Playfair Cricket Annual
Playfair Cricket Annual is a compact annual about cricket that is published in the United Kingdom each April, just before the English cricket season is due to begin. It has been published every year since 1948. Its main purposes are to review the previous English season and to provide detailed career records and potted biographies of current players. It is produced in a "pocket-sized" format, being approximately 5×4 in (i.e., about 13×10 cm), so that it is a convenient size for carrying to cricket matches. The front cover of each edition has featured a photograph of a prominent current cricketer. There is a popular myth that this "honour" has a "hex" or "curse" associated with it, as the player featured then invariably has a poor season.
1783 English cricket season
1783 was the 87th English cricket season since the earliest known important match was played. The "Whitehall Evening Post" reported on Tuesday, 8 July that "the 3rd Duke of Dorset’s cricketing establishment, exclusive of any betting or consequential entertainment, is said to exceed £1000 a year", a colossal sum at the time. A portrait of Edward "Lumpy" Stevens was probably executed this year. The famous portrait is at Knole House, seat of the Duke of Dorset in Sevenoaks.