Notts met England at Trent Bridge in a benefit match for Tom Barker during August 1847. The game clashed with Sussex v MCC and therefore neither Notts, who lacked Clarke, nor England, who were without Alfred Mynn and Hillyer as well as the Sussex players, was at full strength. The feature of the game was the bowling of ‘H Brown’ for the county. He took ten wickets on his Notts debut. H Brown was an alias for Henry Attenburrow, a surgeon at Nottingham Hospital and prolific wicket taker in local cricket, with his slow underarm deliveries. A report of the match also commented: ‘The bowling of C. Tinley of Southwell, a lad of about 16 won the admiration of all for his bold and effective delivery’.

Brother of Frank, Crispin 'Cris' Tinley was a protégé of Abram Bass at Burton-on-Trent and, having begun as a fast bowler, changed with great success to slow underarm. George Parr nicknamed him ‘Spider’ due to the way he walked up to bowl. He was a dangerous, hard-hitting batsman and surprised spectators by his agility, not the least because he looked older than his years.

England made 105 and 82 and Notts totalled 176 (William Musters 51) and 13-0 to win by ten wickets. Play was delayed on the second day until the afternoon on account of an election procession. Lord John Russell (Whigs) was to remain as Prime Minister.

August 2020

Scorecards and stats can be seen here