William Yalden

Who was William Yalden?

William "The Yold" Yalden was a noted English cricketer. He was a very good batsman but was primarily known as a wicket-keeper.

Yalden and Tom Sueter of Hampshire were the two foremost 18th century keepers. Yalden played mainly for Chertsey and Surrey though he was also an All-England regular, particularly in matches against Hampshire. His career began in the 1760s and he played until 1785.

Yalden made 44 known appearances in first-class cricket from 1772 to 1783. This is the total found in Scores & Biographies and is also the total that can be counted in CricketArchive's list of his matches; but, on his profile page, CricketArchive says he made 45 appearances which is incorrect.

Fielding records are incomplete during his career but there is no doubt he took his fair share of catches. Stumpings are more difficult to find because they were often recorded as run outs, though there is one scorecard in which dismissals are recorded as "put out behind The Yold": i.e., st Yalden!

Yalden’s best performance with the bat was probably in September 1773 when he played for Surrey v Hampshire at Broadhalfpenny Down. He scored 88 out of 225 and enabled Surrey to win the game by an innings and 60 runs. This innings was the "world record" for the highest individual score in first-class matches since the statistical record began in 1772. The previous highest was 78 by John Small in the first match of the 1772 season. Yalden’s score was beaten by Joseph Miller, who made 95 at Sevenoaks Vine in August 1774.