On 9 June 1806 Lord Frederick Beauclerk — Regency cricket's swaggering amateur — challenged William Beldham, the most respected professional in the country, to a single-wicket match for stakes of 50 guineas. The match was played in front of a paying Lord's crowd. Beauclerk won by twelve runs, helped by a much-debated stumping decision against Beldham in the first innings. The contest is one of the great single-wicket fixtures of the period.
Single-wicket matches were the favoured form for individual stakes. By the 1800s the leading players staged them at Lord's three or four times a season, and Beauclerk and Beldham had clashed in this form before.
The challenge was issued by Beauclerk over dinner at the MCC tavern in May 1806. Beldham, who needed the money, accepted within a week.
Single-wicket cricket — one batter against one bowler, runs scored only on the off side of an imaginary line through the wicket — was the form Regency gentlemen used for personal duels. By 1806 Beauclerk was twenty-nine, Beldham forty, and their rivalry had been simmering for several seasons. The match was for 50 guineas a side, with a purse of around 200 guineas in side bets. Beauclerk batted first and made 25; Beldham made 13 in reply. In Beauclerk's second innings he made 12, leaving Beldham 25 to win — at which Beldham was stumped on 12 by Hammond, the Surrey wicketkeeper, after appearing to ground his bat. The umpire's decision was contested at length but allowed to stand.
Beauclerk first innings: 25
Beldham first innings: 13
Beauclerk second innings: 12
Beldham stumped on 12 by Hammond — disputed decision
Beauclerk wins by 12 runs
May 1806
Beauclerk issues the challenge at the MCC tavern
9 Jun 1806
Single-wicket match played at Lord's
Jun 1806
Disputed stumping discussed in the press
“His Lordship is a fine player, but a worse temper at the wicket I never saw.”
Beldham was paid his share of the side bets but lost the principal stake. The decision was discussed in the cricket press for weeks afterwards.
A Regency-era duel at the highest level — and a foretaste of the umpiring controversies that would shadow Beauclerk's career.
The match is one of the most famous single-wicket fixtures of the period and the earliest well-documented instance of an umpiring controversy in a high-stakes Regency match.
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1811-07-04
The 1811 Lord's season was the leanest of the Middle Ground years. With the Napoleonic blockade at its tightest, willow scarce, professionals diverted to militia service and the betting public's purses thin, only fourteen major matches were played at Lord's all summer. The 1811 season is the clearest measure of cricket's wartime contraction.
Officers vs Civilians
1812-12-15
By the close of 1812 cricket was being played regularly in both Madras and Bombay — the earliest documented fixtures in either Presidency. Garrison officers and civilian East India Company servants ran the matches; the Madras Gazette and Bombay Courier preserved the earliest scoresheets. The Calcutta game (documented 1804) had been joined by all three Presidency capitals.
Kent vs MCC
1813-09-09
On 9-10 September 1813 Kent played the MCC at the Vine, Sevenoaks — the first post-war major match at the historic Kent ground and the start of the Vine's revival as a regular major venue. The Vine had hosted little major cricket since 1808; the September 1813 fixture marked its return to the front rank.