Single-wicket cricket — an older form of the game in which two or three players a side competed under simplified rules, often for purses of £100 or more — flourished alongside the modern eleven-a-side game through the 1840s. Alfred Mynn was champion of England at single-wicket from 1838 to 1846 and his title-defence matches drew crowds and betting comparable with the Gentlemen v Players match.
Single-wicket had been the high-stakes betting form of cricket since the 1770s. By the 1840s most of the leading professionals played it occasionally for big purses.
Mynn's 1838 victory established him as champion. Successive challenges through the 1840s kept the title in play; the 1846 Mynn-Felix match was the climax.
Single-wicket was an ancient form of cricket dating to the eighteenth century, in which two, three or sometimes four players formed a side and played a simplified version of the game (no leg byes, restricted run-areas, batter retired if struck on the leg). It had been the high-stakes betting form of cricket since the 1770s and remained popular through the 1840s alongside the eleven-a-side game. Mynn won the single-wicket championship of England in 1838 and held it against successive challengers — including Pilch in 1840 and Felix in 1846 — for nearly a decade. The Mynn-Felix match of August 1846 at Lord's, billed as 'champion of England', drew a crowd of 4,000 and stakes of £200 a side; Mynn won by an innings. Single-wicket cricket faded through the 1850s as the All-England Eleven format became dominant and as betting on cricket fell out of fashion under Victorian moral pressure, but in the 1840s it remained a substantial part of the professional game.
1838: Mynn wins single-wicket championship of England
1840: Mynn defends against Pilch
1841-45: Various successful defences
Aug 1846: Mynn beats Felix at Lord's by an innings; £200 stakes; 4,000 spectators
Late 1840s: Single-wicket gradually declines as AEE format dominates
1838
Mynn wins single-wicket championship
1840
Mynn defends against Pilch
Aug 1846
Mynn beats Felix at Lord's
1850s
Single-wicket fades from professional cricket
Mynn lost the championship in 1846 (by some accounts) or held it to retirement (by others); the title became unclaimed in the 1850s as single-wicket faded.
An older form of cricket that gave Mynn his most prestigious title and that bridged the betting cricket of the eighteenth century with the gate-receipt cricket of the AEE.
Single-wicket cricket survived as a curiosity into the twentieth century but was effectively superseded by the eleven-a-side professional game by 1860. Mynn's championship is its last great chapter.
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.