William Yardley (cricketer)

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Personal information
Willam Yardley
England
Full name	William Yardley
Born	10 June 1849 (1849-06-10)
	Bombay, India
Died	28 October 1900 (aged 51)
	Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, England
Role	Batsman, occasional wicketkeeper
Batting style	Right-hand batsman
Bowling style	Slow left-arm
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1868–1878	Kent
1870–1873	MCC
1869–1872	Cambridge University
First-class debut	5 August 1868: Kent v Gentlemen of MCC
Last First-class	22 August 1878: Kent v Lancashire
Career statistics
	FC
Matches	83
Runs scored	3609
Batting average	25.77
100s/50s	3/19
Top score	130

Balls bowled	360
Wickets	7
Bowling average	32.42
5 wickets in innings	0
10 wickets in match	–
Best bowling	2-10
Catches/stumpings	43/6
As of 28 November 2007 Source: CricketArchive

William Yardley (June 10, 1849 – October 28, 1900) was an English cricketer, and later a playwright and lyricist. In the early 1870s, only WG Grace was reckoned his superior amongst amateur batsmen.^[1] In addition to his batting, he occasionally kept wicket.

His first-class career lasted from 1868 to 1878. In 83 matches he scored 3609 runs at the fine average for the period of 25.77, with three centuries. He played for Kent throughout that period, but his most famous deeds were for Cambridge University, for whom he played from 1869 to 1872. Two of his three hundreds were made in the University Match: 100 in 1870 and 130, his highest score, in 1872. These were the first two hundreds ever to be made in the fixture. The 1870 fixture was "Cobden's Match", when F.C. Cobden's taking of the last three Oxford wickets in consecutive balls gave Cambridge victory by 2 runs, but Cobden's heroics would not have been possible but for Yardley's contribution.

He appeared nine times for the Gentlemen in their prestigious fixture against the Players, and had the fine average of 36.25, with three fifties and a highest score of 83.

His Wisden obituary says of him: "...his style was free and commanding and his hitting brilliant in the extreme. He thought himself that the finest innings he ever played was 73 for South against North at Prince's on a very difficult wicket in May, 1872."

When he and WG Grace were on the same side they used to have a small bet on who would record the higher score. Yardley was proud that in the Gentlemen v Players match at Lord's in 1871, he beat Grace's score in both innings. He was the "ghost writer" of one of Grace's four "autobiographies": The History of a Hundred Centuries, published by Gill in 1895.^[2]

He was also known in the world of theatre. He was part author of a burlesque entitled Little Jack Sheppard and of farces called The Passport and Hobbies (1885). He was also a producer and a theatre critic.

Yardley was born at Bombay (now Mumbai) in India and died at Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey.