#underarm era

3 incidents tagged

William 'Silver Billy' Beldham — The Aging Master of Hambledon, 1810s

Hampshire, Surrey, MCC and various private elevens

1817-06-01

By the 1810s William 'Silver Billy' Beldham — born in 1766, the great Hambledon-era batsman whom John Nyren had called 'one of the most beautiful batsmen ever seen' — was the senior figure in English cricket. Already in his fifties, he was still good enough to be picked for senior matches at Lord's and to hold his own against professionals half his age. His final senior match came in 1821 at the age of 55. He lived another forty-one years, dying at Tilford in 1862, and gave to historians the most detailed verbal record of Hambledon cricket through his late conversations with the Reverend James Pycroft.

#william-beldham#silver-billy#hambledon

⭐Mild

Tom Walker 'Old Everlasting' — The Last Hambledon Hand in the 1800s

Hampshire / Surrey / occasional XIs

1808-07-01

Tom Walker, born at Hambledon in 1762 and nicknamed 'Old Everlasting' for the unhurried, immovable defensive batting that once let him face 170 balls from David Harris for one run, was the last Hambledon man still appearing in important cricket through the early 1800s. His attempted 'higher arm' bowling had been ruled foul play by the Hambledon Club committee in 1788 — a forgotten experiment that John Willes would revive in 1807 and that would eventually become roundarm.

#tom-walker#old-everlasting#hambledon

⭐Moderate

John Willes Bowls Roundarm at Penenden Heath — Kent v England, July 1807

Kent XXIII vs All-England XIII

1807-07-29

In July 1807 the Kent farmer John Willes bowled what one newspaper called 'straight arm bowling' for a Kent XXIII against an All-England XIII at Penenden Heath, near Maidstone, in a match for £1,000 a side. It was the first attempt since Tom Walker's experiments in the 1780s to revive the higher-arm action that would become roundarm. The newspaper noted Willes's deliveries were 'an obstacle against getting runs'. The MCC would not formally legalise roundarm bowling for another 21 years.

#john-willes#roundarm#kent