1789 English cricket season
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In the 1789 English cricket season, while Hampshire played Kent on Windmill Down, the Storming of the Bastille was taking place in Paris and the French Revolution ended the first cricket overseas tour before it even began.
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[edit] Matches
| Date | Match Title | Venue | Source | Result |
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| 22-23 May (F-S) | Sir H Mann v S Amherst | Coxheath | FLPV | Amherst's XI won by 5 wkts |
| 25 May (M) | Gents of All-England v Middlesex | Lord's (Dorset Square) | WDC | Middlesex won by innings & 64 runs |
| 3-4 June (W-Th) | Earl of Earl of Winchilsea v Sir H Mann | Lord's (Dorset Square) | SB91 | Earl of Winchilsea's XI won by 140 runs |
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This match was postponed after 4 June and completed on Mon 15 & Tues 16 June 1789 |
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| 8 June (M) | Uxbridge v Moulsey Hurst | New Ground, Uxbridge Moor | SB91 | MH won by 53 runs |
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Uxbridge was arguably a Middlesex XI and Moulsey Hurst arguably a Surrey XI. The majority of players are recognised so it is a major fixture. |
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| 10-12 June (W-F) | Surrey v Kent | Moulsey Hurst | SB92 | Kent won by 3 wkts |
| 26-27 Jun (F-S) | All-England XIII v Hampshire | Lord's (Dorset Square) | SB93 | Hampshire won by 6 wkts |
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This match was postponed after 27 June and completed on Thurs 2 July 1789 |
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| 29-30 June (M-Tu) | Sir H Mann v S Amherst | Coxheath | SB93 | Mann's XI won by 8 runs |
| 8-9 July (W-Th) | MCC v Essex # | Lord's (Dorset Square) | FL18 | Essex won by 102 runs |
| 13-14 July (M-Tu) | Hampshire v Kent | Windmill Down | SB94 | Kent won by 56 runs |
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The Storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris on Tuesday 14 July at the outset of the French Revolution |
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| 23-25 July (Th-S) | All-England v Kent | New Ground, Uxbridge Moor | SB95 | All-England won by innings & 10 runs |
| 30 July - 1 Aug (Th-S) | Surrey v Hampshire | Moulsey Hurst | FLPV | Surrey won by 221 runs |
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Neither side was fully representative of the counties, but the majority of players are recognised so the match is included as a major fixture. |
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| 4-5 Aug (Tu-W) | Sir H Mann v S Amherst | Coxheath | SB96 | Mann's XI won by 57 runs |
| 6-7 Aug (Th-F) | Essex v MCC # | Langton Park, Hornchurch | FLPV | Essex won by 6 wkts |
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# Re the Essex v MCC games, some reports referred to the Essex side as Hornchurch. The Hornchurch Club at this time was representative of Essex as a county. |
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| 11-14 Aug (Tu-F) | Kent v Surrey | Bishopsbourne | SB96 | Surrey won by 9 wkts |
| 18-21 Aug (Tu-F) | Kent v Hampshire | Bishopsbourne | SB97 | Hampshire won by 29 runs |
| 2-5 Sept (W-S) | All-England v Hampshire | Sevenoaks Vine | SB98 | Hampshire won by 15 runs |
| 7-9 Sept (M-W) | Middlesex v London | Lord's (Dorset Square) | FLPV | London won by 2 wkts |
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Excluded from earlier classifications due to "weak teams" and a view that Middlesex was really the Uxbridge club. The majority of players are recognised so this is a major match here. |
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| 10-11 Sept (Th-F) | Chelsea v MCC | Chelsea | FLPV | drawn? |
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This was definitely not a major fixture, due to lack of recognised players. It was "postponed till next week" but no report of a conclusion has been found. In Chelsea’s second innings, the scorecard shows all eleven batsmen as out! |
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| 18-19 Sept (F-S) | Bridge & Bourne v Aldington | Bishopsbourne | FLPV | B&B won by 7 wkts |
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This game included James Aylward as a given man to Aldington. There were a handful of recognised players taking part. |
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| 21 Sept (M) | Leicester v Nottingham ^ | Loughborough | SB99 | Nottingham won by innings & 16 runs |
| 23-24 Sept (W-Th) | East Kent v Isle of Thanet | Dandelion Paddock, Margate | FLPV | East Kent won by 10 wkts |
| 5-6 Oct (M-Tu) | Leicester v Nottingham ^ | Loughborough | SB100 | Leicester won by 1 run |
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This match was postponed after 6 October and completed on Mon 2 November 1789 ^ The two games at Loughborough are held to be major fixtures for historical reasons and also because the teams were representative of the two cities if not the whole counties also. Furthermore, most of the players involved played for their teams against good quality MCC sides in 1791. |
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| 7 Oct (W) | Gordon Castle Club v 55th Regiment | Aberdeen | FLPV | Gordon CC won by innings & 258 runs |
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This match was evidently organised by the Hon. Charles Lennox who scored 136 for the Gordon Castle Club. |
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[edit] Other Events
John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset, famous for both his cricket connections and his ambassadorship to France, tried to organise a tour of France by a team of English cricketers. The team, which included William Yalden, assembled in London and travelled to Dover where, unexpectedly, they met the Duke himself coming the other way. He was fleeing for his life from the French Revolution. So the intended first-ever overseas tour became instead the first tour to be cancelled for political reasons!
[edit] First mentions
- Thomas Boxall
- Edward Bligh
- John Walker
- Charles Anguish
- Robert Turner
- Thomas Scott
- Richard Wyatt
- George Dehaney
- Jacob White
- John Bligh, 4th Earl of Darnley (MCC; amateur) – played 27 matches to 1796
- T Shackle (Berkshire/Middlesex) – played 30 matches to 1809
- Butler (Middlesex) – played 21 matches to 1801
- Dale (Middlesex) – played 22 matches to 1809
- John Stevens (Essex) – played 17 matches to 1799
- W Turner (MCC; amateur) – played ten matches to 1809
- Grange (Middlesex) – played nine matches to 1792
- W Palmer (Kent; amateur) – played nine matches to 1795
- Cantrell (Middlesex) – played eight matches to 1792
- Hon. Thomas James Twistleton (MCC; amateur) – played seven matches to 1796
- T Webb (Middlesex) – played eight matches to 1808
- M Graham (Leics) – played five matches to 1800
- R Stringer (Leics) – played six matches to 1803
- R Warsop (Notts) – played six matches to 1803
- T Watts (Leics) – played five matches to 1800
- W Barker (Notts) – played four matches to 1792
- W Barsby (Leics) – played four matches to 1792
- R Black (Leics) – played four matches to 1800
- Brown (Kent) – played four matches to 1791
- Carr (Essex) – played four matches to 1791
- W Clarke (Leics) – played four matches to 1792
- J Gilbert (Notts) – played four matches to 1792
- Goodhew (Kent) – played four matches to 1795
- Hicks aka Higgs (Essex) – played four matches to 1799
- J Rowell (Leics) – played four matches to 1792
- E Stevenson (Notts) – played four matches to 1792
- S Willows (Notts) – played four matches to 1792
- Church (MCC/Kent) – played three matches to 1795
- Granger (Middlesex) – played three matches to 1792
- Groombridge (Essex) – played three matches to 1793
- Edward Hale (Hampshire; amateur) – played three matches to 1797
- G Harrison (Notts) – played three matches to 1792
- S Hedderley (Notts) – played three matches to 1791
- Mugglestone (Notts) – played three matches to 1791
- J Stevenson (Notts) – played three matches to 1791
- Vincent (Surrey; amateur) – played three matches to 1789
- W Warsop (Notts) – played three matches to 1791
[edit] Leading batsmen
Note that many scorecards in the 18th century are unknown or have missing details and so it is impossible to provide a complete analysis of batting performances: e.g., the missing not outs prevent computation of batting averages. The "runs scored" are in fact the runs known.
William Beldam with 306 scored the most known runs in 1789.
Other leading batsmen were James Aylward with 297 runs; John Wells 240; Harry Walker 228; Tom Walker 225; Richard Purchase 224; John Small 222; Thomas Ingram 219; George Louch 215; William Brazier 210; Joey Ring 198
[edit] Leading bowlers
Note that the wickets credited to an 18th century bowler were only those where he bowled the batsman out. The bowler was not credited with the wickets of batsmen who were caught out, even if it was "caught and bowled". In addition, the runs conceded by each bowler were not recorded so no analyses or averages can be computed.
Robert Clifford with 39 took the most known wickets in 1789.
Other leading wicket-takers were David Harris with 38; Richard Purchase 30; John Boorman 25; William Bullen 25; Butcher 19; Noah Mann 18
[edit] Leading fielders
Note that many scorecards in the 18th century are unknown or have missing details and so the totals are of the known catches and stumpings only. Stumpings were not always recorded as such and sometimes the name of the wicket-keeper was not given. Generally, a catch was given the same status as "bowled" with credit being awarded to the fielder only and not the bowler. There is never a record of "caught and bowled": the bowler would be credited with the catch, not with the wicket.
Robert Clifford was also the most successful fielder with 16 known victims (15 ct, 1 st)
William Beldam took 15 catches, John Wells had 14 victims (13 ct, 1 st), star fielder George Louch took 12 catches and there were 9 catches each taken by John Boorman, William Bullen and Henry Crozoer.
[edit] References
[edit] External sources
[edit] Further reading
- G B Buckley, Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket, Cotterell, 1935
- Arthur Haygarth, Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744-1826), Lillywhite, 1862
- H T Waghorn, The Dawn of Cricket, Electric Press, 1906
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