1768 English cricket season

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The 1768 English cricket season saw a brief return by Sussex to top-class cricket.

This was a season which could well have seen (though tantalisingly we cannot be certain) the earliest known century in major matches. The player of the season was unquestionably the great John Small, master batsman of the Hambledon Club, who produced two of the most brilliant performances recorded to date, including that possible first-ever century.

[edit] Matches

Date	Match Title	Venue	Source	Result
10 June (F)	Caterham v Bourne	Westerham Heath	FL18	Caterham won by 14 runs
Caterham 63 (Smailes 25) & 150 (Foule 33, Mr H Rowett 30); Kent 60 & 139 (R Simmons 45, W Palmer 23) The Kentish Weekly Post of Sat 11 June records the teams and individual scores. The Caterham club is referred to as "Westerham & Caterham", probably because of the venue. Bourne is actually Mr (later Sir) Horatio Mann’s team and the newspaper on this occasion calls it Bourne, where Mr Mann had his residence and his own very famous venue: Bishopsbourne Paddock. In other reports, Mr Mann’s teams are variously referred to as Kent or, perhaps most accurately, East Kent. This is the third time (and the first since 1744) that the individual scores of a major match have survived. No details of dismissal were recorded.
26 July (F)	Caterham v Bourne	Caterham	FL18	result unknown
Announced in the St James Chronicle on Sat 23 July. Caterham was to give Bourne two men. The St James Chronicle referred to the teams as Mr Horatio Mann’s Club and Mr Henry Rowett’s Club.
29 July (F)	Middlesex v Surrey	Stamford Hill	FLPV	result unknown
Pre-announced in Lloyd’s Evening Post on Wed 27 July. To be played for 100 guineas a side. In Mr Waghorn’s Dawn of Cricket is a Surrey v Hampshire (aka Caterham v Hambledon) game starting on Monday 31 July 1768. 31 July in 1768 was a Sunday. Further investigation as by Martin Wilson in his Index to Waghorn has revealed that the game was in 1769 (see below). Indeed, Mr Waghorn in WCS reports the same game in 1769!
2 August (F)	Caterham v Bourne	Caterham	FL18	result unknown
Announced in the St James Chronicle on Sat 23 July. Bourne (Horace Mann) was to give Caterham (Henry Rowett) one man.
5 August (F)	Hampshire v Sussex	Broadhalfpenny Down	TJM	result unknown
Referred to in a letter dated Wed 27 July 1768 from Sir Matthew Fetherstonhaugh of Uppark to Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle: "I hear there is to be a great Cricket match play’d next Friday Sennight upon Broad-halfpenny, about 7 miles West of this place in Hampshire & at wch. The Duke of Richmond & many from the Chichester Div. Of the County will be present, for it is a match made by the Duke (Sussex against Hampshire) with a Mr. Ridge near Warnford; at wch. Mr. Sackville is to play on the Sussex side". The now archaic word s’ennight often occurs in 18th century writing. It is an abbreviation of "seven nights" and means "seven nights hence". In this instance, Sir Matthew refers to a game taking place "a week on Friday", as we would say. Mr Sackville was Lord J F Sackville who became 3rd Duke of Dorset the following January. Mr Ridge was Thomas Ridge (c.1737 – 3 February 1801), a Hampshire squire who was a prominent member of the Hambledon Club and played in a number of its matches, including 5 known first-class appearances between 1772 and 1775. Ridge, who lived at Kilmiston, was famous among the hunting fraternity and was very keen on racing.
12 August (F)	Bourne v Surrey	Bishopsbourne Paddock	FL18	result unknown
The Kentish Gazette on Wed 10 August announced this game by saying: The last match was thought to be as good a match as was ever played. This is the last match that will be played in Bourne Paddock this year. Although billed as "Bourne v Surrey", it was probably a fourth game in the Caterham v Bourne series.
29 & 30 August (M-Tu)	Hambledon v Kent	Broadhalfpenny Down	WCS	Hambledon won by 144 runs
Reported in the Reading Mercury on Sat 3 September. The report stated: Last Tuesday the second great match at cricket was played on Broad-Half¬penny between eleven gentlemen of the Hambledon Club against eleven gentlemen of the county of Kent for a considerable sum, which was won by the former by upwards of 100 notches; but what is very remarkable, one Mr Small, of Petersfield, fetched above seven score notches off his own bat. The team scores were: Hambledon – 131 + 194 = 325; Kent – 141 + 40 = 181 One of early cricket’s most tantalising questions is: did John Small score the earliest known top-class century in this game? The Mercury is ambiguous as we cannot say for certain if his 140-plus was his match total or his score in the second innings. GDC states that if he scored 140-plus out of 194 it would have been a truly astonishing performance. Astonishing, but not impossible. Even if it was his match total, it remains possible that his second innings was a century if he scored less than 50 in the first innings. Alas, we will probably never know.
5 September (F)	Hambledon v Sussex	Broadhalfpenny Down	TJM	Hambledon won by 7 wkts
More confusion caused by Mr Waghorn’s difficulty with dates! In WDC, he has this game taking place on Mon 5 September 1769 but he also refers to it in WCS when he quotes the Reading Mercury report dated Sat 10 September 1768, which states: Last Monday another great match at cricket was played on Broad Halfpenny between eleven gentlemen of the county of Sussex, against eleven of the Hambledon Club, for a large sum, which was won by the latter, who had seven wickets to go down. Mr Small got above four score notches in this match, and was not out when the game was finished. See TJM for the definitive record. Once again, we do not know if John Small scored his 80-plus in one innings or if it was his match total. GDC states that he scored 80 not out but this is incorrect as he scored above four score; and it was in this match so not necessarily in one innings. Unfortunately, the ACS&H in its list has a created a duplicate and included this game under both 1768 and 1769. It definitely took place in 1768. The issue is further confused by an entry in GDC which refers to a Sussex v Hambledon game on Mon 12 September, "possibly played at Goodwood". This is almost certainly an error arising from the fact that the Reading Mercury report of the 5 September game was repeated on Mon 12 September.

[edit] Other events

Sat 28 May. The Kentish Weekly Post reported that "last week in the Artillery Ground", a "fives" game between Hon. J F Sackville’s team and Mr Horace Mann’s team lasted two days. Sackville (soon to become 3rd Duke of Dorset) won by 4 wickets. The players and their individual scores are known. Mann’s team of Bellchambers, Boorman, James Fuggles, May and Muddle scored 26 and 29; Sackville’s team of Brobham, Bayton, John Small, Birchett and Mandy scored 20 and 36-1. May scored 10 and 12 for Mann and Bayton of Hambledon scored 8 and 36* for Sackville, so Bayton’s performance decided the match. The more notable John Small scored only 3 and 0.

Fri 3 June. William Bedle died at his house near Dartford. He was "near 90" and was formerly accounted the most expert cricket player in England. He must have been in his prime during the first quarter of the 18th century. His death was reported by the Lloyd’s Evening Post on Fri 10 June (see FL18).

An Essex v London match was arranged for Wed 8 June on Epping Common but the London team did not appear and forfeited their deposit (FL18).

The secondary sources have recorded three ladies’ matches that took place in June between teams from Harting and Rogate in Sussex. These games attracted crowds of two to three thousand.