John Atkinson Pendlington (September 1861 – 15 January 1914) was the inventor of a linear scoring system for

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 st ...

before 1893. Unlike conventional scoring systems, the linear system shows balls faced by each batsman from each bowler. Until recently, the linear system was believed to have been developed more recently by Australian scorer Bill Ferguson in around 1905. Any link between the linear scoring systems used by Ferguson and Pendlington remain unclear.

Private life

Pendlington was born in

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the ...

, County Durham, in 1861. He played cricket for

Benwell Benwell is an area in the West End of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. History The place-name 'Benwell' is first attested in the '' Historia de Sancto Cuthberto'' circa 1050 AD, where it appears as ''Bynnewalle'', from the Old English ''bionn ...

in the

Northumberland League Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land o ...

. He married Annie Dickinson Topping in 1886. They had at least two children, a son John Robert Pendlington in 1891 and a daughter Mary Florence Pendlington in 1892. He was one of two partners who established Tyneside Electrical Supply Company in 1893, which became the British Electrical and Manufacturing Company (Bemco) in 1908. He died in 1914 and was buried at St James's church in Benwell. The

probate Probate is the judicial process whereby a will is "proved" in a court of law and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased, or whereby the estate is settled according to the laws of intestacy in the sta ...

records that identify his date of death describe him as an "accountant".

Linear scoring

A report of Pendlington's death in January 1914 - sent to

Richie Benaud Richard Benaud (; 6 October 1930 – 10 April 2015) was an Australian cricketer who, after his retirement from international cricket in 1964, became a highly regarded commentator on the game. Benaud was a Test cricket all-rounder, blending ...

by Pendlington's grandson in 1994 and mentioned in Benaud's book ''My Spin on Cricket'' (2005) - mentioned that Pendlington used his system at a match between

C. I. Thornton Charles Inglis Thornton (20 March 1850 – 10 December 1929), nicknamed "Buns", was an English cricketer who played more than 200 first-class cricket, first-class matches in the later 19th century, for no fewer than 22 different teams. He wa ...

's XI and the Australian tourists at the

North Marine Road Ground, Scarborough North Marine Road Ground, formerly known as Queen's, is a cricket ground in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England. It is the home of Scarborough Cricket Club which hosts the Scarborough Festival and the Yorkshire County Cricket Club plays ...

in September 1893, the penultimate match played by the Australian team on that tour. The scoring innovation amused W.G. Grace, to whom Pendlington presented the original scoresheet. Its current location is not known.

Bill Frindall William Howard Frindall, (3 March 1939 – 29 January 2009) was an English cricket scorer and statistician, who was familiar to cricket followers as a member of the Test Match Special commentary team on BBC radio. He was nicknamed the Bearded ...

in his book ''Bearders: My Life in Cricket'' (Orion, London, 2006, page 70-71) also acknowledges Pendlington as the inventor, and mentions other evidence of it pre-dating Ferguson.

References

My Spin on Cricket
Richie Benaud, p. 226
Ashes 1893: John Atkinson Pendlington presents WG Grace with Linear Scoring Method
30 October 2013

a review of ''Bearders: My Life in Cricket'', ESPNcricinfo

CI Thornton's XI v Australians, September 1893
Probate granted 29 January 1914 to his widow
Accessed 8 July 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Pendlington, John 1861 births 1914 deaths Cricket scorers People from South Shields