1814 English cricket season

Last updated November 28, 2025

1814 was the 28th season of cricket in England since the foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). The current Lord's was opened and staged its first match. Jem Broadbridge made his debut in important matches. Details of four matches are known.^{[note 1]}

Honours

The site of Lord's Middle Ground was requisitioned by Parliament for the building of the Regent's Canal. Thomas Lord contacted the Eyre family, erstwhile owners of the ground, and persuaded them to lease to him another parcel of land in St John's Wood, about half a mile further north at a place called North Bank. This site had previously been a duckpond. In the winter of 1813–14, Lord again had his turf literally dug up and removed. He built a high perimeter fence, a tavern and a pavilion at what became the current Lord's ground.
On 22 June 1814, MCC played the first match at Lord's against Hertfordshire, then as now a minor county.
The first match of importance at Lord's was played 13–15 July 1814 when MCC hosted a team called St John's Wood that included a number of Surrey players including William Beldham, William Lambert and William Ward.
Jem Broadbridge made his first-class debut.
With the Napoleonic War at its height, cricket continued to be badly impacted by the consequent loss of both manpower and investment. First-class matches had become few and far between since 1810 and only 4 are recorded in 1814:
- 13–15 July — MCC v St John's Wood @ Lord's^[3]
- 28–29 July — Brighton v Epsom @ Royal New Ground, Brighton
- 2–4 August — Lord Frederick Beauclerk's XI v Douglas Kinnaird's XI @ Lord's^[4]
Another match that has sometimes been regarded as important is Beauclerk's XI v George Osbaldeston's XI @ Goodwood Park on 22–23 July.

1814 debutants included:

↑ 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.
↑ Scorecards created in the first quarter of the 19th century are not necessarily accurate or complete; therefore any summary of runs, wickets or catches can only represent the known totals and computation of averages is ineffectual.

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.
Haygarth, Arthur (1862). Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826). Lillywhite.