1780 English cricket season

1780 English cricket season

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Several games in the 1780 English cricket season were between teams selected by John Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset and Sir Horatio Mann. Duke & Son of Penshurst made the first-ever six-seam cricket ball. Details of twelve matches are known. ^{[note 1]}

Single wicket

On 2 September, there was a single wicket "fives" match at Bishopsbourne Paddock between Five of Kent (with William Bedster) and Five of the Hambledon Club (with Lumpy Stevens). The other Kent players were James Aylward, William Bullen, Robert Clifford, and Joseph Miller. The rest of the Hambledon team were Noah Mann, John Small, Tom Sueter, and Richard Aubrey Veck. The match was drawn as only one innings each could be completed, presumably because of bad weather. Hambledon scored 23, Kent 22. ^[5]

Dorset v Mann

The friendly rivalry between the Duke of Dorset and Sir Horatio Mann increased considerably in 1780, as they arranged several matches between their own teams, always for high stakes. However, only two of the matches have known outcomes. One was played 27 and 28 June on Sevenoaks Vine, where Mann's XI won by 7 wickets. ^[6] By this time, James Aylward was living in Kent, and working on Mann's estate. He was also a fixture in Mann's cricket team. In this match, he made the top score of 47. Dorset's XI scored 93 and 92; Mann's XI scored 105 (Aylward 47) and 81/3. ^[7]

The other match with known information was played 21 to 23 August at Bishopsbourne Paddock. This time, Dorset's XI won by 14 runs. ^[8] They scored 97 and 163 against 149 and 97 by Mann's XI. ^[9]

England v Hampshire

Towards the end of the season, there were two matches between England and Hampshire. ^[5]

England won the first, played 31 August and 1 September at Bishopsbourne Paddock, by 165 runs. ^[10] They made 197 and 144 against 80 and 96 by Hampshire. William Yalden and Robert Clifford were outstanding. Yalden scored 52 and 34; Clifford took seven wickets in the match (bowled only). ^[11]

The return match, 20 to 22 September on Itchin Stoke Down, featured an outstanding performance by Lumpy Stevens which enabled England to win by 51 runs. ^[12] England scored 179 (Miller 50, Clifford 33*, Lumpy 31) and 101. In reply, Hampshire scored 169 (Lumpy 4w) and 60 (Lumpy 6w). So, besides a useful score of 31, Lumpy achieved a 10wM which included his bowled victims only. ^[13]

Other events

Duke & Son of Penshurst made the first-ever six-seam cricket ball. ^[14]

There were three matches in which Alresford Cricket Club played a combined Odiham & Alton team. Alresford won the first on Odiham Down by 6 wickets, and Odiham & Alton won the others by margins of 100 runs and 10 runs. Hampshire players Richard Aubrey Veck and Tom Taylor played for Alresford in these games, and Noah Mann for their opponents. The Odiham & Alton teams included players called Beldam (sic) and Wells. Wells may have been James, elder brother of John Wells, while Beldam could have been George Beldham, the elder brother of Billy Beldham, who was still only 14 in 1780. ^{[15] [16]}

A single innings match took place 8 August between Maidenhead and Chertsey. The venue was Priestwood Common. Maidenhead won by 5 runs. A handful of Maidenhead's players in this game later played for the Oldfield club. ^[15]

Notes

1. Some eleven-a-side matches played from 1772 to 1863 have been rated "first-class" by certain sources. ^[1] However, the term only came into common use around 1864, when overarm bowling was legalised. It 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, but pre-1895 matches of the same standard have no official definition of status because the ruling is not retrospective. ^[2] Matches of a similar standard since the beginning of the 1864 season are generally considered to have an unofficial first-class status. ^[3] Pre-1864 matches which are included in the ACS' "Important Match Guide" may generally be regarded as important or, at least, historically significant. ^[4] For further information, see First-class cricket.

References

1. "FC Matches in England in 1772" . CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
2. Wisden (1948). Preston, Hubert (ed.). Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (85th ed.). London: Sporting Handbooks Ltd. p. 813. OCLC   851705816.
3. ACS 1982, pp. 4–5.
4. ACS 1981, pp. 1–40.
5. Haygarth 1996, pp. 45–46.
6. "Dorset's XI v Mann's XI" . CricketArchive. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
7. Haygarth 1996, p. 43.
8. "Mann's XI v Dorset's XI" . CricketArchive. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
9. Haygarth 1996, p. 44.
10. "England v Hampshire" . CricketArchive. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
11. Haygarth 1996, p. 45.
12. "Hampshire v England" . CricketArchive. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
13. Haygarth 1996, p. 46.
14. Bowen 1970, p. 266.
15. Waghorn 2005, pp. 52–53.
16. Buckley 1937, pp. 9–10.

Bibliography

• ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709–1863. Nottingham: ACS. OCLC   85045528.
• ACS (1982). A Guide to FC Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles. Nottingham: ACS. OCLC   10586869.
• Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. ISBN   978-04-13278-60-9.
• Buckley, G. B. (1937). Fresh Light on pre-Victorian Cricket. Birmingham: Cotterell & Co. OCLC   23469107.
• Haygarth, Arthur (1996) [1862]. Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826). Kennington: Frederick Lillywhite. ISBN   978-19-00592-23-9.
• Waghorn, H. T. (2005) [1906]. The Dawn of Cricket. London: J. W. McKenzie. ISBN   978-09-47821-17-3.

Further reading

• Altham, H. S.; Swanton, E. W. (1962). A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914) (5th ed.). London: George Allen & Unwin. OCLC   894274808.
• Birley, Derek (1999). A Social History of English Cricket. London: Aurum Press. ISBN   978-18-54107-10-7 – via Internet Archive.
• Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. London: HarperCollins. ISBN   978-00-07183-64-7 – via Internet Archive.
• Wilson, Martin (2005). An Index to Waghorn. London: Bodyline Books (limited edition, by subscription only).