1799 English cricket season

Counties

Devon

Players

Hockley (Surrey cricketer) (Surrey/Hampshire) – played 8 matches from 1799 to 1805

Woodroffe (Surrey cricketer) (MCC and Surrey; amateur) – played 4 matches in 1799 & 1800

Stephen Lushington (cricketer) (Surrey; amateur) – played 3 matches in 1799

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.

With few matches being played, only six batsmen exceeded 150 runs:

Tom Walker – 239Jack Small – 235John Wells – 231Robert Robinson – 227John Hammond – 192William Beldham – 179

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.

The leading wicket-taker was Thomas Lord with 16

Other top bowlers were John Wells 15; Thomas Boxall 13; Charles Cumberland 11; John Hammond 9

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.

John Wells with 10 ct, 5 st was the leading performer in the field

Thomas Ray took 10 ct and other good fielders were Charles Warren 2 ct, 6 st; John Hammond 4 ct, 3 st; Thomas Burgoyne 7 ct; William Barton 7 ct

Additional reading

ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709 – 1863. Nottingham: ACS. 

Altham, H. S. (1962). A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914). George Allen & Unwin. 

Birley, Derek (1999). A Social History of English Cricket. Aurum. 

Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. Eyre & Spottiswoode. 

Britcher, Samuel, A list of all the principal Matches of Cricket that have been played (1790 to 1805), annual series

Buckley, G. B. (1937). Fresh Light on pre-Victorian Cricket. Cotterell. 

McCann, Tim (2004). Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century. Sussex Record Society. 

Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. HarperCollins.