John Bennett (1777 – July 1857) was an English professional

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 str ...

er who made 61 known appearances in

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

matches between 1797 and 1818. His cousin was James Bennett who played in five matches from 1798 to 1805. Not to be confused with John Bennett (Derbyshire cricketer)

Career

Bennett was mainly associated with

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

but also represented

All-England The All England Open Badminton Championships is the world's oldest badminton tournament, held annually in England. With the introduction of the Badminton World Federation, BWF's latest grading system, it was given BWF Super Series, Super Series st ...

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 ...

(MCC) and other teams. He 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 was a fast underarm bowler (hand unknown), a left-handed batsman and an occasional

wicketkeeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the batsman out and run out ...

. He was "an excellent field", generally at mid-wicket. As a batsman, Bennett was described as "a fine and free hitter". His bowling speed was reportedly "very fast".

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

Personal life

John Bennett was a farmer who lived in Kingsley all his life. He was tall and "a stout, strongly built man". He suffered badly from

gout Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of a red, tender, hot and swollen joint, caused by deposition of monosodium urate monohydrate crystals. Pain typically comes on rapidly, reaching maximal intens ...

for the last thirty years of his life.

References

1777 births 1857 deaths English cricketers English cricketers of 1787 to 1825 Hampshire cricketers Players cricketers The Bs cricketers Non-international England cricketers Lord Frederick Beauclerk's XI cricketers Homerton Cricket Club cricketers William Ward's XI cricketers George Osbaldeston's XI cricketers T. Mellish's XI cricketers {{England-cricket-bio-1770s-stub