Charles Goodall, a lace manufacturer, played his one First-Class game for the County in 1826 aged 43, though he appears in records for the Old Club as far back as 1813, playing apparently against Leicester at Loughborough in November - a very late, and potentially chilly, time to be on the cricket field.  That 1826 match appears to be his last major game; it was between a Notts XI and a combined XI from Leicester and Sheffield and notable for a remarkable innings of 227 - a huge score for that era and more than most XIs could muster - by Tom Marsden, an all-rounder from the Sheffield club.

Goodall was born on 26 October 1782 in Nottingham, so he was already 31 when he played in that 1813 game and it is presumed, though no evidence confirms this, that he was active in local cricket in the intervening years.  He appeared for the Old Club irregularly until 1827 and his record in important matches is seven games, 68 runs at 6.80 and a top score of 23, though we cannot say against which side.

He died in Nottingham on 18 December 1868. His obituary in the Nottingham Journal said he was "the last survivor of that era of cricket" and that "the old gentleman was always to be seen at Trent Bridge at county matches...his reminiscences and talk about ancient times were ever truly interesting".

 

July 2020

Nottinghamshire First-Class Number: 5