⭐Mild
Christiana Willes — The Sister Who Bowled Roundarm in the Garden, 1810s
n/a (private practice and family cricket)
1814-06-15
Christiana Willes (1786-1873) was the younger sister of John Willes of Tonford, the Kent gentleman who pushed roundarm bowling into senior cricket. According to a 1907 memoir by her son Edward Hodges and earlier testimony recorded by Arthur Haygarth, Christiana bowled to her brother in a barn at Tonford during the 1810s, and the higher arm action she used in those practice sessions was the prototype that John adopted in matches. The story has been embellished — particularly the popular claim that her wide skirts forced her to bowl roundarm — but the underlying record places Christiana at the technical origin of one of cricket's most consequential bowling reforms.
#christiana-willes#john-willes#roundarm-bowling