A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



scoring 483, the bulk of the runs being credited 

 to representatives of Surrey. It may be added 

 that the earliest county match in which these 

 counties met was on Micklam Downs in 1730, 

 when each side had three players. The score 

 is missing, as also are the scores of the three 

 matches between Surrey and Sussex in 1745. 



A few early local matches may be cited. In 

 1738 a match was played at the seat of the Earl 

 of Wilmington between Eastbourne, captained 

 by Lord John Sackville, and an eleven of the 

 parish of Battle. At Alfriston, on 17 May, 

 1787, four men, whose united ages came to 297 

 years, played a cricket match with great spirit. 

 At Esburn Park, in 1802, North Sussex beat 

 South Sussex by eight wickets, all the runs 

 scored, except one 3, being made by singles. In 

 1818 Brighton played Waldron for eleven new 

 bats, and won. Far more important was the 

 five-day match between Sussex and Epsom, 

 played at Lord's in July and August 1816, 

 when 625 runs were scored for thirty-eight 

 wickets. In the return match, in which Mr. W. 

 Ward, Mr. E. H. Budd, and Mr. Howard were 

 among the bowlers, 1,047 runs were compiled 

 for thirty-eight wickets, this being the first re- 

 corded match in which 1,000 runs were scored. 

 For Sussex, who won by 427 runs, Mr. Osbal- 

 deston made 106, and W. Lambert made 107 

 not out and I 57, a feat long unrivalled. Lambert 

 was a great hitter who always raised his bat over 

 his shoulders, and he used to bowl high under- 

 hand twisting in from leg. His career was 

 closed for matches of importance in 1817, when 

 he was accused of having sold the England v. 

 Nottingham match. By profession he was a 

 miller and bell-ringer, and there is a tradition 



O 7 



that he had the largest hands of any cricketer of 

 that day. William Broadbridge who played for 

 Sussex, scoring 6 1, was a hard hitter and the 

 earliest of the first-class stumpers of the county. 

 In 1826, for Sussex v. Hants and Surrey, he 

 actually stumped seven and caught two. His 

 brother Jem for some seasons in the twenties 

 was the best all-round cricketer in England, and 

 often walked from Duncton to Brighton 

 25 miles to play in a match. 



The year 1827 was momentous for Sussex 

 and for cricket generally. At Darnall near 

 Sheffield, Sussex for the first time played Eng- 

 land, and actually obtained the first five national 

 wickets for two runs, eventually winning by 

 seven wickets. This was the earliest of the three 

 trial matches designed to test the relative merits 

 of underhand bowling and the new-fashioned 

 round-arm bowling which Sussex desired to in- 

 troduce. The second match, at Lord's, was won 

 by the county by three wickets. After this, a 

 manifesto was issued by nine of the England 

 players declaring they would not play the third 

 match unless ' the Sussex men bowl fair that is, 

 abstain from throwing.' The objection was 



subsequently withdrawn, and England won the 

 third match at Brighton by 24 runs, after being 

 dismissed for 27. It is recorded that in this 

 match James Broadbridge threw his bat at a 

 wide ball and was caught at point. In this year 

 F. W. Lillywhite made his first appearance. He 

 did not play at Lord's until he was five-and-thirty, 

 and he bowled finely for England v. Kent when 

 sixty. A short stout man, he bowled with 

 machine-like precision, slow round-arm, and was 

 called 'the Nonpareil.' He eventually migrated 

 to London where he died in 1884. On 

 20 August 1827, for Sussex against Kent, 

 T. Pierpoint is said to have been seven and a 

 half hours batting for 31 runs. Wides were 

 first scored as such in the return match. 



In 1828 there were fourteen ducks' eggs in 

 the Sussex match with Kent. After the contest, 

 drawn through rain, between Sussex and Surrey 

 at Midhurst in 1830, there was no match between 

 these neighbours until 1849. At Lord's in 1833 

 Morley, batting for Sussex against England, took 

 three hours in making 9 runs. Curiously enough 

 in each of the two following matches under this 

 title six Sussex players were dismissed without 

 scoring, each time in the second innings. In 



1836 Sussex beat M.C.C. and Ground by five 

 wickets, the first occasion when the bowler's 

 name was inserted in the score after a catch, 

 ' stumped, l.b.w.,' or ' hit wkt.' The earliest 

 fixture between Sussex and M.C.C. had been on 

 9 June 1823, when Sussex won by eight wickets. 

 The first match with Nottinghamshire was in 

 1835. After the victory in 1836 over Kent, who 

 were without Mr. Alfred Mynn, Sussex lost ten 

 matches in succession to their neighbours. In 



1837 the vicar of Town Mailing denounced all 

 who attended the Kent and Sussex match from 

 the pulpit. In this year Sussex with Fuller Pilch 

 beat England by 79 runs. 



At about this period Mr. E. Napper 3 came into 

 the county eleven, and played for some twenty 

 vears, being a free left-handed hitter. At Lord's, 

 in the match against M.C.C. on 1 1 June 1839, 

 there was a noteworthy no-balling incident. 

 James Hodson, who made his first appearance 

 for the county at Lord's, was six times no-balled 

 by Caldecourt ' for being too high,' though in 

 the first innings Good, the other umpire, had 

 taken no notice. Mr. Kynaston was bowled by 

 one of these no-balls. Another odd circumstance 

 in the same match was that Lord Winterton 

 came to assist Sussex, but had to play against 

 them and made top score, the only incident of 

 this nature in the history of the M.C.C. 



For Kent v. Sussex in the same year Fuller 

 Pilch hit nine successive threes in as many balls. 

 At this time T. Box, a commanding batsman, 

 was the county wicket-keeper. Kent did not 



s A professional of the same name used to play for 

 Sussex at the same period. 



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