Great Cricket Matches 1772-1800

Accordingly, this match is included. There might be some argument for including a match by Chertsey against Berkshire in 1783 in view of the lack of Surrey games at this time, but this match is a far cry from the later successes of Epsom and Godalming against recognised county sides. The danger of including this sort of match is well illustrated by the Moulsey Hurst game against Uxbridge on 8 June 1789; a glance at the Surrey team in the game against Kent starting two days later shows the gulf between even a strong club like Moulsey and a genuine Surrey side. However, in 1787 a joint team of Moulsey Hurst and WCC played and beat Essex/Hornchurch in three matches. The score of one of these is unfortunately lost but the other two are included: note that SB calls the team in these two games simply ‘Moulsey Hurst’ but it has been established it was a joint team of WCC and Moulsey and this raises the standard sufficiently to merit inclusion. London – A handful of possible games involve a team named ‘London’. There does not appear to be any organising body or any continuity between them so it is assumed that ‘London’ was merely a convenient label for what are effectively select sides. The match in 1775 against Chertsey includes some good players on both sides but the standard is lowered by the large number of lesser-known names; whilst in the 1789 game v Middlesex, both sides are effectively from the same county (the London team is mostly if not wholly from Middlesex and the Middlesex team looks suspiciously like Uxbridge). Apart from these, there are four games v MCC, in 1794 (2), 1797 and 1798. The MCC sides, on the whole, are not strong and the London teams are variable in composition (for instance only two of the 1797 team reappear in 1798). Looking at the teams in detail, the 1797 match is significantly stronger than the others. The London team consists of recognised Middlesex players reinforced by two good professionals, and it is the only one to be included. Thursday – The Thursday Club played at Lord’s, included many Middlesex players, and is sometimes referred to as ‘the Middlesex Club’. It is hardly surprising, then, that Thursday sides are so often confused with those representing the county of Middlesex. However, it is possible to distinguish them. Apart from the team composition, it is relevant to look at the opposition; a match against another county is likely to have been Middlesex rather than Thursday. For matches against MCC, it is helpful to see whether the latter required ‘cracks’ as given men and, if so, who they were. Against Thursday, MCC would make do with professionals such as Lord and Fennex but against Middlesex big guns such as Beldham and T.Walker are brought in. This is valuable evidence of how strongly contemporaries rated the opposition and it shows that Middlesex was regarded as a different (and tougher) proposition than Thursday. The one exception is in June 1798 when MCC boldly put out a side with no professionals at all against a team that, looking at its 19 Tom Walker, ‘Old Everlasting’ the leading batsman in England for many years from about 1786. Drawing by George Shepheard. With thanks to MCC Photo Library.