A Smokers v Non-Smokers 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...

 match with first class

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...

 status was held on two occasions in the late 19th century. The first of these was staged at Lord's in 1884

1884 English cricket season

The 1884 English cricket season saw Fred Spofforth, an overseas bowler, take the most wickets-Leading batsmen:Lord Harris was the leading runscorer with 1417 @ 33.73-External sources:* -Annual reviews:...

, and resulted in a resounding nine-wicket win

The result in cricket

The result in a game of cricket may be a win for one of the two teams playing, a draw or a tie. In the case of a limited overs game, the game can also end with no result...

 for the Non-Smokers, due in great part to an innings of 124 from George Bonnor

George Bonnor

George John Bonnor was an Australian cricketer, known for his big hitting, who played between 1880 and 1888.-Career:...

 (the next highest score in the match was 43) and eight wickets for WG Grace. Despite the presence of Spofforth

Fred Spofforth

Frederick Robert "Fred" Spofforth , also known as "The Demon Bowler", was arguably the Australian cricket team's finest pace bowler of the nineteenth century and was the first bowler to take 50 Test wickets, and the first to take a test hat-trick in 1879...

 in their side, the Smokers' best performance came from Ted Peate

Ted Peate

Edmund Peate was an English professional cricketer who played for Yorkshire and England.-Overview:...

, who claimed 6-30 in the first innings.

The second and final Smokers v Non-Smokers match was played in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 on March 17-21, 1887 at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground

East Melbourne Cricket Ground

The East Melbourne Cricket Ground was a sports venue located at the corner of Wellington Parade and Jolimont Parade, in East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia...

, a venue which saw only four first-class games in its history. The match was drawn, but was notable for the Non-Smokers' enormous first-innings total of 803. Arthur Shrewsbury

Arthur Shrewsbury

Arthur Shrewsbury was an English cricketer, and rugby football administrator, who organised the first British Isles rugby tour to Australasia in 1888, and who was widely rated as competing with W. G...

 made 236, Billy Gunn

Billy Gunn (cricketer)

William "Billy" Gunn was an English sportsman who played internationally in both cricket and football. In first-class cricket, Gunn played professionally for Nottinghamshire from 1880 to 1904 and represented England in 11 Test matches...

 150 and William Bruce

William Bruce (cricketer)

William Bruce was an Australian cricketer who played in 14 Tests between 1885 and 1895....

 131 as the side piled up what at the time was a world record first-class total despite being a man short: Billy Barnes

Billy Barnes

William Barnes was a professional cricketer who played for Nottinghamshire between 1875 and 1894 and England between 1880 and 1890. In 1890 he was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year. Barnes also toured Australia three times and North America once...

 was absent hurt and unable to bat. In reply the Smokers started well and reached 267/2 thanks to Eugene Palmer

Eugene Palmer

Eugene Palmer is a Jamaican born British artist. His work uses archival records, photographs, and contemporary media imagery as basis for his paintings. Palmer has had a long association with art curators and exhibitors Eddie Chambers and Keith Piper and is recognised as one of the leading Black...

's 113, but then collapsed to 356 all out with Billy Bates

Billy Bates

Willie Bates, known as Billy was an English all-round cricketer. Excellent with both bat and ball, Bates scored over 10,000 first-class runs, took more than 870 wickets and was always reliable in the field...

 (who had failed with the bat, making just 4) taking 6-73. Following on

Follow-on

Follow-on is a term used in the sport of cricket to describe a situation where the team that bats second is forced to take its second batting innings immediately after its first, because the team was not able to get close enough to the score achieved by the first team batting in the first innings...

, the Smokers had struggled to 135/5 when time ran out. William Scotton

William Scotton

William Henry Scotton was a cricketer who played for Nottinghamshire and England. Scotton played his first match at Lord's for Sixteen Colts of England against the Marylebone Cricket Club on the 11th and 12th of May 1874, scoring on that occasion 19 and 0...

 blocked the last ball of the match and picked it up with the intention of collecting it as a souvenir. The fielders appealed and Scotton was given out handled the ball

Handled the ball

Handled the ball is a method of dismissal in the sport of cricket.-Definition:Law 33 of the Laws of cricket provides that:"Either batsman is out Handled the ball if he wilfully touches the ball while in play with a hand or hands not holding the bat unless he does so with the consent of the opposing...

.