John Pontifex (1 July 1771 – 1 September 1841) was an English amateur cricketer who made 19 appearances in historically important matches from 1796 to 1810. He was a member of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC),Arthur Haygarth, Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826), Lillywhite, 1862 and played for the Gentlemen in the first two Gentlemen v Players matches in 1806.Gentlemen v Players (first match), CricketArchive. Retrieved 7 December 2020. Gentlemen v Players (second match), CricketArchive. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
Matches Pontifex played in all of these nineteen games, as confirmed by the book source cited on each line. Fifteen were played at Lord's Old Ground, and the other four as shown at other venues.
The matches are historically important, and are listed as such in the ACS Important Matches guide: date match details 12 August 1796 Thursday Club v Montpelier & Kennington Clubs 26 August 1796 Montpelier and Kennington Clubs v Thursday Club at Aram's New Ground 12 June 1797 Montpelier v Marylebone Cricket Club at Aram's New Ground 26 June 1797 Marylebone Cricket Club v Montpelier 28 May 1798 Marylebone Cricket Club v Montpelier 27 June 1799 Brentford & Richmond v Montpelier at Richmond Green 26 August 1803 H. C. Woolridge's XI v W. R. Capel's XI at Clifford's Park, Rickmansworth 18 June 1804 Marylebone Cricket Club v England 2 July 1804 Marylebone Cricket Club v England 7 July 1806 Gentlemen v Players 21 July 1806 Gentlemen v Players 18 May 1807 Marylebone Cricket Club v Middlesex 25 May 1807 England v Hampshire 23 May 1808 Marylebone Cricket Club v Middlesex 30 May 1808 Marylebone Cricket Club v Middlesex 1 June 1809 Marylebone Cricket Club v England 17 July 1809 England v 'Four First Chosen with Seven Others' 20 Sept 1809 Lord F. Beauclerk's XI v F. C. Ladbroke's XI 29 May 1810 Lord F. Beauclerk's XI v E. Bligh's XI
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