1800 English cricket season

1800 was the 14th season of cricket in England since the foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). It is one of the more difficult seasons to analyse because of several matches involving prominent town clubs like Rochester, Woolwich, Homerton, Richmond, Storrington, Montpelier and Thames Ditton.

Mezzotint by Dunkarton & Ward after W. R. Bigg, The Soldier's Widow, dated 1800. Note the two cricket bats on the left.
1800 English cricket season

Honours
  • Most runs[1] – William Barton 226 (HS 51)
  • Most wickets[1] – John Ward 47 (BB 7–?)

Events
  • Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) made revisions to the Laws of Cricket which were republished in their entirety.[2]
  • Robert Robinson is believed to have been the first batsman to try to introduce leg guards but his experiment was unsuccessful.[3]
  • John Ward had an outstanding debut season by scoring 213 runs, taking 47 wickets and holding 9 catches. He was the leading bowler, second highest run-scorer and one of the best fielders.
  • William Beldham with 11 ct, 1 st was the leading fielder in 1800, just ahead of Thomas Ray who took 11 ct. Nottingham wicket-keeper Joseph Dennis made an impression with 3 ct, 7 st. John Ward took 9 catches in addition to his 47 wickets.
  • Two matches between northern teams were significant in terms of the spread of cricket throughout England. Nottingham v Sheffield was the first known 11-a-side game involving a Yorkshire county team. In the Leicester v Nottingham match, Leicester was dismissed for 15 and 8, an aggregate of 23 which Rowland Bowen described as "probably the lowest recorded aggregate for both innings in an important match".[3]
  • Cricket may have been feeling the impact of Great Britain's war against the Napoleonic Empire through a loss of investment which was reducing the number of first-class matches with only 7 recognised in 1800.

First-class matches
Date Match Title Venue Result
19–21 May (M–W) R Whitehead's XI v J Gibbons' XI[4][5] Lord's Old Ground Whitehead's XI won by 52 runs
11–13 June (W–F) All-England v Surrey[6][7] Lord's Old Ground Surrey won by 3 wkts
16–17 June (M–Tu) All-England XIV v Surrey[6][8] Lord's Old Ground All-England won by 13 wkts
14–15 July (M–Tu) All-England v Woolwich & Homerton[9][10] Lord's Old Ground W&H won by 7 wkts
25–26 Aug (M–Tu) Leicester v Nottingham[11][12] Leicester Nottingham won by innings & 38 runs
28–29 Aug (Th–S) All-England XIV v Surrey XII[13][14] Lord's Old Ground All-England won by 51 runs
29 Sept (Tu) Nottingham v Sheffield[15][16] Mansfield Nottingham won by 123 runs

Other matches
Date Match Title Venue Result
26 May (M) Woolwich v Four Parishes[17] Barrack Field, Woolwich drawn
28–29 May (W–Th) MCC v Woolwich[18][19] Lord's Old Ground Woolwich won by innings & 94 runs
10 June (Tu) Thames Ditton v London[20] Thames Ditton London won by innings & 14 runs
23–24 June (M–Tu) Woolwich v MCC[21][22] Barrack Field, Woolwich Woolwich won by 123 runs
25 June (W) Homerton v Montpelier[23] unknown Montpelier won by innings & 5 runs
26 June (Th) Montpelier v Richmond[24][25] Aram's New Ground, Montpelier Gardens Montpelier won by 52 runs
30 June (M) Lord F Beauclerk's XI v Sir H W Marten's XI[23] Barrack Field, Woolwich Beauclerk's XI won by 60 runs
2–3 July (W–Th) Richmond v Montpelier[26][27] Richmond Green Richmond won by 69 runs
7–9 July (M–W) MCC v Rochester[9][28] Lord's Old Ground Rochester won by 11 runs
21–23 July (M–W) Rochester v MCC[29][30] Marsh's, Rochester Rochester won by 3 wkts
24–25 July (Th–F) Woolwich v Montpelier[31][32] Barrack Field, Woolwich Woolwich won by 8 wkts
8–9 Sept (Tu–W) Storrington v Sussex[33][34] Storrington Storrington won by 19 runs

Debutants

Chitty

First name and dates unknown, Chitty played for the Surrey XII against the England XIV at Lord's Old Ground on 28 and 29 August. This was his only known match. On the scorecard, he is listed twelfth in the Surrey team batting order. He was dismissed for 0 in the first innings, bowled out by Lord Frederick Beauclerk, and was not out 0 in the second innings. He took one catch in the England first innings to dismiss Charles Reed.[13]

Waller

First name and dates unknown, Waller was associated with Surrey from 1800 to 1803. He is known to have played in six matches. Two of these are retrospectively recognised as first-class, the other four being odds matches. Waller scored eighteen first-class runs with a highest of seven and took two catches.[35]

Others

References
  1. Note that scorecards created in the 18th century are not necessarily accurate or complete; therefore any summary of runs, wickets or catches can only represent the known totals and the missing data prevents computation of averages
  2. Haygarth, pages 266–267.
  3. Bowen, page 268.
  4. Haygarth, page 267.
  5. CricketArchive – match scorecard. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  6. Haygarth, page 269.
  7. CricketArchive – match scorecard. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  8. CricketArchive – match scorecard. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  9. Haygarth, page 274.
  10. CricketArchive – match scorecard. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  11. Haygarth, page 278.
  12. CricketArchive – match scorecard. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  13. Haygarth, page 279.
  14. CricketArchive – match scorecard. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  15. Haygarth, page 282.
  16. CricketArchive – match scorecard. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  17. Waghorn, page 162.
  18. Haygarth, page 268.
  19. CricketArchive – match scorecard. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  20. Waghorn, page 163.
  21. Haygarth, page 270.
  22. CricketArchive – match scorecard. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  23. Haygarth, page 271.
  24. Buckley, page 195.
  25. CricketArchive – match scorecard. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  26. Buckley, page 196.
  27. CricketArchive – match scorecard. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  28. CricketArchive – match scorecard. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  29. Haygarth, page 275.
  30. CricketArchive – match scorecard. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  31. Waghorn, page 166–167.
  32. CricketArchive – match scorecard. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  33. Haygarth, page 273.
  34. McCann, page 193.
  35. Waller. CricketArchive profile.

Sources
  • ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709 – 1863. Nottingham: ACS.
  • Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. Eyre & Spottiswoode.
  • Britcher, Samuel, A list of all the principal Matches of Cricket that have been played (1790 to 1805), annual series
  • Buckley, G. B. (1935). Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Cotterell.
  • Haygarth, Arthur (1862). Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826). Lillywhite.
  • McCann, Tim (2004). Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century. Sussex Record Society.
  • Waghorn, H. T. (1906). The Dawn of Cricket. Electric Press.
  • Wilson, Martin (2005). An Index to Waghorn. Bodyline.
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