The Roundarm Trial Matches — Sussex v England, Summer 1827

Roundarm had been creeping into the game since John Willes in the 1810s. Willes himself had walked out of Lord's in 1822. Lillywhite and Broadbridge of Sussex had taken up the cause and made it the basis of the strongest county side in England. The MCC could no longer pretend the issue would resolve itself.

Sussex were already being acclaimed as the champion county of the 1820s, on the strength of their two roundarm bowlers. The trial was as much a recognition of their dominance as a test of the new style. The MCC set the terms; the Sussex players had every incentive to demonstrate that their action was both legal in spirit and unanswerable in practice.

By 1827 the gap between the law and the practice of bowling had become impossible to ignore. Sussex, with William Lillywhite and Jem Broadbridge as their twin spearhead, had been bowling roundarm against all comers and umpires were turning a blind eye. The MCC convened the trial under formal terms: Sussex would be allowed to bowl roundarm; the England XI would bowl only the legal underarm. The first match at Darnall New Ground in Sheffield from 4 to 6 June was won by Sussex by seven wickets, with Lillywhite taking five and two, and Broadbridge two and five. The second match at Lord's on 18-19 June was also won by Sussex. England's batsmen, including the leading professionals of the day, were demonstrably outclassed by the new style. After the second match, several England players signed a public letter declaring that they would refuse to play in the third unless the umpires enforced the existing law strictly against the Sussex bowlers. The third match, at Brighton's Royal New Ground from 23 to 25 July, saw the England XI rally — partly because some of their own bowlers tried roundarm in defiance of the official terms — and they won by 24 runs. The series was officially declared inconclusive. In practice, however, it had demonstrated two things: that roundarm was a more effective bowling style, and that the umpires would not enforce the old law. The MCC the following year amended Rule 10 to permit the hand to be raised to the elbow.

“Sussex were too good for England with the bowling of Lillywhite and Broadbridge, but the trial was officially declared inconclusive.”

After the trials, umpires effectively gave up trying to enforce the underarm law against Lillywhite and Broadbridge. Sussex remained the leading county of the late 1820s and 1830s. The MCC's 1828 amendment was a half-measure — the law still in theory forbade shoulder-height bowling — and the issue would not be settled until the 1835 amendment legalised roundarm outright.