← Back to Home

Controversies in 1806

3 incidents documented

Mild

The First Gentlemen v Players Match — Lord's, July 1806

Gentlemen vs Players

1806-07-07

On 7-9 July 1806 a 'Grand Match' between the Gentlemen and the Players was played at Thomas Lord's first ground at Dorset Square — the inaugural fixture of what would become the longest-running representative match in cricket. The Gentlemen, captained by Lord Frederick Beauclerk and aided by two professional 'given men', William Lambert and Billy Beldham, beat the Players by an innings and 14 runs. The series ran continuously until January 1963 — 156 years.

#gentlemen-vs-players#1806#lord-s-old-ground
Mild

Beauclerk's 170 — Highest Score in Cricket, Homerton v Montpelier, 1806

Homerton vs Montpelier

1806-08-15

Playing as a given man for the Homerton club against Montpelier in 1806, Lord Frederick Beauclerk scored 170 — the highest individual score recorded in any form of cricket up to that point. The innings stood as a benchmark of high scoring for fourteen years, until William Ward's 278 for MCC against Norfolk at Lord's in 1820. Although the match was not in itself first-class, the score was a landmark in the gradual stretching of cricket's batting horizon.

#lord-frederick-beauclerk#1806#homerton
Mild

Jack Small Junior — Hambledon's Last Hand at the First Gentlemen v Players, 1806

Gentlemen vs Players

1806-07-21

Jack Small junior, son of the great John Small senior who had scored cricket's first known century in 1775, played for the Players in both inaugural Gentlemen v Players matches in July 1806. He was 40, a sound batsman in his father's mould, and one of the last Hambledon hands still active at major level. His presence in the first Gentlemen v Players is the bridge that links the 1770s Hambledon era to the modern Lord's-centred game.

#jack-small#john-small-junior#gentlemen-vs-players