1826 English cricket season

In the 1826 English cricket season, inter-county cricket recovered its pre-Napoleonic War prominence, mainly through the efforts of the Sussex county organisation based on the Midhurst club. Sussex played matches against Kent and against a combined Hampshire/Surrey team.

Honours

*Champion County - Sussex

First-class matches

[http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Seasons/Seasonal_Averages/ENG/1826_f_Match_List.html 1826 match list]

Events

A significant event that would in time accelerate the spread of cricket throughout England was the passage of an Act of Parliament on Friday 5 May that authorised creation of the Liverpool to Manchester Railway and effectively began the "railway boom".

The Lord’s pavilion had been rebuilt in time for MCC’s annual dinner on Thurs 11 May.

Arthur Haygarth closed his "Scores & Biographies, Volume 1" at the end of the 1826 season.

Leading batsmen

Tom Marsden was the leading runscorer with 227 runs @ 227.00. He played just the one innings for Sheffield and Leicester v Nottingham at the Darnall New Ground in Sheffield on 24, 25 and 26 July 1826. A report said that Marsden batted over eight hours, approximately 4½ hours on the 25th and 3½ hours on the 26th.

Leading bowlers

William Lillywhite was the leading wicket-taker with 27.

External sources

* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Seasons/1826_ENG.html CricketArchive – season summaries]

Annual reviews

* Arthur Haygarth, "Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744-1826)", Lillywhite, 1862