Lives in Cricket No 43 - John Jackson

12 Chapter Three The All-England Eleven The All-England Eleven was formed in 1846 by William Clarke, a Nottinghamshire bricklayer, who conceived the idea as a means of capitalising on the growing public interest in cricket that was arising in the mid-19th century. The objective was to draw together a team of the best professional players from around the country to form an itinerant eleven which would travel the length and breadth of England, playing odds matches against local teams who were often ‘beefed up’ by professionals to make the encounters more even. Clarke charged admission to these matches, taking charge of the gate receipts himself and paying his men on a sliding scale according to their performances in each match. There is no doubt that the greatest beneficiary of this system was Clarke himself whose parsimony was legendary, and in 1852 a number of professionals, fed up with Clarke’s dictatorial manner, formed a breakaway team which they called the United All-England Eleven. Henceforth there would be two itinerant elevens touring the country as well as playing each other, although the All England Eleven v the United All England Eleven matches did not start until after Clarke’s death. The All-England Eleven continued to tour the country until 1879 whereas the United All England Eleven lasted until 1869 and further splits between the players saw the formation of the United North of England Eleven, which played between 1870 and 1881, and the United South of England Eleven which lasted from 1870 to 1882. Apart from Clarke’s dictatorial manner, tightness with money and what we would call a lack of ‘man- management’ skills, there were other reasons for the formation of the United All-England Eleven. There were so many local Twenty-Twos wanting to test their skills against the best professional players in the land that it would have been impossible for one eleven to fit in all the fixtures even if they played two matches every week between April and October. Clarke had also recruited so many professionals into his troupe that he could not keep them all occupied, so it is highly likely that a split would have occurred even if Clarke had got along with everybody. The professional elevens travelled vast distances. Consider this itinerary for the All-England Eleven in 1856. All the matches were of three days duration. 15 May Oxford at Christchurch Ground, Oxford 19 May Durham 2 June South Wales at Neath 5 June Cirencester at Cirencester Park