#professionals

5 incidents tagged

The Nottinghamshire Players' Strike of 1881

Nottinghamshire CCC v Captain Henry Holden (committee)

1881-06-01

In the summer of 1881 seven of Nottinghamshire's leading professionals — Alfred Shaw, Arthur Shrewsbury, Fred Morley, John Selby, William Barnes, Wilfrid Flowers and (briefly) Mordecai Sherwin — refused to play for the county after a dispute with the secretary, Captain Henry Holden, over fixtures, pay and the right to a guaranteed benefit. The strike crippled Notts' season, was the first major industrial action in English cricket, and laid the groundwork for the formal employment contracts that professionals would gradually win across the next two decades.

#nottinghamshire#strike#professionals

🔥Moderate

Lillywhite's Tour Finances — Pay, Gates and Disputes, 1876-77

England in Australia and New Zealand

1876-11-01

James Lillywhite's 1876-77 tour was the first English tour of Australia run as a private commercial venture rather than on invitation. The professionals travelled for a share of the gate; that share was repeatedly disputed throughout the trip, and the tour returned home with a slim profit only after months of haggling with local agents.

#james-lillywhite#tour-finances#1876

⭐Mild

Gentlemen v Players — The Showcase Fixture of the 1840s

Gentlemen vs Players

1844-07-01

Through the 1840s the Gentlemen v Players match at Lord's was the showcase fixture of the English summer — amateurs against professionals, the best of the country against the best of the country, with the professionals winning more often than not. Alfred Mynn straddled the two teams as the great amateur player; Fuller Pilch led the Players' batting; the fixture was the model that all later representative cricket was built on.

#gentlemen-vs-players#lord-s#1844

⭐Mild

First Gentlemen vs Players Match Won by the Players — 1836

Gentlemen of England vs Players of England

1836-07-04

Through the 1820s the Gentlemen of England had usually beaten the Players because the match-rules tilted heavily in the amateurs' favour (often the Gentlemen were given extra batsmen or the Players had to use given men). In 1836, with the rules levelled and the Players fielding their full strength of Lillywhite, Pilch, Mynn and Cobbett, the professionals at last won the match cleanly — the start of decades of professional dominance.

#gentlemen-vs-players#1836#lord-s

⭐Mild

Jack Small Junior — Hambledon's Last Hand at the First Gentlemen v Players, 1806

Gentlemen vs Players

1806-07-21

Jack Small junior, son of the great John Small senior who had scored cricket's first known century in 1775, played for the Players in both inaugural Gentlemen v Players matches in July 1806. He was 40, a sound batsman in his father's mould, and one of the last Hambledon hands still active at major level. His presence in the first Gentlemen v Players is the bridge that links the 1770s Hambledon era to the modern Lord's-centred game.

#jack-small#john-small-junior#gentlemen-vs-players