On 8 August 1808 William Lambert played a single-wicket match at Lord's against three opponents — bowling, batting and fielding alone against a side of three. He won by 11 runs. The match is one of the most famous individual feats of the underarm era and the first major demonstration of Lambert's all-round ability that would, ten years later, see him called the finest cricketer in England.
Lambert had emerged as a top-rank player in the seasons after his 1801 debut. By 1808 he was widely regarded as the leading all-round cricketer in England.
One-against-three single-wicket matches were occasionally arranged in Regency cricket as exhibitions. Lambert's August 1808 match was for stakes of 30 guineas. He batted first and made 56; the three opponents — drawn from Surrey village cricket — made 28 between them in their first innings. Lambert added 23 in his second innings; the three needed 75 to win, made 39, and were dismissed. Lambert was 29, in his prime, and his single-handed performance was the talk of the cricketing press for weeks.
1779
Lambert born at Burstow
1801
Senior debut
8 Aug 1808
One-against-three single-wicket victory at Lord's
1817
First man to score two centuries in a major match
1818
Banned from Lord's after match-fixing accusations
Lambert continued to play single-wicket matches, including the 1817 fixture from which his match-fixing accusations would later emerge.
One of the most striking individual feats of the underarm era — a one-against-three victory at Lord's.
The 1808 treble match is the canonical demonstration of Lambert's all-round powers. It is cited in every nineteenth-century memoir of Regency cricket.
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1811-07-04
The 1811 Lord's season was the leanest of the Middle Ground years. With the Napoleonic blockade at its tightest, willow scarce, professionals diverted to militia service and the betting public's purses thin, only fourteen major matches were played at Lord's all summer. The 1811 season is the clearest measure of cricket's wartime contraction.
Officers vs Civilians
1812-12-15
By the close of 1812 cricket was being played regularly in both Madras and Bombay — the earliest documented fixtures in either Presidency. Garrison officers and civilian East India Company servants ran the matches; the Madras Gazette and Bombay Courier preserved the earliest scoresheets. The Calcutta game (documented 1804) had been joined by all three Presidency capitals.
Kent vs MCC
1813-09-09
On 9-10 September 1813 Kent played the MCC at the Vine, Sevenoaks — the first post-war major match at the historic Kent ground and the start of the Vine's revival as a regular major venue. The Vine had hosted little major cricket since 1808; the September 1813 fixture marked its return to the front rank.