1790 English cricket season

1790 English cricket season
Cricket formats first-class and single wicket

The 1790 English cricket season was a successful one for Hampshire who won all three of their known matches, two against All-England and one against Kent. Samuel Britcher, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) scorer, began his annual publication of A list of all the principal Matches of Cricket that have been played, a compilation of match scorecards. His 1790 edition featured fourteen scorecards, including six from matches played at Lord's Old Ground, the MCC venue. In total, details of 22 matches are known, fifteen first-class and seven minor.

First-class matches

Note that these matches are unofficially first-class.[fc 1]

date match title venue result source
10–12 May (M–W) Left-Handed v Right-Handed Lord's Old Ground (Lord's), London Left-Handed won by 39 runs [1]
notes

Left-Handed v Right-Handed was decidedly a major fixture though of novelty value.

20–21 May (Th–F) Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) v Essex Lord's MCC won by 8 wkts [2]
notes

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

10–12 June (Th–S) Kent v Hampshire Lord's Hampshire won by 8 wkts [3]
notes
24 June (Th) Middlesex v Surrey Lord's result unknown FL18
notes

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 MCC won by 67 runs [4]
notes
12–16 July (M–F) All-England v Hampshire Vine Cricket Ground, Sevenoaks Hampshire won by 44 runs [5]
notes
19–21 July (M–W) Earl of Winchilsea's XI v T. A. Smith's XI The Park, Burley-on-the-Hill, Rutland T. A. Smith's XI won by 7 wkts [5]
notes

"The Park" at Burley-on-the-Hill in Rutland was the 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".[6]

27–29 July (Tu–Th) Sir Horatio Mann's XI v T. A. Smith's XI Perriam Down, Ludgershall, Wiltshire T. A. Smith's XI won by 6 wkts [7]
notes
4–7 Aug (W–S) Earl of Darnley's XI v Earl of Winchilsea's XI Windmill Down, Hambledon Earl of Darnley's XI won by 185 runs [8]
notes

There was one debutant in this match: French

16–17 Aug (M–Tu) MCC v Middlesex Lord's MCC won by 2 wkts [8]
notes
19–20 Aug (Th–F) Middlesex v MCC New Ground, Uxbridge Moor MCC won by 56 runs [9]
notes

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

30–31 Aug (M–Tu) All-England v Hampshire Lord's Hampshire won by 10 wkts [10]
notes

Hampshire's team included four MCC men (the venue was Lord's) and the ACS Guide calls the fixture MCC & Hampshire v All-England.

8–9 Sept (W–Th) Middlesex v Berkshire Uxbridge Moor Middlesex won by 2 wickets WDC
notes

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". The venue was described as "the new cricket ground at Uxbridge".

16 Sept (Th) Middlesex v Berkshire venue unknown Middlesex won by 3 wickets WDC
notes

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 Horatio Mann's XI v S. Amherst's XI Bishopsbourne Paddock S. Amherst's XI won by 130 runs [10]
notes

Debutants were T. Selby and Walker of Kent

Minor matches

Although important in the historical context of early cricket, these matches are classified "minor" due to doubts about their status in the main sources, often because the majority of players taking part are relatively unknown.

date match title venue result source
3 June (Th) Duke of Dorset's XI v Earl of Winchilsea's XI Lord's Earl of Winchilsea's XI won by 3 wkts [1]
notes

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 July (S) Meopham v Chatham Meopham result unknown [11]
notes
27–28 August (F–S) Brighton v Wadhurst & Lamberhurst Prince of Wales Ground, Brighton Wadhurst & Lamberhurst won by 3 wkts FL18
notes
3–4 Sept (F–S) Wadhurst & Lamberhurst v Brighton Woodburn Brighton won by 5 wkts FL18
notes
13 Sept (M) Brighton v Tunbridge Wells Prince of Wales Ground, Brighton Tunbridge Wells forfeited FL18
notes
13 Sept (M) John Hammond's XI v Earl of Winchilsea's XI Dandelion Paddock Hammond's XI won by 5 runs [12]
notes
17 Sept (F) Tunbridge Wells v Brighton Tunbridge Wells Brighton won by 8 wkts FL18
notes

Best individual performances

Based on the available scorecard data, these are the best individual performances of the season.[fc 2]

Batsmen

Many scorecards to 1825 are unknown or have missing details and so it is impossible to provide a complete analysis of batting performances: e.g., missing "not outs" prevent computation of batting averages. The "runs scored" are in fact the runs known.

Bowlers

Until the 1860s at least, scorecards did not record the runs conceded by each bowler so no analyses or averages can be computed. Equally, the wickets credited to bowlers were generally limited to those achieved by bowling the batsman out.[fc 2]

Fielders

Because of incomplete scorecard data until 1825, the totals are 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. "Run outs" were not credited to a specific fielder.[fc 2]

Tom Taylor with 15 held the most catches in 1790. Other leading fielders were Billy Beldham with 12 catches; Stephen Amherst 9; John Wells 9; George Louch 8; Richard Purchase 7.

County cricket

Six county teams were recorded in 1790 and there were four inter-county matches. Based on the known results, the strongest team[fc 3] was Hampshire who won all three of their matches against strong opposition, defeating All-England (twice) and Kent.[13]

First mentions

Counties

Clubs and teams

Players

Venues

Footnotes

  1. ↑ "First-class cricket" was officially defined in May 1894 by a meeting at Lord's of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the county clubs which were then competing in the County Championship. The ruling was effective from the beginning of the 1895 season. Pre-1895 matches of the same standard have no official definition of status because the ruling is not retrospective and the "unofficial first-class" designation, as applied to a given match, is based on the views of one or more substantial historical sources. For further information, see First-class cricket, Forms of cricket and History of cricket.
  2. 1 2 3 Surviving match records to 1825 are incomplete and any statistical compilation of a player's career in that period is based on known data. Match scorecards were not always created, or have been lost, and the matches themselves were not always recorded in the press or other media. Scorecard data was not comprehensive: e.g., bowling analyses lacked balls bowled and runs conceded; bowlers were not credited with wickets when the batsman was caught or stumped; in many matches, the means of dismissal were omitted.
  3. ↑ "Champion County" is an unofficial seasonal title proclaimed by media or historians prior to December 1889 when the official County Championship was constituted.

References

  1. 1 2 Haygarth, p. 101.
  2. ↑ Britcher, p. 4.
  3. ↑ Haygarth, p. 103.
  4. ↑ Britcher, p. 7.
  5. 1 2 Haygarth, p. 104.
  6. ↑ Britcher, p. 9.
  7. ↑ Haygarth, p. 105.
  8. 1 2 Haygarth, p. 106.
  9. ↑ Haygarth, p. 107.
  10. 1 2 Haygarth, p. 108.
  11. ↑ Britcher, p. 8.
  12. ↑ Haygarth, p. 109.
  13. ↑ Leach, John (2008). "Champion cricket teams since 1728". Stumpsite. Retrieved 10 February 2016.

Bibliography

Additional reading

External links

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