Joseph 'Joey' Ring of Hambledon — left-arm fast underarm bowler and one of the last surviving regulars of the great Hambledon side of the 1780s — died at Hambledon in July 1800 in his early forties. His death is one of the markers historians use for the end of the Hambledon era proper: of the eleven who beat England at Sevenoaks in 1777, only Beldham, Walker and a handful of fielders were still in major cricket.
The Hambledon Club's great years were 1772-1791. By 1800 most of its core players were dead, retired or playing only village cricket.
Ring had been a Hambledon regular from 1782 and was the leading left-arm bowler of the side through the late 1780s. He was a small man, quick, and one of the few left-armers in major cricket of the period. By 1798 his form had declined and he was playing only village fixtures around Hambledon. He died in July 1800 of an unrecorded illness; John Nyren, who knew him well, wrote that he had 'gone the way of all hands at Hambledon' — meaning the long road of cheap drink and short money that ended most professional careers.
Jul 1800: Ring dies at Hambledon
John Nyren records the death in his contemporaneous notes
Of the 1777 Hambledon XI, only three remain in major cricket
c. 1758
Ring born at Hambledon
1782
First major matches for Hambledon
Jul 1800
Ring dies at Hambledon
A quiet end for one of the last Hambledon regulars and a marker of the era's close.
Ring is one of the named Hambledon regulars in Nyren's The Young Cricketer's Tutor. His 1800 death is part of the closing chapter of the Hambledon era.
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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.