James Dearman was an English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

  professional cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

er who played first-class cricket

First-class cricket

First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

 from 1826 to 1846.

An all-rounder

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 few batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are considered specialists...

 and occasional wicket-keeper

Wicket-keeper

The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike...

 who was mainly associated with Sheffield, he made 22 known appearances in first-class matches. He represented the North

North of England cricket team

The North of England appeared in first-class cricket between 1836 and 1961, most often in the showcase North v. South matches against the South of England although there were also games against touring teams, MCC and others....

 in the North v. South

North v. South

The North of England and South of England teams appeared in first-class cricket between the 1836 and 1961 seasons, most often in matches against each other but also individually in games against touring teams, MCC and others....

 series. A small man, 5ft 4in tall, he and his brother Charles played in Sheffield matches up to 1846, and one of them may have appeared in a Marsden match in 1826. Originally a filesmith living in Sheffield, he moved to Darnell in 1835, where he kept the inn and cricket ground, his wife continuing to run the ground after his death.

In 1838, Dearman challenged Alfred Mynn

Alfred Mynn

Alfred Mynn was an English cricketer during the game's "Roundarm Era". He was a genuine all-rounder, being both an attacking right-handed batsman and a formidable right arm fast bowler. The noted cricket writer John Woodcock ranked him as the fourth greatest cricketer of all time. Simon Wilde...

 for the single wicket

Single Wicket

Single wicket cricket is a form of cricket played between two individuals, who take turns to bat and bowl against each other. The one bowling is assisted by a team of fielders, who remain as fielders at the change of innings. The winner is the one who scores more runs...

 "championship of England". They played two matches at Town Malling and Sheffield. Both were won by Mynn. Dearman was so small beside Mynn that they were dubbed "David and Goliath".

Further reading

• H S Altham
  Harry Altham
  Harry Surtees Altham, CBE, DSO, MC was an English cricketer who became an important figure in the game as an administrator, historian and coach. His Wisden obituary described him as "among the best known personalities in the world of cricket"...
  
  , A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914), George Allen & Unwin, 1962
• Arthur Haygarth
  Arthur Haygarth
  Arthur Haygarth was a noted amateur cricketer who became one of cricket's most significant historians....
  
  , Scores & Biographies, Volumes 1-3 (1744-1848), Lillywhite, 1862