1791 English cricket season

In the 1791 English cricket season, the emergence of the Brighton club heralded a brief revival of Sussex cricket which had been prominent during the early 18th century. As with Hornchurch Cricket Club and Essex, the Brighton team was a fair representation of Sussex as a county and the county name is used where the opposition is another county team or All-England. The club's venue was the Prince of Wales Ground in Brighton, which had its name changed over the years and was known as Box's Ground in the 19th century.

The Old Etonian and Gentlemen teams in the list were major sides. They were composed mainly of leading amateurs and had noted professionals as given men.

Burley-on-the-Hill in Rutland was the Earl of Winchilsea's country retreat, which he used as his base for foxhunting parties. It is not far from the Great North Road so communication with London was relatively easy at the time. Burley-on-the-Hill has been confused with Burghley Park near Stamford but it is quite different.

A return match took place on 20 Sept (see below) and was recorded in S&B.

Definitely a minor match with numerous irregulars. The date is also in doubt as Mr Haygarth points out.

The venue was probably Lord’s but it is unrecorded.

Wrecclesham is in Surrey. Holt Pound was a small ground partly designed by William Beldham on behalf of the owner Mr Holt.

^ The MCC teams were good quality and it is clear from reference to 1789 that the Leicester and Nottingham teams were representative of the counties. These two matches are historically important and are major fixtures. The Nottingham v MCC game is also in William North's 1832 book of Nottingham Old Club Match Scores.

^# These two games were unknown until recently as Britcher is the sole source. The MCC &c. team in both games is properly titled 5 of Herts and 5 of MCC and Mr S Amherst.

The emergence of the Brighton club at this time heralded a brief revival of Sussex cricket which had been prominent during the early C18. As with Hornchurch/Essex, the Brighton team was a fair representation of Sussex as a county and the county name is used where the opposition is another county team or All-England.

The Hambledon Town v West Sussex game recorded in SB125 is considered minor due to lack of recognised players. Many of the Sussex team were in the Duke of Dorset’s side that played in the minor match at Lord’s on 3 June 1790 (SB101).

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