1821 English cricket season
Cricket season review
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1821 was the 35th season of cricket in England since the foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). The Gentlemen v Players match was ended in controversial circumstances. Details of five matches are known.[note 1]
Events
- In the Gentlemen v Players match at Lord's Cricket Ground, the Gentlemen conceded the game having gone well behind on 1st innings. Derek Birley commented that it was a "Coronation Match" to celebrate the accession of King George IV and was "a suitably murky affair".[5][6]
- With cricket still recovering from the effects of the Napoleonic War, only a few matches were recorded in 1821:
- 24 May â Cambridge University v Cambridge Town Club @ University Ground, Cambridge[7]
- 3 July â Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) v Godalming @ Lord's Cricket Ground[8]
- 9 July â Godalming v MCC @ The Burys, Godalming[9]
- 16â18 July â MCC v Hampshire @ Lord's Cricket Ground[10]
- 23â24 July â Gentlemen v Players @ Lord's Cricket Ground[11]
- The Gentlemen v Players match marked the final first class appearance of Billy Beldham in a career lasting from 1787.
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 important or, at least, historically significant.[4] For further information, see First-class cricket.
