William Lambert (1779 (christened 14 March 1779) – 19 April 1851) 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 striki ...

er who played for numerous teams between 1801 and 1817. He was born at

Burstow Burstow is a village and civil parish in the Tandridge district of Surrey, England. Its largest settlement is Smallfield. Smallfield is ENE of Gatwick Airport and the M23 motorway, southwest of Oxted and east of Horley. Crawley is a nearby ...

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. ...

, and died at Nutfield, Surrey. A right-handed batting

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...

, he is widely recognised as one of the greatest

batters Batter or batters may refer to: Common meanings * Batter (cooking), thin dough that can be easily poured into a pan * Batter (baseball), person whose turn it is to face the pitcher * Batter (cricket), a player who is currently batting * Batter ...

of cricket's underarm era. Using an underarm action, he bowled pitched deliveries at a slow pace (it is not known if he used

spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

). He generally fielded in close catching positions, mostly at

slip Slip or SLIP may refer to: Science and technology Biology * Slip (fish), also known as Black Sole * Slip (horticulture), a small cutting of a plant as a specimen or for grafting * Muscle slip, a branching of a muscle, in anatomy Computing and ...

and often played as

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 ...

. Lambert played mainly for

and was a regular choice for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

teams. In the first two

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, he played for the

Gentlemen A gentleman (Old French: ''gentilz hom'', gentle + man) is any man of good and courteous conduct. Originally, ''gentleman'' was the lowest rank of the landed gentry of England, ranking below an esquire and above a yeoman; by definition, the ra ...

as a

given man This is a general glossary of the terminology used in the sport of cricket. Where words in a sentence are also defined elsewhere in this article, they appear in italics. Certain aspects of cricket terminology are explained in more detail in cr ...

. In 1817, he scored two

centuries A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

in the same match and is the first player known to have achieved this feat. Soon afterwards, he was implicated in a match-fixing scandal and was banned from playing at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

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 ...

. This ended his career in top-class cricket.

Career

Lambert was described by

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 ...

as "one of the most successful cricketers that has ever yet appeared, excelling as he did in

batting Batting may refer to: * Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs * Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score ...

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...

, fielding, keeping wicket, and also

single wicket Single wicket cricket is a form of cricket played between two individuals, who take turns to bat and bowl against each other. The one bowling is assisted by a team of fielders, who remain as fielders at the change of innings. The winner is the one w ...

playing". He is first recorded on 20–21 July 1801 when, aged 22, he played for

against

Lord's Old Ground Lord's Old Ground was a cricket venue in London that was established by Thomas Lord in 1787. It was used mainly by Marylebone Cricket Club for major matches until 1810, after which a dispute about rent caused Lord to relocate. Matches The first ...

. The surviving match scorecard lists him tenth in the Surrey batting order. He scored 0 and 5 in Surrey's

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). Innings, in cricket, and rounders, is bot ...

of 109 and 169. England were dismissed for 62 and 68 so Surrey won by 148 runs. Lambert didn't bowl; he held one catch to dismiss John Bennett. Over the next few years, Lambert's career progressed to the point where, along with

Billy Beldham William "Silver Billy" Beldham (5 February 1766 – 26 February 1862) was an English professional cricketer who played for numerous teams between 1782 and 1821. He was born at Wrecclesham, near Farnham in Surrey, and died at Tilford, Surrey. In ...

and

Lord Frederick Beauclerk The Reverend Lord Frederick de Vere Beauclerk (8 May 1773 – 22 April 1850), a 19th-century Anglican priest, was an outstanding but controversial English first-class cricketer, the leading "amateur" player of the Napoleonic period. Lord Frede ...

, he was generally recognised as one of cricket's most outstanding players. His reputation was underlined in July 1806 when he and Beldham, both professionals, were chosen as

given men A given is a statement or a condition assumed to be true or known, often to explain or give an example of something; for related topics, see: * Presumption (in law) * Axiom (in formal logic) * Givenness (in discourse) * Conditional probability, u ...

by the amateur Gentlemen team for the inaugural

match. After the all-professional Players were dismissed for 69, Lambert top-scored for the Gentlemen with 57 in a total of 195. The Players were all out for 112 and the Gentlemen won by an innings and 14 runs. Lambert played as their wicket-keeper, holding one catch and completing two stumpings. The second match in the series soon followed and, while Beldham returned to the Players, Lambert was retained as a given man by the Gentlemen. In this match, he batted third, kept wicket and also bowled. The Gentlemen took first innings and were all out for 96, Lambert scoring 2. In the Players' first innings of 65, he held one catch and took at least four wickets, those all

bowled In cricket, the term bowled has several meanings. First, is the act of propelling the ball towards the wicket defended by a batsman. Second, it is a method of dismissing a batsman, by hitting the wicket with a ball delivered by the bowler. (Th ...

. He scored 43 in the Gentlemen's second innings of 132. Beauclerk scored 38, having made 58 in the first innings. It is not known if Lambert bowled in the Players' second innings but he was certainly the wicket-keeper, completing two stumpings. The Players were all out for 81 and the Gentlemen won by 82 runs. In July 1817, Lambert scored two centuries (107 * and 157) 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 ...

against

Epsom Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The ...

. He is the first player known to have scored two centuries in the same match. Sussex won by the huge margin of 427 runs. That match turned out to be Lambert's final top-class appearance because he was banned for life soon afterwards following allegations of match-fixing in an earlier

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

v England match. Whether the allegations were true or not is unknown. Lambert lived in

Reigate Reigate ( ) is a town status in the United Kingdom, town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book in 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'' and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The earlie ...

and continued to play local club cricket until he was over sixty – his last known match was in 1839.

Notes

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lambert, William 1779 births 1851 deaths English cricketers of 1787 to 1825 English cricketers Epsom cricketers Gentlemen cricketers George Osbaldeston's XI cricketers Hampshire cricketers Homerton Cricket Club cricketers Kent cricketers Lord Frederick Beauclerk's XI cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers St John's Wood cricketers Surrey cricketers Sussex cricketers T. Mellish's XI cricketers William Ward's XI cricketers

Career

Notes

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links