William Clarke

William Clarke (24 December 1798 – 25 August 1856) was an English cricketer and team manager who played from 1826 to 1855. He founded, managed, and captained the All England Eleven. He has been described as "one of certain figures who, in the history of cricket, stand like milestones along the way". Clarke was born at Nottingham and died at Wandsworth in Surrey.

In the late 1820s, he lost sight in one eye after being struck there by a fives ball on the court behind the Bell Inn in Nottingham.

First-class career Clarke was originally a bricklayer by trade, but from his earnings as a bowler and an advantageous marriage he was able in 1837 to take up the traditional cricketer's trade of publican. He married Mary Chapman, the landlady of the Trent Bridge Inn, and they arranged for the land behind the inn to be made available. He opened the enclosed Trent Bridge cricket ground behind the inn and, from July 1840, it became the main venue for Nottinghamshire matches instead of the Forest racecourse, which was not enclosed. A stand at Trent Bridge has been named after Clarke.

Clarke was a great spin bowler. He began his career as roundarm bowling was being introduced but he decided to persist with the slow right-arm underarm leg-spin he had learned as a boy. In his career, he took 795 wickets at the outstanding average of 10.06 in 143 known important matches with a best analysis of 9/29. He took five wickets in an innings 82 times and ten wickets in a match 26 times. He was a moderate batsman, scoring 2133 runs at an average of 10.35 with a highest score of 75. He took 55 catches.

Clarke played in the inaugural North v. South fixture at Lord's, this being his first appearance there.

He is believed to be the only player ever to take a hat-trick that included the same batsman twice (i.e., John Fagge, the hat-trick spanning both Kent innings).

The All England Eleven In 1845, Clarke had become a ground bowler at Lord's as an MCC employee. Another ground bowler then was William Lillywhite. Clarke had a great season in 1845 and few batsmen could play him well. Although most MCC ground staff were satisfied with their pay, Clarke was not and in 1846 he decided to take matters into his own hands. In August 1846, when the MCC season finished, he formed the All England Eleven (AEE) as a touring team of leading players to play matches at big city venues, mainly in the "unfashionable but prosperous" North of England. The team played three matches in 1846 against 22 of Sheffield, 18 of Manchester and 18 of Yorkshire. Because of its strength, the AEE generally played teams composed of twenty-two men, though these odds were reduced when opposed to the likes of Sheffield, Manchester, some county teams, and the rival United All England Eleven.