Great Cricket Matches 1772-1800: The Players and The Records

SECTION 2: THE RECORDS The following explanatory notes refer to the Cricket Records section. Match titles Team nomenclature has followed that used in the ACS book, Great Cricket Matches 1772-1800, which, reflecting eighteenth-century usage, sometimes results in inconsistency. Apparent club sides such as Hornchurch (Essex) and Oldfield (Berkshire) seem also to have organised county matches with no discernible change in their personnel, in a similar way to Nottingham and Nottinghamshire or Sheffield and Yorkshire in the first half of the nineteenth century. Also, the eight matches between East and West Kent sometimes appear under the names of their sponsors, the Duke of Dorset and Sir Horatio Mann. Ground names Again, using the ACS book as a guide, place names are shown using their modern form such as Molesey for Moulsey though this leaves another inconsistency as the Moulsey Hurst club play at Molesey Hurst. Nevertheless, it was felt inadvisable to tamper with the title of the club. Aliases and nicknames A brief word on aliases and nicknames is also called for. Where known, the player’s correct name has been used and this affects two early great cricketers in particular: John Minchin, who usually played as ‘Minshall’ or ‘Minshull’; and Edward Stevens, whose nickname ‘Lumpy’ is found in almost all the sources. Here, they are J.Minchin and E.Stevens. Given men It was a standard practice to use given men so they were common in a large number of these matches, which explains why some players appear for a wide variety of teams. However, it would be too cumbersome to include their details in the match titles. In addition, sources are sometimes confusing in identifying them. Bowling figures As bowling analyses were not kept until well into the nineteenth century, the figures are simply of total wickets taken, bearing in mind that until 1836 bowlers were not usually credited with wickets taken from catches, stumpings or lbws. Instead, we have shown average wickets per match, although this is an imperfect tool as we do not know whether players who did not capture any wickets in a particular match were put on to bowl at all during it. Catches and stumpings Although specialist wicketkeepers such as T.Sueter and W.Yalden are known, there is no evidence available over whether or not they were behind the stumps throughout a match. On the other hand, it was common for a bowler after finishing his over to stay at that end and keep wicket for the next four balls before taking up his bowling duties again. In view of these facts, it is impossible to separate outfield catches from those taken by the wicketkeeper and this is reflected in the way catching and stumping records are set out. Furthermore, it was not until 1792 that stumpings appear regularly in scoresheets; there were only two recorded in matches up to 1786 while from 1787 to 1791 just 13 can be found. Winchilsea’s XI v Leigh’s XI at Stoke Down, 1795 and 1796 When play was suspended in this match in 1795, Leigh’s XI were 42/3, chasing a victory target of 78. The game was completed in 1796 at the same venue with the same 22 players when four more wickets fell for 36 runs in registering a three-wicket win. As this match was, for all practical purposes, part of the 1795 schedule, the additional play in 1796 has been included in the statistics and records for the earlier season. 31