The Bs

The Bs was an occasional team that played first-class cricket in the first half of the 19th century in matches against All-England and Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). The team ostensibly consisted of players whose surname began with the letter B[1] given that there were numerous top-class players at that time who qualified: e.g., William Beldham, Lord Frederick Beauclerk and Jem Broadbridge. However, there were instances of the team including "given men". The Bs is first recorded in the 1805 season and the team was raised sporadically until the 1832 season.

The Bs achieved unwanted fame in June 1810 when they played All-England at Lord's Old Ground and were dismissed for only 6 in their second innings,[1] enabling All-England to win the match by 6 wickets.[2] This is the world record for the lowest innings total in first-class cricket.[3] Curiously, four of the six runs were scored by John Wells and another one was scored by James Lawrell, these being the two given men as only nine Bs could take part.[4] The only B to score a run was Samuel Bridger.[5]

Despite the 1810 setback, the Bs had a reasonable record and defeated All-England in 1805, 1822, 1823 and 1824.

References
  1. "How do you solve a problem like Mali?". Cricket Europe. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  2. CricketArchive – match scorecard. Retrieved on 27 June 2009.
  3. CricketArchive – lowest team totals Archived 2011-11-19 at the Wayback Machine. Note: this match is not recognised as first-class by those authorities which use a startpoint for first-class statistics later than 1810, such as Roy Webber, Bill Frindall and Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. See also: Variations in first-class cricket statistics.
  4. "Extraordinary leagues of gentlemen". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  5. "England Domestic Season at London, Jun 12-14 1810". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 24 June 2019.

Further reading
  • H S Altham, A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914), George Allen & Unwin, 1962
  • Derek Birley, A Social History of English Cricket, Aurum, 1999
  • Rowland Bowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970
  • G B Buckley, Fresh Light on Pre-Victorian Cricket, Cotterell, 1937
  • Arthur Haygarth, Scores & Biographies, Volumes 1-2 (1744-1840), Lillywhite, 1862


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