Controversies in 1839

3 incidents documented

Sussex County Cricket Club Formally Reconstituted — Brighton, 1839

Sussex

1839-03-01

Sussex County Cricket Club, founded at Brighton on 1 March 1839, was the first formally constituted county cricket club in the world. Built on the Sussex cricketing tradition that William Lillywhite and James Broadbridge had carried since the 1820s, the club provided the model — committee, subscriptions, ground, professional staff — that all subsequent county cricket clubs followed.

#sussex-ccc#brighton#1839

⭐Mild

Kent's Golden Era — The Strongest County of the Late 1830s

Kent

1839-08-01

From 1836 to the late 1840s Kent was the strongest county in England. The combination of Alfred Mynn's fast roundarm bowling, Fuller Pilch's batting (after his 1836 transfer from Norfolk), Ned Wenman's wicketkeeping and Felix's amateur stroke-play made Kent the side every other county feared. The Canterbury Cricket Week, founded in 1842, would become the showpiece of this golden era.

#kent#alfred-mynn#fuller-pilch

⭐Mild

William Lillywhite at Forty-Seven — Roundarm Mastery, 1839

Sussex, Players, South

1839-08-12

By 1839 William Lillywhite was 47 years old — an age at which most cricketers of any era have long since retired — and was still indisputably the leading bowler in England. The 1839 season saw him take wickets in every major fixture: Players vs Gentlemen at Lord's, North vs South, and the Sussex county matches. His longevity at the top of the bowling lists is one of the remarkable features of the late 1830s.

#william-lillywhite#the-nonpareil#1839