William Searle (christened 14 February 1796 – February 1837) was an English

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 in the 19th century. He was right-handed as a bowler and a fielder but he batted left-handed. Searle played mainly for

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. ...

. According to ''Scores and Biographies'', he was a "steady and scientific" batsman who was rated one of the "cracks" of his day in a relatively short career.Haygarth A (1862) ''Scores & Biographies'', vol. 1. Lillywhite. Searle was about 5'10" tall and weighed about 12 stones. In 1820 he moved from Thursley to Godalming where he followed the almost traditional cricketing trade of innkeeper. He is known to have been the landlord of the ''Three Lions Inn''. Later he became a bailiff and then a steward when he moved to East Clandon.Carlaw D (2020) ''Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part One: 1806–1914'' (revised edition), pp. 476–477.
Available online
at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 2020-12-21.) His was a cricketing family. His elder brother Richard (born October 1789 at Lurgashall in Sussex) played three matches 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 ...

between 1823 and 1825. Better known was their cousin James Saunders. William Searle made his known debut in the 1821 season and had 48 known appearances in major matches to the 1833 season. He scored 1537 runs @ 18.29 with a highest score of 87, which is a creditable record given the prevailing pitch conditions of his time. He only bowled occasionally and took 8 (known) wickets.William Searle
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2022-08-16.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Searle, William 1796 births 1837 deaths English cricketers English cricketers of 1787 to 1825 English cricketers of 1826 to 1863 Surrey cricketers Kent cricketers Suffolk cricketers Players cricketers Married v Single cricketers Left-Handed v Right-Handed cricketers Godalming Cricket Club cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers