1797 English cricket season

1797 English cricket season

← 1796 1798 →

1797 was the eleventh season of cricket in England since the foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). It also marked the completion of 200 years since the earliest known definite reference to the sport in January 1597 (Julian date). MCC enjoyed great success on the field, winning nine of their eleven known matches. Details of 21 matches are known. ^{[note 1]}

Matches

Date	Match Title	Venue	Source	Result
11–12 May (Th-F)	MCC v Middlesex	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB214	MCC won by 6 wkts
15–16 May (M-Tu)	C Lennox v Earl of Winchilsea	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB214	Lennox's XI won by 132 runs
19–20 May (F-S)	Lennox v Earl of Winchilsea	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB215	Winchilsea's XI won by innings & 94 runs
WDC has this game taking place on 10–11 May and ACS includes both entries. The above is believed correct.
24–27 May (W-S)	MCC v Middlesex	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB216	MCC won by 288 runs
6–9 June (T-F)	All-England v Surrey	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB216	All-England won by 6 wkts
12–13 June (M-T)	Montpelier v MCC ^	Montpelier Gardens	SB217	MCC won by 42 runs
19–23 June (M-F)	All-England v Surrey	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB218	All-England won by 23 runs
This was postponed till Mon 3 July: it must have rained.
26–27 June (M-T)	MCC v Montpelier ^	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB218	MCC won by 5 wkts
4–6 July (Tu-Th)	C Lennox v Earl of Winchilsea	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB219	Winchilsea's XI won by 4 wkts
10–12 July (M-W)	MCC v London	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB220	MCC won by 109 runs
12–13 July (W-Th)	All-England v Surrey & Middlesex	Montpelier Gardens	SB221	S/M won by 4 wkts
20–21 July (Th-F)	Earl of Winchilsea v C Lennox	Swaffham Racecourse	SB223	Winchilsea's XI won by 27 runs
S&B calls this Earl of Winchilsea v Beauclerk but that is unlikely; Britcher has Lennox as the patron and that seems more probable at this time.
7-8 Aug (M-Tu)	Hampshire v MCC	Stoke Down	SB224	MCC won by 113 runs
14-16 Aug (M-W)	MCC v Hampshire	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB225	MCC won by 6 wkts
17 Aug (Th)	Montpelier M&S v Montpelier Thur	Montpelier Gardens	FLPV	M&S won by 53 runs
This a game between two sections of the Montpelier Club: i.e., its Monday & Saturday members versus its Thursday members.
21-23 Aug (M-W)	All-England v MCC	Moulsey Hurst	SB226	MCC won by 6 wkts
23-24 Aug (W-Th)	Woolwich v Croydon #	Barrack Field, Woolwich	brit	Woolwich won by 23 runs
# This match was unknown until Britcher’s scores came to light recently. It is a minor match involving the same teams as in the game reported by WDC on 27 Sept. Both sources refer to the counties in their match titles (Kent v Surrey) but they are definitely the Woolwich and Croydon clubs playing in each game.
28-31 Aug (M-Th)	MCC v All-England	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB226	All-England won by 8 wkts
4-6 Sept (M-W)	Montpelier v MCC ^	Montpelier Gardens	SB227	Montpelier won by 6 wkts
^ Montpelier’s teams in these three games against MCC were much stronger than the normal club sides of the time, especially with given men. The majority of players are recognised and these are major fixtures.
21-26 Sept (Th-Tu)	MCC v All-England	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB228	MCC won by 4 wkts
There was no Sunday play in this game (i.e., on Sun 24 Sept).
27 Sept (W)	Woolwich v Croydon #	Barrack Field, Woolwich	WDC	Woolwich won by 179 runs
# WDC calls this "Kent v Surrey" but the teams were weak and unrepresentative of the counties so it was surely a rematch of Woolwich v Croydon on 23–24 August.|-

First mentions

• John Bennett (Hampshire cricketer) – played 61 matches from 1797 to 1818
• John Gibbons (MCC cricketer) (MCC; amateur) – played 18 matches from 1797 to 1801
• J. Pontifex (MCC; amateur) – played 15 matches from 1797 to 1810
• Hon. Charles Douglas (MCC; amateur) – played 13 matches from 1797 to 1799
• Benjamin Clifton (Middlesex; amateur) – played eleven matches from 1797 to 1798
• G. Cooper (MCC cricketer) (MCC; amateur) – played six matches from 1797 to 1807
• Earl of Dalkeith (MCC; amateur) – played four matches in 1797
• May (Hampshire cricketer) – played four matches from 1797 to 1798
• Lord Yarmouth (MCC and Surrey; amateur) – played three matches from 1797 to 1799
• Clair (Hampshire cricketer) – played two matches from 1797 to 1803
• Gunnell (Surrey cricketer) – played two matches from 1797 to 1810
• Wilson (Surrey cricketer) – played two matches from 1797 to 1809

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.

Lord Frederick Beauclerk scored 758 runs to top the 1797 run-scoring list

Others who scored more than 200 runs were John Hammond 603; John Tufton 592; Tom Walker 491; William Beldham 430; Edward Bligh 382; William Fennex 346; Robert Robinson 310; James Aylward 296; Charles Lennox 270; Henry Tufton 246; Harry Walker 243; Jack Small 227; Thomas Ray 214

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.

Lord Frederick Beauclerk with a massive haul of 66 wickets was easily the top bowler

Other leading wicket-takers were John Wells 31; Thomas Boxall 24; Thomas Lord 20; Sylvester 20; John Hammond 18

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.

Thomas Ray took the most known catches with 19 but he may have been beaten by John Tufton who definitely took 18 (plus one definite stumping) but could have had more. The Tufton brothers again starred in the field and Henry was the best keeper with 11 ct, 15 st. There were another 3 catches and 3 stumpings credited to one or other of the Tuftons.

Other good performances were by Charles Lennox 16 ct, 1 st; Lord Frederick Beauclerk 12 ct; John Wells 11 ct 5 st; Edward Bligh 10 ct; William Beldham 9 ct; William Fennex 9 ct; Andrew Freemantle 9 ct; John Hammond 9 ct, 7 st; Sylvester 8 ct

Notes

1. Some eleven-a-side matches played before 1864 have been rated "first-class" by certain sources, but there was no such standard at the time. The term came into common use from around 1864, when overarm bowling was legalised, and 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. However, matches of a similar standard since the beginning of the 1864 season are generally considered to have an unofficial first-class status. ^[1] Pre-1864 matches which are included in the ACS' "Important Match Guide" may generally be regarded as top-class or, at least, historically significant. ^[2] For further information, see First-class cricket.

References

1. ACS 1982, pp. 4–5.
2. ACS 1981, pp. 1–40.

Bibliography

• ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709–1863. Nottingham: ACS.
• ACS (1982). A Guide to First-class Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles. Nottingham: ACS.

• Buckley, G. B. (1935). Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Cotterell.
• Haygarth, Arthur (1862). Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826). Lillywhite.
• Waghorn, H. T. (1906). The Dawn of Cricket. Electric Press.
• Wilson, Martin (2005). An Index to Waghorn. Bodyline.

Further reading

• Altham, H. S. (1962). A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914). George Allen & Unwin.
• Birley, Derek (1999). A Social History of English Cricket. Aurum.
• Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. Eyre & Spottiswoode.
• Britcher, Samuel, A list of all the principal Matches of Cricket that have been played (1790 to 1805), annual series
• Buckley, G. B. (1937). Fresh Light on pre-Victorian Cricket. Cotterell.
• McCann, Tim (2004). Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century. Sussex Record Society.
• Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. HarperCollins.