There were home and away matches against Sheffield in 1827. Marsden, who had dominated the match the previous year, was in imperious form in the Darnall game played at the end of July. He scored 65 not out in the first innings of 140 and 52 in the second innings of 166, as well as taking a handful of wickets. Nottingham (59 and 93) were defeated by 154 runs.
In the return on the Forest, played between 20 and 23 August, there was a prolonged dispute regarding the fairness of the action of the Sheffield bowlers and the away team refused to continue and left the field. On the last day, with the umpires unable to agree on the no-balling of the Sheffield players, the umpires were changed, the new men being William Charlton of Chilwell Hall and Major Taylor, both Nottingham men. Sheffield had been dismissed for 89, with Marsden making 24. Nottingham had a deficit of 14 in the first innings, having made only 75 in the first. Sheffield were dismissed for 83 in their second innings. George Jarvis (48 not out) and William Hewitt (33 not out) took Nottingham to a nine wicket victory. However a note in the Sheffield scorebook states ‘a most disgraceful match, as the Nottingham umpire called no-ball whenever a straight ball was bowled, and it is regretted that Sheffield were foolish enough to continue the game in which an unfair advantage was taken.’
November 2020