Cricket information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bowling | Right-arm fast | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Role | All-rounder | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1774–1796 | Kent | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FC debut | 2 July 1773 England XI v Hampshire | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last FC | 4 July 1797 Charles Lennox's XI v Earl of Winchilsea's XI | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source: CricInfo, 16 July 2022 |
William Bullen was a leading English cricketer throughout the last quarter of the 18th century, his known career spanning the years 1773 to 1800.[2] He was an all-rounder who probably batted right-handed.[b] He played mainly for Kent sides[c] although he also appeared for England XIs[d] and a variety of other sides.[3]
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".[5] He was a fast bowler, in the underarm style, and a hard-hitting batsman who was a "powerful" player.[5] He is reputed to have "frequently bowled the sixth part of a mile (about 300 yards), or the whole length of the Artillery Ground in London".[5][6] He was possibly a native of Deptford in Kent[5] and is known to have played for Dartford Cricket Club as well as teams organised by landowners from the western parts of the county.[3]
Bullen is known to have played in 113 matches retrospectively recognised as first-class.[3] 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 wickets.[a] His best known performance was six wickets in an innings.[3]
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.[7] 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.[8] He played for Kent sides from 1774, including matches against Maidstone teams in 1777,[9] and his final known matches were in four odds matches[e] for Kent sides against England teams in 1800.[3]
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha>
tags or {{efn}}
templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
template or {{notelist}}
template (see the help page).