There were plenty of local matches on the Trent Bridge ground in 1844 but the only match of note was Players of Nottingham v Six Gentlemen of Nottingham and Five Players of England. This was an unusual combination, and one wonders why it was arranged in preference to an inter-county game. The retrospective significance of this match was that it was the debut in important cricket of George Parr, the so-called ‘Lion of the North’, younger brother of Samuel. George was to become the leading batsman of his day and to take over from William Clarke as the captain of the County side. The report of the 1844 fixture noted that ‘George Parr’s batting was superior to anything we have seen for sometime’.
September 2020