Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club when it was formed out of the town club in various stages between 1835 and 1840. The All-England Eleven In 1845, Clarke had become a ground bowler at Lord's as an MCC employee. Another ground bowler then was William Lillywhite. Clarke had a great season in 1845 and few batsmen could play him well. Although most MCC ground staff were satisfied with their pay, Clarke was not and in 1846 he decided to take matters into his own hands. In August 1846, when the MCC season finished, he formed the All-England Eleven (AEE) as a touring team of leading players to play matches at big city venues, mainly in the "unfashionable but prosperous" North of England. The team played three matches in 1846 against 22 of Sheffield, 18 of Manchester and 18 of Yorkshire. Clarke's team was indeed a top-class side worthy of its title and the matches in Sheffield, Manchester and Leeds were a huge success. Clarke's touring team continued for several years to showcase the best players of the day and the venture became very profitable, especially for the entrepreneurial Clarke, who was careful to pay his players more than MCC did to keep them interested. He kept the surplus for himself and became very wealthy. John Arlott wrote of him: "He was the first man to make a fortune out of cricket; he was, also, the first to see that a fortune was to be made out of it." Because of its strength, the AEE generally played sides composed of twenty-two men, though these odds were reduced when opposed to such sides as Sheffield, Manchester, some county teams and the rival United All-England Eleven. References Cited sources Further reading West Norwood Cemetery's Sportsmen, Friends of West Norwood Cemetery, 1995 External links Notts County Cricket Club – Early Nottinghamshire cricketers 1798 births 1856 deaths All-England Eleven cricketers British bricklayers Burials at West Norwood Cemetery English cricketers of 1826 to 1863 English cricketers Kent cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers North v South cricketers Nottingham Cricket Club cricketers Nottinghamshire cricket captains Nottinghamshire cricketers Cricketers from Nottingham Players cricketers Suffolk cricketers Surrey cricketers Sussex cricketers Nicholas Felix's XI cricketers Fast v Slow cricketers Players of Nottinghamshire cricketers Gentlemen of Southwell cricketers 19th-century British businesspeople