1817 English cricket season

In the 1817 English cricket season, cricket was hit by a controversial match-fixing scandal.

Honours

• Most runs^[1] – William Lambert 445 (HS 157)
• Most wickets^[1] – Thomas Howard 44 (BB 5–?)

Events

• The 1817 season saw the first recorded instance of the Cambridge University v. Cambridge Town Club fixture that became almost annual until the 1860s. It was also the earliest major match to involve either team. There was a very fine line between Cambridge Town Club and Cambridgeshire CCC, the one dovetailing with the other. Similar scenarios were Nottingham/Notts, Manchester/Lancashire & Sheffield/Yorkshire.
• William Lambert scored two centuries (107* & 157) in the same match, the first player known to achieve the feat in a major cricket match. Lambert was then banned for life by MCC from appearing at Lord's on the grounds that he had "sold" an earlier Nottingham versus All-England match. Nottingham had won the game by 30 runs despite a first innings deficit and many gamblers lost heavily. Whether Lambert was actually guilty is highly questionable and certainly no proper hearing was ever organised. The whole affair is believed to have been contrived by Lord Frederick Beauclerk who wished to settle an "old score".
• According to James Pycroft in The Cricket Field, the size of the wickets was increased in 1817 to 27 inches (690 mm) by 8 inches (200 mm), but it seems more likely that the rule was introduced in 1819.
• With cricket recovering from the effects of the Napoleonic War, a total of 7 first-class matches were recorded in 1817:
  • 30 May — Cambridge University v Cambridge Town Club @ Parker's Piece, Cambridge
  • 2–4 June — All-England v The Bs @ Lord's Cricket Ground^[2]
  • 10–12 June — All-England v Surrey @ Lord's Cricket Ground^[3]
  • 18–20 June — Lord F Beauclerk's XI v W Ward's XI @ Lord's Cricket Ground^[4]
  • 2–5 July — Sussex v Epsom @ Lord's Cricket Ground^[5]
  • 6–8 August — MCC v Hampshire @ Lord's Cricket Ground^[6]
  • 13–14 August — E H Budd's XI v W Ward's XI @ Lord's Cricket Ground^[6]
• Another match that has sometimes been regarded as first-class is Old Etonians v Old Wykehamists at Lord’s on Monday 14 July.

Debutants

1817 debutants included:

• William Broadbridge (Sussex)
• John E G Bayley (Hampshire/MCC)
• Frederick Crowder (Old Etonians/Cambridge University)
• William Deedes (Kent/MCC)
• Daniel Stacey (MCC)
• Thomas Nicoll (Hampshire)
• John Wallington (Hampshire)
• F. Ward (Hampshire)

References

Bibliography

• Haygarth, Arthur (1862). Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826). Lillywhite. 

Additional reading

• ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709 – 1863. Nottingham: ACS. 
• Altham, H. S. (1962). A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914). George Allen & Unwin. 
• Birley, Derek (1999). A Social History of English Cricket. Aurum. 
• Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. Eyre & Spottiswoode. 
• Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. HarperCollins. 

External links

• Classification of cricket matches from 1697 to 1825
• CricketArchive – 1817 first-class matches list
• CricketArchive – 1817 other matches list