Nottingham Cricket Club

Several Nottingham Cricket Club matches have been recorded from 1771 to 1848 and its team generally held important match status in eleven-a-side matches, depending on the quality of their opponents. The earliest reference to cricket in the county of Nottinghamshire is in fact a match between Nottingham and Sheffield Cricket Club at the Forest Racecourse, Nottingham in August 1771. In many sources, the Nottingham team is called the "Nottingham Old Club" or as the "town club" to distinguish it from Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, which was founded in 1841. A team called Nottinghamshire had played since 1835 but is believed to have been organised by the town club and only using the county name in certain matches.

Nottingham's opponents in their important matches were most often Sheffield. They played several games against Leicestershire & Rutland aka Leicester. They had two matches against Cambridge Town Club, one against Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and one against a combined Leicester/Sheffield team.

Nottinghamshire as a county team played its first inter-county match versus Sussex at Brown's Ground in Brighton on 27, 28 & 29 August 1835. All the previous matches had involved Nottingham as a town rather than Nottinghamshire as a county. Nottinghamshire has been recognised as an important/first-class county team from 1835. The club grew in strength during the first thirty years of the 19th century and, by the time the county club was founded in 1841, Nottinghamshire was one of the "great counties" in cricket. In either March or April 1841, the formal creation of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club was enacted. The exact date has been lost. However, as noted above, an informal county club may have been active in 1835.

There is still a Nottingham Cricket Club, known as Nottinghamians and part of the rugby union club of that name. A significant source for the original club is William North's 1832 book of Nottingham Old Club Match Scores.[1]

Important matches played by Nottingham Cricket Club

There are surviving references to fourteen matches involving Nottingham in the 18th century, between 1771 and 1800. After that, the next match in the records is dated 1813. Nine of the fourteen matches to 1800 must be considered important as they were eleven-a-side against MCC or one of the early Sheffield or Leicester teams. There are two matches against a team from Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, about whom little is known, and these have doubtful status. The other three matches were "odds" games in which either Nottingham or their opponents fielded 22 players against eleven. In the 19th century, many more Nottingham matches are known to have been played. Again, some were "odds" matches and others are deemed to lack importance because of the quality of the opposition.

Although it is an important match, the 1771 game against Sheffield is in fact the earliest surviving reference to cricket in the county of Nottinghamshire. It is believed that the origin of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club lies in this same Nottingham town club that apparently came into existence by 1770. In 1835, its team was first styled as Nottinghamshire county, rather than Nottingham town, when it played against a county team. County matches to 1840 are included in the table because the Nottinghamshire teams were organised by the Nottingham club. The present Nottinghamshire county club was formally established in 1841.

date match title venue result sources
26–27 August 1771 (M–Tu) Nottingham v Sheffield Forest Racecourse, Nottingham result unknown [2][3][4]
notes

The contemporary reports indicate that the game was not determined on account of "a dispute having arisen by one of the Sheffield players being jostled". It seems the intention was for each team to play three innings each. The end details known are that Sheffield were 60 ahead with Nottingham yet to bat. Sheffield scored 81, 62 and 105 for a total of 248, but it is not known if 105 was an all out total or not. Nottingham had scored 76 and 112 for a total of 188 with another innings in hand.

The reports mentions a Sheffield batsman called Osguthorpe (sic) who "kept in batting for several hours together", but his name is not among the two lists of players given in Scores & Biographies, one under 26 August 1771 and another under 1 June 1772 (see match below). The lists are evidently the same team but with slight differences for each match. As Osguthorpe is not included, they must be the Nottingham players only. The players are: Coleman (2 appearances), Turner (2), Loughman (2), Roe (2), Spurr (2), Stocks (2), Collishaw (2), Troop (2), Mew (2), Bamford (1), Gladwin (1), Huythwaite (1), Rawson (1).

The Sheffield club organised county matches in Yorkshire from the mid-1700s, its teams in important matches being representative of Yorkshire as a county until in 1863 it was the main participant in the official formation of Yorkshire County Cricket Club.

1 June 1772 (M) Sheffield v Nottingham Sheffield (exact venue unknown) Sheffield won [3][4][5]
notes

Nottingham forfeited the match after being dismissed for 14 and then seeing Sheffield score 70 with wickets still in hand. A pre-match announcement appeared in the (Nottingham) Daily Messenger on Tuesday, 25 May: "We are informed that the great Cricket Match which has been so long depending between the Society of Nottingham & that of Sheffield is to be finally determined at Sheffield on Mon., 1 June . . . . The Sherwood youths have been practising for some weeks past, and we are told, the odds at Nottingham are 2 to 1 in their favour". The paper followed up with a report on Friday, 12 June that bewailed the defeat of the Nottingham team.

17–18 September 1781 (M–Tu) Leicester v Nottingham Loughborough (exact venue unknown) incomplete due to dispute [6]
notes
21 September 1789 Leicester v Nottingham Loughborough (exact venue unknown)
notes
5 October 1789 Leicester v Nottingham Loughborough (exact venue unknown)
notes
29 August 1791 Nottingham v Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) King's Meadow, Nottingham
notes
9 July 1792 Leicestershire & Rutland v Nottingham The Park, Burley-on-the-Hill
notes
25 August 1800 Leicester v Nottingham St Margaret's Pasture, Leicester
notes
29 September 1800 Nottingham v Sheffield Mansfield (exact venue unknown)
notes
29 July 1822 Nottingham v Holt (Norfolk) Forest New Ground, Nottingham
notes

No scorecard has been found.

12 September 1825 Bury St Edmunds v Nottingham Rougham Park, Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds won by 33 runs [7]
notes
24 July 1826 Sheffield & Leicester v Nottingham Darnall New Ground, Sheffield
notes
30 July 1827 Sheffield v Nottingham Darnall New Ground, Sheffield
notes
20 August 1827 Nottingham v Sheffield Forest New Ground, Nottingham
notes
1 September 1828 Nottingham v Sheffield Forest New Ground, Nottingham
notes
22 September 1828 Sheffield v Nottingham Darnall New Ground, Sheffield
notes
8 June 1829 Nottingham v Nottinghamshire Forest New Ground, Nottingham
notes
6 July 1829 Leicester v Nottingham Barker's Ground, Leicester
notes
27 July 1829 Nottingham v Leicester Forest New Ground, Nottingham
notes
24 August 1829 Sheffield v Nottingham Darnall New Ground, Sheffield
notes
7 September 1829 Nottingham v Sheffield Forest New Ground, Nottingham
notes
30 August 1830 Sheffield v Nottingham Hyde Park Ground, Sheffield
notes
29 August 1831 Sheffield v Nottingham Hyde Park Ground, Sheffield
notes
15 October 1832 Sheffield v Nottingham Hyde Park Ground, Sheffield
notes
22 July 1834 Cambridge Town Club v Nottingham Parker's Piece, Cambridge
notes
26 August 1834 Nottingham v Cambridge Town Club Forest New Ground, Nottingham
notes
8 September 1834 Sheffield v Nottingham Hyde Park Ground, Sheffield
notes
27 August 1835 Sussex v Nottinghamshire Royal New Ground, Brighton
notes
7 September 1835 Nottinghamshire v Sussex Forest New Ground, Nottingham
notes
24 July 1837 Sussex v Nottinghamshire Royal New Ground, Brighton
notes
27 July 1837 Kent v Nottinghamshire Old County Ground, Town Malling
notes
21 August 1837 Nottinghamshire v Sussex Forest New Ground, Nottingham
notes
15 June 1840 Sussex v Nottinghamshire Royal New Ground, Brighton
notes
18 June 1840 Kent v Nottinghamshire Old County Ground, Town Malling
notes
27 July 1840 Nottinghamshire v Sussex Trent Bridge, Nottingham
notes
21 September 1846 Sheffield v Nottingham Hyde Park Ground, Sheffield
notes

No scorecard has been found.

24 September 1846 Manchester v Nottingham Moss Lane, Manchester
notes

No scorecard has been found.

3 July 1848 Sheffield v Nottingham Hyde Park Ground, Sheffield
notes
17 August 1848 Nottingham v Sheffield Trent Bridge, Nottingham
notes

Other matches

Records, or at least mentions, of several other matches played by the Nottingham club are in existence. These are not classed as important. Some were against minor club opponents and others were "odds" matches in which one team had more than eleven players. These matches are listed by Cricket Archive:[8]

date match title venue
1 September 1783 Melton Mowbray v Nottingham Melton Mowbray
11 September 1783 Nottingham v Melton Mowbray The Forest New Ground, Nottingham
30 August 1791 Nottingham XXII v MCC King's Meadow, Nottingham
5 July 1792 MCC v Nottingham XXII The Park, Burley-on-the-Hill
3 November 1800 Nottingham v Sheffield XXII Warsop
15 November 1813 Leicester XXII v Nottingham Loughborough
20 September 1814 Rutland v Nottingham The Park, Burley-on-the-Hill
23 June 1817 Nottingham XXII v England The Forest New Ground, Nottingham
7 September 1818 Nottingham XXII v England The Forest New Ground, Nottingham
10 September 1821 Leicester XVI v Nottingham St Margaret's Pasture, Leicester
26 August 1822 Sheffield XV v Nottingham Darnall Old Ground, Sheffield
9 September 1822 Nottingham v Sheffield XV The Forest New Ground, Nottingham
11 July 1823 Nottingham v Fallow Field Club The Forest New Ground, Nottingham
25 August 1823 Nottingham v Leicester XIV The Forest New Ground, Nottingham
2 September 1833 Nottingham v Nottinghamshire Next XXII The Forest New Ground, Nottingham
4 September 1836 New Forest Club v Nottingham The Forest New Ground, Nottingham
26 September 1836 New Forest & Bingham v Nottingham The Forest New Ground, Nottingham
1 August 1842 Sheffield Wednesday v Nottingham Sheffield
8 August 1842 Nottingham v Sheffield Wednesday Trent Bridge, Nottingham
30 June 1843 Nottingham v Hampshire (fill-up) Trent Bridge, Nottingham
29 July 1844 Sheffield Wednesday v Nottingham Hyde Park Ground, Sheffield

See also

References

  1. William North, Nottingham Old Club Match Scores, 1832.
  2. Buckley (FLPVC), p. 6.
  3. 1 2 Haygarth, p. 2.
  4. 1 2 ACS, Important Matches, p. 24.
  5. Buckley (FLPVC), p. 7.
  6. Buckley (FL18), p. 92–95.
  7. Haygarth, pp. 532–532.
  8. "Other matches played by Nottingham". CricketArchive. Retrieved 2 December 2016.

Bibliography

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