Bayton (Hambledon cricketer)
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Bayton (first name, dates of birth and death unknown) was an English cricketer in the 18th century who played for the famous Hambledon Club as a batsman. Unfortunately, his career was virtually over by the time detailed records began to be kept in the 1772 English cricket season and so little is known about his personal history.
He is variously called Bayton, Boyton or Boynton by different sources but appears to have been a very good batsman indeed in both the 1768 season and the 1769 season, after which he becomes an occasional name and seems to have left the club [1].
It is possible that he was a Sussex man as he was due to play for Sussex against Hampshire in a cancelled match of the 1773 season [2].
Two verses from the Hambledon Club Song, written by Reverend Reynell Cotton in about the 1771 season, indicate a certain bravado about the loss of Bayton but there seems little doubt from the known records that Bayton was a fine batsman and not the sort any club would wish to lose. The verses go:
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- Then why should we fear either Sackville or Mann,
- Or repine at the loss of both Bayton and Land? [1]
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[edit] References
- ^ a b Ashley Mote, The Glory Days of Cricket, Robson, 1997
- ^ Timothy J McCann, Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century, Sussex Record Society, 2004
