1781 English cricket season

The earliest known mention of cricket in Lancashire occurred in the 1781 English season, and the Hambledon Club decided to abandon Broadhalfpenny Down. Details of 14 matches are known.^{[note 1]}

Hampshire v Kent

Hampshire played four matches against Kent between June and August. The venues were Itchin Stoke Down, Bishopsbourne Paddock (twice), and the last-ever important match on Broadhalfpenny Down. The teams won two matches each. There were outstanding performances by several players including Lamborn, Noah Mann, James Aylward, Tom Sueter, Robert Clifford, and William Bullen.^[5]

Dorset's XI v Mann's XI

The Duke of Dorset and Sir Horatio Mann arranged two matches between their own teams. The first was in June on Sevenoaks Vine, where Dorset's XI won by 10 wickets.^[6] The second was in August at Bishopsbourne Paddock. Dorset's XI won again, this time by 106 runs, after Tom Sueter had made two half-centuries in the match with 58 and 56. Lumpy Stevens took four wickets (bowled only) in each of the Mann's XI innings.^[7]

Leicester v Nottingham

A match between Leicester and Nottingham took place in Loughborough on 17 and 18 September. It was reported in the Leicester Journal on Saturday, 22 September. Nottingham scored 50 and 73; Leicester had scored 73 and 9/2 when the game ended prematurely because of a dispute about wide deliveries. The repercussions dragged on and the dispute remained unresolved a year later.^[8]

In early August, Leicester had played against Melton Mowbray on Barrowcliffe Meadow in Leicester. Melton Mowbray won by 16 runs.^[9]

Berkshire

Four matches involved teams from Berkshire. Maidenhead played Odiham twice in July, and both were won by Odiham.^[10] Maidenhead played against Buckinghamshire in August and won by 124 runs.^[10] In September, there was an inter-county match between Oxfordshire and Berkshire, but the result is unknown.^[11]

Other events

A match on Brinnington Moor in August is the earliest known reference to cricket being played in the counties of Cheshire and Lancashire.^[12] The match between two parish teams was reported in the Manchester Journal on Saturday, 1 September.^[13]

Notes

^ Some eleven-a-side matches played from 1772 to 1863 have been rated "first-class" by certain sources.^[1] However, the term only came into common use around 1864, when overarm bowling was legalised. It was formally defined as a standard by a meeting at Lord's, in May 1894, of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the county clubs which were then competing in the County Championship. The ruling was effective from the beginning of the 1895 season, but pre-1895 matches of the same standard have no official definition of status because the ruling is not retrospective.^[2] Matches of a similar standard since the beginning of the 1864 season are generally considered to have an unofficial first-class status.^[3] Pre-1864 matches which are included in the ACS' "Important Match Guide" may generally be regarded as important or, at least, historically significant.^[4] For further information, see First-class cricket.

References

^ "FC Matches in England in 1772". CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
^ Wisden (1948). Preston, Hubert (ed.). Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (85th ed.). London: Sporting Handbooks Ltd. p. 813. OCLC 851705816.
^ ACS 1982, pp. 4–5.
^ ACS 1981, pp. 1–40.
^ Haygarth 1996, pp. 47–50.
^ Haygarth 1996, p. 47.
^ Haygarth 1996, p. 49.
^ Buckley 1935, pp. 92–93.
^ Buckley 1935, p. 92.
^ ^a ^b Waghorn 2005, p. 54.
^ Buckley 1935, p. 93.
^ Bowen 1970, p. 266.
^ Buckley 1937, p. 10.

Bibliography

ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709–1863. Nottingham: ACS. OCLC 85045528.
ACS (1982). A Guide to FC Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles. Nottingham: ACS. OCLC 10586869.
Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. ISBN 978-04-13278-60-9.
Buckley, G. B. (1935). Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Birmingham: Cotterell & Co. OCLC 23450280.
Buckley, G. B. (1937). Fresh Light on pre-Victorian Cricket. Birmingham: Cotterell & Co. OCLC 23469107.
Haygarth, Arthur (1996) [1862]. Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826). Kennington: Frederick Lillywhite. ISBN 978-19-00592-23-9.
Waghorn, H. T. (2005) [1906]. The Dawn of Cricket. London: J. W. McKenzie. ISBN 978-09-47821-17-3.