1772 English Cricket Season - Significant Matches

Nottingham forfeited the match after being dismissed for 14 and then seeing Sheffield score 70 with wickets still in hand. See also the match on 26 August 1771. A pre-match announcement appeared in the (Nottingham) Daily Messenger on Tues 25 May: We are informed that the great Cricket Match which has been so long depending between the Society of Nottingham & that of Sheffield is to be finally determined at Sheffield on Mon., 1 June . . . . The Sherwood youths have been practising for some weeks past, and we are told, the odds at Nottingham are 2 to 1 in their favour. The paper followed up with a report on Friday 12 June that bewailed the defeat of the Nottingham team.

Hampshire 146 (John Small 78, E Aburrow 27) & 79 (John Small 34); All-England 109 (T White 35) & 63 (T May 18)

No details of bowling or fielding are known. Noted bowlers taking part in the game were Stevens, Frame, Brett, Nyren, Hogsflesh, Richard May, White and Barber. The match was played for 500 guineas. In some accounts, All-England was termed Kent, Middlesex and Surrey.

Commencing with this game, there is what amounts to a continuous statistical record with surviving scorecards of at least some games in every single season from here onwards. Until the end of the 18th century, there are still numerous matches without scorecards, but a norm was established in 1772 and the available data soon becomes considerable.

John Small’s score of 78 was the highest recorded in the 1772 season and, as such, it established the then record for the highest known individual score in a first-class match. According to contemporary newspaper reports, "bets of £500 were laid against John Minshull in favour of John Small".

Hampshire had two given men: William Yalden and John Edmeads, both of Surrey. This gave Hampshire two wicketkeepers, Sueter and Yalden, but it is not known which of them kept wicket in this match. It is possible that Sueter was carrying an injury and was fit to bat but not to keep.

The All-England wicketkeeper was probably the Gill of Buckinghamshire known to have been the wicketkeeper for All-England in the matches against Dartford in September 1759. Gill does not appear again in recorded scores.

Hampshire 152 (W Yalden 68) & 122 (W Yalden 49, John Small 30); All-England 126 (J Miller 30, R Simmons 27) & 86 (J Miller 26)

The second game this season with a surviving scorecard. As in the previous game between the teams, Hampshire had two given men: William "the Yold" Yalden and John Edmeads, both of Surrey. Yalden’s contribution was immense as he scored 68 and 49 in Hampshire’s totals of 152 & 122. Again, the bowling and fielding details are unknown.

Some confusion has arisen over the extras. According to Mr Ashley-Cooper: In the course of the game, the Hambledon Club got 11 notches in byes and All-England 21, but they were not entered in the scoresheet. He gave the match scores as 144 and 118 to 117 and 73 with Hampshire winning by 72 runs.

The stake was 500 guineas. No details are known besides the result.

Hampshire 123 (G Leer 29, T Sueter 26) & 113 (John Small 48); Kent 136 (W Palmer 29, J Minshull 24) & 101-8 (John Wood 20, J Miller 17*)

Hampshire again had Yalden and Edmeads of Surrey as given men. The Kent team is called England in Scores & Biographies but nine of the players were of Kent with two given men: Stevens and White of Surrey.

The source says: "Hampshire & Sussex = Hambledon Club".

The bets placed seem to have been mainly around how many the Duke of Dorset would score compared with "Mr Ellis", a now unknown player. It is possible that this was a gentlemen only game and the same may be true of the match on 10 August. The report was in the General Evening Post on Sat 29 August.

No details are known except the result.