1790 English cricket season

1790 English cricket season
Cricket formats major, including single wicket

A total of 12 first-class matches were played in the 1790 English cricket season. Samuel Britcher's scorecards, published as A list of all the principal Matches of Cricket that have been played (1790 to 1805) began and have been used by CricketArchive as source information.

Matches

Date Match Title Venue Source Result
10–12 May (M-W) Lefthanded v Righthanded Lord's (Dorset Square) SB101 Left-handed won by 39 runs

Left-handed v Right-handed 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

J. S. Grover and George Leycester were first-class debutants in this match.

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 result| 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

There was one debutant in this match: French

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

There were five debutants in this match: R. Beeston, W. Beeston, Tyson, Packer and Talmash.

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

Debutants were T. Selby and Walker of Kent

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.

First mentions

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 Beldham with 317 scored the most runs in 1790

Other leading runscorers were: James Aylward 257; Jack Small 245; George Louch 239; George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea 209; Joey Ring 206; Robert Clifford 193; Tom Walker 174; Colonel Charles Lennox 173; William Brazier 160

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 33 took the most wickets in the season

Other leading bowlers were William Beldham with 28 wickets; David Harris 24; Richard Purchase 21; William Bullen 17; Henry Fitzroy 14; William Fennex 11

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.

Tom Taylor with 15 took the most catches in 1790

Other leading fielders were William Beldham with 12 catches; Stephen Amherst 9; John Wells 9; George Louch 8; Richard Purchase 7

References

    Bibliography

    Additional reading

    External links