1796 English cricket season

Details of 22 matches are known in the 1796 English cricket season, but only a few can be considered important/top-class.^{[note 1]}

Matches

Date	Match Title	Venue	Source	Result
9–11 May (M-Tu)	MCC v Middlesex	Lord's (Dorset Square) ^[5]	Middlesex won by 3 wkts

16–17 May (M-Tu)	Middlesex v Kent	Lord's (Dorset Square) ^[6]	Kent won by 51 runs

27–28 May (F-S)	Earl of Winchilsea v Bligh (10 a side) #	Lord's (Dorset Square) ^[6]	Winchilsea's XI won by 65 runs

30–31 May (M-Tu)	MCC v Middlesex	Lord's (Dorset Square) ^[7]	MCC won by 141 runs

6–7 June (M-Tu)	MCC v Middlesex	Lord's (Dorset Square) ^[8]	Middlesex won by 8 runs

13–15 June (M-W)	MCC v Kent	Lord's (Dorset Square) ^[8]	Kent won by 4 runs

20–22 June (M-W)	Middlesex v Kent	Lord's (Dorset Square) ^[9]	Middlesex won by 3 wkts

24–25 June (F-S)	Thursday/Montpelier v MCC	Montpelier Gardens ^[10]	MCC won by 63 runs
Montpelier Gardens was in Walworth, London. The actual venue is George Aram’s New Ground in Montpelier Gardens. NB: Walworth is in Surrey, not Middlesex.
28–30 June (Tu-Th)	All-England v Surrey	Stoke Down ^[10]	All-England won by 3 wkts

4–5 July (M-Tu)	Bullingdon v MCC #	Bullingdon ^[11]	MCC won by 199 runs

6 July (W)	Thursday Club v Montpelier ^	Lord’s (Dorset Square) ^[12]	Thursday Club won by 8 wkts
It seems this match was not completed until Friday 12 August and so its conclusion must have preceded the game in SB206.
11–12 July (M-Tu)	MCC v Bullingdon #	Lord's (Dorset Square) ^[13]	MCC won by innings & 137 runs

13–15 July (W-F)	MCC v Thursday/Montpelier	Lord's (Dorset Square) ^[14]	MCC won by 6 wkts

19–22 July (Tu-F)	Earl of Winchilsea v A Smith	Perriam Down ^[14]	Winchilsea's XI won by 10 runs

25 July (M)	Montpelier v Thursday Club #	Montpelier Gardens ^[12]	Thursday Club won by innings & 19 runs

10 August (W)	Middlesex v Kennington #	Lord's (Dorset Square) ^[12]	Middlesex won by 2 wkts

12-13 Aug (F-S)	Middlesex v Mont & Kenn Clubs ^	Lord's (Dorset Square) ^[15]	Middlesex won by 3 wkts
Mont & Kenn = the combined Montpelier and Kennington Clubs. It seems this match started after the one postponed from Wed 6 July was completed.
15 Aug (M)	Montpelier v Highgate ^#	Montpelier Gardens	brit	Montpelier won by 6 runs
WDC also records this match but has it dated 1 August. Britcher’s date is accepted as the closer source. ^# These games in the main sources and in the ACS list are not important matches, including Earl of Winchilsea v Bligh on 27 May (SB197) which was ten-a side with weak teams.
15-16 Aug (M-Tu)	Middlesex v Surrey	Lord's (Dorset Square) ^[16]	Surrey won by 8 wkts
WDC has this game dated 1–2 August and the ACS Guide includes both entries. The above is believed correct.
22-23 Aug (M-Tu)	All-England v Surrey	Dandelion Paddock ^[16]	Surrey won by innings & 6 runs

24-26 Aug (W-F)	All-England v Surrey	Dandelion Paddock ^[17]	All-England won by 5 wkts

26-27 Aug (F-S)	Mont & Kenn v Middlesex ^	Montpelier Gardens ^[18]	drawn
^ It was at this time that matches involving local clubs like Montpelier, Kennington, Highgate, Rochester, Woolwich, Homerton, Richmond, Storrington and Thames Ditton begin to achieve prominence in the old books. The match given in WDC as J Small v T Walker at the Dandelion Paddock on 7 - 10 Sept is in fact a wrongly dated duplicate of the Mann v Leigh game in S&B on the same days in 1795 (see above).

Other events

To be completed.

Notes

^ 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

^ "First-Class matches in England in 1772". CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
^ Wisden (1948). Preston, Hubert (ed.). Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (85th ed.). London: Sporting Handbooks Ltd. p. 813. OCLC 851705816.
^ ACS 1982, pp. 4–5.
^ ACS 1981, pp. 1–40.
^ Haygarth 1996, p. 196.
^ ^a ^b Haygarth 1996, p. 197.
^ Haygarth 1996, p. 198.
^ ^a ^b Haygarth 1996, p. 199.
^ Haygarth 1996, p. 200.
^ ^a ^b Haygarth 1996, p. 201.
^ Haygarth 1996, p. 202.
^ ^a ^b ^c Waghorn 2005.
^ Haygarth 1996, p. 203.
^ ^a ^b Haygarth 1996, p. 204.
^ Haygarth 1996, p. 206.
^ ^a ^b Haygarth 1996, p. 208.
^ Haygarth 1996, p. 209.
^ Haygarth 1996, p. 210.

Bibliography

ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709–1863. Nottingham: ACS. OCLC 85045528.
ACS (1982). A Guide to First-class Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles. Nottingham: ACS. OCLC 10586869.
Haygarth, Arthur (1996) [1862]. Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826). Kennington: Frederick Lillywhite. ISBN 978-19-00592-23-9.
Waghorn, H.T. (2005). The Dawn of Cricket. J W McKenzie.
Warner, Pelham (1946). Lords: 1787–1945. London: Harrap. OCLC 877106024.

Matches

Other events

Notes

References

Bibliography

Further reading