1790 English cricket season

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Samuel Britcher's scorecards (to 1805) started in the 1790 English cricket season. The works of Mr Britcher have not been readily available and it is only recently that they have been studied in any depth, especially by cricket historian Keith Warsop who has reported his findings to the ACS (see its journals). Mr Britcher was the MCC scorer in the 1790s and we have learned a great deal from him, as a few of the following entries will show.

1 Matches
2 Other Events
3 Leading batsmen
4 Leading bowlers
5 Main Sources

[edit] Matches

Date	Match Title	Venue	Source	Result
10-12 May (M-W)	Lefthanded v Righthanded	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB101	Lefthanded won by 39 runs
Lefthanded v Righthanded was decidedly a major fixture though of novelty value.
20-21 May (Th-F)	MCC v Essex #	Lord’s (Dorset Square)	brit	MCC won by 8 wkts

3 June (Th)	Duke of Dorset v Earl of Earl of Winchilsea	Lord’s (Dorset Square)	SB101	Earl of Winchilsea's XI won by 3 wkts
This game is considered minor as eight players in the Dorset side are unknown and John Hammond was making his known debut. The Earl of Winchilsea side was mostly known amateurs plus John Boorman. Many of Dorset’s team were in the Sussex side that played in the minor match at Hambledon on 20 Sept 1791 (SB125).
10-12 June (Th-S)	Kent v Hampshire	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB103	Hampshire won by 8 wkts

24 June (Th)	Middlesex v Surrey	Lord's (Dorset Square)	FL18	unknown
This game might not have been played. There was an announcement in The World on the previous day which gave the teamsheets, but there is no report of the game having taken place. Middlesex: Hon. T J Twistleton, Mr G Louch, Mr Turner, W Fennex, T Shackle, ? White, Butler, Knowles, Cantrell, Mr Mansfield, T Lord senior. Surrey: T Sueter, John Wells, James Wells, John Walker, E Stevens, Butcher, Mr Vincent, T Ingram, Graham, Flint, Mr Harrington. In terms of recorded matches, Lumpy Stevens last played in 1789, but it appears that he did (intend to) play occasionally in 1790.
5-6 July (M-Tu)	Essex v MCC #	Langton Park, Hornchurch	brit	MCC won by 67 runs
# These two games only came to light in recent years as Britcher is the only source for them.
12-16 July (M-F)	All-England v Hampshire	Sevenoaks Vine	SB104	Hampshire won by 44 runs

19-21 July (M-W)	Earl of Winchilsea v A Smith	Burley-on-the-Hill, Rutland	SB104	Smith's XI won by 7 wkts
Burley-on-the-Hill in Rutland was the Earl of Earl of Winchilsea’s country retreat, which he used as his base for foxhunting parties. It is not far from the Great North Road so communication with London was relatively easy at the time. Burley-on-the-Hill has been confused with Burghley Park near Stamford but it is quite different. Samuel Britcher refers to this game as All-England v Hampshire.
27-29 July (Tu-Th)	Sir H Mann v A Smith	Perriam Down	SB105	Smith's XI won by 6 wkts

4-7 Aug (W-S)	Earl of Darnley v Earl of Winchilsea	Windmill Down	SB106	Darnley's XI won by 185 runs

16-17 Aug (M-Tu)	MCC v Middlesex	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB106	MCC won by 2 wkts

19-20 Aug (Th-F)	Middlesex v MCC	New Ground, Uxbridge Moor	SB107	MCC won by 56 runs

27-28 Aug (F-S)	Brighton v W&L ^	PoW Ground, Brighton	FL18	W&L won by 3 wkts

30-31 Aug (M-Tu)	All-England v Hampshire	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB108	Hampshire won by 10 wkts
Hampshire's team included four MCC men (venue was Lord's); ACS Guide calls the fixture MCC & Hampshire v All-England
3-4 Sept (F-S)	W&L v Brighton ^	Woodburn	FL18	Brighton won by 5 wkts
^ W&L = Wadhurst & Lambehurst.
8-9 Sept (W-Th)	Middlesex v Berkshire	Uxbridge	WDC	Middlesex won by 2 wickets
A pity the full score of this one has escaped. Berkshire had David Harris as a given man and the match was described as "a severe contest". The Middlesex team was called "the City of London and county of Middlesex" but we can safely assume it was a Middlesex XI. The venue was described as "the new cricket ground at Uxbridge".
16 Sept (Th)	Middlesex v Berkshire	venue unknown	WDC	Middlesex won by 3 wickets
WDC records this as London & Middlesex against "the parish of Warfield" which also had David Harris as a given man. Middlesex won by 3 wickets but the scores were not reported. There is an earlier game (in 1786) involving "the parish of Warfield" but for that match we have the teamsheet and it is the Berkshire XI. It is assumed here that this Warfield team was the same, especially with Harris involved, and that therefore this is a major match.
7-11 Sept (Tu-S)	Sir H Mann v S Amherst	Bishopsbourne Paddock	SB108	Amherst's XI won by 130 runs

13 Sept (M)	J Hammond v Earl of Winchilsea	Dandelion Paddock	SB109	Hammond's XI won by 5 runs
The Hammond v Earl of Winchilsea game on 13 Sept from source S&B is minor as it lacked recognised players.
13 Sept (M)	Brighton v Tunbridge Wells ^	PoW Ground, Brighton	FL18	TW forfeited

17 Sept (F)	Tunbridge Wells v Brighton ^	Tunbridge Wells	FL18	Brighton won by 8 wkts
^ The four Brighton games listed in the ACS Guide from source FL18 are considered minor matches due to lack of recognised players.