1792 English cricket season

1792 English cricket season

In the 1792 English cricket season, Kent played Hampshire at Cobham Park, which was Lord Darnley's estate and the home of the Bligh family. Ninety years later, it became the home of The Ashes in the shape of the urn brought back from Australia by the Hon. Ivo Bligh. Details of 24 matches are known, but only a few can be considered top-class.[note 1]

A match in Sheffield provides the earliest known instance of the rare dismissal of obstructing the field. Elsewhere, the earliest known cricket club in India was formed in Calcutta.

Matches

Date Match Title Venue Source Result
7–9 May (M-W) MCC v Middlesex Lord's (Dorset Square)

[5]

MCC won by 274 runs
15–17 May (Tu-Th) MCC v Middlesex Lord's (Dorset Square)

[6]

Middlesex won by 5 runs
21–22 May (M-Tu) Bligh v Earl of Winchilsea Lord's (Dorset Square)

[6]

Winchilsea's XI won by 8 wkts
28–30 May (M-W) MCC v Sussex Lord's (Dorset Square)

[7]

Sussex won by 9 wkts
31 May - 1 June (Th-F) MCC v Berkshire Lord's (Dorset Square)

[8]

MCC won by 7 runs
6–8 June (W-F) MCC v England Lord's (Dorset Square)

[9]

MCC won by innings & 10 runs

See the note re the 1793 match on 12–14 June which some sources have recorded on the same dates in 1792.

21–23 June (Th-S) England v Kent Lord's (Dorset Square)

[10]

England won by 10 runs
2–4 July (M-W) England v Hampshire Burley-on-the-Hill, Rutland

[11]

Hampshire won by 75 runs
9 July (M) Nottingham v Leicester ^ Burley-on-the-Hill, Rutland

[12]

Leicester won by 4 wkts

^ Full title is Nottingham v Leicestershire & Rutland. There is no doubt the teams were representative of the counties and similar to the sides that competed against MCC in 1791. The match is historically important and is a major fixture. The Nottingham v Leicester game is also in William North's 1832 book of Nottingham Old Club Match Scores.

16–18 July (M-W) Hampshire v England Windmill Down

[13]

Hampshire won by 127 runs
19–20 July (Th-F) Hampshire Colts v Brighton # Windmill Down

[14]

Hampshire won by 6 wkts
24–27 July (Tu-F) Hampshire v Surrey Perriam Down

[14]

Surrey won by 109 runs
2-4 Aug (Th-S) Berkshire v MCC Oldfield Bray

[15]

Berkshire won by 10 runs
7 Aug (Tu) Brighton v Hampshire Colts # PoW Ground, Brighton

[16]

Brighton won by 7 wkts

# The two Hambledon v Brighton games recorded in S&B are considered minor due to lack of recognised players.

15-17 Aug (W-F) Kent v Hampshire Cobham Park, near Gravesend

[17]

Hampshire won by 8 wkts

Cobham Park was Lord Darnley's estate and the home of the Bligh family. Ninety years later it became the home of the Ashes brought back from Australia by the Hon. Ivo Bligh.

20-23 Aug (M-Th) Sussex v MCC PoW Ground, Brighton

[17]

Sussex won by 3 wkts

The Prince of Wales Ground in Brighton had its name changed over the years and was known as Box's Ground in the next century.

23-25 Aug (Th-S) Sussex v MCC PoW Ground, Brighton

[18]

Sussex won by innings & 44 runs
27 Aug (M) Sheffield v Bents Green Sheffield ? FLPV Sheffield won by 10 wkts

This was three innings a side and is the first match played in Yorkshire for which the full scores are known. Mr Buckley found the information in the Sheffield Advertiser dated 31 August 1792. This is the first match in which a batsman was given out for obstructing the field. The Bents Green player John Shaw, who scored 7 in the first innings, had his dismissal recorded as "run out of the ground to hinder a catch".

29-31 Aug (W-F) Kent v Essex Dartford Brent

[19]

Kent won by 81 runs
5-6 Sept (W-Th) Sussex v Middlesex PoW Ground, Brighton

[19]

Sussex won by 5 wkts

S&B says only the two first innings were played during 5-7 Sept 1792 (rain-affected?) and the game was concluded on 27 May 1793 when the two second innings were played.

17-19 Sept (M-W) Kent v Hampshire Dartford Brent

[20]

Hampshire won by innings & 23 runs
20-22, 24 Sept (Th-M) Middlesex v Sussex Lord's (Dorset Square) brit drawn (rain)

Britcher reports that the game was postponed because of rain until Whit Monday in 1793 but we do not know if it was concluded. Details of this match only came to light recently when Britcher's work became available.

27-28 Sept (Th-F) Essex v Kent Langton Park, Hornchurch

[21]

Kent won by 158 runs

Other events

To be completed.

Notes

  1. ^ 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 top-class or, at least, historically significant.[4] For further information, see First-class cricket.

References

  1. ^ "First-Class matches in England in 1772". CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  2. ^ Wisden (1948). Preston, Hubert (ed.). Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (85th ed.). London: Sporting Handbooks Ltd. p. 813. OCLC 851705816.
  3. ^ ACS 1982, pp. 4–5.
  4. ^ ACS 1981, pp. 1–40.
  5. ^ Haygarth 1996, p. 128.
  6. ^ a b Haygarth 1996, p. 129.
  7. ^ Haygarth 1996, p. 130.
  8. ^ Haygarth 1996, p. 131.
  9. ^ Haygarth 1996, p. 132.
  10. ^ Haygarth 1996, p. 133.
  11. ^ Haygarth 1996, p. 134.
  12. ^ Haygarth 1996, p. 135.
  13. ^ Haygarth 1996, p. 136.
  14. ^ a b Haygarth 1996, p. 137.
  15. ^ Haygarth 1996, p. 138.
  16. ^ Haygarth 1996, p. 139.
  17. ^ a b Haygarth 1996, p. 140.
  18. ^ Haygarth 1996, p. 141.
  19. ^ a b Haygarth 1996, p. 142.
  20. ^ Haygarth 1996, p. 143.
  21. ^ Haygarth 1996, p. 144.

Bibliography

Further reading