The Wednesday Cricket Club was a
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 ...
club founded in 1820 which became one of the pre-eminent
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 ...
clubs in the
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...
area. The Wednesday club was the direct forerunner of
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot o ...
. The club was reformed in 2011 and has risen from Section 7 in the Mansfield District League to Section 2 in 2017. Its midweek side play in Division A of the Sheffield Alliance Midweek League in 2018 having won Division B in 2017.
History
The club was started by six local tradesmen – William Stratford (the first President), John Southren, Tom Lindley,
William Woolhouse, George Dawson and George Hardisty, forming The Wednesday Cricket Club in 1820. The name of the club was derived from the day off work that the founders had, and therefore was the only day they could play. William Stratford was the first president, followed by Richard Gillott. The club played at several cricket grounds in the Sheffield area.
Sheffield had been the hub of cricket in the north of England during the first half of the nineteenth century, and
Sheffield Cricket Club
The Sheffield Cricket Club was founded in the 18th century and soon began to play a key role in the development of cricket in northern England. It was the direct forerunner of Yorkshire County Cricket Club and some of the teams fielded by Sheffi ...
had played under the guise of a "Yorkshire" side for many years prior to the formation of Yorkshire County Cricket Club in 1863.
Several prominent local cricketers appeared for the Wednesday club, such as Michael Ellison,
William Slinn, Tom Hunt,
George Pinder,
Tom Armitage
Thomas Armitage (25 April 1848 – 21 September 1922) was an English first-class cricketer, who in 1877 took part in what are retrospectively recognised as the first two Test matches played by England. The players in these matches having bee ...
,
George Ulyett
George Ulyett (21 October 1851 – 18 June 1898) was an English cricketer, noted particularly for his very aggressive batsmanship. A well-liked man (who, in later years, kept a pub in his native Sheffield), Ulyett was popularly known as "Happy ...
, and
Tom Marsden. Ellison went on to help form
Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club is one of 18 first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Yorkshire. Yorkshire are the most successful team in English cricketing hi ...
whilst Armitage and Ulyett were selected for
England's first Test cricket tour of Australia in 1877. Marsden was for many years the best single wicket cricketer in the north of England and was said to have put up a £50 reward for anyone to beat him. The great southern cricketer of the time,
Fuller Pilch
Fuller Pilch (17 March 1804 – 1 May 1870) was an English first-class cricketer, active from 1820 to 1854. He was a right-handed batsman who bowled at a slow pace with a roundarm action. Pilch played in a total of 229 first-class matches for a ...
, did just that in 1833, beating Marsden in Norwich. When a rematch was organised, over 20,000 crammed into the
Old Darnall ground hoping to see Marsden defeated once more. Marsden also scored 227 in a game for Sheffield & Leicester versus Nottingham, at that time only the third double century seen in England. In 1841, Marsden he finally lost his northern single wicket crown to
Henry Sampson, another Wednesday player, who later that year scored 162 against Sheffield.
In 1867, the Wednesday cricket club formed a football club, primarily to keep players fit over the winter months. The Wednesday Football club rose to national prominence by the end of the 19th century, winning the
1896 FA Cup Final and becoming
English Champions in 1903. The football club officially changed their name to
Sheffield Wednesday F.C.
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...
in 1929. Several players managed to successfully appear for both the football and cricket sections of the club in the late 19th century including William Stacey and Lance Morley notably
George Ulyett
George Ulyett (21 October 1851 – 18 June 1898) was an English cricketer, noted particularly for his very aggressive batsmanship. A well-liked man (who, in later years, kept a pub in his native Sheffield), Ulyett was popularly known as "Happy ...
. Ulyett played cricket several times for England and also played football for Wednesday in 1882-83 and 1883-84 seasons as a
goalkeeper
In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...
.
The cricket club was disbanded in 1924 due to financial difficulties. In 2011 a group of Sheffield Wednesday football supporters re-formed the club, entering the side into a local Sheffield league in time for the start of the 2011 season. Christopher Bolsover was the first captain of the club for the clubs return to cricket.
Cricket Grounds and Notable Events
* Wednesday initially played at
Darnall Cricket Ground
Darnall is a suburb of eastern Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Darnall is approximately east-north-east of Sheffield city centre.
History
Darnall was initially a small hamlet usually included with Attercliffe. William Walker, a resident ...
which was established by
William Woolhouse, one of the six founders of the club, and his father-in-law George Steer. The old Darnall ground collapsed during the first
important match there – Sheffield v. Nottingham attended by 2000 people.
*
Darnall New Ground
Darnall New Ground at High Hazels Park, Darnall, Sheffield was a first-class cricket venue in the 1820s. It was the home ground of Sheffield Cricket Club
The Sheffield Cricket Club was founded in the 18th century and soon began to play a ke ...
was built to replace the old ground and was much larger, hosting several notable games including in 1828 when a combined Yorkshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire XI faced a Rest of England XI in front of a sell-out crowd of 8,000.
* After playing in Darnall for several years, Wednesday moved to
Hyde Park as it was closer to the centre of town. Hyde Park had a capacity of 16,000.
* When Wednesday played Nottingham in 1833, George Dawson was the victim of a disputed run out decision which was recorded in the score book as "cheated out".
* In 1841 Harry Sampson scored 162, the highest ever score on ice, while playing for Wednesday against Sheffield Town.
* As Hyde Park fell into disrepair, local cricketers began looking for yet another venue. A new ground at Newhall was used for a United England XI versus a Sheffield XV however Newhall was too far from the town, seating was limited and the wicket was poor.
* A group of local cricketers including William Stratford and Michael Ellison representing Wednesday managed to lease an area of land on
Bramall Lane to build a pavilion and rent some land around it in 1855. A few months later, the first cricket match at Bramall Lane was played between two teams picked from Sheffield, Wednesday, Broomhall, Milton, Caxton and Shrewsbury clubs.
* Wednesday continued to play at Bramall Lane until 1893.
References
External sources
The Owl: Andrew DrakeNew The Wednesday CC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wednesday Cricket Club, The
English cricket in the 19th century
Sports clubs established in the 1820s
History of Yorkshire
Sports teams and clubs in Sheffield
English club cricket teams
Cricket in South Yorkshire
Cricket in Yorkshire
1820 establishments in England
1924 disestablishments in England