Controversies in 1823

4 incidents documented

Henry Bentley Publishes A Correct Account of All the Cricket Matches — 1823

n/a

1823-04-15

In April 1823 Henry Bentley — the MCC's longstanding scorebook keeper — published A Correct Account of All the Cricket Matches Played by the Mary-Le-Bone Club. The volume contained scoresheets from every MCC major fixture between 1786 and 1822. It became the foundation reference for nineteenth-century cricket history and the source from which all later Regency-era statistics were derived.

#roundarm-era#henry-bentley#scorebook

⭐Mild

William Lillywhite's First Major Match — Sussex v Hampshire, July 1823

Sussex vs Hampshire

1823-07-21

On 21-22 July 1823 William Lillywhite of Goring — twenty-one years old, a tile-maker by trade and the future 'Nonpareil' of roundarm bowling — played his first major match for Sussex against Hampshire at Brighton. He took 3 for 28 in the first innings. The performance was the start of one of the great careers in roundarm-era cricket.

#roundarm-era#william-lillywhite#sussex

⭐Mild

Death of William Fennex — Cricket's First Innovator of Footwork, March 1823

n/a

1823-03-12

On 12 March 1823 William Fennex — the Buckinghamshire professional who had pioneered the running drive in 1803 — died at Buckingham aged sixty. He had been the first batter to advance down the pitch to drive the bowler before the ball pitched, a stroke that became the foundation of modern attacking batting. His death is the closing of an important Regency career.

#roundarm-era#william-fennex#obituary

⭐Mild

Earliest Cricket Periodical: The Cricketer's Companion — 1823

n/a

1823-05-01

In May 1823 a small-format periodical titled The Cricketer's Companion appeared in London — the earliest documented dedicated cricket publication in any language. It contained match reports, instruction, scoresheets and short articles on the laws. Only four issues were published before the venture folded; surviving copies are scarce. It is the foundation entry of cricket-specialist journalism.

#roundarm-era#press#cricketers-companion