Richard Fielder (cricketer)

{{short description|English cricketer}}

{{For|the writer|Richard Fielder (writer)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024|cs1-dates=ly formats}}

{{Use British English|date=March 2016}}

{{Infobox cricketer

| name = Richard Fielder

| birth_date = 1758

| birth_place = East Malling, Kent

| death_date = {{death year and age|1826|1758}}

| death_place = Gravesend, Kent

| club1 = Kent XI

| year1 = {{nowrap|1792–1796}}

| type1 = FC

| debutdate1 = 7 September

| debutyear1 = 1790

| debutfor1 = West Kent

| debutagainst1 = East Kent

| lastdate1 = 20 July

| lastyear1 = 1801

| lastfor1 = Surrey

| lastagainst1 = England XI

| columns = 1

| column1 = First-class

| matches1 = 20

| runs1 = 281

| bat avg1 = 7.59

| 100s/50s1 = 0/0

| top score1 = 35

| deliveries1 = –{{efn|name=balls|In the period Fielder played, the number of balls delivered by a bowler and the runs conceded from them were generally not recorded. As a result, it is impossible to know how many balls he delivered, his best bowling figures or his bowling average.}}

| wickets1 = 1{{efn|name=wickets|In the period Fielder played, wickets taken by bowlers were normally only recorded if they were bowled. Other means of dismissal were not credited to any bowler.Carlaw D (2020) Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part One: 1806–1914 (revised edition), p. 31. ([https://archive.acscricket.com/books/Kent_Cricketers_A_to_Z_Part_One_Revised_Expanded.pdf Available online] at The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 2020-12-21.)}}

| bowl avg1 = –

| fivefor1 = 0

| tenfor1 = 0

| best bowling1 = 1/?

| catches/stumpings1 = 13/–

| source = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/36/36795/36795.html CricketArchive

| date = 24 January

| year = 2023

}}

Richard Fielder (1758–1826) was an English cricketer who played in 20 matches between 1790 and 1801 which are now regarded as having first-class cricket status.[https://www.espncricinfo.com/cricketers/richard-fielder-13269 Richard Fielder], CricInfo. Retrieved 2023-01-24.

Fielder was born at East Malling in Kent in 1758.[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/36/36795/36795.html Richard Fielder], CricketArchive. Retrieved 2019-12-10. {{subscription required}} He is first known to have played cricket in 1790, playing in a first-class match for East Kent against West Kent at Bourne Paddock near Canterbury. He played regularly for Kent sides and for England teams{{efn|During the time Fielder played, England sides were not representative of the country. Instead, they were sides composed of players from a range of locations brought together to play against another side.Birley D (1999) A Social History of English Cricket, p. 364. London: Aurum Press. {{isbn|978 1 78131 1769}}}} between 1792 and 1796. A total of 18 of his 20 first-class matches were played during these seasons, 11 for Kent, six for England as well as one for a team organised by Richard Leigh, an influential organiser of matches who lived in the Dartford area of Kent.

From 1801 to 1803 Fielder played for Surrey teams, including in one match which has been awarded first-class status. Writing in 1862, Arthur Haygarth recorded that he has been considered "a very fine field and catch".Arthur Haygarth (1862) Scores & Biographies, vol. 1 (1744–1826). Lillywhite.{{page number|date=January 2023}} In his 20 matches considered to be first-class, Fielder scored 281 runs with a highest score of 35. He took at least one wicket.{{efn|name=wickets}}

Fielder worked as a horse trainer and is thought to have eloped with one of his riding pupils. Afterwards they kept the Woolpack Inn at Tenterden. He died at Gravesend in 1826.