Leading cricket wicket takers from 1772 to 1815

This is a list of the leading wicket takers in each English cricket season from the beginning of the game's "statistical record" in the 1772 season until the 1815 season.

NB: it is important to remember that details of dismissal were not always given in early scorecards and the information was in any case limited to "how out" so that catches were credited to the fielder only and never to the bowler involved. Therefore, bowlers can only be credited with the number of wickets they took by bowling the batsman out. In addition, bowling analyses were never compiled and we have no data to inform us of bowling economy or averages during the period.

1772

There are surviving scorecards from three matches in 1772 but unfortunately they do not give information about dismissals, only each batsman's score. Based on the historical records, the leading bowlers were almost certainly Thomas Brett of Hampshire and Edward "Lumpy" Stevens of Surrey and All-England.

1773

(9 matches; qualification 10 wickets)
* 18 – Edward "Lumpy" Stevens (Surrey)
* 15 – Duke of Dorset (Kent)
* 13 – John (Thomas) Wood (Surrey)

William Hogsflesh (Hampshire) took 6

"note" : there were two bowlers called John Wood and there are a couple of games in which we cannot be sure which one was playing so it is possible that John Wood of Surrey took 15 wickets; John Wood of Surrey is always called Thomas in "Scores & Biographies".

1774

(5 matches; qualification 10 wickets)
* 18 – Thomas Brett (Hampshire)
* 17 – Edward "Lumpy" Stevens (Surrey)

Richard Nyren (Hampshire) took 9

External links

* [http://www.jl.sl.btinternet.co.uk/stampsite/cricket/main.html From Lads to Lord's; The History of Cricket: 1300 – 1787]

External links

* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Seasons/index.html CricketArchive]

References

* "Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket" by G B Buckley (FL18)
* "Fresh Light on Pre-Victorian Cricket" by G B Buckley (FLPV)
* "Scores & Biographies, Volume 1" by Arthur Haygarth (SBnnn)
* "The Dawn of Cricket" by H T Waghorn (WDC)