1772 English cricket season
In the 1772 English cricket season, it became normal practice to complete
Hampshire won two and lost one of their matches against England. Kent won the single wicket match. Hampshire teams were organised by the Hambledon Club and played their home matches on Broadhalfpenny Down, near the village of Hambledon, Hampshire. John Small, the Hampshire batsman, scored the most runs in the three scored matches; no details of bowling or fielding have survived.
While details are scarce, reports exist of four other eleven-a-side matches. Two involved a combined Hampshire and Sussex team playing against Kent and it has been suggested that Hambledon may have been a two counties club. There was a match between Surrey and Hampshire of which only the result is known. In the north of England, the Sheffield and Nottingham clubs met at an unknown venue in Sheffield.
Scorecards
The earliest known
Hampshire v England, Broadhalfpenny Down, 24–25 June
In the match at Broadhalfpenny Down on 24–25 June,[7] Hampshire won by 53 runs for a stake of 500 guineas.[8] Hampshire teams were organised by the Hambledon Club and one source for this match has called the team Hambledon while, in other accounts, the England team has been called "Kent, Middlesex and Surrey".[8]
24–25 June 1772
Scorecard |
v
|
||
146
Edward Aburrow 27no bowling data recorded |
109
John Minchin 16no bowling data recorded | |
63
James Fuggles 12no bowling data recorded |
Hampshire had two
England v Hampshire, Guildford Bason, 23–24 July
The match at Guildford Bason on 23–24 July[7] was also won by Hampshire, this time by 62 runs and again for a stake of 500 guineas. Richard Simmons of Kent was the England wicket-keeper in this match and the next one.[12][13]
23–24 July 1772
Scorecard |
v
|
||
86
Joseph Miller 26 John Minchin 13no bowling data recorded |
F. S. Ashley-Cooper calls the teams Hambledon and All England when referring to confusion about the extras: "In the course of the game, the Hambledon Club (sic) got 11 notches in byes and All-England (sic) 21, but they were not entered in the scoresheet". He gave the match scores as 144 and 118 to 117 and 73 with Hampshire winning by 72 runs; however, these totals have Hampshire scoring 12 byes and England scoring 22, which is the same as the scorecard (the margin excluding extras is correct).[14]
England v Hampshire, Bourne Park, 19–20 August
The third match was played on 19–20 August at Bourne Paddock, Bishopsbourne, near Canterbury.[7] England won by two wickets and the scorecard shows that Joseph Miller and John Boorman were the not out batsmen when the match ended, while Dick May did not bat. Yalden and Edmeads again played for Hampshire as given men. Hampshire's captain, all-rounder Richard Nyren, missed this match and was replaced by Thomas Ridge.[13]
19–20 August 1772
Scorecard |
v
|
||
136
John Minchin 24no bowling data recorded | ||
Arthur Haygarth noted that the England team in this match was called Kent in another account, though he called it England; the team included nine Kent players with Lumpy Stevens and Thomas White from Surrey.[15][13]
Players
Many scorecards in the 18th century lack details and so it is difficult to create any analysis of playing performances. The three scorecards in 1772 provide only the team totals and the runs scored by each batsman. There is no bowling or fielding data. John Small of Hampshire scored the most runs with 213. William Yalden scored 136 for Hampshire as a given man and Joseph Miller of England scored 98.[16]
A total of 28 players (12 for Hampshire; 16 for England) took part in the three matches. Hampshire's players were Edward Aburrow Jr,
Single wicket
A top-class five-a-side match was played under
Other events
Besides the scorecards of the three matches above, reports have survived of four more eleven-a-side matches in 1772.[7]
After their first known meeting in 1771, the Sheffield and Nottingham clubs played a match on Monday, 1 June at an unknown location in Sheffield.[7] Nottingham conceded defeat after being dismissed for 14 and then seeing Sheffield score 70 with wickets still in hand. A pre-match announcement appeared in the (Nottingham) Daily Messenger on Tuesday, 25 May, and the paper followed up with a report on Friday, 12 June.[19][10]
In August, Kent played two matches against a combined Hampshire and
On Friday, 28 August, there was a Surrey v Hampshire match at Guildford Bason[7] which Hampshire won by 45 runs. No details are known except the result.[22]
Two matches in June involved the Blackheath club against teams designated as counties but, as Buckley says, "the alleged Kent team cannot have been representative" and they are minor matches only.[11] Another Kent match against a team called London and Middlesex apparently took place at the Artillery Ground on Tuesday, 11 August, the same day as the Hampshire and Sussex v Kent match above. It is believed that this was not a representative match, especially given the stakes on offer at Hambledon.[23]
Notes
- ^ Some eleven-a-side matches played 1772–1863 have been rated "first-class" by certain sources, but there was no such standard at the time. The term came into common use from around 1864 and was formally defined as a standard by a meeting at Lord's, in May 1894, 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.[5] Pre-1864 matches which are included in the ACS' "Important Match Guide" may generally be regarded as top-class or, at least, historically significant.[6]
- ^ a b The teams raised by the Hambledon Club for the matches on 10–11 and 26–27 August are believed to have been representative of both Hampshire and Sussex; the latter is rarely mentioned as a county team during the "Hambledon Era".[20]
References
- ^ Bowen, Rowland (1965). "Cricket in the 17th and 18th centuries". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. London: John Wisden & Co. Ltd. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
- ^ Bowen 1970, pp. 263–264.
- ^ ACS 1981, pp. 21–24.
- ^ ACS 1981, p. 31.
- ^ ACS 1982, pp. 4–5.
- ^ ACS 1981, pp. 1–40.
- ^ a b c d e f g h ACS 1981, p. 24.
- ^ a b c d e Ashley-Cooper 1924, p. 177.
- ^ "Match scorecard: Hampshire v England at Hambledon, 24–25 June 1772". ESPN cricinfo. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
- ^ a b Haygarth 1862, p. 2.
- ^ a b Buckley 1935, p. 57.
- ^ "Match scorecard: England v Hampshire at Guildford, 23–24 July 1772". ESPN cricinfo. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
- ^ a b c "Match scorecard: England v Hampshire at Bishopsbourne, 19–20 August 1772". ESPN cricinfo. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
- ^ a b Ashley-Cooper 1924, p. 178.
- ^ a b Haygarth 1862, p. 4.
- ^ a b "Season summary: Batting by runs, 1772". CricketArchive. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
- ^ Haygarth 1862, p. 3.
- ^ Waghorn 1899, pp. 77–78.
- ^ Buckley 1937, pp. 6–7.
- ^ a b Buckley 1937, p. 7.
- ^ Waghorn 1906, p. 36.
- ^ Buckley 1935, p. 59.
- ^ Buckley 1935, p. 58.
Bibliography
- . Nottingham: ACS.
- ACS(1982). A Guide to First-class Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles. Nottingham: ACS.
- ASIN B0008BXCH4.
- ISBN 978-04-13278-60-9.
- ISBN 978-19-00592-48-2.
- ISBN 978-19-00592-49-9.
- ISBN 978-19-00592-23-9.
- ISBN 978-09-47821-17-3.
- ISBN 978-09-47821-17-3.
Further reading
- ASIN B0014QE7HQ.
- ISBN 978-18-54107-10-7.
- ISBN 978-08-54450-55-8.
- ISBN 978-00-07183-64-7.
- ISBN 978-18-61051-68-4.
- ISBN 978-07-13993-30-1.
- ASIN B0000CHVVU.
- Wilson, Martin (2005). An Index to Waghorn. Bodyline. ASIN B005W0SAWS.