The first major match at Sheffield's Darnall ground in 1822, a 15 of Sheffield v 11 of Nottingham fixture, was marred when a temporary spectators' stand collapsed under the weight of the crowd, injuring nearly two dozen people. The incident was the first known crowd-safety disaster in English cricket and a foretaste of Lord's-era complaints about hastily built spectator scaffolding.
Yorkshire cricket in the early 1820s was concentrated in Sheffield, where wealthy local manufacturers were ready to back the building of a major ground. Darnall was the first product of that ambition, an enclosed venue designed for paying crowds.
The 15 of Sheffield v 11 of Nottingham match was the showpiece of the new ground's opening season and the local press had heavily promoted it. The crowd that turned up overwhelmed the temporary spectator structures.
Cricket in the industrial north was growing rapidly in the early 1820s. Sheffield's Darnall ground, three miles from the town centre, was one of the new generation of large enclosed grounds built to accommodate the paying audiences that the new bowling and the new betting were drawing. The first major match at Darnall, between 15 of Sheffield and 11 of Nottingham in August 1822, drew a crowd far larger than the temporary stands had been designed for. During the match a scaffolding stand gave way under the weight of spectators; nearly two dozen people were injured, some seriously, although no fatalities are recorded. The incident did not prevent Darnall becoming the leading northern cricket ground for the next few years. By 1824 it had been rebuilt with a proper artificial terrace seating up to 8,000, and in 1825 it hosted All-England v Twenty-Two of Yorkshire. In 1827 the first of the Sussex v England roundarm trial matches was played there, on the strength of which Sheffield could claim — briefly — to be one of the three principal cricket centres of England, after Lord's and Brighton. The ground's distance from central Sheffield eventually told against it; by 1829 the rival Hyde Park ground had taken over as the city's main venue and Darnall was abandoned for major fixtures.
1822: First major match at Darnall, Sheffield
Temporary stand collapses under crowd weight
Nearly two dozen spectators injured
1824: Ground rebuilt with permanent terrace seating 8,000
1825: All-England v Twenty-Two of Yorkshire played at Darnall
4-6 Jun 1827: First roundarm trial match Sussex v England held at Darnall
1829: Last great match at Darnall as Hyde Park supersedes it
1822
First major match; stand collapse
1824
Ground rebuilt with terrace
1827
First roundarm trial match held at Darnall
1829
Last great match
The stand collapse became a cautionary tale about cricket-ground construction, but did not slow the development of Darnall or the spread of similar grounds in the industrial north. Crowd safety would not be seriously addressed until much later in the century.
The first known cricket spectator disaster in England — a stand collapse that injured two dozen people but did not stop Sheffield's emergence as a leading cricket centre.
The Darnall collapse is the first recorded crowd-safety incident in English cricket history. The ground itself, important to the late 1820s, faded by 1830, but its place in the roundarm trials of 1827 ensures it a footnote in cricket law.
England
1932-08-12
In August 1932 the MCC selectors confirmed Douglas Jardine as England's captain for the 1932-33 tour of Australia, a decision contested at the highest levels of English cricket and one that — combined with Plum Warner's appointment as tour manager — would set the conditions for the Bodyline series.
England
1934-03-21
On 21 March 1934 Douglas Jardine wrote to The Cricketer that he had 'neither the desire nor the intention' of playing in the upcoming home Ashes series. The announcement, taken as a quiet resignation, removed the architect of Bodyline from the field before Australia returned to England — a precondition Australia's Board had implicitly demanded.
England / Gloucestershire
1937-11-15
In November 1937 Wally Hammond — the leading professional batsman of his era — was accepted by MCC as an amateur, opening the door to the England captaincy he received six months later for the 1938 Ashes. The change crystallised inter-war debates about the amateur-professional divide and the unwritten rule that England's captain be amateur.