1776 English cricket season

1776 English cricket season

The 1776 English cricket season was the fifth in which matches have been awarded retrospective first-class cricket status. The scorecards of seven first-class matches have survived. The earliest printed cricket scorecard templates were introduced during 1776.

Matches

Seven first-class match scorecards survive from 1776, all of them involving Hampshire XIs playing either Kent XIs or Surrey XIs.[1][2]

• 5–7 June - Hampshire XI v Kent XI - Moulsey Hurst[3]
• 25–26 June - Kent XI v Hampshire XI - Sevenoaks Vine[4]
• 2–4 July - Hampshire XI v Kent XI - Broadhalfpenny Down[5]
• 15–17 July - Kent XI v Hampshire XI - Sevenoaks Vine[6]
• 22–24 July - Hampshire XI v Kent XI - Broadhalfpenny Down[7]
• 6–8 August - Surrey XI v Hampshire XI - Laleham Burway[8]
• 26–28 August - Hampshire XI v Surrey XI - Broadhalfpenny Down[9]

Three other matches not between county sides are known to have been played during the season. Full scorecards do not survive from these matches.[10]

In the 6–8 August Surrey v Hampshire match at Laleham Burway, John Wood and Lumpy Stevens made a last-wicket partnership of 43 to win the match for Surrey. This was the first known one-wicket margin in a first-class match, while Wood and Stevens' newly established record for the highest last-wicket partnership to win stood until 1877, when the Gentlemen added 46 for the last wicket to win the 2–4 July Gentlemen v Players match at Lord's.

Other events

A notice in the Leicester Journal of 17 August is the earliest known mention of cricket in Leicestershire.^[citation needed]

First mentions

Richard Aubrey Veck made his debut in first-class cricket during the season.

References

1. Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) (1981) A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709 – 1863. Nottingham: ACS.
2. Results, English Domestic Season 1776, CricInfo. Retrieved 2019-02-17.
3. Hampshire XI v Kent XI, scorecard, CricInfo. Retrieved 2019-02-17.
4. Kent XI v Hampshire XI, scorecard, CricInfo. Retrieved 2019-02-17.
5. Hampshire XI v Kent XI, scorecard, CricInfo. Retrieved 2019-02-17.
6. Kent XI v Hampshire XI, scorecard, CricInfo. Retrieved 2019-02-17.
7. Hampshire XI v Kent XI, scorecard, CricInfo. Retrieved 2019-02-17.
8. Surrey XI v Hampshire XI, scorecard, CricInfo. Retrieved 2019-02-17.
9. Hampshire XI v Surrey XI, scorecard, CricInfo. Retrieved 2019-02-17.
10. Other matches in England 1776, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2019-02-10.

Further reading

• Altham, H. S. (1962). A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914). George Allen & Unwin.
• Birley, Derek (1999). A Social History of English Cricket. Aurum.
• Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. Eyre & Spottiswoode.
• Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. HarperCollins.
• Underdown, David (2000). Start of Play. Allen Lane.