1872 English cricket season
In the 1872 cricket season, the first experiment in pitch covering was carried out. Prince's Cricket Ground opened in Chelsea, London.[note 1]
Playing record (by county)
| County | Played | Won | Lost | Drawn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Derbyshire | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Gloucestershire | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| Kent | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Lancashire | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Middlesex | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Nottinghamshire[a] | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| Surrey | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 |
| Sussex | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Yorkshire[a] | 9 | 2 | 6 | 1 |
Leading batsmen (qualification 15 innings)
| 1872 English season leading batsmen[6] | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Team | Matches | Innings | Not outs | Runs | Highest score | Average | 100s | 50s |
| WG Grace | Gloucestershire Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) |
20 | 32 | 7 | 1485 | 170 not out | 57.11 | 6 | 6 |
| Richard Daft | Nottinghamshire | 13 | 20 | 3 | 589 | 102 | 34.64 | 1 | 4 |
| William Yardley | Cambridge University Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) |
11 | 19 | 3 | 529 | 130 | 33.06 | 1 | 2 |
| Henry Charlwood | Sussex | 16 | 27 | 4 | 651 | 80 | 28.30 | 0 | 5 |
| Frederick Fryer | Cambridge University | 9 | 15 | 0 | 405 | 91 | 27.00 | 0 | 3 |
Leading bowlers (qualification 800 balls)
| 1872 English season leading bowlers[7] | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Team | Balls bowled | Runs conceded | Wickets taken | Average | Best bowling | 5 wickets in innings |
10 wickets in match |
| William McIntyre | Lancashire | 857 | 232 | 41 | 5.65 | 7/23 | 7 | 3 |
| George Wootton | Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) | 1239 | 359 | 37 | 9.70 | 7/14 | 5 | 2 |
| David Buchanan | Gentlemen | 1210 | 374 | 35 | 10.68 | 7/78 | 4 | 1 |
| Arthur Ridley | Oxford University | 844 | 332 | 31 | 10.70 | 6/23 | 3 | 0 |
| George Howitt | Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Middlesex |
1238 | 427 | 38 | 11.23 | 6/36 | 4 | 0 |
Events
- An experiment took place at Lord's to study the effects of covering the pitch before the start of a match, the first time this is known to have been tried.[8] Unlike the recently introduced heavy roller which became universally used by 1880 and produced significant changes in the game by eliminating previously ubiquitous shooters, covering was for a long time severely rejected in England:[9] it was the wet summer of 1924[10] before covering as regular practice was even considered and 1959 before it was considered "acceptable".
- 14 May: Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) lose seven wickets before their first run is scored on a sticky wicket at Lord's against James Southerton and William Marten of Surrey.[11] Their ninth wicket falls at 8 - which would have been the lowest score in an important match for sixty-two years - but the last wicket doubles the score
- Prince's Cricket Ground hosted its first first-class match being between North and South on 16 May. Before being built on, it was generally praised for its wickets[12] and the scenery surrounding the ground.
Labels
a Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire played a third match at the short-lived Prince's Cricket Ground, Chelsea
b Hampshire, though regarded until 1885 as first-class, played no inter-county matches between 1868 and 1869 or 1871 and 1874
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.
- ^ Wynne-Thomas, Peter; The Rigby A-Z of Cricket Records; p. 53 ISBN 072701868X
- ^ First Class Batting in England in 1872
- ^ First Class Bowling in England in 1872
- ^ Rowland Bowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970 p. 284.
- ^ Rosenwater, Irving; "A History of Wicket-Covering in England"; in Preston, Norman (editor); Wisden Cricketers' Almanac; One Hundred and Seventh Edition (1970); pp. 131–146
- ^ Pardon, Sydney H. (editor); John Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack, Sixty-Second Edition (1925); Part I; p. 333
- ^ Marylebone Cricket Club v Surrey in 1872
- ^ Rae, Simon; W. G. Grace: A Life; p. 106 ISBN 0571195733
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.
- Warner, Pelham (1946). Lords: 1787–1945. London: Harrap. OCLC 877106024.
Annual reviews
- John Lillywhite's Cricketer's Companion (Green Lilly), Lillywhite, 1873
- James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual (Red Lilly), Lillywhite, 1873
- Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1873
Further reading
- Altham, H. S.; Swanton, E. W. (1962). A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914) (5th ed.). London: George Allen & Unwin. OCLC 894274808.
- Birley, Derek (1999). A Social History of English Cricket. London: Aurum Press. ISBN 978-18-54107-10-7 – via Internet Archive.
- Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. ISBN 978-04-13278-60-9.
- Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-00-07183-64-7 – via Internet Archive.