John Minshull (c.1741 – 23 October 1793), also known as John Minchin, was a famous English

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er during the 1770s. He scored the first definitely recorded century in cricket. He was born at Acton in

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

. According to

John Nyren John Nyren (15 December 1764 – 30 June 1837) was an English cricketer and author. Nyren made 16 known appearances in first-class cricket from 1787 to 1817. He achieved lasting fame as the author of ''The Cricketers of My Time'', which was firs ...

, Minshull was a "capital hitter, and a sure guard of his wicket" but "not an elegant player, his position and general style were both awkward and uncouth". Minshull evidently had a high opinion of his own ability and was said to have been "as conceited as a wagtail and from his constantly aping what he had no pretensions to, was, on that account only, not estimated according to the price at which he had rated his own merits". Nyren added a physical description: "a thick-set man, about 5'9" in height, rather a slow mover in the field (and had) a tendency towards injury and illness".

, ''The Cricketers of my Time'' (ed. Ashley Mote), Robson, 1998 Little is known about him personally except that he was for a time employed by the

Duke of Dorset Duke of Dorset was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1720 for the politician Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, Lionel Sackville, 7th Earl of Dorset. History The Sackville family descended from Richard Sackville (es ...

as a gardener at Knole House, near

Sevenoaks Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506, situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parishes in England, civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter South Eastern Main Line, main line railway into Lo ...

. He played for Dorset's

Kent county cricket teams A variety of Kent county cricket teams played matches from the early 18th century until the formation of the original Kent County Cricket Club in 1842. The county's links to cricket go back further with Kent and Sussex generally accepted as the ...

during this period but it seems he then moved to Middlesex and then Surrey as he played for the Surrey eleven from 1775 till he was last recorded in 1780. Arthur Haygarth, ''Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744-1826)'', Lillywhite, 1862 Minshull's century was scored on Thursday 31 August 1769 when he played for the Duke of Dorset's XI against Wrotham. It was a minor match but Minshull's score of 107 is the earliest definitely known century in any class of cricket. David Underdown, ''Start of Play'', Allen Lane, 2000 To reach his century Minshull scored 34 singles, 15 twos, 9 threes and 4 all run fours.Liverman D, Griffiths P (2004
From Minshull to Collins

CricInfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a Sports journalism, sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including Liveblogging, liveblogs and sco ...

, 2004-05-12. Retrieved 2017-12-16.Williamson M (2009
Cricket's first centurion

, 2009-04-12. Retrieved 2017-12-16. He was also the first batsman to be recorded dismissed 'hit wicket', while playing for All England against Hampshire at The Vine in 1773. Strangely he was probably not actually on strike at the time. Minshull died at

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames, colloquially known as Kingston, is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, England. It is situated on the River Thames, south-west of Charing Cross. It is an ancient market town, notable as ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

aged 52 in 1793.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minshull, John English cricketers English cricketers of 1701 to 1786 Kent cricketers Surrey cricketers 1740s births 1793 deaths Non-international England cricketers Chertsey cricketers