Talk:1789 English cricket season

Touring team to France

This story has been removed from John Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset#British ambassador to France, where it was unsourced, because of John Major's version in his book, More Than A Game. Major dismisses the whole tale as nonsense. His argument is sound as it would be ridiculous for a British ambassador, who had officially told his people to leave the country, to arrange a cricket tour there a full month later when he was getting out himself.

I hesitate to alter this article for the moment because there are sources here placed by Blue Square Thing (pinged). I think a discussion is needed before taking further action. Perhaps the section should be revised so that the two versions are given equal weight? No Great Shaker (talk) 13:30, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

If Major says that it's apocryphal then it would make sense to add that opinion to the short section of the article with a suitable reference. At the same time it's clearly one of those widely held beliefs, so is worth replacing in the article on Sackville with the same caveats. Blue Square Thing (talk) 15:49, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

Yes, I'll add the refs you found to Sackville. Personally, I think Major is right but, having said that, neither he nor the Guardian give any clues as to the origin of the story. A newspaper, perhaps, but it must have pervaded cricket's literature at some point and then stuck. If it's true, it would be interesting to speculate on how the team might have fared in France, ha! Anyway, thanks for the response and take good care. No Great Shaker (talk) 16:01, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

Okay, that's done, and I tidied this article up a bit. I looked at the ESPN site and found a couple of England teams were playing so I mentioned them. Don't suppose the England team in those days, still half a century before the railways, could have been the whole of England. No Great Shaker (talk) 17:55, 28 May 2020 (UTC)