1809 English cricket season

1809 English cricket season

← 1808 1810 →

1809 was the 23rd season of cricket in England since the foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Thomas Lord opened his Middle Ground after refusing to pay increased rent at the Old Ground. Details of eight matches are known. ^{[note 1]}

Events

• MCC made revisions to the Laws of Cricket which were republished in their entirety. ^[5]
• The umpires were required to select the pitch from 1809 with choice of innings to be decided by toss. ^[6]
• It is about this time that the no-ball rule was first applied re the bowler's foot being over the crease. It would be applied to throwing in 1816. ^[6]
• Lord's Old Ground, home of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), had become the accepted venue for all great matches and it was the ambition of every aspiring cricketer to play there. But Lord's was already losing its rural character as London expanded and began to surround it. The landlord, Mr Portman, felt able to increase the rent and so Thomas Lord decided to seek another venue. The lease on the "Old Ground" was due to expire on Lady Day in 1810 but Lord moved fast and, by May 1809, had secured a lease on another plot of land, part of the St John's Wood estate which belonged to the Eyre family. He opened this "Middle Ground" in time for the 1809 season but MCC at first refused to relocate and continued to play at the Old Ground until the winter of 1810–11 when Lord staged a fait accompli by literally seizing "his turf" which was dug up and moved to the Middle Ground.
• John Sherman made his debut. His career continued to 1852 and is the joint-longest on record, equalled only by W. G. Grace from 1865 to 1908.
• With the Napoleonic War continuing, loss of investment and manpower impacted cricket and only eight matches have been recorded in 1809:
  • 1–3 June – MCC v England @ Lord's Old Ground ^[7]
  • 13–16 June – MCC v England @ Lord's Old Ground ^[7]
  • 27–29 June – England v Surrey @ Lord's Old Ground ^[8]
  • 11–13 July – Surrey v England @ Holt Pound, Farnham ^[9]
  • 17–20 July – England v Four Chosen & Seven Others @ Lord's Old Ground ^[9]
  • 22–24 August – England v Surrey @ Bowman's Lodge, Dartford ^[10]
  • 5–7 September – England v Surrey @ Lord's Old Ground ^[11]
  • 20–22 September – Lord F Beauclerk's XI v FC Ladbroke's XI @ Lord's Old Ground ^[11]

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 top-class or, at least, historically significant. ^[4] For further information, see First-class cricket.

References

1. "First-Class 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, pp. 348–350
6. Bowen, p. 269.
7. Haygarth, p. 351.
8. Haygarth, p. 352.
9. Haygarth, p. 353.
10. Haygarth, p. 354.
11. Haygarth, p. 355.

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 First-class Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles. Nottingham: ACS. OCLC   10586869.
• Haygarth, Arthur (1996) [1862]. Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826). Kennington: Frederick Lillywhite. ISBN   978-19-00592-23-9.
• Warner, Pelham (1946). Lords: 1787–1945. London: Harrap. OCLC   877106024.

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.