Gentlemen v Players Revived — The Players Win the First Match Back, 1819

Gentlemen v Players had been Lord Frederick Beauclerk's idea in 1806, partly as a way of testing whether the gentleman amateurs could compete on equal terms with the professionals. The thirteen-year gap had been caused entirely by the war: with so few senior matches at all, no one had wanted to commit the resources to a top-of-the-card fixture.

Strathavon's involvement was unusual but explained: he had placed substantial bets on the Players and wanted to be on the field to influence the outcome. The other Players were drawn from the strongest available professionals; Lambert's inclusion despite his MCC ban was permitted because the match's status as a sponsor's challenge fell outside the formal MCC fixture programme.

The Gentlemen v Players match had been inaugurated at Lord's old ground in 1806 with two fixtures, both won by the Gentlemen with the help of given men. The Napoleonic War had then suspended the series for thirteen years. The post-Waterloo recovery, the establishment of the new Lord's and the gradual return of senior fixtures from 1815 onwards made revival possible by 1819. The 6 July notice in the Morning Post advertised the match as 'Eleven Gentlemen of England against Lord Strathavon with Ten Players of England'. The Gentlemen included Lord Frederick Beauclerk (captain), E.H. Budd, William Ward and Benjamin Aislabie. The Players' side was led by Strathavon — a Scottish nobleman with a heavy financial interest in the outcome — alongside William Lambert (banned from MCC the previous year but allowed to play here under the unusual format), Lord Frederick Bentinck, John Bennett, Tom Beagley, Tom Howard and several Surrey and Hampshire professionals. The match began on 7 July. The Gentlemen batted first and scored 254. The Players replied with 217. In the second innings the Gentlemen made 173, leaving the Players 211 to win. They got there with six wickets in hand, anchored by Beagley. Strathavon's bet was won. The fixture was reinstated as an annual one and from 1820 became an automatic feature of the season.

The Gentlemen v Players match continued without significant interruption until 1962, when the abolition of amateur status in English cricket ended the contest. Through 274 matches over 135 years it was, in H.S. Altham's phrase, 'the high-water mark of English cricket' for much of the nineteenth century. Beauclerk, Ward, Pilch, Mynn, the Graces, Hayward, Hobbs and Bradman all played in it.