Robert Crispin Tinley was an English cricket professional who played during the middle of the 19th century. In a career that spanned from 1847 to 1874, he was a noted underarm bowler who represented the Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, debuting with the club aged 16. Tinley also had a long association with William Clarke's All-England Eleven (AEE) and the North of England cricket team in the regular North v South fixture, while also participating in the second English tour of Australia in 1864.

Tinley was born in Southwell, Nottinghamshire on 25 October 1830.^[3] Part of a cricketing family, he had two older brothers, Francis and Vincent,^[4] that also played first-class cricket.^[5][6]

He debuted with Nottinghamshire on 9 August 1847 in a match against an England representative side that was played as a benefit for Thomas Barker.^[2][7] Aged 16 and 288 days at the time, he was the youngest player to represent Nottinghamshire at the time, a distinction he held for 177 years until Farhan Ahmed debuted at an age three months younger in 2024.^[8] In Tinley's debut match, he took six total wickets, three in both innings, while scoring 14 total runs as a batter.^[2]

Over the next five years, Tinley made sporadic appearances in first-class cricket due to commitments to a minor cricket club in Burton-on-Trent.^[4] These appearances included a pair of matches for Nottinghamshire against Sussex in 1848 and matches for three different clubs in 1851,^[9] including his first appearance with the North of England side in the regular North v South match.^[10] After the 1853 season, Tinley's tenure in Burton-on-Trent ended, and he would spend much of the next two decades playing most prominently with Nottinghamshire and with William Clarke's All-England Eleven.^[4]

In first-class matches, Tinley represented Nottinghamshire 54 times between his 1847 debut and his final county match in 1869.^[9][11] He recorded his first five-wicket haul for the side in 1859,^[12] one of eleven Tinley would have with them.^[13] Tinley had a ten-wicket haul in three of his matches with the club.^[13] His best numbers for an innings and a match came in the same contest; against Cambridgeshire in 1862, Tinley took eight wickets for only twelve runs in the first innings, then added seven more in the second innings for a total of fifteen overall.^[14] Over his entire career with Nottinghamshire, he took 138 wickets with a 14.99 bowling average.^[13]

Between 1851 and 1865, Tinley also appeared in 25 matches for the North of England and had some of his earliest cricket successes with the side.^[11] As a bowler, he took his first five-wicket haul for the North versus Surrey in 1857, two years prior to his first for Nottinghamshire;^[15] at the crease, Tinley recorded his two best batting totals: 53 runs in a 1858 match versus the South of England and 56 runs in a 1862 match against Surrey.^[16][17] As with his Nottinghamshire tenure, he recorded his best innings as a bowler in the same match; taking on Surrey in 1860, he took twelve total wickets through a pair of six-wicket hauls,^[18] yielding 30 runs in the first innings for his innings-best performance with the side. Overall, he took 82 wickets as a member of the North team.^[13]

Tinley played frequently with the All-England Eleven between 1854 and 1874, including in 21 first-class matches.^[11] Compared to his time with his other major teams, he was used less often as a bowler in their matches,^[b] with 42 wickets in 21 appearances, but he still produced a bowling average of 14.52, lower than his averages with Nottinghamshire and the North.^[13]

He appeared in many more odds matches played by the AEE that were not granted first-class status.^[19] In these matches, Tinley's bowling was even more successful and resulted in two seasons, 1860 and 1862, where he took over 300 wickets in a season for the AEE.^[7] His best performances with the club featured Tinley recording normally impossible stat lines; these included 10 matches where he took 15 or more wickets in a single innings, with a 19-wicket haul (out of 21 wickets on offer) being his highest total.^[20] In a match against an eighteen-man team representing Hallam at Hyde Park, Tinley took all seventeen wickets available in the second innings, while a match against Birmingham at Small Heath saw Tinley make twelve catches in a match.^[7]

George Parr, at that time the captain of the Nottinghamshire side, selected Tinley as part of a twelve-man tour of Australia and New Zealand that started on the first day of 1864.^[21] The tour mostly featured odds matches against local, 22-man sides against selected English elevens,^[22] with the lone first-class match on the tour taking place on 5 March 1864.^[23] In the match, Tinley, representing Parr's chosen eleven took seven wickets in the first innings against a George Anderson-chosen side.^[c] The seven wickets were a match high, but it ultimately came in a losing effort to Anderson's team.^[23] On the tour, he led all of the touring players with over 250 wickets taken overall.^[22]

Compared to 25 selections for the North, Tinley only had three selections to the Gentlemen v Players as a member of the Players side.^[24] Tinley did not bowl in the last of these three matches,^[24] but took five combined wickets in the other two.^[13]

He played for various other first-class sides as well, including nine matches with an England representative side.^[11] Until his 15-wicket match for Nottinghamshire, Tinley's best match performance was with a one-off club in 1860, billed as "Another England Eleven", that was facing the side that toured North America the previous season.^[d] In a victory against the past season's touring team, Tinley took 14 wickets in the match, including an eight-wicket haul in the second innings.^[25]

In his early career, Tinley was a right-armed fast bowler in the roundarm style but he later switched to bowling underarm lobs with greater success. Nottinghamshire's website attributes some of his success to teammate John Jackson, one of the top roundarm fast bowlers of his day, often bowling at the opposite end from Tinley.^[4]

As a batter, he was regarded as one who hit the ball hard, but not so hard as to be considered a slogger.^[4] Tinley recorded three half-centuries in first-class matches with a high of 56 in an innings.^[3] Despite his long tenure with Nottinghamshire, he never recorded a half-century with them.^[11]

Tinley was an adept fielder, averaging over a catch per match.^[3] When in the field, he predominantly played the point position,^[4] though he was capable enough to be used as a wicket-keeper at times, taking a pair of stumpings in first-class matches.^[3]

Tinley umpired 27 first-class matches in his career, including several matches umpired while still active as a player.^[26] His final first-class match as an umpire took place in 1877, though he would make a final appearance as an umpire in 1880 to umpire a match in Burton-on-Trent featuring the United South of England Eleven.^[27]

Tinley was the recipient of two benefit matches, one in 1861 in an AEE match versus his former Burton-on-Trent side (which Tinley rejoined to play against the AEE on that occasion) and another in a North v South match in 1875, taking place a year after his playing career ended. A testimonial in Tinley's honour was also granted to him in 1891 by Burton-on-Trent.^[7]

He was married to Mary Jane and had a son, Fred.^[28] In retirement, he ran Burton-on-Trent's Royal Oak Inn.^[4] After being ill for several years, Tinley died on 11 December 1900.^[7]