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

London : A number of matches involve a team named ‘London’ but there does not appear to be any organising body or any continuity between them so it is likely that ‘London’ is a convenient label for what are effectively select elevens. The team in the 1797 match v MCC is significantly stronger than the others, with recognised Middlesex county players reinforced by two good professionals, so it is the only London game included in the list. Old Etonians and Old Westminsters : Three matches are included, two in 1791 (Etonians v Gentlemen of England and v MCC) and one (Etonians v Westminsters) in 1793. The matches against MCC and Old Westminsters include respectively eight and twelve professionals as given men; while the game against the Gentlemen includes most of the leading amateurs of the day plus two professionals. Similar Old Etonian matches in 1816 and 1817 are included in the ACS nineteenth-century list. Oldfield/Berkshire : For the four seasons 1792-95 this team, on the whole, held its own against respectable MCC teams and it achieved a remarkable triumph by beating a good Kent side in 1794. During this period it was at least the equal of Middlesex and is included in the list. White Conduit Club : This club was the forerunner of MCC and a decision on which of its matches to include in the great match list takes account of the quality of the opposition. White Conduit Club and Moulsey Hurst XI : In 1787 a joint team of these two clubs played and beat Hornchurch/Essex in three matches. The full score of the third of these has unfortunately not been discovered but the other two are in the ACS list. Note that Scores and Biographies calls the team in these two simply ‘Moulsey Hurst’ but contemporary evidence has established that a joint team was involved and this raises the standard sufficiently to merit inclusion. Eight matches in the ACS list involve odds, all given to England by Hampshire (once) and Surrey (seven times). These are similar in quality to the England v XVI, XIV or XIII of Kent matches at the Canterbury Festival from 1860 to 1881, which have always been counted as first-class. Only one or two of the records included here were set in these eight matches. The eight were: June 25, 26, 27, July 2, 1789 XIII of England v Hampshire (Lord’s) September 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 1794 XIII of England v Surrey (Lord’s) September 16, 17, 18, 19, 1794 XIII of England v Surrey (Dartford Brent) July 6, 7, 8, 1795 Surrey v XIII of England (Molesey Hurst) August 10, 11, 12, 1795 Surrey v XIII of England (Molesey Hurst) August 12, 13, 14, 15, 1795 Surrey v XIII of England (Molesey Hurst) June 16, 17, 1800 XIV of England v Surrey (Lord’s) August 28, 29, 30, 1800 XIV of England v XII of Surrey (Lord’s) The 237 ‘great’ matches may be considered the eighteenth-century equivalent of ‘important’ matches 1801-1863 and ‘first-class’ matches from 1864. In effect, and notwithstanding the changes of terminology from 1801 and 1864, these matches comprise a single canon of top-level cricket extending from 1772 to the present day and it is standard practice to compile records and statistics on this basis. Indeed, one reason for the decision of the ACS to extend its match classification back into the eighteenth century, thirty years after its decision to start in 1801, was the desire not to chop in half the career details of the players from that period. In view of this factor, it would go against the ACS principle if career records in this compilation were cut off at the end of 1800. Consequently, all career records given here include the post-1800 figures for those cricketers who continued playing into the nineteenth century such as William Beldham and Lord Frederick Beauclerk. Similarly, in compiling eighteenth-century ground records, a note has been included of any post-1800 matches plus any changes these made to the records. 6