1796 English cricket season

Details of 22 matches are known in the 1796 English cricket season, but few were important.^{[note 1]}

MCC v Middlesex

There were three matches in May and June between Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and Middlesex, all on Lord's Old Ground (Lord's). Middlesex won the first by 3 wickets,^[5] and MCC the second by 141 runs.^[6] The third match, which may have been arranged as a decider, was won by Middlesex, by eight runs.^[7]

Kent matches

Kent played three matches at Lord's in May and June. They defeated Middlesex by 51 runs,^[8] and MCC by 4 runs^[7] in the first two, but lost the third to Middlesex by 3 wickets.^[9]

Surrey matches

Surrey played Middlesex at Lord's in August, and won by 8 wickets.^[10] They also played three matches against England. The first was on Itchin Stoke Down at the end of June, and England won by 3 wickets.^[11] The other two matches were played over four consecutive days in August at Dandelion Paddock, which was Sir Horatio Mann's new venue near Margate. Surrey won the first by an innings and 6 runs,^[10] and England the second by 5 wickets.^[12]

Other events

It was in 1796 that Montpelier Cricket Club became prominent in "town club" cricket, and began playing against MCC. Montpelier's home ground was called Aram's New Ground. Located in Montpelier Gardens, it was also known as the "Bee Hive Ground" because of its proximity to a pub called the Bee Hive. The first match on record was against MCC in June. MCC won by 63 runs.^[11]

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, p. 196.
^ Haygarth 1996, p. 198.
^ ^a ^b Haygarth 1996, p. 199.
^ Haygarth 1996, p. 197.
^ Haygarth 1996, p. 200.
^ ^a ^b Haygarth 1996, p. 208.
^ ^a ^b Haygarth 1996, p. 201.
^ Haygarth 1996, p. 209.

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.
Haygarth, Arthur (1996) [1862]. Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826). Kennington: Frederick Lillywhite. ISBN 978-19-00592-23-9.
Waghorn, H.T. (2005). The Dawn of Cricket. J W McKenzie.
Warner, Pelham (1946). Lords: 1787–1945. London: Harrap. OCLC 877106024.