1800 English cricket season
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The 1800 English cricket season is one of the more difficult years to analyse because of several matches involving town clubs like Rochester, Woolwich, Homerton, Richmond, Storrington, Montpelier and Thames Ditton.
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[edit] Matches
| Date | Match Title | Venue | Source | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19-21 May (M-W) | R Whitehead v J Gibbon | Lord's (Dorset Square) | SB267 | Whitehead's XI won by 52 runs |
| 26 May (M) | Woolwich v Four Parishes ^ | Barrack Field, Woolwich | WDC | drawn |
| 28-29 May (W-Th) | MCC v Woolwich ^ | Lord's (Dorset Square) | SB268 | Woolwich won by innings & 94 runs |
| 10 June (Tu) | Thames Ditton v London ^ | Thames Ditton | WDC | London won by innings & 14 runs |
| 11-13 June (W-F) | All-England v Surrey | Lord's (Dorset Square) | SB269 | Surrey won by 3 wkts |
| 16-17 June (M-Tu) | All-England XIV v Surrey | Lord's (Dorset Square) | SB269 | All-England won by 13 wkts |
| 23-24 June (M-Tu) | Woolwich v MCC ^ | Barrack Field, Woolwich | SB270 | Woolwich won by 123 runs |
| 25 June (W) | Homerton v Montpelier ^ | ? | SB271 | Montpelier won by innings & 5 runs |
| 26 June (Th) | Montpelier v Richmond ^ | Montpelier Gardens | FL18 | Montpelier won by 52 runs |
| 30 June (M) | F Beauclerk v J Martin | Barrack Field, Woolwich | SB271 | Beauclerk's XI won by 60 runs |
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The Beauclerk v Martin game had numerous unknown players. |
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| 2-3 July (W-Th) | Richmond v Montpelier ^ | Richmond Green | FL18 | Richmond won by 69 runs |
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Britcher has a complete scorecard for this; FL18 has only the 2 July position. |
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| 7-9 July (M-W) | MCC v Rochester ^ | Lord's (Dorset Square) | SB274 | Rochester won by 11 runs |
| 14-15 July (M-Tu) | All-England v Woolwich & Homerton | Lord's (Dorset Square) | SB274 | W&H won by 7 wkts |
| 21-23 July (M-W) | Rochester v MCC ^ | Marsh’s, Rochester | SB275 | Rochester won by 3 wkts |
| 24-25 July (Th-F) | Woolwich v Montpelier ^ | Barrack Field, Woolwich | WDC | Woolwich won by 8 wkts |
| 25-26 Aug (M-Tu) | Leicester v Nottingham # | Leicester | SB278 | Nottingham won by innings & 38 runs |
| 28-29 Aug (Th-S) | All-England XIV v Surrey XII | Lord's (Dorset Square) | SB279 | All-England won by 51 runs |
| 8-9 Sept (Tu-W) | Storrington v Sussex | Storrington | SB273 | Storrington won by 19 runs |
| 29 Sept (Tu) | Nottingham v Sheffield # | Mansfield | SB282 | Nottingham won by 123 runs |
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# Both these historically important fixtures were excluded from previous classifications but there is no doubt the teams were representative of the counties. Nottingham v Sheffield was the first known 11 a side game involving a Yorkshire county team. Both games are major fixtures. The Nottingham v Sheffield game is also in William North’s 1832 book of Nottingham Old Club Match Scores. ^ 1800 is one of the more difficult years to analyse because of several matches involving town clubs like Rochester, Woolwich, Homerton, Richmond, Storrington, Montpelier and Thames Ditton. Indeed, two of these may be the same club: Homerton seem to have used the same players as Richmond. Rochester and Woolwich were the main centres of Kent cricket at the time and the two clubs had decent teams, as their results against MCC show, but these matches are marginal because of the dubious quality of the MCC teams (see 1799 rule) and the presence of unrecognised players on the town club teams. See also 1799 notes. |
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[edit] First mentions
- Joseph Dennis
- Thomas Warsop
- William Ayling (Kent) – played 22 matches to 1810
- J Lawrell (MCC; amateur) – played 21 matches to 1810
- John Ward – played 14 matches to 1806
- Captain J Weller (Surrey; amateur) – played four matches to 1802
- George Beldham (Surrey) – played three matches to 1805
- W Jefferies (Notts) – played three matches to 1803
- R Smith (Notts) – played three matches to 1803
- Hon. H Coventry (MCC; amateur) – played two matches to 1801
- Waller (Surrey) – played two matches to 1803
[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.
Five batsmen exceeded 150 runs in the season:
- William Barton – 226
- John Ward – 213
- Lord Frederick Beauclerk – 162
- Tom Walker – 159
- Thomas Ray – 155
[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.
Easily the best bowler was John Ward of Kent, taking 47 wickets in his debut season.
No one else came near. The best of the rest was Thomas Boxall with 31 and then John Wells and Tom Walker with 18 and 16 respectively.
[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.
William Beldam with 11 ct, 1 st was the leading fielder in 1800, just ahead of Thomas Ray who took 11 ct. Nottingham wicket-keeper Joseph Dennis made an impression with 3 ct, 7 st. John Ward took 9 catches in addition to his 47 wickets.
[edit] References
- Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket by G B Buckley (FL18)
- Fresh Light on Pre-Victorian Cricket by G B Buckley (FLPV)
- Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century by Timothy J McCann (TJM)
- The Dawn of Cricket by H T Waghorn (WDC)
- Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 by Arthur Haygarth (SBnnn)
- Scores 1790-1805 (annual issues) by Samuel Britcher
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