The Catapulta bowling machine, a development of the ancient Roman siege engine, was the invention of Nicholas Felix the famous inventor and England cricketer. He had demonstrated other bowling machines in the 1830s, but on September 30 1844 he exhibited his improved version, which he named the Catapulta, at the Antelope Cricket Ground in Southampton in a match between the Players of Hampshire and the Gentlemen of the South Hants Club with the catapulta. The gentlemen had only to bat and field, for all the bowling against the professionals was done by the machine – whose “straight and powerful fire” they found hard to play. The match ended in a draw.
see also
Antelope Cricket Ground
Day, Daniel
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