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.
First mentions
Richard Aubrey Veck made his debut in first-class cricket during the season.
References
- Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) (1981) A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709 – 1863. Nottingham: ACS.
- Results, English Domestic Season 1776, CricInfo. Retrieved 2019-02-17.
- Hampshire XI v Kent XI, scorecard, CricInfo. Retrieved 2019-02-17.
- Kent XI v Hampshire XI, scorecard, CricInfo. Retrieved 2019-02-17.
- Hampshire XI v Kent XI, scorecard, CricInfo. Retrieved 2019-02-17.
- Kent XI v Hampshire XI, scorecard, CricInfo. Retrieved 2019-02-17.
- Hampshire XI v Kent XI, scorecard, CricInfo. Retrieved 2019-02-17.
- Surrey XI v Hampshire XI, scorecard, CricInfo. Retrieved 2019-02-17.
- Hampshire XI v Surrey XI, scorecard, CricInfo. Retrieved 2019-02-17.
- 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.