John Atkinson Pendlington

Who was John Atkinson Pendlington?

John Atkinson Pendlington was the inventor of the linear scoring system for cricket which, unlike conventional scoring systems, shows balls faced by each batsman from each bowler. Until recently, the system was believed to have been developed by Bill Ferguson but Pendlington's grandson sent a 1914 newspaper cutting to Richie Benaud in 1994, and Benaud published this in his book My Spin on Cricket. Pendlington used his system at a match against the Australians at Scarborough in 1893. It caused much amusement and pleasure to Dr W.G. Grace who was at Scarborough and was presented with the authentic document.

Bill Frindall in his book Bearders also acknowledges Pendlington as the inventor and mentions other evidence of it pre-dating Ferguson.