In the 1772 English cricket season, it became normal practice to complete match scorecards and there are surviving examples from every subsequent season. Scorecards from 1772 have been found for three eleven-a-side matches in which the Hampshire county team played against an England team, and for one top-class single wicket match between Kent and Hampshire. The three Hampshire v England matches have been unofficially recognised by certain sources as first-class, although no such standard existed at the time. Prior to 1772, only four scorecards have survived, the last from a minor match in 1769.

Hampshire won two and lost one of their matches against England. Kent won the single wicket match. Hampshire teams were organised by the Hambledon Club and played their home matches on Broadhalfpenny Down, near the village of Hambledon, Hampshire. John Small, the Hampshire batsman, scored the most runs in the three scored matches; no details of bowling or fielding have survived.

While details are scarce, reports exist of four other eleven-a-side matches. Two involved a combined Hampshire and Sussex team playing against Kent and it has been suggested that Hambledon may have been a two counties club. There was a match between Surrey and Hampshire of which only the result is known. In the north of England, the Sheffield and Nottingham clubs met at an unknown venue in Sheffield.

The earliest known scorecards were created for two matches in 1744 but, before 1772, only two more have been found – one each from minor matches played in 1751 and 1769. Three scorecards exist from top-class matches played in 1772, when completion became normal practice, and there are surviving cards from every subsequent season.

In the match at Broadhalfpenny Down on 24–25 June, Hampshire won by 53 runs for a stake of 500 guineas. Hampshire teams were organised by the Hambledon Club and one source for this match has called the team Hambledon while, in other accounts, the England team has been called "Kent, Middlesex and Surrey".

Hampshire had two given men: William Yalden and John Edmeads, both of Surrey. Yalden was a noted wicket-keeper and Hampshire's regular keeper Tom Sueter was also playing, but it is not known which of them kept wicket in this match. On the England side, Gill of Buckinghamshire is known to have been a wicket-keeper. Hampshire batsman John Small's score of 78 is the highest recorded in the 1772 season and, as such, it established the record for the highest individual score definitely recorded in a senior or top-class match. According to contemporary newspaper reports, "bets of £500 were laid against John Minshull in favour of John Small".

The match at Guildford Bason on 23–24 July was also won by Hampshire, this time by 62 runs and again for a stake of 500 guineas. Richard Simmons of Kent was the England wicket-keeper in this match and the next one.

F. S. Ashley-Cooper calls the teams Hambledon and All England when referring to confusion about the extras: "In the course of the game, the Hambledon Club (sic) got 11 notches in byes and All-England (sic) 21, but they were not entered in the scoresheet". He gave the match scores as 144 and 118 to 117 and 73 with Hampshire winning by 72 runs; however, these totals have Hampshire scoring 12 byes and England scoring 22, which is the same as the scorecard (the margin excluding extras is correct).