William Lambert (cricketer)

William Lambert (born 1779 at Burstow, Surrey; died 19 April 1851 at Nutfield, Surrey) was a famous English cricketer in the first two decades of the 19th century. Playing mainly for Surrey from 1801, but also for MCC and some other county teams, Lambert was a right-hand batsman and an underarm slow bowler.

His main claim to fame is that he is the first player known to have scored two centuries in the same match, though others such as Tom Walker had come close. Lambert achieved this in the [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/0/374.html Sussex v Epsom] match at Lord's between 2 and 6 July 1817. Curiously, this turned out to be his final first-class appearance because he was banned for life soon afterwards following allegations of match-fixing in an earlier game.

Lambert played in a great many matches that were not first-class including numerous single wicket events. Indeed, he was outstanding in the latter form of the game.

His first-class record from 1801 to 1817 has 64 matches. He played 114 innings (5 not out) and scored 3,014 runs at 27.65 with a highest score of 157 in the Sussex v Epsom game. He scored 4 centuries and 16 fifties.

He was a strong fielder and an occasional wicket-keeper, taking 61 catches and 26 stumpings.

Lambert's bowling analyses are incomplete and we only know of his bowled victims. He took 187 wickets (bowled only) and his best tally was 6 in one innings.

External sources

* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Players/10/10650/10650.html CricketArchive]

Further reading

* H S Altham, "A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914)", George Allen & Unwin, 1926
* Derek Birley, "A Social History of English Cricket", Aurum, 1999
* Rowland Bowen, "Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development", Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970
* Samuel Britcher, "A list of all the principal Matches of Cricket that have been played (1790 to 1805)"
* G B Buckley, "Fresh Light on Pre-Victorian Cricket", Cotterell, 1937
* Arthur Haygarth, "Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744-1826)", Lillywhite, 1862
* John Major, "More Than A Game", HarperCollins, 2007