Through the 1830s William Lillywhite of Sussex — universally known as 'the Nonpareil' for his accuracy — was the most successful bowler in England. He had been one of the two Sussex bowlers (with Jem Broadbridge) who forced the legalisation of roundarm in 1828; through the 1830s he refined the new style into an instrument of unprecedented control, taking hundreds of wickets a season at a length other bowlers could not match.
Sussex in the 1820s had pushed harder than any other county for the legalisation of roundarm bowling. Lillywhite and Broadbridge were the two bowlers who openly defied the underarm law and forced the issue. The 1828 law change — permitting the hand to be raised to elbow height — was followed in 1835 by a further widening to shoulder height.
Lillywhite's career had begun late but built rapidly. Through the late 1820s he was already the leading roundarm bowler in the country; the 1830s, in his forties, were his peak.
William Lillywhite was born at Westhampnett in Sussex in 1792, late by the standards of professional cricketers. He came to first-class cricket in his thirties and was already in his late thirties when roundarm was finally legalised in 1828. His action — a low to medium roundarm with the hand at or just below shoulder height — was less spectacular than the deliveries of his contemporary George Brown of Brighton (who reputedly killed a long-stop's dog with a stray ball) but vastly more accurate. Through the 1830s, in his forties, he was unarguably the bowler most county and All-England sides wanted on their roster. He was almost always engaged for the Players against the Gentlemen at Lord's; he was the bowler around whom Sussex's strong county side was built; and he led the bowling for the South in the new annual North vs South fixture from 1836. His delivery was relentlessly accurate, length and direction perfect, with a slight movement off the seam that left the off-stump on a dry pitch. Contemporaries said he could bowl all day at the same spot. The nickname 'Nonpareil' — without equal — followed him for the rest of his career.
1792: Lillywhite born at Westhampnett, Sussex
1828: Roundarm bowling legalised to elbow height
1830s: Lillywhite established as the leading bowler in England
1835: Roundarm legalised to shoulder height
1836: First North vs South fixture; Lillywhite leads the South attack
1836-39: Sussex one of the leading counties on the back of his bowling
1792
Lillywhite born at Westhampnett
1828
Roundarm legalised to elbow
1835
Roundarm legalised to shoulder
1836
First North vs South match
1854
Lillywhite dies, the first bowler to 1,000 first-class wickets
“Mr Ward says he never saw a more graceful bowler than Lillywhite, and the late Mr Budd has said the same thing in my hearing.”
“He bowled as if from a machine — every ball at the same spot.”
Lillywhite continued at the top into the 1840s, eventually becoming the first bowler to take 1,000 first-class wickets. His sons John and James both became first-class cricketers and publishers; the Lillywhite cricket dynasty would dominate cricket publishing for the rest of the nineteenth century. He died in 1854.
The decade's master bowler, who turned the new roundarm action into an instrument of relentless accuracy and shaped county bowling for a generation.
Lillywhite is the founding figure of modern county bowling. The principle that he established — that a roundarm (and later overarm) bowler's primary virtue is unwavering length and direction — has shaped seam bowling ever since. His name and his nickname 'the Nonpareil' are still cited in any historical discussion of the early Victorian game.
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.