An experiment took placeat Lord's to study the effects of covering the pitch before the start of a match, the first time this is known to have been tried.[8] Unlike the recently introducedheavy roller which became universally used by 1880 and produced significant changes in the game by eliminating previously ubiquitousshooters, covering was for a long time severely rejected in England:[9] it was the wet summer of1924[10] before covering as regular practice was even considered and1959 before it was considered "acceptable".
14 May:Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) lose seven wickets before their first run is scored on asticky wicket at Lord's againstJames Southerton andWilliam Martenof Surrey.[11] Their ninth wicket falls at 8 - which would have been the lowest score in an important match for sixty-two years - but the last wicket doubles the score
Prince's Cricket Ground hosted its first first-class match being between North and South on 16 May. Before being built on, it was generally praised for its wickets[12] and the scenery surrounding the ground.
a Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire played a third match at the short-livedPrince's Cricket Ground,Chelsea bHampshire, though regarded until 1885 as first-class, played no inter-county matches between 1868 and 1869 or 1871 and 1874
^Some eleven-a-side matches played from 1772 to 1863 have been rated "first-class" by certain sources.[1] However, the term only came into common use around 1864, whenoverarm bowling was legalised. It was formally defined as a standard by a meeting atLord's, in May 1894, ofMarylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and thecounty clubs which were then competing in theCounty Championship. The ruling was effective from the beginning of the1895 season, but pre-1895 matches of the same standard have noofficial definition of status because the ruling is not retrospective.[2] Matches of a similar standard since the beginning of the 1864 season are generally considered to have anunofficial first-class status.[3] Pre-1864 matches which are included inthe ACS' "Important Match Guide" may generally be regarded as top-class or, at least, historically significant.[4] For further information, seeFirst-class cricket.
^Rowland Bowen,Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970 p. 284.
^Rosenwater, Irving; "A History of Wicket-Covering in England"; in Preston, Norman (editor);Wisden Cricketers' Almanac; One Hundred and Seventh Edition (1970); pp. 131–146
