title: 1781 English cricket season
text: # 1781 English cricket season
  
  The 1781 English cricket season was the 10th in which matches have been awarded retrospective first-class cricket status. The scorecards of six first-class matches have survived. Broadhalfpenny Down in Hampshire was abandoned in favour of Windmill Down and the earliest known mention of cricket in Lancashire has been found during the season.
  
  ## Matches
  
  Six first-class match scorecards survive from 1781, all of them featuring sides from Kent.
  
  ## Other events
  
  Broadhalfpenny Down, which had been used by the Hambledon Club as their home venue, was used for the last time by the club as a home venue in first-class cricket.
  
  A match on Brinnington Moor in August is the earliest known reference about cricket being played in Lancashire. It was reported in the Manchester Journal on 1 September.
  
  ## First mentions
  
  ### Players
  
  * Hogben (Kent)
  * J. Martin (Essex)
  * Webb (Kent)
  