1796 English cricket season

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the 1796 English cricket season, the Montpelier town club became prominent and played a number of matches over the next few seasons against MCC. The club’s venue was George Aram’s New Ground in Montpelier Gardens, Walworth, Surrey.

Generally speaking, it was at this time that matches involving town clubs like Montpelier, Kennington, Highgate, Rochester, Woolwich, Homerton, Richmond, Storrington and Thames Ditton began to achieve prominence in the old books. Although some good players were undoubtedly involved, the teams tended to lack overall strength and capability. Montpelier tended to be the exception as it had quite a strong side around 1796-1800. Each game involving these clubs needs to be evaluated individually. See CricketArchive for scorecards.

The ACS list for 1796 mysteriously includes two games involving the Swaffham and "Brinton" clubs, both supposedly mentioned in WDC where in fact only one can be found! No details are known and these curiosities can safely be dismissed as minor matches.

1 Matches
2 Other Events
3 Leading batsmen
4 Leading bowlers
5 Main Sources

[edit] Matches

Date	Match Title	Venue	Source	Result
9-11 May (M-Tu)	MCC v Middlesex	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB196	Middlesex won by 3 wkts

16-17 May (M-Tu)	Middlesex v Kent	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB197	Kent won by 51 runs

27-28 May (F-S)	Earl of Winchilsea v Bligh (10 a side) #	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB197	Winchilsea's XI won by 65 runs

30-31 May (M-Tu)	MCC v Middlesex	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB198	MCC won by 141 runs

6-7 June (M-Tu)	MCC v Middlesex	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB199	Middlesex won by 8 runs

13-15 June (M-W)	MCC v Kent	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB199	Kent won by 4 runs

20-22 June (M-W)	Middlesex v Kent	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB200	Middlesex won by 3 wkts

24-25 June (F-S)	Thursday/Montpelier v MCC	Montpelier Gardens	SB201	MCC won by 63 runs
Montpelier Gardens was in Walworth, London. The actual venue is George Aram’s New Ground in Montpelier Gardens. NB: Walworth is in Surrey, not Middlesex.
28-30 June (Tu-Th)	All-England v Surrey	Stoke Down	SB201	All-England won by 3 wkts

4-5 July (M-Tu)	Bullingdon v MCC #	Bullingdon	SB202	MCC won by 199 runs

6 July (W)	Thursday Club v Montpelier ^	Lord’s (Dorset Square)	WDC	Thursday Club won by 8 wkts
It seems this match was not completed until Friday 12 August and so its conclusion must have preceded the game in SB206.
11-12 July (M-Tu)	MCC v Bullingdon #	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB203	MCC won by innings & 137 runs

13-15 July (W-F)	MCC v Thursday/Montpelier	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB204	MCC won by 6 wkts

19-22 July (Tu-F)	Earl of Winchilsea v A Smith	Perriam Down	SB204	Winchilsea's XI won by 10 runs

25 July (M)	Montpelier v Thursday Club #	Montpelier Gardens	WDC	Thursday Club won by innings & 19 runs

10 August (W)	Middlesex v Kennington #	Lord's (Dorset Square)	WDC	Middlesex won by 2 wkts

12-13 Aug (F-S)	Middlesex v Mont & Kenn Clubs ^	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB206	Middlesex won by 3 wkts
Mont & Kenn = the combined Montpelier and Kennington Clubs. It seems this match started after the one postponed from Wed 6 July was completed.
15 Aug (M)	Montpelier v Highgate #	Montpelier Gardens	brit	Montpelier won by 6 runs
WDC also records this match but has it dated 1 August. Britcher’s date is accepted as the closer source. # These games in the main sources and in the ACS list are not major matches, including Earl of Winchilsea v Bligh on 27 May (SB197) which was ten-a side with weak teams.
15-16 Aug (M-Tu)	Middlesex v Surrey	Lord's (Dorset Square)	SB208	Surrey won by 8 wkts
WDC has this game dated 1-2 August and the ACS Guide includes both entries. The above is believed correct.
22-23 Aug (M-Tu)	All-England v Surrey	Dandelion Paddock	SB208	Surrey won by innings & 6 runs

24-26 Aug (W-F)	All-England v Surrey	Dandelion Paddock	SB209	All-England won by 5 wkts

26-27 Aug (F-S)	Mont & Kenn v Middlesex ^	Montpelier Gardens	SB210	drawn
^ It was at this time that matches involving local clubs like Montpelier, Kennington, Highgate, Rochester, Woolwich, Homerton, Richmond, Storrington and Thames Ditton begin to achieve prominence in the old books. Although some good players were undoubtedly involved, the teams did not often have the overall strength or capability necessary for major status unless they had given men playing. Montpelier tended to be the exception as it had quite a strong side around 1797-1798. Each game involving these clubs needs to be evaluated individually. The match given in WDC as J Small v T Walker at the Dandelion Paddock on 7 - 10 Sept is in fact a wrongly dated duplicate of the Mann v Leigh game in S&B on the same days in 1795 (see above).