The Last Underarm Bowlers — Lillywhite's Legacy and the End of the Old Style, 1840s

The roundarm law of 1835 had allowed bowlers to raise their arm to shoulder height; within two years roundarm had become the dominant style and underarm was in rapid retreat. William Lillywhite, born in 1792, was the last great underarm bowler to play at the highest level. Through the 1830s and into the 1840s he continued to take wickets against the best batsmen in England, his precision and variation compensating for a pace that roundarm bowlers far exceeded. But by the early 1840s he was clearly aging; his pace had diminished, his variation was now anticipated by batsmen who had grown up against roundarm, and the MCC match committees were less willing to include him in representative sides. He played his last first-class match in 1853, aged 61. The other veteran underarm bowlers — William Ward, John Bayley — had retired by the mid-1840s. The 1840s were thus the final decade in which underarm bowling was a viable option for a professional cricketer at any level.