1816 to 1825 English cricket seasons

This article describes the 1816 to 1825 English cricket seasons.

Events

The 1816 season saw the formation of the Manchester Cricket Club which took part in a number of major matches until Lancashire CCC was established in 1864. Manchester was representative of Lancashire as a county in the same way that Sheffield Cricket Club and Nottingham Cricket Club represented Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire.

The issue of roundarm bowling was already controversial enough in 1816 for MCC to amend the Laws of Cricket to prohibit it: :"The ball must be bowled (not thrown or jerked), and be delivered underhand, with the hand below the elbow. But if the ball be jerked, or the arm extended from the body horizontally, and any part of the hand be uppermost, or the hand horizontally extended when the ball is delivered, the Umpires shall call "No Ball".

The 1817 season saw the first recorded instance of the [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/0/370.html Cambridge University v. Cambridge Town Club] fixture that became almost annual until the 1860s. It was also the earliest major match to involve either team. There was a very fine line between Cambridge Town Club and Cambridgeshire CCC, the one dovetailing with the other. Similar scenarios were Nottingham/Notts, Manchester/Lancashire & Sheffield/Yorkshire.

In 1817, William Lambert scored two centuries (107* & 157) in the same match, the first player known to achieve the feat in a major cricket match. Lambert was then banned for life by MCC from appearing at Lord's on the grounds that he had "sold" an earlier Nottingham versus All-England match. Nottingham had won the game by 30 runs despite a first innings deficit and many gamblers lost heavily. Whether Lambert was actually guilty is highly questionable and certainly no proper hearing was ever organised. The whole affair is believed to have been contrived by Lord Frederick Beauclerk who wished to settle an "old score".

Lambert's patron George Osbaldeston struck his name from the MCC members list in anger in 1818. He later repented and tried to restore himself but his application was blocked by his enemy, the malevolent and vindictive Beauclerk. Osbaldeston could no longer play at Lord's and that effectively ended his cricket career.

According to James Pycroft in "The Cricket Field", the size of the wickets was increased in 1817 to 27 inches by 8 inches, but it seems more likely that the rule was introduced in 1819.

According to Wisden, the original Northamptonshire CCC was founded in 1820 but was subject to substantial reorganisation and reformation in 1878. 1820 also has the earliest mention of wicket-keeping gloves.

William Ward scored 278 for [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/0/391.html MCC v. Norfolk] at Lord’s in 1820, the first known double century and a new world record for the highest individual innings, beating James Aylward's score of 167 in 1777.

The roundarm controversy came to a head in 1822 when, in the [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/0/403.html MCC v. Kent] match at Lord’s, John Willes of Kent opened the bowling and was no-balled for using a roundarm action, a style he had attempted to introduce since 1807. Willes promptly withdrew from the match and refused to play again in any important fixture.

Roundarm was a natural reaction to the growing predominance of batsmen over the age-old underarm style of bowling. Its adherents argued that the legalisation of roundarm was essential to restore the balance between batting and bowling. However, high-scoring matches were still comparatively rare owing to vagaries in pitch conditions.

On Thursday 28 July 1825, a schools match at Lord’s between Harrow and Winchester had just concluded and then, during the night, the pavilion burned down with the consequent loss of valuable scorecards, records and trophies. Thomas Lord claimed he lost £2600 in paid subscriptions, none of which were ever recovered, raising the questions of why it wasn’t in the bank and why he apparently wasn’t insured!

William Ward purchased the lease of Lord’s ground from Thomas Lord, who retained freehold. Lord had been proposing to build houses on the land which brought cries of outrage from the gentlemen players. Ward, a rich banker as well as a fine batsman, stepped in and bought the leasehold to save the ground for cricket.

Even so, it was many years before the famous ground’s future was secured. The lease was transferred to Mr James H Dark in 1835 and he retained proprietry till 1864. Then the freehold was sold in 1860 to a property speculator called Mr Moses for £7,000 and MCC did not bid! In 1864, MCC finally did purchase the freehold but paid £18,333 6s 8d for it with money advanced by William Nicholson. The lease expired same year and so, at last, Lord’s was owned in its entirety by MCC.

First mentions by season

* 1816 –
* 1817 –
* 1818 –
* 1819 –
* 1820 –
* 1821 –
* 1822 –
* 1823 –
* 1824 –
* 1825 –

Leading batsmen by season

* 1816 – William Lambert – 363 runs @ 51.85
* 1817 – William Lambert – 445 @ 63.57
* 1818 – William Beldham – 103 @ 25.75
* 1819 – Thomas Beagley – 170 @ 42.50
* 1820 – William Ward – 361 @ 60.16
* 1821 – Thomas Beagley – 181 @ 90.50
* 1822 – EH Budd – 354 @ 39.33
* 1823 – William Ward – 328 @ 32.80
* 1824 – James Saunders – 267 @ 24.27
* 1825 – Jem Broadbridge – 552 @ 46.00

Leading bowlers by season

* 1816 – Thomas Howard – 30 wickets
* 1817 – Thomas Howard – 44
* 1818 – Thomas Howard – 14
* 1819 – Thomas Howard – 23
* 1820 – G Coles – 17
* 1821 – Thomas Howard – 13
* 1822 – J Sparks – 27
* 1823 – William Ashby – 23
* 1824 – T Flavel – 21
* 1825 – Jem Broadbridge – 31

:NB – "scorecards of matches in the early 19th century are not necessarily accurate or complete;":"therefore any summary of runs, wickets or catches can only represent the known totals"

References

External sources

* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Events/ENG.html CricketArchive – itinerary of English cricket]

Annual reviews

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

Further reading

* HS Altham, "A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914)", George Allen & Unwin, 1926
* Derek Birley, "A Social History of English Cricket", Aurum, 1999
* Rowland Bowen, "Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development", Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970
* G B Buckley, "Fresh Light on Pre-Victorian Cricket", Cotterell, 1937