1787 English cricket season
The first match known to have been played at Lord's was on Monday, 21 May, between the White Conduit Club and a Middlesex county team.
[note 1] There was one top-class six-a-side single wicket match, played at Lord's, between Kent and Hambledon.
Cricket in 1787 was mostly financed by the aristocratic members of the long-standing and multi-functional Noblemen's and Gentlemen's Club which was based at the Star and Garter on Pall Mall in London.
[3] Two of White Conduit's leading lights were George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea, then the president of the Hambledon Club, and Colonel Charles Lennox, the future Duke of Richmond.
They were aware that Thomas Lord, one of the club's professional bowlers, was reputed to have business acumen and so they commissioned him to find and open a private venue, guaranteeing him against any expenses or losses he might incur.
The favour of an answer is desired.The agenda of that meeting is unknown but, less than four weeks later on Monday, 21 May, Lord's new ground staged its earliest known match when White Conduit played against a Middlesex county team.
It is not actually certain that MCC was founded in 1787 because, as John Major asserts in More Than A Game, there is "no irrefutable evidence" to support the claim.
[9] In due course, MCC took responsibility for the organisation, administration and development of the sport, including ownership of the Laws of Cricket.
[8] MCC has always regarded 1787 as its foundation year and, in 1837, staged a golden jubilee match to commemorate its 50th anniversary.
The scorecard details include "P O Clark" for the dismissals of Middlesex batsmen Z. Boult and William Bedster.
Of the 22 players, nine are listed as first-class debutants and Thomas Lord himself made his first recorded appearance, playing as a bowler for Middlesex.
[15] In Scores and Biographies, Arthur Haygarth remarks: "This is the first recorded match played on the original Lord's Ground, which was on the site of Dorset Square".
[20][21][22] On 2–4 August, Lord's hosted a top-class single wicket match between six-a-side teams representing Kent and the Hambledon Club.
[23] Towards the end of the season, on 10–12 September, there was a first-class match between teams selected by the Earl of Winchilsea and Sir Horatio Mann.
[28][29][30][31][32][33][34] In two matches, the Hornchurch club played against a combined team representing White Conduit and Moulsey Hurst.
[35][36][37] The return match was played at Moulsey Hurst on 3–4 July and ended in another victory for the combined team, this time by 131 runs.
The match, of a minor standard, was restricted to amateur players resident in the county with the west–east divide centred on Arundel.
[51] Another match involving an Essex team was played at Langton Park on 2–3 August against White Conduit who won by "over 100 runs".
[54] Movement of the sport's centre of activity from the rural counties to north London led to an unusually high number of players being listed as first-class debutants in 1787, though many could have been playing earlier without being recorded.
For example, the two matches in May included a total of 21 players who are listed as debutants, among them Billy Beldham, Thomas Lord and John Wells.
[36][15] 18th century scorecards generally lack details and so it is difficult to complete analysis of playing performances.
[55] The leading bowlers by wickets credited were David Harris (29), Butcher of Surrey (24), John Boorman (22), Lumpy Stevens (22) and Thomas Taylor (17).
[53] According to Rowland Bowen, it was the unofficial custom in some parts of the country for the team behind on first innings to bat next, regardless of the size of the deficit.
