1822 English cricket season
Cricket season review
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1822 was the 36th season of cricket in England since the foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). John Willes brought the roundarm issue to a head and sacrificed his own career in the process. The outstanding batsman James Saunders made his known debut. Details of nine matches are known.[note 1]
Events
- The roundarm issue came to a head in 1822 when, in the MCC v. Kent match at Lord's, John Willes of Kent opened the bowling and was no-balled for using a roundarm action, a style he had attempted to introduce since 1807. Willes promptly withdrew from the match and refused to play again in any important fixture.
- Roundarm was a natural reaction to the growing predominance of batsmen over the age-old underarm style of bowling. Its adherents argued that the legalisation of roundarm was essential to restore the balance between batting and bowling. However, high-scoring matches were still comparatively rare owing to vagaries in pitch conditions.
- Nine matches were recorded in 1822:
- 20â21 May â Cambridge University v Cambridge Town Club @ University Ground, Cambridge[5]
- 10â11 June â MCC First XII v MCC Second XII @ Lord's Cricket Ground[6]
- 24 June â MCC First XI v MCC Second XI @ Lord's Cricket Ground[7]
- 27â28 June â Godalming v Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) @ The Burys, Godalming[8]
- 1â2 July â Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) v Godalming @ Lord's Cricket Ground[9]
- 8â10 July â Gentlemen v Players @ Lord's Cricket Ground[10]
- 15â16 July â Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) v Kent @ Lord's Cricket Ground[11]
- 25â27 July â Kent v Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) @ West Kent CC, Chislehurst[12]
- 12â14 August â England v The Bs @ Lord's Cricket Ground[13]
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.