nine batsmen who were out, including five bowled. There can have been no certainty that England would score the 44 runs needed to win, and they soon lost their first four wickets, but Robert Robinson scored 23 not out to see them through. The Bs total of 6 is sometimes referenced as the world record for the lowest innings total in first-class cricket, although the match was played long before the official commencement of first-class cricket and is not recognised by Wisden among others. It was the sixth and last time that Beldham was, as far as is known, dismissed for a pair. End of career The 1821 edition of Gentlemen v Players, at Lord's on 23–24 July, was Beldham's last recorded top-class match. He was then 55 years old and had a bizarre finale. The Gentlemen batted first and were all out for 60, Beldham taking one catch to dismiss the innings' top scorer Henry J. Lloyd for 22. The Players began well as openers John Sparks and John Thumwood equalled the Gentlemen's total without loss. Sparks had another partnership with Thomas Beagley and the score advanced to over 200. Sparks was sixth man out for 63 and Beagley was joined by Beldham, batting at number eight. Beagley completed the first century in the Gentlemen v Players series. Sometime on the 24th, the Players reached 278/6, a lead of 218 with four wickets in hand. Beagley was 113 not out, Beldham 23 not out. It was at this point that the Gentlemen, captained by Beauclerk, threw in the towel and left the field. As it happens, the match had been billed as the "Coronation Match" to celebrate the accession of George IV and, in the words of Derek Birley, "it was a suitably murky affair". Beldham later recalled that he had been injured during the match and needed a runner while batting. He said the professionals disliked the fixture and called it a waste of their time. He may have departed from top-class cricket but there is strong anecdotal evidence that Beldham continued to play to a very advanced age, for in his Oxford Memories, Pycroft stated: "Beldham's was a green old age. Even when between sixty and seventy [1826–1836] he was barred in county matches". Style and technique In The Cricketers of My Time, John Nyren eulogised Beldham's batting prowess: ...(he was) safer than the Bank; ...he would