William Ward's 278 — Cricket's First Double-Hundred, MCC v Norfolk, July 1820

By 1820 cricket scoring was still low. Most innings totals were under 200 and individual scores over 100 were rare. Ward's reputation rested on technical correctness and stamina rather than aggressive hitting; he was the natural batsman to break the records of the period.

The MCC v Norfolk fixture was a regular early-summer match at Lord's. Norfolk had a respectable side built around the rising young Fuller Pilch, but their bowling was no match for the combined batting of Ward and Beauclerk on a docile Lord's pitch.

William Ward, born in Hampshire in 1787, was a director of the Bank of England, MP for the City of London, and the leading amateur batsman of the 1820s. On 24 July 1820, opening for MCC against a Norfolk side at Lord's, he played the longest, biggest innings the cricket world had yet seen. He went in on the first morning and was still there on the third day when he was finally out for 278, having batted across some 22 hours of playing time. The MCC innings totalled 473 — itself a record team total — with only Beauclerk (82 not out) offering significant support; nobody else reached 40. Norfolk replied with 92 and were beaten by 417 runs. The scorecard survived the 1825 pavilion fire because copies had circulated among the press; the ball used in the innings is preserved in the MCC museum and is reckoned the oldest cricket ball still in existence. Ward's 278 was nearly twice the previous record (James Aylward's 167 for Hampshire in 1777) and remained the highest first-class score until W.G. Grace made 344 for MCC against Kent at Canterbury on 11-12 August 1876. The same Ward would, five years later, save Lord's itself by buying out Thomas Lord for £5,000.

Ward's score made him the most famous amateur batsman in England and was the foundation of his subsequent role as the saviour and proprietor of Lord's from 1825 to 1835. His public stature combined banking, politics and cricket in a way that gave the MCC its informal head of state for the next decade.