William Dorrinton (29 April 1809 – 8 November 1848) was an English
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 officiall ...
er who played for
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
and the
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 ...
in a 94–match career which began in 1836 and lasted until 1847, a year before his death.
[Carlaw D (2020) ''Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part One: 1806–1914'' (revised edition), pp. 149–150.]
Available online
at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians
The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) was founded in England in 1973 for the purpose of researching and collating information about the history and statistics of cricket. Originally called the Association of Cricket Stati ...
. Retrieved 2020-12-21.) While Dorrinton has two first–class wickets to his name, he became a
wicket keeper
The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...
part–way through his career, taking 89 catches and performing 25 stumpings.
Early life
William Dorrinton was born in
West Malling
West Malling ( , historically Town Malling) is a market town in the Tonbridge and Malling district of Kent, England. It has a population of 2,590.
Landmarks
West Malling contains several historic buildings, including St Leonard's Tower, a Norma ...
, Kent, in 1809, second son to father Thomas Dorrinton, who himself played two club cricket matches for
Rochester
Rochester may refer to:
Places Australia
* Rochester, Victoria
Canada
* Rochester, Alberta
United Kingdom
*Rochester, Kent
** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area
** History of Rochester, Kent
** HM Prison ...
against the
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 ...
in 1800.
William's brother,
Alban Dorrinton, was nine years his senior and also played club cricket, and one first–class match for Kent in 1836.
William Dorrinton began his career in the 1836 cricket season with two matches for Kent, scoring 16 runs at 4.00 and a high score of only seven.
In his debut match, Kent faced
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 ...
on 8 August. Dorrinton scored a
duck
Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...
and his season-best seven with the bat, playing his debut match alongside fellow debutant
Tom Adams.
In Dorrinton's only other match of the season, also against Sussex, he scored five and four. It was in this match that his brother Alban also debuted.
Cricketing career
Early years
In 1837, Dorrinton continued to play only sporadically for Kent, appearing in four matches that season, scoring seven runs overall at an average of 1.00.
[ In 1838 and 1839 he again played two matches each, scoring six runs at 2.00 and 11 runs at 3.66. This second season total was all accrewed in a single innings of 11 runs.][ In 1840 he played two more matches, scoring 27 runs across the season, at 9.00 with a high score of 22, all career bests.][ He also took his first wicket on in a rare bowling spell.] His form continued into his first substantial season for Kent in 1841, where he played in seven matches, scoring 86 runs in the season at 8.60 with a high score of 21.[ In 1842 his batting continued to return career best figures with 118 runs from eight matches at 9.83, including a high score of 31.][
]
Golden years
The period from 1843 until 1847 were Dorrintons most successful on the cricket pitch. In 1843 he played seven matches, scoring 90 runs at 7.50 with a high score of 24.[ It was during this season that he supplemented his career at Kent by playing for Hampshire, prior to the clubs elevation to full county status.][ Dorrinton began his most prolific years in 1844, where he played a total of 16 matches, scoring career bests of 310 runs at 10.00 with one half century,][ a score of 50 for the MCC, for which he also began playing. This was also his most successful year in the field, taking 16 catches and taking the ]wicket-keeper
The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...
s position for the first time and returning with five stumpings.[ He would continue to use the gloves each season for the remainder of his career.][
He continued to represent both Kent, Hampshire and the MCC in 1845, playing 19 matches and bettering his previous year with the highest statistics of his career, 522 runs at 15.35, with two half centuries and a high score of 65. He continued with the gloves, taking 13 catches and completing six stumpings.][ He also took his second and final first–class wicket.][ By the end of the 1845 season, however, Dorrinton left Hampshire, and in the following season he left the MCC to play only for Kent.][
]
Decline and death
The 1846 season saw his batting form drop, however, with a reduced 11 appearances returning only 99 runs at 4.95, with a highscore of 25. He continued to hold the gloves, taking 13 catches and completing three stumpings[ In 1847 Dorrinton joined Suffolk as well as continuing at Kent, and enjoyed a slight rise in form, scoring 105 runs from 10 matches, including a best score of 34*, at 6.17. He also took 12 catches and performed eight stumpings][ He left Suffolk at the end of 1847, to once again begin the next season playing only for Kent. The final season of his career in 1848 was, however, one of little success. In only four appearances he scored 43 runs at 7.16, at no time passing 16 runs, and took only five catches and performed three stumpings.][ Dorrinton retired from Kent that year.][ He was chosen to play one match for the All England XI late in the season on 20 September. Opening the batting, he scored three and one, took three catches and performed one stumping,] however he did not return to the cricket field again, and just over a year later died in his home town in Kent.[
]
Notes
References
Printed sources:
* Norman, Philip. ''Scores and annals of the West Kent cricket club. With some account of the neighbourhoods of Chislehurst and Bromley and of the families residing there'', Oxford University, 1897.
* Sessions, Ric. ''The Players: A Social History of the Professional Cricketer'' Pluto Press, 1988.
Websites:
Player Profile: William Dorrinton
from CricketArchive
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorrinton, William
1809 births
1848 deaths
Kent cricketers
Hampshire cricketers
Suffolk cricketers
Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers
People from West Malling
North v South cricketers
Players cricketers
English cricketers
Fast v Slow cricketers
Wicket-keepers
Cricketers from Kent