Berkshire county cricket team (1769–1795)

For the modern club, see Berkshire County Cricket Club.

Berkshire county cricket team (1769–1795)

Team information
Established	before 1769
Last match	1795
History
Notable players	George Boult Gilbert East Edward Winter

The Berkshire county cricket team played several important matches between 1769 and 1795.

Early history

Cricket was definitely being played in Surrey around 1550, and it is assumed that it must have arrived in neighbouring Berkshire soon afterwards. ^{[1] [2] [3]} Even so, it was not until 1740 that the first matches involving the county were recorded, when a combined Berkshire/Buckinghamshire/Hertfordshire team played two matches against London. ^[4] There had been earlier references to cricket in Eton College records, though Eton was then part of Buckinghamshire, albeit on the county boundary. ^[5]

1769 to 1795

Berkshire was first recorded as a county team in its own right when it played Surrey in June 1769. From then until 1795, Berkshire's matches are recognised as important. ^{[6] [note 1]} In August 1795, Berkshire lost to MCC at Lord's and then abruptly ceased to appear in the records.

Players

Among those who played for Berkshire were George Boult, Gilbert East, William Fennex, J. Finch, S. Gill, N. Graham, James Harding, David Harris, Thomas Ingram, Richard Lawrence, Thomas Ray, Joey Ring, Thomas Shackle, Tom Taylor, and Edward Winter. Several of these players, including Hambledon's Harris and Taylor, appeared for Berkshire as given men.

Aftermath

Eventually, by 1841, a loose association of Berkshire clubs had been formed, and the present Berkshire County Cricket Club was established in 1895. ^[11] The club joined the Minor Counties Championship in 1896. ^[12]

Maidenhead and Oldfield

Oldfield Cricket Club, which played at Old Field, Bray, in the east of the county, contested eight important matches between 1793 and 1795. ^[13] Many of the same players who represented Berkshire also played for Oldfield and Maidenhead, and the three teams, which never played each other, were more or less the same. ^{[14] [15] [16] [17]}

Notes

1. Some eleven-a-side matches played from 1772 to 1863 have been rated "first-class" by certain sources. ^[7] 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. ^[8] Matches of a similar standard since the beginning of the 1864 season are generally considered to have an unofficial first-class status. ^[9] Pre-1864 matches which are included in the ACS' "Important Match Guide" may generally be regarded as important or, at least, historically significant. ^[10] For further information, see First-class cricket.

References

1. Bowen 1970, p. 261.
2. Major 2007, p. 19.
3. Underdown 2000, pp. 3–4.
4. Waghorn 1899, p. 25.
5. "Berkshire CCC—History". Berkshire Cricket Foundation. Retrieved 3 January 2026.
6. Berkshire (pre-county club, CricketArchive. Retrieved 7 June 2024. (subscription required)
7. "First-Class Matches in England in 1772" . CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
8. Wisden (1948). Preston, Hubert (ed.). Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (85th ed.). London: Sporting Handbooks Ltd. p. 813. OCLC   851705816.
9. ACS 1982, pp. 4–5.
10. ACS 1981, pp. 1–40.
11. Bowen 1970, p. 272.
12. "Minor Counties Championship (1895–2019)". CricketHistory. Retrieved 3 January 2026.
13. Oldfield, CricketArchive. Retrieved 7 June 2024. (subscription required)
14. Club history, Maidenhead and Bray Cricket Club. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
15. G. B. Buckley, Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket, Cotterell, 1935
16. Arthur Haygarth, Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826), Lillywhite, 1862
17. H. T. Waghorn, The Dawn of Cricket, Electric Press, 1906

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.
• Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. ISBN   978-04-13278-60-9.
• Buckley, G. B. (1935). Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Birmingham: Cotterell & Co. OCLC   23450280.
• Haygarth, Arthur (1997) [1862]. Scores & Biographies, Volume 2 (1827–1840). Kennington: Frederick Lillywhite. ISBN   978-19-00592-23-9.
• Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. London: HarperCollins. ISBN   978-00-07183-64-7 – via Internet Archive.
• Underdown, David (2000). Start of Play. Westminster: Allen Lane. ISBN   978-07-13993-30-1 – via Internet Archive.
• Waghorn, H. T. (1899). Cricket Scores, Notes, &c. From 1730–1773. Edinburgh: Blackwood. OCLC   1086375331.
• Waghorn, H. T. (2005) [1906]. The Dawn of Cricket. London: J. W. McKenzie. ISBN   978-09-47821-17-3.