn notes: ‘He was exceedingly good company and always ready with a song when called upon.’ He fell out with Clarke, but the reason doesn’t seem to be recorded. The fourth new professional, Daniel Day, ran the cricket ground at Itchen, Southampton though he was born in Surrey in 1807 and played in some matches for his native county. He turned out in only nine AEE matches, all in the 1851 season. Apart from the presence of Mynn and Felix, Clarke did not incorporate any amateurs into his side, except for the very occasional match. His son, Alfred, played in two AEE games during the season and became a permanent fixture during 1852. He was 20 on his debut and was considered a useful batsman and good outfield; later he acted as the person who organized the travel arrangements for the Eleven. Clarke appeared in the two Gentlemen v Players matches at Lord’s in 1851 as well as the two North v South matches – he selected the North side on