1802 English cricket season

1802 English cricket season

Cricket formats	first-class and single wicket
Most runs	Lord Frederick Beauclerk 106
Most wickets	Lord Frederick Beauclerk 7
Most victims	John Hammond 6
Most catches	William Beldham 4

In the 1802 English cricket season, E H Budd made his debut in first-class cricket.

Honours

Cricket was continuing to feel the impact of Great Britain's war against the Napoleonic Empire through a loss of investment which for many years reduced the number of first-class matches. Only two matches are recognised as first-class in 1802:
- 8 June — C Lennox's XI v G Leycester's XI @ Lord's Old Ground^[2]
- 25 August — All-England v Surrey @ Lord's Old Ground^[3]
Another match that has sometimes been regarded as first-class is Lord F Beauclerk's XI v William Barton's XI at Aram's New Ground on Friday 24 September.
Several matches took place involving the more prominent "town clubs" such as Homerton, Montpelier, Richmond and Woolwich. These games are marginal in terms of first-class status.

1802 debutants included:

^ ^a ^b Note that scorecards created in the first quarter of the 19th century are not necessarily accurate or complete; therefore any summary of runs, wickets or catches can only represent the known totals and computation of averages is ineffectual.
^ Samuel Britcher, A list of all the principal Matches of Cricket that have been played, 1803
^ Haygarth, p.300.

HS Altham, A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914), George Allen & Unwin, 1926
Derek Birley, A Social History of English Cricket, Aurum, 1999
Rowland Bowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970
Arthur Haygarth, Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744-1826), Lillywhite, 1862