1782 English cricket season

Last updated November 05, 2019

The 1782 English cricket season was the 11th in which matches have been awarded retrospective first-class cricket status. The scorecards of four first-class matches have survived. The great fast bowler David Harris made his first-class debut and the Hambledon Club moved to Windmill Down as a new home venue.

First-class cricket is an official classification of the highest-standard international or domestic matches in the sport of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adjudged to be worthy of the status by virtue of the standard of the competing teams. Matches must allow for the teams to play two innings each although, in practice, a team might play only one innings or none at all.

David Harris was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket from 1782 to 1798.

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.

Matches

Four first-class match scorecards survive from 1782, three of them matches between Kent XIs and Hampshire XIs. The other match was between a Hampshire XI and an England side.^[1]^[2]

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 generally accepted as the birthplace of the sport. It is widely believed that cricket was first played by children living on the Weald in Saxon or Norman times. The world's earliest known organised match was held in Kent c.1611 and the county has always been at the forefront of cricket's development through the growth of village cricket in the 17th century to representative matches in the 18th. A Kent team took part in the earliest known inter-county match, which was played on Dartford Brent in 1709. Several famous players and patrons were involved in Kent cricket from then until the creation of the first county club in 1842. Among them were William Bedle, Robert Colchin and the 3rd Duke of Dorset. Kent were generally regarded as the strongest county team in the first half of the 18th century and were always one of the main challengers to the dominance of Hambledon in the second half. County cricket ceased through the Napoleonic War and was resurrected in 1826 when Kent played Sussex. By the 1830s, Kent had again become the strongest county and remained so until mid-century.

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. Given that the first definite mention of cricket anywhere in the world is dated c.1550 in Guildford, in neighbouring Surrey, it is almost certain that the game had reached Hampshire by the 16th century.

Other events

The Hampshire Chronicle reported in June the first meeting on Windmill Down, referring to the ground as "a field called the New Broad Halfpenny adjoining to the Town of Hambledon".^[3]

Windmill Down is a rural location near the town of Hambledon in Hampshire. From 1782 to 1795, it was the home of the Hambledon Club as a noted cricket venue.

First mentions

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The 1773 English cricket season was the second in which matches have been awarded retrospective first-class cricket status. The scorecards of eight first-class matches have survived.

The 1774 English cricket season was the third in which matches have been awarded retrospective first-class cricket status. The scorecards of five first-class matches have survived.

The 1775 English cricket season was the fourth in which matches have been awarded retrospective first-class cricket status. The scorecards of four first-class matches have survived.

The 1776 English cricket season was the fifth in which matches have been awarded retrospective first-class cricket status. The scorecards of seven first-class matches have survived. The earliest printed cricket scorecard templates were introduced during 1776.

The 1777 English cricket season was the sixth in which matches have been awarded retrospective first-class cricket status. The scorecards of six first-class matches have survived. James Aylward made a record score of 167 runs that stood until 1820.

The 1778 English cricket season was the seventh in which matches have been awarded retrospective first-class cricket status. The scorecards of five first-class matches have survived.

The 1779 English cricket season was the eighth in which matches have been awarded retrospective first-class cricket status. The scorecards of five first-class matches have survived.

The 1780 English cricket season was the ninth in which matches have been awarded retrospective first-class cricket status. The scorecards of four first-class matches have survived. The first six-seam cricket balls were used during the season.

The 1781 English cricket season was the 10th in which matches have been awarded retrospective first-class cricket status. The scorecards of six first-class matches have survived. Broadhalfpenny Down in Hampshire was abandoned in favour of Windmill Down and the earliest known mention of cricket in Lancashire has been found during the season.

The 1783 English cricket season was the 12th in which matches have been awarded retrospective first-class cricket status. The scorecards of four first-class matches have survived.

The 1784 English cricket season was the 13th in which matches have been awarded retrospective first-class cricket status. The scorecard of only one first-class match has survived.

The 1785 English cricket season was the 14th after matches were first awarded retrospective first-class cricket status. The season saw no top-class matches played in the country.

1789 was the third season of cricket in England since the foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). While Hampshire were playing Kent on Windmill Down, the Storming of the Bastille was taking place in Paris and the French Revolution ended the first cricket overseas tour before it even began.

1790 was the fourth season of cricket in England since the foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). It 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 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 features fourteen scorecards, including six from matches played at Lord's Old Ground, the MCC venue.

References

↑ Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) (1981) A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709 – 1863. Nottingham: ACS.
↑ Results, English Domestic Season 1782, CricInfo. Retrieved 2019-03-11.
↑ Buckley GB (1935) Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket, p.94. Cotterell.