William Lambert (1779 (christened 14 March 1779) – 19 April 1851) was an English professional

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

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

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, 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 cons ...

, he is widely recognised as one of the greatest batters 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). He generally fielded in close catching positions, mostly at slip and often played as

wicket-keeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the Cricket player, player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop Delivery (cricket), deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the ...

. Lambert played mainly for

and was a regular choice for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

teams. In the first two

Gentlemen v Players Gentlemen v Players was a long-running series of cricket matches that began in July 1806 and was abolished in January 1963. It was a match between a team consisting of amateurs (the Gentlemen) and a team consisting of professionals (the Players ...

matches, he played for the

Gentlemen ''Gentleman'' (Old French: ''gentilz hom'', gentle + man; abbreviated ''gent.'') is a term for a chivalrous, courteous, or honorable man. Originally, ''gentleman'' was the lowest rank of the landed gentry of England, ranking below an esquire ...

as a given man. In 1817, he scored two centuries 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 List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

. This ended his career in top-class cricket.

Career

Lambert was described by Arthur Haygarth as "one of the most successful cricketers that has ever yet appeared, excelling as he did in batting,

bowling Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...

, 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

at Lord's Old Ground. 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). In cricket and rounders, "innings" is ...

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 and Lord Frederick Beauclerk, 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 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, it is the act of propelling the ball towards the wicket defended by a batter. Second, it is a method of dismissing a batter, by hitting the wicket with a ball delivered by the bowler. ...

. 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 (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

against

Epsom Epsom is a town in 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 Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain ...

. 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 south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

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 of 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'', and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The ea ...

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

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* {{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 Cricketers from Surrey

Career

Notes

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Further reading

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