1772 English cricket season
Encyclopedia
The 1772 English cricket season was notable in English cricket history because it is from then that surviving scorecards are common. There are three scorecards from 1772, all recording matches that were organised by the Hambledon Club
. There are surviving scorecards for every single season since 1772 and these provide a continuous statistical record (albeit an incomplete one till the mid-19th century) that is now the basis of first-class cricket
statistics.
Hampshire
twice defeated All-England
but lost to Kent
by 2 wickets in the three recorded matches before defeating Surrey
in an unrecorded match. The leading bowlers of the day were Thomas Brett
of Hampshire and Lumpy Stevens of Chertsey
and Surrey, although the scorecards of this year have not preserved any bowling or fielding data. But the outstanding player of the season in terms of known records was the Hampshire batsman John Small, while William Yalden
of Chertsey and Surrey also achieved good scores.
Re the matches on 10-11 and 26–27 August, the sources occasionally refer to teams raised by the Hambledon Club as being representative of both Hampshire and Sussex. Sussex as a county team is rarely mentioned during the "Hambledon Era".
between Kent and Hampshire. Hampshire scored 11 & 46; Kent scored 35 & 23-4 to win by one wicket. The Kent team was John Boorman
, John Frame, Richard May
, John Minshull and Joseph Miller. Minshull scored 26 & 11; Frame scored the winning run. The Hampshire team was John Small, Tom Sueter, George Leer
, Thomas Brett and Richard Nyren. Nyren scored 29 out of 46 in the second innings.
There were a couple of games in June that involved the Blackheath club against teams designated as counties but, as G B Buckley says, "the alleged Kent team cannot have been representative" and they are minor matches only.
Another Kent game against a team called London
& Middlesex
apparently took place at the Artillery Ground
on Tues 11 August, the same day as the Hampshire & Sussex v Kent match above. It is believed that this was not a representative game, especially given the stakes on offer at Hambledon.
The most notable bowlers of the time were Lumpy Stevens of Chertsey, John Frame
of Dartford and Hambledon's Thomas Brett
, Richard Nyren
, William Barber
and William Hogsflesh
.
Noted wicketkeepers of the time were Tom Sueter
of Hambledon and Hampshire; William Yalden
of Chertsey and Surrey; and Richard Simmons
of Kent.
One player who was noted for his fielding exploits was George Louch
, of Chatham, who later became an early MCC
stalwart.
Hambledon Club
The Hambledon Club was a social club that is famous for its organisation of 18th century cricket matches. By the late 1770s it was the foremost cricket club in England.-Foundation:...
. There are surviving scorecards for every single season since 1772 and these provide a continuous statistical record (albeit an incomplete one till the mid-19th century) that is now the basis of first-class cricket
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
statistics.
Hampshire
Hampshire county cricket teams
Hampshire county cricket teams have been traced back to the 18th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that...
twice defeated All-England
All-England Eleven
In cricket, the term All-England has been used for various non-international teams that have been formed for short-term purposes since the 1739 English cricket season and it indicates that the "Rest of England" is playing against, say, MCC or an individual county team...
but lost to Kent
Kent county cricket teams
Kent county cricket teams have been traced back to the 17th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that. Kent, jointly with Sussex, is the birthplace of the sport...
by 2 wickets in the three recorded matches before defeating Surrey
Surrey county cricket teams
Surrey county cricket teams have been traced back to the 17th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that. The first definite mention of cricket anywhere in the world is dated c.1550 in Guildford.-17th century:...
in an unrecorded match. The leading bowlers of the day were Thomas Brett
Thomas Brett
Thomas Brett was one of first-class cricket's earliest well-known fast bowlers and a leading player for Hampshire when its team was organised by the Hambledon Club in the 1770s.-Career:Noted for his pace and his accuracy, Brett was a leading wicket taker in the 1770s and was lauded by John...
of Hampshire and Lumpy Stevens of Chertsey
Chertsey Cricket Club
Chertsey Cricket Club in Surrey is one of the oldest in England. Its own website dates its founding as 1737 but in fact matches involving a Chertsey team date from 1736....
and Surrey, although the scorecards of this year have not preserved any bowling or fielding data. But the outstanding player of the season in terms of known records was the Hampshire batsman John Small, while William Yalden
William Yalden
William "The Yold" Yalden was a noted English cricketer. He was a very good batsman but was primarily known as a wicket-keeper....
of Chertsey and Surrey also achieved good scores.
Re the matches on 10-11 and 26–27 August, the sources occasionally refer to teams raised by the Hambledon Club as being representative of both Hampshire and Sussex. Sussex as a county team is rarely mentioned during the "Hambledon Era".
Significant matches
| Date | Match Title | Venue | Result | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 June (M) | Sheffield v Nottingham | Sheffield Sheffield Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely... |
Sheffield won | |
Nottingham forfeited the match after being dismissed for 14 and then seeing Sheffield score 70 with wickets still in hand. See also the match on 26 August 1771. A pre-match announcement appeared in the (Nottingham) Daily Messenger on Tues 25 May: We are informed that the great Cricket Match which has been so long depending between the Society of Nottingham & that of Sheffield is to be finally determined at Sheffield on Mon., 1 June . . . . The Sherwood youths have been practising for some weeks past, and we are told, the odds at Nottingham are 2 to 1 in their favour. The paper followed up with a report on Friday 12 June that bewailed the defeat of the Nottingham team. |
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| 24–25 June (W-Th) | Hampshire v All-England | Broadhalfpenny Down Broadhalfpenny Down Broadhalfpenny Down, situated on a hilltop about a mile from the rural village of Hambledon in Hampshire, was the home venue for first-class cricket matches of the Hambledon Club from 1753 to 1781... |
Hampshire won by 53 runs | |
Hampshire 146 (John Small 78, E Aburrow 27) & 79 (John Small 34); All-England 109 (T White 35) & 63 (T May 18) No details of bowling or fielding are known. Noted bowlers taking part in the game were Stevens, Frame, Brett, Nyren, Hogsflesh, Richard May, White and Barber. The match was played for 500 guineas. In some accounts, All-England was termed Kent, Middlesex and Surrey. Commencing with this game, there is what amounts to a continuous statistical record with surviving scorecards of at least some games in every single season from here onwards. Until the end of the 18th century, there are still numerous matches without scorecards, but a norm was established in 1772 and the available data soon becomes considerable. John Small’s score of 78 was the highest recorded in the 1772 season and, as such, it established the then record for the highest known individual score in a first-class match. According to contemporary newspaper reports, "bets of £500 were laid against John Minshull John Minshull John Minshull aka Minchin was a famous English cricketer during the 1770s... in favour of John Small". Hampshire had two given men: William Yalden and John Edmeads John Edmeads John Edmeads was an English cricketer who played for Chertsey Cricket Club, Surrey and All-England.... , both of Surrey. This gave Hampshire two wicketkeepers, Sueter and Yalden, but it is not known which of them kept wicket in this match. It is possible that Sueter was carrying an injury and was fit to bat but not to keep. The All-England wicketkeeper was probably the Gill of Buckinghamshire known to have been the wicketkeeper for All-England in the matches against Dartford Dartford Cricket Club Dartford Cricket Club is one of the oldest in England and its origins go back to the early 18th century, perhaps earlier.See also: Dartford Brent... in September 1759. Gill does not appear again in recorded scores. |
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| 23–24 July (Th-F) | All-England v Hampshire | Guildford Bason Guildford Bason Guildford Bason is an English former cricket ground on Merrow Down, on the outskirts of Guildford, Surrey. Guildford is the location for the earliest definite reference to cricket in English history... |
Hampshire won by 62 runs | |
Hampshire 152 (W Yalden 68) & 122 (W Yalden 49, John Small 30); All-England 126 (J Miller 30, R Simmons 27) & 86 (J Miller 26) The second game this season with a surviving scorecard. As in the previous game between the teams, Hampshire had two given men: William "the Yold" Yalden and John Edmeads, both of Surrey. Yalden’s contribution was immense as he scored 68 and 49 in Hampshire’s totals of 152 & 122. Again, the bowling and fielding details are unknown. Some confusion has arisen over the extras. According to Mr Ashley-Cooper: In the course of the game, the Hambledon Club got 11 notches in byes and All-England 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. |
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| 10–11 August (M-Tu) | Hampshire & Sussex v Kent | Broadhalfpenny Down Broadhalfpenny Down Broadhalfpenny Down, situated on a hilltop about a mile from the rural village of Hambledon in Hampshire, was the home venue for first-class cricket matches of the Hambledon Club from 1753 to 1781... |
H&S won by 50 runs | |
The stake was 500 guineas. No details are known besides the result. |
||||
| 19–20 August (W-Th) | Kent v Hampshire | Bishopsbourne Paddock Bishopsbourne Paddock Bishopsbourne Paddock was a cricket ground at Bourne House, seat of Sir Horatio Mann, near Canterbury in Kent. It was a popular venue for first-class matches from 1766 to 1790.-Matches:... |
Kent won by 2 wkts | |
Hampshire 123 (G Leer 29, T Sueter 26) & 113 (John Small 48); Kent 136 (W Palmer 29, J Minshull 24) & 101-8 (John Wood 20, J Miller 17*) Hampshire again had Yalden and Edmeads of Surrey as given men. The Kent team is called England in Scores & Biographies but nine of the players were of Kent with two given men: Stevens and White of Surrey. |
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| 26–27 August (W-Th) | Kent v Hampshire & Sussex | Guildford Bason Guildford Bason Guildford Bason is an English former cricket ground on Merrow Down, on the outskirts of Guildford, Surrey. Guildford is the location for the earliest definite reference to cricket in English history... |
Kent won by innings & 29 runs | |
The source says: "Hampshire & Sussex = Hambledon Club". The bets placed seem to have been mainly around how many the Duke of Dorset would score compared with "Mr Ellis", a now unknown player. It is possible that this was a gentlemen only game and the same may be true of the match on 10 August. The report was in the General Evening Post on Sat 29 August. |
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| 28 August (F) | Surrey v Hampshire | Guildford Bason Guildford Bason Guildford Bason is an English former cricket ground on Merrow Down, on the outskirts of Guildford, Surrey. Guildford is the location for the earliest definite reference to cricket in English history... |
Hampshire won by 45 runs | |
No details are known except the result. |
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Other events
Tues 2 June. There was a fives match at the Artillery GroundArtillery Ground
The Artillery Ground in Finsbury is one of London's most centrally located cricket grounds, situated just off the City Road immediately north of the City of London...
between Kent and Hampshire. Hampshire scored 11 & 46; Kent scored 35 & 23-4 to win by one wicket. The Kent team was John Boorman
John Boorman (cricketer)
John Boorman was a famous English cricketer whose career spanned the 1772 season and the 1793 season....
, John Frame, Richard May
Richard May (cricketer)
Richard May was a first-class cricketer who was a well-known bowler for Kent in the 1760s and 1770s. May's known first-class career spanned the 1773 and 1780 seasons....
, John Minshull and Joseph Miller. Minshull scored 26 & 11; Frame scored the winning run. The Hampshire team was John Small, Tom Sueter, George Leer
George Leer
George Leer was a famous English cricketer who played for Hampshire in the time of the Hambledon Club.Leer began playing in the 1760s...
, Thomas Brett and Richard Nyren. Nyren scored 29 out of 46 in the second innings.
There were a couple of games in June that involved the Blackheath club against teams designated as counties but, as G B Buckley says, "the alleged Kent team cannot have been representative" and they are minor matches only.
Another Kent game against a team called London
London Cricket Club
The original London Cricket Club was formed by 1722 and was one of the foremost clubs in English cricket over the next four decades. It is closely associated with the Artillery Ground, where it played most of its home matches.-Early history of London cricket:...
& Middlesex
Middlesex county cricket teams
Middlesex county cricket teams have been traced back to the 18th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that. Given that the first definite mention of cricket anywhere in the world is dated c.1550 in Guildford, it is almost certain that the game had reached...
apparently took place at the Artillery Ground
Artillery Ground
The Artillery Ground in Finsbury is one of London's most centrally located cricket grounds, situated just off the City Road immediately north of the City of London...
on Tues 11 August, the same day as the Hampshire & Sussex v Kent match above. It is believed that this was not a representative game, especially given the stakes on offer at Hambledon.
First mentions
- ChildsChilds (Surrey cricketer)Childs refers to a noted Surrey and All-England cricketer of the 18th century. Personal details of Childs, including his first name, have not been found in surviving records....
- John Wood of SealJohn Wood (cricketer)John Wood was an English cricketer who played for Kent. His career began in the 1760s before first-class statistics began to be recorded and his known first-class career spans the 1772 to 1783 seasons....
- William YaldenWilliam YaldenWilliam "The Yold" Yalden was a noted English cricketer. He was a very good batsman but was primarily known as a wicket-keeper....
Leading batsmen
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.| runs | player |
|---|---|
| 213 | John Small |
| 136 | William Yalden William Yalden William "The Yold" Yalden was a noted English cricketer. He was a very good batsman but was primarily known as a wicket-keeper.... |
| 98 | Joseph Miller |
Leading bowlers
No bowling figures are available.The most notable bowlers of the time were Lumpy Stevens of Chertsey, John Frame
John Frame (cricketer)
John Frame was an English cricketer and arguably the first great fast bowler in the game's history...
of Dartford and Hambledon's Thomas Brett
Thomas Brett
Thomas Brett was one of first-class cricket's earliest well-known fast bowlers and a leading player for Hampshire when its team was organised by the Hambledon Club in the 1770s.-Career:Noted for his pace and his accuracy, Brett was a leading wicket taker in the 1770s and was lauded by John...
, Richard Nyren
Richard Nyren
Richard "Dick" Nyren was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket during the 1760s and 1770s in the heyday of the Hambledon Club...
, William Barber
William Barber (cricketer)
William Barber was an English cricketer who played for the Hambledon Club in its great days during the 1760s and 1770s. Originally from Walberton, near Chichester, he came to Hambledon to play after being "spotted" .Barber finished playing in 1777...
and William Hogsflesh
William Hogsflesh
William Hogsflesh was an English cricketer who played for the Hambledon Club in its great days during the 1760s and 1770s.His career ended in 1775 and he was a well known bowler, probably of quick medium pace, but his best years were before the sport's statistical record begins in 1772 and so most...
.
Leading fielders & wicket-keepers
No fielding figures are available.Noted wicketkeepers of the time were Tom Sueter
Tom Sueter
Thomas Sueter was a famous English cricketer who played for the Hambledon Club....
of Hambledon and Hampshire; William Yalden
William Yalden
William "The Yold" Yalden was a noted English cricketer. He was a very good batsman but was primarily known as a wicket-keeper....
of Chertsey and Surrey; and Richard Simmons
Richard Simmons (cricketer)
Richard Simmons was an English cricketer who played for Kent and All-England in the 1760s and 1770s. He is one of the earliest well-known wicket-keepers....
of Kent.
One player who was noted for his fielding exploits was George Louch
George Louch
George Louch was an English cricketer and match organiser during the 18th century. He was especially noted for his fielding and was an early stalwart of Marylebone Cricket Club.He was a native of Chatham and was evidently educated at Westminster...
, of Chatham, who later became an early MCC
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
stalwart.
External links
Further reading
- H S AlthamHarry AlthamHarry Surtees Altham, CBE, DSO, MC was an English cricketer who became an important figure in the game as an administrator, historian and coach. His Wisden obituary described him as "among the best known personalities in the world of cricket"...
, A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914), George Allen & Unwin, 1962 - Derek BirleyDerek BirleySir Derek Birley was an English educator and writer who had a strong interest in sport, especially cricket.He was educated at grammar school in Hemsworth, West Yorkshire, and at Queens' College, Cambridge University....
, A Social History of English Cricket, Aurum, 1999 - Rowland BowenRowland BowenMajor Rowland Francis Bowen was a cricket researcher, historian and writer....
, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970 - Timothy J McCannTimothy J McCannTimothy J. McCann has been an archivist at the West Sussex Record Office in Chichester since 1967. He has written several books about the history of Sussex including a classic work on cricket: Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century...
, Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century, Sussex Record Society, 2004 - Ashley MoteAshley MoteAshley Mote was a non-inscrit Member of the European Parliament for South East England. An outspoken critic of fraud in the European Institutions, he himself was convicted of benefit fraud in 2007 for which he served a nine-month prison sentence and was described by the trial judge as "a truly...
, The Glory Days of Cricket, Robson, 1997 - David UnderdownDavid UnderdownDavid E. Underdown was a historian of 17th-century English politics and culture and Professor Emeritus at Yale University. Born at Wells, Somerset, Underdown was educated at the Blue School and Exeter College, Oxford...
, Start of Play, Allen Lane, 2000