1816 English cricket season

1816 English cricket season

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1816 was the 30th season of cricket in England since the foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Manchester Cricket Club was founded and became the forerunner of Lancashire County Cricket Club (founded in 1864). Details of eight matches are known. ^{[note 1]}

Honours

• Most runs ^{[note 2]} – William Lambert 363 (HS 74)
• Most wickets – Thomas Howard 30 (BB 5–?)

Events

• The 1816 season saw the formation of the Manchester Cricket Club which took part in a number of major matches until Lancashire CCC was established in 1864. Manchester was representative of Lancashire as a county in the same way that Sheffield Cricket Club and Nottingham Cricket Club represented Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire.
• The issue of roundarm bowling was already controversial enough in 1816 for Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) to amend the Laws of Cricket to prohibit it: ^[3]

The ball must be bowled (not thrown or jerked), and be delivered underhand, with the hand below the elbow. But if the ball be jerked, or the arm extended from the body horizontally, and any part of the hand be uppermost, or the hand horizontally extended when the ball is delivered, the Umpires shall call "No Ball".

• With cricket recovering from the effects of the Napoleonic War, a total of 8 first-class matches were recorded in 1816:
  • 10–11 June — MCC v Hampshire @ Lord's Cricket Ground ^[4]
  • 17–19 June — E H Budd's XI v G Osbaldeston's XI @ Lord's Cricket Ground ^[5]
  • 24–25 June — MCC v Hampshire @ Lord's Cricket Ground ^[6]
  • 3–6 July — All-England v The Bs @ Lord's Cricket Ground ^[6]
  • 29 July–2 August — Sussex v Epsom @ Lord's Cricket Ground ^[7]
  • 5–6 August — Gentlemen of All-England v Old Etonians @ Lord's Cricket Ground ^[8]
  • 14–16 August — MCC v Middlesex @ Lord's Cricket Ground ^[9]
  • 21–23 August — Epsom v Hampshire @ Epsom Down ^[10]

Debutants

1816 debutants included:

• Thomas Beagley (Hants)
• Charles Holloway (Hampshire)
• Henry Lillywhite (Hampshire)
• John Mills (Hampshire)
• James Thumwood (Hampshire)
• H. Mitchell (Hampshire)
• John Thumwood (Hampshire)
• James Baker (Sussex)
• James Bray (Sussex)
• Thomas Bache (MCC)
• T. Price (Hampshire)

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.
2. 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.

References

1. ACS 1982, pp. 4–5.
2. ACS 1981, pp. 1–40.
3. Haygarth, p.385–387.
4. Haygarth, p.388.
5. Haygarth, p.389.
6. Haygarth, p.390.
7. Haygarth, p.393.
8. Haygarth, p.394.
9. Haygarth, p.395.
10. Haygarth, p.396.

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

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.
• Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. HarperCollins.