1789_English_cricket_season

1789 English cricket season

In the 1789 English cricket season, while Hampshire played Kent on Windmill Down, the Storming of the Bastille was taking place in Paris and the French Revolution ended the first cricket overseas tour before it even began.

Matches

Date	Match title	Venue	Source	Result
22-23 May (F-S)	Sir H Mann v S Amherst	Coxheath	FLPV	Amherst's XI won by 5 wkts

25 May (M)	Gents of All-England v Middlesex	Lord's (Dorset Square)	WDC	Middlesex won by innings & 64 runs

3-4 June (W-Th)	Earl of Earl of Winchilsea v Sir H Mann	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB91	Earl of Winchilsea's XI won by 140 runs
This match was postponed after 4 June and completed on Mon 15 & Tues 16 June 1789
8 June (M)	Uxbridge v Moulsey Hurst	New Ground, Uxbridge Moor	SB91	MH won by 53 runs
Uxbridge was arguably a Middlesex XI and Moulsey Hurst arguably a Surrey XI. The majority of players are recognised so it is a major fixture.
10-12 June (W-F)	Surrey v Kent	Moulsey Hurst	SB92	Kent won by 3 wkts

26-27 Jun (F-S)	All-England XIII v Hampshire	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB93	Hampshire won by 6 wkts
This match was postponed after 27 June and completed on Thurs 2 July 1789
29-30 June (M-Tu)	Sir H Mann v S Amherst	Coxheath	SB93	Mann's XI won by 8 runs

8-9 July (W-Th)	MCC v Essex #	Lord's (Dorset Square)	FL18	Essex won by 102 runs

13-14 July (M-Tu)	Hampshire v Kent	Windmill Down	SB94	Kent won by 56 runs
The Storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris on Tuesday 14 July at the outset of the French Revolution
23-25 July (Th-S)	All-England v Kent	New Ground, Uxbridge Moor	SB95	All-England won by innings & 10 runs

30 July - 1 Aug (Th-S)	Surrey v Hampshire	Moulsey Hurst	FLPV	Surrey won by 221 runs
Neither side was fully representative of the counties, but the majority of players are recognised so the match is included as a major fixture.
4-5 Aug (Tu-W)	Sir H Mann v S Amherst	Coxheath	SB96	Mann's XI won by 57 runs

6-7 Aug (Th-F)	Essex v MCC #	Langton Park, Hornchurch	FLPV	Essex won by 6 wkts
Re the Essex v MCC games, some reports referred to the Essex side as Hornchurch. The Hornchurch Club at this time was representative of Essex as a county.
11-14 Aug (Tu-F)	Kent v Surrey	Bishopsbourne	SB96	Surrey won by 9 wkts

18-21 Aug (Tu-F)	Kent v Hampshire	Bishopsbourne	SB97	Hampshire won by 29 runs

2-5 Sept (W-S)	All-England v Hampshire	Sevenoaks Vine	SB98	Hampshire won by 15 runs

7-9 Sept (M-W)	Middlesex v London	Lord's (Dorset Square)	FLPV	London won by 2 wkts
Excluded from earlier classifications due to "weak teams" and a view that Middlesex was really the Uxbridge club. The majority of players are recognised so this is a major match here.
10-11 Sept (Th-F)	Chelsea v MCC	Chelsea	FLPV	drawn?
This was definitely not a major fixture, due to lack of recognised players. It was "postponed till next week" but no report of a conclusion has been found. In Chelsea's second innings, the scorecard shows all eleven batsmen as out!
18-19 Sept (F-S)	Bridge & Bourne v Aldington	Bishopsbourne	FLPV	B&B won by 7 wkts
This game included James Aylward as a given man to Aldington. There were a handful of recognised players taking part.
21 Sept (M)	Leicester v Nottingham ^	Loughborough	SB99	Nottingham won by innings & 16 runs

23-24 Sept (W-Th)	East Kent v Isle of Thanet	Dandelion Paddock, Margate	FLPV	East Kent won by 10 wkts

5-6 Oct (M-Tu)	Leicester v Nottingham ^	Loughborough	SB100	Leicester won by 1 run
This match was postponed after 6 October and completed on Mon 2 November 1789 ^ The two games at Loughborough are held to be major fixtures for historical reasons and also because the teams were representative of the two cities if not the whole counties also. Furthermore, most of the players involved played for their teams against good quality MCC sides in 1791.
7 Oct (W)	Gordon Castle Club v 55th Regiment	Aberdeen	FLPV	Gordon CC won by innings & 258 runs
This match was evidently organised by the Hon. Charles Lennox who scored 136 for the Gordon Castle Club.

Other events

John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset, famous for both his cricket connections and his ambassadorship to France, tried to organise a tour of France by a team of English cricketers. The team, which included William Yalden, assembled in London and travelled to Dover where, unexpectedly, they met the Duke himself coming the other way. He was fleeing for his life from the French Revolution. So the intended first-ever overseas tour became instead the first tour to be cancelled for political reasons!

First mentions

Thomas Boxall
Edward Bligh
John Walker
Charles Anguish
Robert Turner
Thomas Scott
Richard Wyatt
George Dehaney
Jacob White
Cantrell (Middlesex cricketer) – played 8 matches from 1789 to 1792
Grange (Middlesex cricketer) – played 9 matches from 1789 to 1792
W Palmer (Kent cricketer) (Kent; amateur) – played 9 matches from 1789 to 1795
Thomas Twistleton (MCC; amateur) – played 7 matches from 1789 to 1796
John Bligh, 4th Earl of Darnley (MCC; amateur) – played 27 matches from 1789 to 1796
Edward Hale (cricketer) (Hampshire; amateur) – played 3 matches from 1789 to 1797
John Stevens (cricketer) (Essex) – played 17 matches from 1789 to 1799
Mark Graham (cricketer) (Leics) – played 5 matches from 1789 to 1800
T Watts (Leicestershire cricketer) (Leics) – played 5 matches from 1789 to 1800
Butler (Middlesex cricketer) – played 21 matches from 1789 to 1801
Richard Stringer (Leics) – played 6 matches from 1789 to 1803
Robert Warsop (Notts) – played 6 matches from 1789 to 1803
T Webb (Middlesex cricketer) – played 8 matches from 1789 to 1808
Dale (Middlesex cricketer) – played 22 matches from 1789 to 1809
T Shackle (Middlesex cricketer) (Berkshire/Middlesex) – played 30 matches from 1789 to 1809
W Turner (MCC cricketer) (MCC; amateur) – played 10 matches from 1789 to 1809
W Barker (Nottinghamshire cricketer) (Notts) – played four matches to 1792
W Barsby (Leicestershire cricketer) (Leics) – played four matches to 1792
R Black (Leicestershire cricketer) (Leics) – played four matches to 1800
Brown (Kent cricketer) (Kent) – played four matches to 1791
Carr (Essex cricketer) (Essex) – played four matches to 1791
W Clarke (Leicestershire cricketer) (Leics) – played four matches to 1792
J Gilbert (Nottinghamshire cricketer) (Notts) – played four matches to 1792
Goodhew (Kent cricketer) (Kent) – played four matches to 1795
Hicks (Essex cricketer) aka Higgs (Essex) – played four matches to 1799
J Rowell (Leicestershire cricketer) (Leics) – played four matches to 1792
E Stevenson (Nottinghamshire cricketer) (Notts) – played four matches to 1792
S Willows (Nottinghamshire cricketer) (Notts) – played four matches to 1792
Church (Kent cricketer) (MCC/Kent) – played three matches to 1795
Granger (Middlesex cricketer) (Middlesex) – played three matches to 1792
Groombridge (Essex cricketer) (Essex) – played three matches to 1793
G Harrison (Nottinghamshire cricketer) (Notts) – played three matches to 1792
S Hedderley (Nottinghamshire cricketer) (Notts) – played three matches to 1791
Mugglestone (Nottinghamshire cricketer) (Notts) – played three matches to 1791
J Stevenson (Nottinghamshire cricketer) (Notts) – played three matches to 1791
Vincent (Surrey cricketer) (Surrey; amateur) – played three matches to 1789
W Warsop (Nottinghamshire cricketer) (Notts) – played three matches to 1791

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.

William Beldham with 306 scored the most known runs in 1789.

Other leading batsmen were James Aylward with 297 runs; John Wells 240; Harry Walker 228; Tom Walker 225; Richard Purchase 224; John Small 222; Thomas Ingram 219; George Louch 215; William Brazier 210; Joey Ring 198

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.

Robert Clifford with 39 took the most known wickets in 1789.

Other leading wicket-takers were David Harris with 38; Richard Purchase 30; John Boorman 25; William Bullen 25; Butcher 19; Noah Mann 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.

Robert Clifford was also the most successful fielder with 16 known victims (15 ct, 1 st)

William Beldham took 15 catches, John Wells had 14 victims (13 ct, 1 st), star fielder George Louch took 12 catches and there were 9 catches each taken by John Boorman, William Bullen and Henry Crozoer.