1797 English cricket season

The 1797 cricket season was the 200th in England since the earliest known definite reference to cricket in January 1597 (i.e., Old Style – 1598 New Style). MCC enjoyed great success on the field, winning nine of their eleven known matches.

Matches

Date	Match Title	Venue	Source	Result
11–12 May (Th-F)	MCC v Middlesex	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB214	MCC won by 6 wkts

15–16 May (M-Tu)	C Lennox v Earl of Winchilsea	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB214	Lennox's XI won by 132 runs

19–20 May (F-S)	Lennox v Earl of Winchilsea	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB215	Winchilsea's XI won by innings & 94 runs
WDC has this game taking place on 10–11 May and ACS includes both entries. The above is believed correct.
24–27 May (W-S)	MCC v Middlesex	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB216	MCC won by 288 runs

6–9 June (T-F)	All-England v Surrey	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB216	All-England won by 6 wkts

12–13 June (M-T)	Montpelier v MCC ^	Montpelier Gardens	SB217	MCC won by 42 runs

19–23 June (M-F)	All-England v Surrey	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB218	All-England won by 23 runs
This was postponed till Mon 3 July: it must have rained.
26–27 June (M-T)	MCC v Montpelier ^	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB218	MCC won by 5 wkts

4–6 July (Tu-Th)	C Lennox v Earl of Winchilsea	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB219	Winchilsea's XI won by 4 wkts

10–12 July (M-W)	MCC v London	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB220	MCC won by 109 runs

12–13 July (W-Th)	All-England v Surrey & Middlesex	Montpelier Gardens	SB221	S/M won by 4 wkts

20–21 July (Th-F)	Earl of Winchilsea v C Lennox	Swaffham Racecourse	SB223	Winchilsea's XI won by 27 runs
S&B calls this Earl of Winchilsea v Beauclerk but that is unlikely; Britcher has Lennox as the patron and that seems more probable at this time.
7-8 Aug (M-Tu)	Hampshire v MCC	Stoke Down	SB224	MCC won by 113 runs

14-16 Aug (M-W)	MCC v Hampshire	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB225	MCC won by 6 wkts

17 Aug (Th)	Montpelier M&S v Montpelier Thur	Montpelier Gardens	FLPV	M&S won by 53 runs
This a game between two sections of the Montpelier Club: i.e., its Monday & Saturday members versus its Thursday members.
21-23 Aug (M-W)	All-England v MCC	Moulsey Hurst	SB226	MCC won by 6 wkts

23-24 Aug (W-Th)	Woolwich v Croydon ^*	Barrack Field, Woolwich	brit	Woolwich won by 23 runs
^* This match was unknown until Britcher’s scores came to light recently. It is a minor match involving the same teams as in the game reported by WDC on 27 Sept. Both sources refer to the counties in their match titles (Kent v Surrey) but they are definitely the Woolwich and Croydon clubs playing in each game.
28-31 Aug (M-Th)	MCC v All-England	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB226	All-England won by 8 wkts

4-6 Sept (M-W)	Montpelier v MCC ^	Montpelier Gardens	SB227	Montpelier won by 6 wkts
^ Montpelier’s teams in these three games against MCC were much stronger than the normal club sides of the time, especially with given men. The majority of players are recognised and these are major fixtures.
21-26 Sept (Th-Tu)	MCC v All-England	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB228	MCC won by 4 wkts
There was no Sunday play in this game (i.e., on Sun 24 Sept).
27 Sept (W)	Woolwich v Croydon ^#	Barrack Field, Woolwich	WDC	Woolwich won by 179 runs
^# WDC calls this "Kent v Surrey" but the teams were weak and unrepresentative of the counties so it was surely a rematch of Woolwich v Croydon on 23–24 August.\|-

First mentions

John Bennett (Hampshire cricketer) – played 61 matches from 1797 to 1818
John Gibbons (MCC cricketer) (MCC; amateur) – played 18 matches from 1797 to 1801
J. Pontifex (MCC; amateur) – played 15 matches from 1797 to 1810
Hon. Charles Douglas (MCC; amateur) – played 13 matches from 1797 to 1799
Benjamin Clifton (Middlesex; amateur) – played eleven matches from 1797 to 1798
G. Cooper (MCC cricketer) (MCC; amateur) – played six matches from 1797 to 1807
Earl of Dalkeith (MCC; amateur) – played four matches in 1797
May (Hampshire cricketer) – played four matches from 1797 to 1798
Lord Yarmouth (MCC and Surrey; amateur) – played three matches from 1797 to 1799
George Boult junior (Middlesex; amateur) – played two matches in 1797
Clair (Hampshire cricketer) – played two matches from 1797 to 1803
Gunnell (Surrey cricketer) – played two matches from 1797 to 1810
Wilson (Surrey cricketer) – played two matches from 1797 to 1809

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.

Lord Frederick Beauclerk scored 758 runs to top the 1797 run-scoring list

Others who scored more than 200 runs were John Hammond 603; John Tufton 592; Tom Walker 491; William Beldham 430; Edward Bligh 382; William Fennex 346; Robert Robinson 310; James Aylward 296; Charles Lennox 270; Henry Tufton 246; Harry Walker 243; Jack Small 227; Thomas Ray 214

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.

Lord Frederick Beauclerk with a massive haul of 66 wickets was easily the top bowler

Other leading wicket-takers were John Wells 31; Thomas Boxall 24; Thomas Lord 20; Sylvester 20; John Hammond 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.

Thomas Ray took the most known catches with 19 but he may have been beaten by John Tufton who definitely took 18 (plus one definite stumping) but could have had more. The Tufton brothers again starred in the field and Henry was the best keeper with 11 ct, 15 st. There were another 3 catches and 3 stumpings credited to one or other of the Tuftons.

Other good performances were by Charles Lennox 16 ct, 1 st; Lord Frederick Beauclerk 12 ct; John Wells 11 ct 5 st; Edward Bligh 10 ct; William Beldham 9 ct; William Fennex 9 ct; Andrew Freemantle 9 ct; John Hammond 9 ct, 7 st; Sylvester 8 ct

References

Bibliography

Buckley, G. B. (1935). Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Cotterell.
Haygarth, Arthur (1862). Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826). Lillywhite.
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.
Britcher, Samuel, A list of all the principal Matches of Cricket that have been played (1790 to 1805), annual series
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.

External links

English cricket teams in the 18th century

"All" England

English cricket venues to 1825

English cricket seasons

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