1782 English cricket season

In the 1782 English cricket season, the great fast bowler David Harris made his first-class debut and the Hambledon Club moved to Windmill Down as a new home venue.

Matches

Date	Match Title	Venue	Source	Result
27 May (M)	Alresford & Odiham v Hampshire	Odiham Down	WDC	result unknown
The intended teams were announced beforehand. Alresford & Odiham: David Harris, Mr G T Boult, Noah Mann, Andrew Freemantle, Richard Veck, Tom Taylor, Hawkins, Butler, Pragnell, T Skinner, W Hall. Hampshire County: Richard Nyren, John Small, Tom Sueter, George Leer, Edward Aburrow, Stewart, John Hammond, Brett, Richard Purchase, J Paddick, Newland. It is believed that Stewart and Brett are perhaps younger members of those families and not the two famous players of those names, who had already retired.
25 June (Tu)	Hampshire v Alresford & Odiham	venue unknown	FL18	result unknown
Hampshire is described in the Hampshire Chronicle advert as “the County of Southampton”.
3–5 July (W-F)	Kent v Hampshire	Sevenoaks Vine	SB51	Kent won by 4 wkts
Hampshire 87 (D Harris 27; E Stevens 2w) & 140 (T Sueter 48, G Leer 25; R Clifford 3w); Kent 102 (F Booker 29*, W Bedster 25; D Harris 2w) & 127-5 (W Bowra 48; N Mann 2w) This game saw the first appearances in major matches by David Harris and "Little" Joey Ring.
11-13 & 15 July (Th-M)	Hampshire v Kent	Itchin Stoke Down	SB53	Kent won by 142 runs
Kent 257 (J Aylward 75, W Bedster 63, W Bowra 50, W Brazier 37; J Freemantle 3w) & 72 (W Bowra 21; R Purchase 2w); Hampshire 121 (N Mann 33; E Stevens 2w, R Clifford 2w) & 66 (E Stevens 4w, R Clifford 4w) FL18 confirms that the game was finished on Mon 15 July owing to bad weather with play on the Saturday having been washed out.
25–26 July (Th-F)	All-England v Hampshire	Bishopsbourne Paddock	SB53	Hampshire won by 9 runs
Hampshire 88 (R Purchase 33; R Clifford 7w, W Bullen 2w) & 128 (E Aburrow 32, G Leer 23; W Bullen 2w); All-England 108 (R Clifford 28, W Brazier 26; E Stevens 4w) & 99 (R Clifford 46, W Brazier 23; R Nyren 4w)
8-10 Aug (Th-S)	Hampshire v All-England	Windmill Down	SB54	All-England won by 147 runs
All-England 115 (W Yalden 24, R Francis 21; E Stevens 2w, R Nyren 2w) & 189 (W Brazier 39, R Clifford 31, W Bullen 28, J Miller 25; E Stevens 3w, R Nyren 2w); Hampshire 64 (E Aburrow 21; R Clifford 3w, W Bullen 3w) & 93 (N Mann 44, R Purchase 23; R Clifford 3w, W Bullen 2w) This is the first recorded match which the Hambledon Club organised on Windmill Down.
13 Aug (Tu)	Odiham v Farnham	Odiham Down	WDC	Farnham won by 3 wkts
Farnham included one J Wells and two players called Beldum (sic), one of which was G Beldum while the other has no initial given. If the latter was William Beldam, as seems likely, he must have been 16 at the time and so this is his first known match. There were two Wells brothers: James was an occasional player in major matches while John was one of the greats. We cannot tell which of them played in this game.
17 August (S)	Farnham v Odiham	venue unknown	WDC	Odiham won by innings & 4 runs
This was the second game between these clubs but the teams and scores this time are unknown.
5 Sept (Th)	Hampshire v Sussex	Windmill Down	PVSC	result unknown
This was advertised in the Hampshire Chronicle on Mon 26 August with a further notice in the Hambledon Club minutes on the day of the game. George Leer was due to play for Sussex. John Small, Richard Nyren, Tom Sueter, Richard Veck, Edward Aburrow, Tom Taylor and Noah Mann were all expected to play for Hampshire.
5-6 Sept (Th-F)	Chertsey v Maidenhead	Laleham Burway	WDC	Maidenhead won by 6 wkts
Mr Waghorn has made one of his dating errors with this one. He says it was played on "Thurs 8 Sept" but 8 September was a Sunday. So it might have been on Thurs 5 September. David Harris again guested for Maidenhead (it appears he did not play for Hampshire v Sussex so this would not rule out Thurs 5 September as the date). William Bedster and two players called Woods were given men for Chertsey. A return game was arranged for Mon 16 September at Oldfield Bray but was not played. Chertsey had to pay forfeit to "the Berkshire Club", presumably for failing to arrive.
3 October (Th)	Berkshire v Odiham	Oldfield Bray	WDC	result unknown
7 October (M)	Odiham v Berkshire	Odiham Down	WDC	Odiham won
These games were pre-announced and it is interesting that the Oldfield/Maidenhead club is referred to as "the Berkshire Club", which supports the view that the club based at Oldfield Bray was a county club. The Odiham team for the first match was to be: Hawkins, Wells, David Harris, T Harris, Thumswood, Paddick, Butler, Beldam, Crate, Hart, Cordery. The Berkshire team was to be: Bedborough, Slater, Spriggs, Goldswain, George T Boult, A Boult, William Bedster, Bolton, Bunch, Polden, Lawrence. The second match seems to have been postponed incomplete and then concluded next season (see same fixture on Tues 20 May 1783).

First mentions

Other events

Tues 18 June. The Hampshire Chronicle reported the first meeting on Windmill Down, referring to the ground as "a field called the New Broad Halfpenny adjoining to the Town of Hambledon". See FL18, p. 94.

Mon 1 July. The Salisbury Journal recorded Richard Nyren as returning thanks to the public for the many favours he has received in the last 20 years (FL18).

Meanwhile, the Nottingham v Leicester saga had dragged on and was still unresolved by the end of the 1782 season. FL18 has recorded these excerpts from various issues of the Leicester Journal:

"A Card – The members of the Leicester Cricket Club present their compliments to the Nottingham Cricket Players, who have given a public challenge in the Nottingham Journal of the 22nd inst., and inform them that they are ready to meet them on any ground either in friendship or for any sum of money, provided they pay that small debt of honour which they left at Loughborough last year—upon any other condition they apprehend no Society of Credit can play with them. (L.J. Sat 29 June)

Mon. last (30 Sept) being the day appointed for playing the match at Cricket between the Nottingham and Leicester Clubs, eleven of the latter attended at Nottingham for that purpose, when the former, contrary to every principle of honour and integrity, declined playing the match on the terms agreed on at Loughborough by Messrs. Ellis and Hutchinson on the part of Nottingham and the deputies of the Leicester Club.

Such a resolution at that time needs no comment. (L.J. Sat 5 October)

Nottingham’s explanation of the above appeared in the Nottingham Journal of 12 October 1782, the gist of which is as follows :—

When the parties met at Loughborough to settle the conditions of the proposed match as to time, place and amount of money, the Leicester deputies insisted on 15 names being put down by the Nottingham representatives from which the team would be selected, but they themselves put down only 13 names, reserving the right to choose the other two from the county.

Nottingham agreed under protest, as it was not their custom to give any names till the day of play.

Of the 15 named by Nottingham, 5 could not play, and these were for the most part their best players.

Nottingham asked for one more to make up their team, a request that was refused ; they then offered to play ten against eleven, but this was declined by the Leicester umpire.

Nottingham suggested that Leicester were only too glad of an excuse for not playing the match. (L.J. Sat 19 October)"

How long the standoff lasted is unclear but they were playing each other again by 1789!

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.

runs	player
144	William Bowra
137	William Brazier
136	James Aylward
132	Noah Mann
129	Robert Clifford
111	William Bedster
108	Tom Sueter
86	George Leer

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.

wkts	player
24	Robert Clifford
19	Edward "Lumpy" Stevens
9	William Bullen
9	Richard Nyren
4	David Harris

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.

ct/st	player
7	William Bullen
4 + 1	Tom Sueter
5	James Aylward
5	John Small
5	Thomas Taylor
4	several players

References

Bibliography

Ashley-Cooper, F. S. (1924). Hambledon Cricket Chronicle 1772–1796. Jenkins.
Buckley, G. B. (1935). Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Cotterell.
Haygarth, Arthur (1862). Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826). Lillywhite.
Mote, Ashley (1997). The Glory Days of Cricket. Robson.
Nyren, John (1998). Ashley Mote, ed. The Cricketers of my Time. Robson.
Waghorn, H. T. (1906). The Dawn of Cricket. Electric Press.
Wilson, Martin (2005). An Index to Waghorn. Bodyline.

Additional reading

ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709 – 1863. Nottingham: ACS.
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.
Buckley, G. B. (1937). Fresh Light on pre-Victorian Cricket. Cotterell.
McCann, Tim (2004). Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century. Sussex Record Society.
Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. HarperCollins.
Underdown, David (2000). Start of Play. Allen Lane.

External links

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