On this day, 1772 and 2022

Tuesday 23 June 1772 was market day in Hambledon, Hampshire and on that day the first designated first-class match was due to take place in the village at Broadhalfpenny Down.

The Hampshire team had two given men in John Edmeads and William Yalden from Chertsey, and the team was captained by Richard Nyren, known as “The General”, the landlord of the Bat and Ball.

The team included;

• John Small generally regarded as the greatest batsman of the 18th century and as such was included in John Woodcock’s “100 Greatest Cricketers of All Time in 1997. He went on to the score the first first-class century in 1775 against Surrey and played his last match in 1798 at the age of 61;

• Thomas Brett said to be the fastest and straightest bowler of his generation;

• Tom Sueter who was the team’s wicket-keeper and a proficient left-handed bat;

• George Leer whose speciality was fielding at long-stop behind the wicket-keeper, especially to the bowling of Thomas Brett;

• Peter Stewart (also known as “Buck” as he was a natty dresser) was a good batsman, especially on the off side and had a wicked sense of humour;

• Edward Aburrow a decent batsman and useful change bowler. He played for All-England against Kent in 1744;

• William Hogsflesh known as a medium pace bowler;

• William Barber was a fast round-arm bowler with a high delivery and a free hitter. He took over the Bat and Ball, after Richard Nyren, which he ran for twelve years, being also the groundsman on Broadhalfpenny Down.

  
  

The England team were also allowed a given man from Chertsey, Edward (Lumpy) Stevens. Stevens was recognised as probably the best bowler of his era. In 1775 playing John Small in a single wicket match he beat Small three times with the ball going straight through the stumps. This led to the introduction of a third stump.

The match was played for a stake of 500 guineas. There were four balls per over and no extras were recorded. The bowlers and the forms of dismissal were not recorded nor was there any report on the match. Hampshire scored 146 in their first innings, thanks to John Small who made 78, over half the runs. England were all out for 109; their highest individual score being 35 by Thomas White. In their second innings Hampshire scored 79, again mainly due to John Small who made 34. They then got England out for 63, winning by 53 runs.

In 2022, we celebrated 250 years of First Class cricket with a special match at Broadhalfpenny Down which was covered on TV by the BBC and ITV, on Radio by Heart, and in the printed media by Wisden, The Times, The Guardian, and the Daily Telegraph. Mike Beardall was interviewed live on Test Match special too.

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