John Small (7 October 1765 – 21 January 1836)
at the CricketArchive was an English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played for the

Hambledon Club The Hambledon Club was a social club that is famous for its organisation of 18th century cricket matches. By the late 1770s it was the foremost cricket club in England. Foundation The origin of the club, based near Hambledon in rural Hampshire, ...

. He is also associated with

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

and

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. Jack Small made his debut in 1784, his career continuing until 1811. He was noted as "a sound

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, the ...

" but should not be compared with his father John Small senior, who was still playing when Jack started. Small played for the Players in the inaugural and second

Gentlemen v Players Gentlemen v Players was a long-running series of English first-class cricket matches. Two matches were played in 1806, but the fixture was not played again until 1819. It became an annual event, usually played at least twice each season, exc ...

matches in 1806.CricketArchive – scorecard of second Gentlemen v Players match
/ref> He and

John Nyren John Nyren (15 December 1764 – 30 June 1837) was an English cricketer and author. Nyren made 16 known appearances in first-class cricket from 1787 to 1817. He achieved lasting fame as the author of '' The Cricketers of My Time'', which was fir ...

were close friends and Nyren always refers to Small junior as Jack Small. His younger brother, Eli Small, played for Hampshire.

Notes

Bibliography

* H S Altham, ''A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914)'', George Allen & Unwin, 1962 *

Derek Birley Sir Derek Birley (31 May 1926 – 14 May 2002) was a distinguished English educationalist and a prize-winning writer on the social history of sport, particularly cricket. Life and career Born in a mining community in West Yorkshire, Birley attend ...

, ''A Social History of English Cricket'', Aurum, 1999 *

Arthur Haygarth Arthur Haygarth (4 August 1825 – 1 May 1903) was a noted amateur cricketer who became one of cricket's most significant historians. He played first-class cricket for the Marylebone Cricket Club and Sussex between 1844 and 1861, as well as num ...

, ''Scores & Biographies'', Volume 1 (1744-1826), Lillywhite, 1862 *

Ashley Mote Ashley Mote (25 January 1936 – 30 March 2020) was a former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England from 2004 to 2009. Elected representing the UK Independence Party, he became a non-inscrit one month into his term after ...

, ''John Nyren's "The Cricketers of my Time"'', Robson, 1998 * Ashley Mote, ''The Glory Days of Cricket'', Robson, 1997 {{DEFAULTSORT:Small, Jack 1765 births 1836 deaths English cricketers Hampshire cricketers English cricketers of 1701 to 1786 English cricketers of 1787 to 1825 Players cricketers Hambledon cricketers Kent cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Surrey cricketers Left-Handed v Right-Handed cricketers Homerton Cricket Club cricketers Lord Frederick Beauclerk's XI cricketers R. Leigh's XI cricketers East Kent cricketers Lord Yarmouth's XI cricketers Hampshire and Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers