Cloudesley Marsham

The Rev. Cloudesley Dewar Bullock Marsham died at Harrietsham, near Maidstone, of which parish he had been rector for 27 years. Born at Merton College, Oxford, on January 30, 1835, he had completed his 80th year, outliving his famous Cambridge contemporaries Joseph Makinson and Joseph McCormick. Marsham retired from first-class cricket so long ago that to the present generation he was merely a name, but in his day he was the best amateur bowler in England. Playing all his serious cricket before the alteration of Law X, he bowled - right hand on the fast side of medium pace - with a purely round arm action, but as he stood 6ft. 1in. the ball was delivered from a good height. He was very straight, with great accuracy of length, and came off the pitch with plenty of life. It has been said that he had a quick break from the leg side, but a famous cricketer who remembers him perfectly well says that he did not with intention make the ball turn, such break as he got on now and then being due to the ground. What Marsham would have done in these days of carefully prepared wickets and the heavy roller it is futile to conjecture. It is sufficient that on the wickets of his own time he was brilliantly effective as long as he remained before the public. He said himself that flexibility of wrist was the chief cause of his success. He played five times for Oxford against Cambridge -1854 to 1858 - and even if he had done nothing else his record in the University match would have made him famous. In the Gentlemen and Players' matches he appeared ten times, playing every year at Lord's from 1854 to 1862, but it was never his good fortune to be on the winning side. Still he took 48 wickets against the Players for just under 18 runs apiece. In 1860 he had the honour of being chosen captain at Lord's of the first XI of England against the Next XIV. Marsham did not play much important cricket after entering the Church, but he took part in a few matches for Bucks between 1864 and 1868. He played for the Zingari and Free Foresters and had been a member of the MCC. since 1886. It was under the leadership of his son, C. H. B. Marsham, that Kent won the Championship in 1906.
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack