Cricket's Historians

The Pioneers of Cricket’s History and Statistics that Britcher was born in Linton, near Maidstone in 1744, but is unsure of the year of his death. Perhaps further research will reveal more data on this key figure in the world of cricket statistics. The importance of these scores is that statisticians were, from 1790, able to compile ‘seasonal averages’ for batsmen. No bowling details are shown, but scorers did not keep bowling figures until the 1820s – at least if they did none are extant. In one of the copies of the 1793 annual someone has written in some basic cricket averages. One assumes they were of use to the betting fraternity and perhaps the selection of players for representative matches. Averages are the start of ‘cricket records’. How frequently ‘averages’ were compiled over the next few decades is unknown and, at the time of writing, it would appear that the next extant contemporary compilation is not until 1823. The Kingscote Cricket Club scorebook for that year has manuscript batting averages in it, with the following tabulation: ‘name; had innings; got notches; average of notches for each innings’. The averages are calculated to the nearest half. In 1799, William Epps of Rochester supplemented Britcher’s annuals by publishing a book with the scores of notable matches from 1772 to 1790 – Cricket: A Collection of All The Grand Matches of Cricket, Played in England, within Twenty Years . In fact though the title page claims to include the season of 1771, the scores commence in 1772, similarly the title page gives 1791, but the scores end in 1790 – one assumes Epps did not have Britcher’s first annual? The key point is that the issuing of Epps’ book of scores demonstrates that cricket enthusiasts had an interest in ‘historic’ scores, as well as current ones. William Epps was a person of some standing in Rochester and at one time was a candidate for the office of Mayor. He was also a cricketer, for his name appears in Britcher’s Match Scores. Since Epps gathered together 19 seasons of historic cricket scores, he might justly be described as cricket’s first historian, though he has to compete with Joseph Strutt for that honour. Strutt was born in Chelmsford in 1749; apprenticed to an engraver, he became a noted engraver in his own right. He then took up oil painting and achieved an acceptable standard 12