Start date 1797 | ||
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The 1797 cricket season was the 200th in England since the earliest known definite reference to cricket in January 1597 (i.e., Old Style – 1598 New Style). MCC enjoyed great success on the field, winning nine of their eleven known matches.
Contents
First mentions
Leading batsmen
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.
Lord Frederick Beauclerk scored 758 runs to top the 1797 run-scoring list
Others who scored more than 200 runs were John Hammond 603; John Tufton 592; Tom Walker 491; William Beldham 430; Edward Bligh 382; William Fennex 346; Robert Robinson 310; James Aylward 296; Charles Lennox 270; Henry Tufton 246; Harry Walker 243; Jack Small 227; Thomas Ray 214
Leading bowlers
Note that the wickets credited to an 18th-century bowler were only those where he bowled the batsman out. The bowler was not credited with the wickets of batsmen who were caught out, even if it was "caught and bowled". In addition, the runs conceded by each bowler were not recorded so no analyses or averages can be computed.
Lord Frederick Beauclerk with a massive haul of 66 wickets was easily the top bowler
Other leading wicket-takers were John Wells 31; Thomas Boxall 24; Thomas Lord 20; Sylvester 20; John Hammond 18
Leading fielders
Note that many scorecards in the 18th century are unknown or have missing details and so the totals are of the known catches and stumpings only. Stumpings were not always recorded as such and sometimes the name of the wicket-keeper was not given. Generally, a catch was given the same status as "bowled" with credit being awarded to the fielder only and not the bowler. There is never a record of "caught and bowled": the bowler would be credited with the catch, not with the wicket.
Thomas Ray took the most known catches with 19 but he may have been beaten by John Tufton who definitely took 18 (plus one definite stumping) but could have had more. The Tufton brothers again starred in the field and Henry was the best keeper with 11 ct, 15 st. There were another 3 catches and 3 stumpings credited to one or other of the Tuftons.
Other good performances were by Charles Lennox 16 ct, 1 st; Lord Frederick Beauclerk 12 ct; John Wells 11 ct 5 st; Edward Bligh 10 ct; William Beldham 9 ct; William Fennex 9 ct; Andrew Freemantle 9 ct; John Hammond 9 ct, 7 st; Sylvester 8 ct