1785 English cricket season

1785 English cricket season

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Arthur Haygarth bemoaned a lack of fixtures in the 1785 English cricket season although there were actually no less than in the previous few seasons. There is a historical significance in that state of affairs because it reflected the decline of the Hambledon Club's influence, while the emergence of the White Conduit Club foreshadowed a shift in focus by the cricket authorities from rural to metropolitan. Details of 17 matches are known. ^{[note 1]}

White Conduit

The first match definitely known to involve a team representing White Conduit Club took place 30 June and 1 July against the Gentlemen of Kent on White Conduit Fields. Although they were "gentlemen only" teams, most of the players were quite well-known. White Conduit won by 304 runs. ^[5]

County matches

There were three inter-county matches of a good standard. All involved Essex who played Middlesex (twice) and Berkshire. The first Middlesex v Essex match was in May on Kennington Common, for £500 a***ALERT***. Middlesex had George Boult and William Fennex as given men. Essex won by 6 wickets. ^[6]

Essex met Berkshire in June on Datchet Common. Berkshire won by 148 runs. ^[6] The return match against Middlesex was also in June, at Langton Park, in Hornchurch. The stake was 100 guineas, but the result is unknown. ^[7]

Other events

There were several games involving minor counties and town clubs.

Farnham played Petworth three times, winning them all. ^[8] Perhaps more ambitiously, Farnham also played Alresford, and lost by 5 wickets. ^[7] Towards the end of the season, Farnham had two matches against Hambledon. The first was on Holt Pound, where Hambledon won by an innings and 119 runs. The result of the second match, on Windmill Down, is unknown. ^[6]

Buckinghamshire defeated Hertfordshire by 16 runs at Nottis Green, in Beaconsfield. Later, Buckinghamshire met Berkshire and lost by 215 runs. ^{[7] [6]}

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, p. 62.
6. Waghorn 2005, pp. 64–74.
7. Buckley 1935, pp. 103–107.
8. McCann 2004, pp. 111–115.

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.
• Buckley, G. B. (1935). Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Birmingham: Cotterell & Co. OCLC   23450280.
• Haygarth, Arthur (1996) [1862]. Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826). Kennington: Frederick Lillywhite. ISBN   978-19-00592-23-9.
• McCann, Tim (2004). Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century (PDF). Vol. 88. Lewes: West Sussex Record Office. ISBN   978-08-54450-55-8.
• 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.
• Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. ISBN   978-04-13278-60-9.
• 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).