__NOTOC__ William Bullen was a leading English

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er throughout the last quarter of the 18th century, his known career spanning the years 1773 to 1800. He was an

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are cons ...

who probably batted right-handed. He played mainly for Kent sides although he also appeared for England XIs and a variety of other sides. Arthur Haygarth, writing in the 1860s, describes Bullen as a "close set, strong built man" and a "crack" (i.e. expert) player, who was a "renowned batsman and bowler".Haygarth, p. 8. He was a

fast bowler Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is a type of bowling in cricket, in which the ball is delivered at high speed. The fastest bowlers bowl the ball at over . Practitioners of fast bowling are known as fast bowlers or quicks. Also ...

, in the

underarm The axilla (: axillae or axillas; also known as the armpit, underarm or oxter) is the area on the human body directly under the shoulder joint. It includes the axillary space, an anatomical space within the shoulder girdle between the arm and ...

style, and a hard-hitting batsman who was a "powerful" player. He is reputed to have "frequently bowled the sixth part of a mile (about 300 yards), or the whole length of the

Artillery Ground The Artillery Ground in Finsbury is an open space originally set aside for archery and later known also as a cricket venue. Today it is used for military exercises, cricket, rugby and football matches. It belongs to the Honourable Artillery Comp ...

in London". He was possibly a native of

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a Ford (crossing), ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

and is known to have played for Dartford Cricket Club as well as teams organised by landowners from the western parts of the county. Bullen is known to have played in 113 matches retrospectively recognised as first-class.William Bullen
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2020-08-06. In these matches, Bullen totalled 1,777 runs with a highest score of 54, his only half-century. He held 119 catches and is credited with 181

wicket In the sport of cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is either of the two sets of three Stump (cricket), stumps and two Bail (cricket), bails at each end of the Cricket pitch, pitch. The Fielding (cricket), fielding team's playe ...

s. His best known performance was six wickets in an

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). In cricket and rounders, "innings" is ...

. Bullen played in nearly every season from 1773 to 1800. The first match he is known to have played in was for an England XI against a Hampshire side on the Artillery Ground in July 1773. He batted in both the England innings, scoring 1 in each. In July 1774, playing again for England against Hampshire at Sevenoaks Vine, he took five wickets in Hampshire's first innings, the earliest recorded instance of a bowler taking five wickets in an innings. He played for Kent sides from 1774, including matches against Maidstone teams in 1777,Waghorn, p. 48. and his final known matches were in four odds matches for Kent sides against England teams in 1800.

Notes

References

Sources

* Derek Birley (1999) ''A Social History of English Cricket''. London: Aurum Press. * Derek Carlaw (2020) ''Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part One: 1806–1914'' (revised edition).
Available online
at The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 2020-12-21.) * Arthur Haygarth (1862) ''Scores & Biographies'', Vol. I (1744–1826). Lillywhite. * H. T. Waghorn (1906) ''The Dawn of Cricket''. Electric Press.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bullen, William Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown English cricketers English cricketers of 1701 to 1786 English cricketers of 1787 to 1825 Gentlemen of Kent cricketers Hampshire cricketers Kent cricketers Left-Handed v Right-Handed cricketers Non-international England cricketers Old Etonians cricketers R. Leigh's XI cricketers West Kent cricketers Place of birth missing