Early Days Of English Cricket Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1744

The code of 1744, was compiled by the "noblemen and gentlemen" of the London Club, which played at the Artillery Ground in Finsbury. Before this, individual "articles of agreement" were usually drawn up for major matches. Features that survive from the 1744 code include the length of the pitch (22 yards), the toss for choice of innings, and most of the ways of dismissing a batsman.

The laws were revised in 1755 and 1774. The first l.b.w. law is found in the 1774 code: this code also fixed the present weight of the ball (5½ to 5¾ ounces), and the maximum width of the bat (4¼ inches).

The Marylebone Cricket Club, formed in 1787, seems to have been immediately recognized as an authority, and issued its first laws in 1788.

Answer: Hambledon

Of course, Hambledon wasn't exactly what we would now call a village club, nor were the "All England" sides the equivalent of modern Test teams, but Hambledon was undoubtedly a great club for a while. David Underdown's book "Start of Play" gives an excellent account of the club and of the changing society in which it rose and fell.

Answer: Lord's

Thomas Lord, a property developer from Yorkshire, opened his first ground where Dorset Square (off Gloucester Place) now stands in 2003. He moved to North Bank in 1811, and from there to the present site in 1814. The Marylebone Cricket Club was closely associated with the ground from the outset: it finally acquired the freehold in the 1860s.

Answer: Gentlemen v Players

The Gentlemen were amateurs, the Players were professionals. From 1829 onwards, the game was played at Lord's annually, usually in July. Gentlemen v Players matches were also played at other venues, including the Oval and notably (in later years), at the Scarborough Festival.

The last game was at Scarborough in 1962: after that the distinction between professionals and amateurs was abandoned. The Oxford v Cambridge match (first played in 1827), and the Eton v Harrow match (first played in 1805 with Lord Byron in the Harrow team), can still be seen every year at Lord's, though the latter is now a one-day limited-overs affair. North v South matches at Lord's and elsewhere were major fixtures in the mid-nineteenth century, but declined in favour as regular county cricket gained ground.

Answer: Round-arm bowling

The old story is that Willes practised his game in his barn during the winter, getting his sister to bowl to him and his dog to retrieve the ball. His sister's wide hooped skirt prevented her from bowling conventional underarm balls: she had to raise her arm sideways, and Willes saw the advantages of this bowling action. Unfortunately there's no real evidence to support this tale.

Answer: Canterbury

Changes in the first-class schedule have now reduced "Canterbury Week" to a single county match. The St. Lawrence ground at Canterbury (which opened in 1847 and is thus younger than the festival), is generally reckoned to be one of the most attractive grounds in England, and is famous for the lime tree which stood on the field of play until it was blown down in a storm in January 2005.

Answer: I Zingari

I Zingari (i.e. "the gypsies"), are presumably so called because they had no home ground. Their colours are black, red and gold. They are traditionally associated with country-house and festival cricket. Today they play about 20 one-innings games a season: their opponents are typically from public (i.e. English private) schools and the armed forces, or teams selected by cricket-loving landed gentry.

Answer: William Clarke

Clarke was a Nottingham man whose career in cricket lasted some thirty years. In the 1830s he married a widow who kept the Trent Bridge Inn, and he laid out what is now the Nottinghamshire county cricket ground in the adjoining field. At a time when there were few county games, and his idea of a touring side gave professional cricketers the chance to work full time during the cricket season.

His team travelled the length of England, playing matches against local teams, and thus giving large numbers of people a chance to see some of the best cricketers in the country.

Many matches were played against odds, i.e. the local sides would contain anything up to 22 men. Disgruntled players broke away and formed a rival United England XI in 1852, and further splits led to the formation of other sides. With the growth of representative county cricket, public interest in the touring sides declined; their last major matches were played in the late 1870s.

Answer: 10 wickets in an innings (all clean bowled)

In the days of round-arm bowling, Wisden was generally regarded as a fast bowler, though he stood only 5' 4" tall and is said to have weighed only seven stone (98 lb) at the beginning of his career. He was a Sussex man, but was playing for the North against the South in this match.

His full analysis has not been preserved. In a low-scoring match, which was finished in a single day, Wisden was also the second highest scorer for the North, with 22 runs. The North won by an innings.

Answer: 1864

Wisden's work was not the first of its kind: he had already been associated with Frederick Lillywhite in producing "Lillywhite's Guide". The first edition of Wisden is a strange hotchpotch. It contains very little current cricketing data, but is full of old scorecards of such things as Gentlemen v Players games.

It also includes in its 112 pages the rules of bowls, the past winners of the university boat race, and the classic English horse races, and the dates of the battles of the Wars of the Roses. Gradually, however, the book took shape as an authoritative reference work on the game.