1780 English cricket season

In the 1780 English cricket season, Duke & Son of Penshurst made the first-ever six-seam cricket ball.

The following matches are classified as important:

Duke of Dorset’s XI 93 (W Bowra 33) & 92 (W Bullen 34; Berwick 3w); Sir Horace Mann’s XI 105 (J Aylward 47) & 81-3 (J Miller 24*)

This was a single innings match. The Maidenhead team here is a forerunner of the noted Oldfield Club which became prominent in the mid-1780s. Oldfield played at Oldfield Bray which is near Maidenhead and their strength was such that they were representative of Berkshire as a county. A handful of Maidenhead’s players in this game later played for the Oldfield Club.

Duke of Dorset’s XI 97 (Earl of Tankerville 30, W Bedster 23; Gibson 5w, R Clifford 4w) & 163 (W Pattenden 32, W Bullen 30, E Stevens 25, W Bedster 24; Gibson 3w, R Clifford 2w); Sir Horace Mann’s XI 149 (B Rimmington 62, Mr R Hosmer 36; E Stevens 2w) & 97 (W Yalden 22*; W Bedster 3w, E Stevens 2w)

All-England 197 (W Yalden 52, W Bowra 31, T Rimmington 25, R Clifford 25; R Nyren 3w) & 144 (J Miller 37, W Yalden 34, J Aylward 24; W Lamborn 2w); Hampshire 80 (John Small 22; R Clifford 4w) & 96 (E Aburrow 36, N Mann 33; R Clifford 3w, E Stevens 2w)

All-England 179 (J Miller 50, R Clifford 33*, E Stevens 31, J Aylward 26, W Bedster 24; W Lamborn 4w) & 101 (B Rimmington 38; R Nyren 4w); Hampshire 169 (E Aburrow 42, T Sueter 36, N Mann 30; E Stevens 4w, R Clifford 2w) & 60 (R A Veck 23; E Stevens 6w)

With 10 wickets and a first innings knock of 31, there is no doubt that Lumpy was the man of this match!

# Hampshire players Richard Veck and Thomas Taylor played for Alresford in these games. The Odiham & Alton teams include players called Beldam and Wells. Wells was probably James, elder brother of John; Beldam must have been George Beldam, elder brother of William who was still only 14 in 1780.

Duke & Son of Penshurst made the first-ever six-seam cricket ball and it was presented to the Prince of Wales (i.e., the future King George IV of England).

Several games have been recorded between the Duke of Dorset and Sir Horace Mann, though the match titles vary as before. Two of the matches have surviving scorecards which are in S&B.

Note that many scorecards in the 18th century are unknown or have missing details and so it is impossible to provide a complete analysis of batting performances: e.g., the missing not outs prevent computation of batting averages. The "runs scored" are in fact the runs known.

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