In August 1837 the Sheffield batsman James Dearman, smarting from his innings-and-107 thrashing at Town Malling the previous September, demanded a return single-wicket match against Alfred Mynn. The rematch was played at Brighton on 21-22 August 1837 and went the same way as the first: Mynn won by an innings and 67 runs.
Single-wicket cricket of the late 1830s was structured around a small number of marquee names — Mynn, Pilch, Marsden, Dearman — and high stakes. Dearman's reputation was tied to the Sheffield betting market, and the 1836 defeat had hurt both his pride and his backers' pockets.
Mynn had spent most of 1837 recovering from the Leicester leg injury. By August he was fit enough to play but had lost weight and was, by Mynn standards, undertrained. Dearman's backers thought they saw an opening.
Dearman's pride had not survived the 1836 defeat. He challenged Mynn to a return match for £100 a side, this time on neutral ground at Brighton, the great single-wicket centre of the south. Mynn — only just back in cricket after the near-loss of his right leg the previous autumn — accepted. The two-day match was played at the Brighton ground on 21-22 August 1837. Mynn batted first and made another large score; Dearman, faced again with the Kent man's fast roundarm, was bowled out cheaply in both innings. Mynn won by an innings and 67 runs. The crowd reportedly numbered several thousand and the press, north and south, treated the result as conclusive. Dearman never sought another match and his reputation as the leading northern batsman did not survive the second defeat.
Spring 1837: Dearman issues challenge for £100 a side
21 Aug 1837: Match begins at Brighton
Mynn bats first; scores heavily
Dearman bowled cheaply in both innings
22 Aug 1837: Mynn wins by an innings and 67 runs
Sep 1836
Mynn beats Dearman at Town Malling by innings and 107
Spring 1837
Dearman issues rematch challenge
21 Aug 1837
Brighton rematch begins
22 Aug 1837
Mynn wins by innings and 67
Dearman never recovered his reputation. He played fewer single-wicket matches after 1837 and is rarely mentioned in the cricketing press of the 1840s. Mynn went on to dominate single-wicket cricket through the late 1830s and into the 1840s.
A second comprehensive Mynn victory that ended the rivalry and confirmed his status as the king of single-wicket cricket.
The two Mynn-Dearman matches of 1836 and 1837 are the most famous single-wicket contests of the nineteenth century. They are still cited as the high point of the genre and as evidence that fast roundarm bowling, properly delivered, could overwhelm the best batting of the day.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.