1793 English cricket season - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

In the 1793 English cricket season, 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:...

teams 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...

three times.

The secondary sources are sometimes confusing on the subject of the Oldfield Cricket Club at Bray

Bray

Bray is a town in north County Wicklow, Ireland. It is a busy urban centre and seaside resort, with a population of 31,901 making it the fourth largest in Ireland as of the 2006 census...

, near Maidenhead

Maidenhead

Maidenhead is a town and unparished area within the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, in Berkshire, England. It lies on the River Thames and is situated west of Charing Cross in London.-History:...

in Berkshire

Berkshire

Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...

. The team featured in several major matches during the late 18th century and was a top-class side at this time as it had a high playing standard and numerous recognised players. The team is sometimes referred to as the Oldfield Club or as Maidenhead, but the Oldfield Club presented itself as representative of Berkshire in the same way as Hornchurch

Hornchurch Cricket Club

Hornchurch Cricket Club is based in Hornchurch, Essex and was established in 1783. The club had several good players and for the next ten years it was representative of Essex as a county, the club's name sometimes being interchangeable with that of the county in first-class scorecards.Essex...

/Essex

Essex county cricket teams

Essex county cricket teams have been traced back to the 18th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that. It is almost certain that cricket reached Essex by the 16th century and that it developed during the 17th century with inter-parish matches being...

and Brighton

Brighton Cricket Club

Brighton Cricket Club was based at Brighton, Sussex and was briefly a major cricket team, playing four known first-class matches in the 1792 season, at which time it was representative of Sussex as a county....

/Sussex, so its team might be styled Berkshire

Berkshire county cricket teams

Berkshire county cricket teams have been traced back to the 18th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that...

Matches

Date	Match Title	Venue	Source	Result
13–14 May (M-Tu)	Old Etonians v Old Westminster	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB146	Eton won by 34 runs

22 & 23 May (W-Th)	MCC v Middlesex	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB146	MCC won by 54 runs

30–31 May (Th-F)	Essex v MCC	Langton Park, Hornchurch	SB147	MCC won by innings & 10 runs

6–7 June (Th-F)	MCC v Essex	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB148	Essex won by 2 wkts

12–14 June (W-F)	All-England v Surrey & Sussex	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB132	S&S won by innings & 29 runs
In the ACS Guide, this match is shown as taking place in 1793 after references in WDC and Britcher; but S&B and Bentley both have it played in 1792 as quoted in MCC records. It is a case of one source’s word against another’s but the clincher seems to be a report of the game in The Sportsman magazine which did not start publication until Oct 1792.
17–18 June (M-Tu)	MCC v Essex	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB149	Essex won by 3 wkts

20–21 June (Th-F)	MCC v Kent	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB149	MCC won by 10 wkts

24–26 June (M-W)	MCC v Berkshire	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB150	Berkshire won by 119 runs
S&B calls this game MCC v The Oldfield Club but Oldfield was representative of Berkshire in the same way as Hornchurch/Essex and Brighton/Sussex. ACS Guide says the game should be called MCC v Maidenhead yet in several other fixtures they use Oldfield. The Oldfield club played at Oldfield Bray, near Maidenhead. Berkshire had a high standard in the late C18.
27 June (Th)	(West) Kent v Essex	Gravesend	SB153	West Kent won by 128 runs
The so-called Kent v Essex game reported in SB153 was a minor fixture. The Kent side was probably a local club or, as Haygarth himself calls it, a "scratch" team Scratch team A scratch team is a team, usually in sport, brought together on a temporary basis, composed of players who normally play for different sides. A game played between two scratch teams may be called a scratch match.... .
27–28 June (Th-F)	Kent v MCC	Dartford Brent	SB151	Kent won by 8 wkts

28–29 June (F-S)	Kent v MCC	Dartford Brent	SB151	MCC won by 73 runs
The game was quickly arranged when the previous one finished and started on 28 June.
1–3 July (M-W)	Earl of Winchilsea v G Louch	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB152	Winchilsea's XI won by 3 runs

12-13, won by 15 July (F-M)	All-England v Surrey ^	Windmill Down	SB154	Surrey won by 15 runs

15 July (M)	Assheton Smith v Earl of Winchilsea	Perriam Down	SB155	Winchilsea's XI won by 3 wkts
The Assheton Smith v Earl of Winchilsea game in Wiltshire on 15 July is in both SB155 and the ACS list. Apart from Earl of Winchilsea and Assheton Smith themselves, hardly anyone involved was a recognised player and the game is decidedly a minor fixture.
22–24 July (M-W)	All-England v Surrey ^	Dartford Brent	SB157	Surrey won by 53 runs
^ S&B and ACS both say the first game was All-England v Surrey though it was played in Hampshire; five of the All-England players were Hampshire men. S&B says the second game was Surrey v Hampshire with given men on each side: i.e., Hammond for Surrey; Boxall, Fennex and Ring for Hampshire (and also Newman of Essex). But ACS differs and calls S&B’s Hampshire an All-England XI. This highlights the difficulty of team names. Five Hampshire players at home are in an All-England team while seven Hampshire players away are in a Hampshire team, according to S&B. According to S&B, the second game was at Lord's but ACS have discovered it was at Dartford Brent Dartford Brent Dartford Brent was an extensive area of common land on the outskirts of Dartford in Kent. In history, it was the scene of a confrontation between King Henry VI and Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York in 1452; and in 1555 thousands of spectators were to witness the burning to death at the stake of... .
25–26 July (Th-F)	Berkshire v MCC	Oldfield Bray	SB157	Berkshire won by 85 runs

5-7 Aug (M-W)	All-England v Surrey	Burley-on-the-Hill, Rutland	SB158	All-England won by 7 wkts

7-10 Aug (W-S)	R Leigh v Earl of Winchilsea	Burley-on-the-Hill, Rutland	SB159	Winchilsea's XI won by 5 wkts

19-20 Aug (M-Tu)	Newman v R Leigh	Navestock, Essex	SB159	Newman's XI won by 37 runs
Navestock is near Brentwood. It was the home ground of the original Essex Cricket Club but this was nothing to do with the later Essex CCC.
29-31 Aug (Th-S)	Sussex v Kent	Brighton	WDC	Kent won
Mr Waghorn found only bare details of this game and has recorded "a grand match of cricket between 9 of Kent with Ring and Beldham, against 9 of Essex (sic) with Scott (i.e., of Hambledon) and another, for 500 guineas, played at Brighton, which ended in favour of Kent". It is curious that Kent and Essex should play at Brighton and it is assumed that the source wrote Essex instead of Sussex.

First mentions

Henry Tufton
Henry Tufton, 11th Earl of Thanet
Henry James Tufton, 11th Earl of Thanet was a peer in the peerage of England and a noted English cricketer of the 1790s.-Biography:...
John Tufton
J Hampton
J Hampton
J Hampton was an English professional cricketer who made 52 known appearances in major cricket matches between 1793 and 1816.-Career:...

(Surrey) – played 52 matches to 1816
E G Morant
Edward Morant
Edward Gregory Morant was an English amateur cricketer who made 3 known appearances in major cricket matches from 1793 to 1795. He was also a noted patron who organised a number of matches in the 1790s.-Career:...

(MCC; amateur) – played three matches to 1795
Carter (Berkshire cricketer)
Carter (Berkshire cricketer)
Carter was an English professional cricketer who made 4 known appearances in major cricket matches from 1793 to 1795.-External sources:*...

(Berkshire/Middlesex) – played four matches to 1795
Robert Walpole (cricketer)
Robert Walpole (cricketer)
Robert Walpole was an English amateur cricketer who made 5 known appearances in major cricket matches from 1793 to 1808.-Cricket career:...

(MCC; amateur) – played four matches to 1794
Luck (Kent cricketer)
Luck (Kent cricketer)
Luck was an English professional cricketer who made 3 known appearances in major cricket matches in 1793.-External sources:*...

(Kent) – played three matches to 1793
Harry Bridger
Harry Bridger
Harry Bridger was an English professional cricketer who made 5 known appearances in major cricket matches from 1793 to 1796.-Career:...

aka Jones (Middlesex) – played 5 matches from 1793 to 1796
Zachariah Button
Zachariah Button
Zachariah Button was an English amateur cricketer who made 2 known appearances in major cricket matches from 1793 to 1796.-Career:...

(MCC; amateur) – played two matches to 1796

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.

Tom Walker

Thomas Walker (cricketer)

Thomas "Tom" Walker was an English cricketer who played for Hampshire in the days of the Hambledon Club and later for Surrey. He was famous for his brilliant defensive batting. He is also credited with introducing, roundarm bowling, the predecessor of modern overarm bowling.-Career:Walker was born...

with 496 runs was the top scorer in 1793. Walker also had the highest individual innings of the season with 138. The only other century was a score of 106 by William Beldham.

The other leading batsmen were Beldham with 383 runs; Earl of Winchilsea

George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea

George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea KG PC FRS was an important figure in the history of cricket. His main contributions to the game were patronage and organisation but Winchilsea, an amateur, was also a very keen player....

316; Joey Ring

Joey Ring

John "Little Joey" Ring was an English cricketer who played for Kent.Joey Ring was one of Kent’s best batsmen in the late 18th century and was employed by Sir Horatio Mann at Bourne as a huntsman...

270; 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...

211; Henry Fitzroy 197; Andrew Freemantle

Andrew Freemantle

Andrew Freemantle was an English cricketer who played for Hampshire during the Hambledon Era and afterwards...

178; Harry Walker

Harry Walker (cricketer)

Harry Walker was a noted English cricketer who played mainly for Surrey...

165; Charles Cumberland

Charles Cumberland

Captain Charles Cumberland was an English cricketer of the late 18th century. He was an outstanding bowler, his style being right arm fast underarm; and he was arguably the best amateur bowler of the underarm era...

155; John Wells

John Wells (cricketer)

John Wells was a famous English cricketer who played for Surrey.-Career:...

155; James Aylward

James Aylward

James Aylward was a noted English cricketer who played for the Hambledon Club. He was a left-handed batsman....

153; William Bullen

William Bullen

William Bullen was an outstanding English cricketer throughout the last quarter of the 18th century. Hailing from Kent, Bullen was a great all-rounder, noted in the key sources as a fast bowler and a "powerful hitter"....

146

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.

Thomas Boxall

Thomas Boxall

Thomas Boxall was a famous English cricketer of the late 18th century. He was a very successful right arm bowler, believed to have been fast underarm....

with 44 wickets was the outstanding bowler of the 1793 season

Other good performances came from Thomas Lord

Thomas Lord

Thomas Lord was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket from 1787 to 1802. He made a brief comeback, playing in one further match in 1815. Overall, Lord made 90 known appearances in first-class cricket...

with 27 wickets; Charles Cumberland

Charles Cumberland

25; Tom Walker

Thomas Walker (cricketer)

25; Hampton 20; Richard Purchase

Richard Purchase

Richard Purchase was a famous English cricketer who played for the Hambledon Club.He was only 16 when he made his debut in 1773.Born in Liss, Hampshire, he played for his county in 1773 and 1774 but then did not appear again until 1781...

18; Littler

Littler (Essex cricketer)

John Littler was an English professional cricketer who made 9 known appearances in major cricket matches from 1791 to 1793.-External sources:*...

14; John Boorman

John Boorman (cricketer)

John Boorman was a famous English cricketer whose career spanned the 1772 season and the 1793 season....

13; David Harris 13; Timber

Timber (Berkshire cricketer)

Timber was an English professional cricketer who made 10 known appearances in major cricket matches from 1792 to 1795.-External sources:*...

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.

William Beldham with 28 catches was the leading fielder but a feature of the scorecards in 1793 was that an increased number of stumpings were recorded. John Hammond

John Hammond (cricketer)

John Hammond was an English cricketer of the late 18th and early 19th century. He was one of the greatest early Sussex players....

took 18 ct and 5 st.

Other good performances were by Richard Newman

Richard Newman (cricketer)

Richard Newman was an English cricketer who played for Essex, Kent and All-England from the 1773 season to 1793. He was a leading amateur player and an early member of MCC.Surprisingly little is known of Newman personally...

20 ct; Joey Ring

Joey Ring

16 ct, 3 st; Tom Walker

Thomas Walker (cricketer)

13 ct^, 1 st; John Wells

John Wells (cricketer)

John Wells was a famous English cricketer who played for Surrey.-Career:...

10 ct^, 2 st; William Bullen

William Bullen

11 ct; Thomas Ray

Thomas Ray (cricketer)

Thomas Ray was an English cricketer who played mainly for Berkshire and Middlesex. He was for many years employed by MCC as a professional who probably coached the members....

9 ct; Richard Purchase

Richard Purchase

8 ct

^ Note that there were 7 catches credited to Walker and 4 catches to Wells where it is not known which of the three Walker brothers took the catch or which of the two Wells brothers took the catch.

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