1796 English cricket season explained

Previous Year:	1795
Previous Tournament:	1795 English cricket season
Next Year:	1797
Next Tournament:	1797 English cricket season

The 1796 English cricket season was the 25th in which matches have been awarded retrospective first-class cricket status and the tenth after the foundation of the Marylebone Cricket Club. The season saw seven top-class matches played in the country.

Matches

A total of seven top-class matches were played during the season,^{[1] [2] [3]} all bar one of which included a team playing under the name of Kent, Middlesex or Surrey.^{[2] [3]}

The season saw the last match between two sides named for counties until 1825. It also saw the completion of a first-class match which had been begun the following year: a match between teams organised by the Earl of Winchilsea and Richard Leigh, which began on 23 July 1795 and was completed on 28 June 1796 before a match between an England side and a Surrey and Kent XI began on the same day, with a number of players appearing in both matches.^{[4] [5] [6]}

First mentions

Players who made their first-class cricket debuts in 1796 included:

• Denzil Onslow
• Robert Ayling
• George Ring

Further reading

• Book: Altham, H. S. . Harry Altham . A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914) . 1962 . George Allen & Unwin .
• Book: Birley, Derek . Derek Birley . A Social History of English Cricket . 1999 . Aurum .
• Book: Bowen, Rowland . Rowland Bowen . Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development . 1970 . Eyre & Spottiswoode .
• Book: Major, John . John Major . More Than A Game . 2007 . HarperCollins .

Notes and References

1. [Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians]
2. https://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/series/index.html?season=1796;view=season England Domestic Season 1796
3. https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/4/First-Class_matches_in_England_1796.html First-class matches in England, 1796
4. https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/17857/scorecard/537454/earl-of-winchilseas-xi-vs-r-leighs-xi-england-domestic-season-1795 Earl of Winchilsea's XI v R Leigh's XI
5. https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/0/218.html Earl of Winchilsea's XI v R Leigh's XI
6. https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/17856/scorecard/537617/england-vs-surrey-and-kent-england-domestic-season-1796 England v Surrey and Kent