1769 English cricket season

The fixture was announced in the Daily Advertiser on Fri 12 May but not reported. The exact venue was a field belonging to the Red Lion at Smitham Bottom and it was a Whitsuntide event. Coulsdon and Caterham challenged any 11 men in England, rather in the style of Slindon Cricket Club 25 years earlier: "The winners to have 10/6 each man, and the losers 5/3 each man, to be paid by Edward Smith at the Red Lion. Wickets pitched at 12 noon, and dinner to be ready at 11: a very good Ordinary, and good eating at any time".

Reported by the St James Chronicle on Tues 13 June.

Apart from the references to Thomas Waymark and others who took part in single wicket contests in the 1740s, this is the first time Berkshire is recorded as a county team. Although Berkshire has been classified as a minor county for the last two centuries, it was a strong centre of the game in the late 18th century and produced numerous players good enough to take part in major matches. As with other counties such as Essex, the strength of Berkshire was vested in one prominent club, in this case the Oldfield Club of Maidenhead which had a noted venue at Oldfield Bray.

Announced by the Reading Mercury on Mon 26 June as the first match between the two clubs, with wickets to be pitched at nine (which is very early).

The report of the game in the Reading Mercury on Sat 5 August reads: "On Monday last began to be played at Guildford, in Surrey, the decisive grand match at cricket between the Hambledon and Caterham Clubs, which, after a long and vigorous contest, was determined on Tuesday evening in favour of the former. The utmost activity and skill in the game was displayed by each individual through the whole course of this match, but particularly the batting of Messrs Small and Bayton on the Hambledon side. There were near 20,000 spectators, and it is generally allowed by the best judges to have been the finest match that ever was played".

The team totals were: Caterham – 104 + 137 = 241; Hambledon – 99 + 143-6 = 242-6

The Hambledon team: Mr Thomas Ridge, William Hogsflesh, Thomas Brett, Peter Stewart, Richard Nyren, John Small, John Bayton, Glazier, Thomas Sueter, Purdy, William Barber

The Caterham team: Mr Henry Rowett, Bellchambers, Edward "Lumpy" Stevens, Page, Joseph Miller, Smailes, John Wood, William Palmer, Shepherd, Thomas Quiddington, Wessing

A report in the Whitehall Evening Post on Tuesday 8 August states: "Guildford. The benefit arising to this town by the last great match at Cricket has set many projections on foot for more sport of that sort. They talk of a match soon for £1,000 a side between a certain Duke against All England".^[1]

The "certain Duke" was surely the Duke of Dorset, the former John Frederick Sackville, who had succeeded to his title on 6 January 1769.

The Middlesex Journal dated Thurs 3 August states: "The afternoon of the first day was wet; the close of play scores were: Caterham, 104 ; Hambledon, 51 for 4". As this was the "decisive grand match", it leaves open the question of another one played between the "first match" on 29 June (see above) and this one.^[1]

The Middlesex Journal on Sat 19 August described the teams as: Greenwich, Woolwich and Deptford beat the Artillery Club of London by 47 notches.

Described as: "A great match at cricket was played in the Artillery Ground, for a very large sum of money (i.e., £20,000), and great bets depending, between eleven gentlemen of London and eleven of Kent : the match not being played out, they began again yesterday at two in the afternoon; when the Londoners beat by 56 notches".

The team scores were: London – 81 + 99 = 180; Kent – 65 + 59 = 124

The Middlesex Journal on Sat 26 August reported: "in the third match between Kent and London, Kent won by 6 wickets".

The Bath Chronicle reported this on Thurs 31 August and said that "London beat Middlesex for 50 guineas".

A minor match for which a partial score has survived. John Minshull, whose name was given as Minchin on the scoresheet, scored 107 for Dorset’s XI and this is the earliest century in any class of cricket that has definitely been recorded (Minshull scored 34 singles, 15 twos, 9 threes and 4 fours^[3]). There are no details at all of Wrotham’s team or its scores. All the scores and means of dismissal were recorded for Dorset’s team who made 68 and 236. Apart from Minshull and Dorset, the only recognised players are Thomas Pattenden, John Wood and William Bowra, though the player called Fish appears in a few scorecards. Obviously, none of the Wrotham players can be recognised. As such, the status of the game must be considered minor in terms of its quality.^[4]

Announced in the St James Chronicle on Thurs 21 September. West Kent was the Duke of Dorset’s team.

The second known century partnership was achieved in this game when Tom Sueter and George Leer of Hambledon scored 128 for the first wicket. The report says: "On Thursday, 28 Sept. 1769, the second great match of cricket was played on Broad-halfpenny, Hampshire, between the Hambledon Club, and the County of Surrey, which was decided in favour of the former, by 41 notches, in one innings ; what is very remarkable, the two first mates on the Hambledon side (Sueter and Leer) fetched 128 before they were parted".^[5]