James Saunders (27 May 1802 – 27 March 1832) 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 in the 1820s. He was a left-handed batsman and an occasional wicket-keeper who represented many different teams from 1822 to 1831. In county cricket, he played for

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

(1823–1825),

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 ...

(1827) 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. ...

(1828–1830). He belonged to a cricketing family as his cousins were

Richard Searle Richard Searle (born 10 July 1963 in London) is a 1960s-influenced bass guitarist, who was a member of Doctor and the Medics in 1986, when they were reaching number one in the pop charts. Career Doctor and the Medics After Doctor and the Me ...

and his better known brother William Searle.Carlaw D (2020) ''Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part One: 1806–1914'' (revised edition), p. 476.
Available online
at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 2020-12-21.) Saunders was born and lived his whole life in

Haslemere The town of Haslemere () and the villages of Shottermill and Grayswood are in south west Surrey, England, around south west of London. Together with the settlements of Hindhead and Beacon Hill, they comprise the civil parish of Haslemere i ...

, Surrey, where he was a

butcher A butcher is a person who may Animal slaughter, slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesal ...

. He was about 5'11" tall and weighed around 12 st. He died aged 29 of consumption and had to stop playing cricket in 1831, a year before his death. According to ''Scores and Biographies'', he was a "showy" batsman whose favourite shot was the square cut.Arthur Haygarth, ''Scores and Biographies'', p. 456 (volume one). Saunders made his known debut in the 1822 season and appeared in 54 known matches to the 1831 season. He scored 2,180 career runs at a batting average of 24.22 with a highest score of 100. He rarely bowled but he did take two wickets.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, James 1802 births 1832 deaths English cricketers of 1787 to 1825 English cricketers of 1826 to 1863 English cricketers Godalming Cricket Club cricketers Kent cricketers Left-Handed v Right-Handed cricketers Married v Single cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Non-international England cricketers People from Haslemere Players cricketers Surrey cricketers Sussex cricketers 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in England