1751 English cricket season

The earliest known references to cricket in each of Durham, Somerset, Warwickshire and Yorkshire are all found in the 1751 English cricket season.

The population of Great Britain in 1751 reached 7,250,000 and, although the figure was rising, the country remained a small rural society with London the only real urban centre. Cricket reflected this scenario as it was still essentially a rural game at this time with London Cricket Club at the Artillery Ground its one "big club" and "big venue".

Matches

Date	Match Title	Venue	Result
13 May (M)	Surrey v London ^[1]	Artillery Ground	result unknown
The actual title of the match as advertised beforehand was Addington, Warlingham, Croydon & Cheam versus Ripley, Thursley & London! Wickets to be pitched at one o’clock and the game was arranged by the noblemen and gentlemen of the London Club. No match details were reported afterwards.
20 & 21 May (M-Tu)	All-England v Kent ^[1]	Artillery Ground	All-England won by 9 runs
Kent had Tom Faulkner (Addington and Surrey) as a given man. All-England scored 26 and 122; Kent replied with 76 and 63. So 287 runs were scored in the match and this was a lot for the time, given the uncertain state of all wickets. All-England: Stephens, Richard Newland, Edward Aburrow senior, John Harris, Joseph Harris, John Frame, Matthews, Perry, Stephen Harding, Stephen Dingate, A N Other. Kent: William Hodsoll, Tom Faulkner, Stone, Wilden, Garrett, Rawlings, John Bell, Thomas Bell, Howard, James Bryant, Val Romney. A N Other played for Thursley, as did Stephen Harding (later of Chertsey) who was a noted bowler. In England’s second innings, these two went in first and scored 51 for the first wicket, which is like a double century partnership nowadays. Harding apparently made 50 of these himself and had one hit out of the ground and against a house on Bunhill Row opposite. He was given four for this mighty effort. You could only score six if you were actually able to run that many and to do that you would need the help of overthrows. Play on the first day started at one o’clock and on the second day at ten o’clock. At the end of the first day, Kent in their second innings were 23-2, still needing 73 to win. Kent were reduced to 43-9 when the last pair came together so the final wicket added 20. For the first time ever, the fall of wickets in an innings is known. This is England’s second innings: 1 – 51, 2 – 72, 3 – 77, 4 – 77, 5 – 78, 6 – 84, 7 – 87, 8 – 119, 9 – 119, 10 – 122.
22 May (W)	All-England v Kent ^[1]	Artillery Ground	All-England won by an innings & 9 runs
Kent scored 88 and 67; All-England scored 164. The teams were the same as on the two previous days and again the name of the Thursley player is unrecorded. It would seem that Kent was no longer good enough to challenge All-England. All-England: Stephens, Richard Newland, Edward Aburrow senior, John Harris, Joseph Harris, John Frame, Matthews, Perry, Stephen Harding, Stephen Dingate, A N Other (of Thursley). Kent: William Hodsoll, Tom Faulkner, Stone, Wilden, Garrett, Rawlings, John Bell, Thomas Bell, Howard, James Bryant, Val Romney.
1 June (S)	Addington v Hadlow ^[2]	Hayes Common, Bromley	result unknown
Pre-announced in the Daily Advertiser on Thursday 30 May.
24 June (M)	Surrey v Middlesex ^[2]	Kennington Common	result unknown
Announced in the Daily Advertiser same day with a one o’clock start.
23 July (Tu)	Dartford v Bromley ^[1]	Dartford Brent	result unknown
This was played for one hundred guineas. Apparently, there was a challenge from the Newmarket players to take on 22 of the players in this game for any sum, but nothing further is known about it.
1 August (Th)	Bromley v Dartford ^[2]	Bromley Common	result unknown
This was a return to the match on 23 July.
19 August (M)	London v Country XI ^[1]	Artillery Ground	London won by 5 runs
London scored 30 and 5; the Country XI replied with 24 and 6.
4 September (W)	Richmond v Kingston & Hampton ^[3]	Moulsey Hurst	result unknown
Announced in the Daily Advertiser on Monday 2 September: for two guineas a man; 11 a side, and to play home & home (sic).

Other events

Having lost the Duke of Richmond in 1750, cricket was hit by the death of another significant patron, the Prince of Wales, on 31 March. The loss of these patrons had an adverse impact on the game’s finances and the number of top-class matches reduced for some years to come, although economic difficulties arising from the wars of the period certainly inhibited many potential investors. It was said that the Prince of Wales died as a result of being struck on the head by a cricket ball. He may well have been hit on the head but that did not kill him; the cause of death was a burst abscess in a lung. The early death of Prince Frederick Louis meant that his son Prince George became heir to the throne and he succeeded in 1760 as George III.

The earliest reference to cricket in Durham is a game at Raby Castle on or soon after Mon 5 August between the Earl of Northumberland’s XI and the Duke of Cleveland’s XI.^[1] The game was commemorated by a ballad which starts:

Durham City has been dull so long,

No bustle at all to show;

But now the rage of all the throng

Is at cricketing to go.

The earliest reference to cricket in Somerset is a match at Saltford Meadow, near Bath, on 13 July that was played in memory of the late Prince of Wales.^[2]

A match announcement in Aris' Gazette on 15 July is the earliest known reference to cricket in Warwickshire.

The earliest known references to cricket in Yorkshire were re local matches in Sheffield and a game on or soon after Mon 5 August at Stanwick, near Richmond, between Duke of Cleveland’s XI and Earl of Northumberland’s XI (the same teams that played in Durham, as noted above).^[1]

Mon 3 June. A "fives" match was played in the Artillery Ground between Kent and Surrey. The Kent team was Tom Faulkner (given man), John Bell, Thomas Bell, Stone and Val Romney. The Surrey team was Stephen Dingate, John Harris, Joseph Harris, Stephen Harding and Perry. Kent won although the betting was in favour of Surrey.^[1]

Wed 5 June. The same two teams met in a return match at the Artillery Ground with Kent winning by 14 runs. Kent scored 4 and 57; Surrey replied with 26 and 21. Kent made a huge improvement in their second innings! ^[1]

Four matches were played at Newmarket and Woburn between Gentlemen of England and Eton College Past & Present. The four games were played during June and July. The second game has a surviving scorecard but the teams in all four matches are decidedly minor.^[1]

First mentions

Counties

Clubs and teams

Players

Stephen Harding (Thursley/Chertsey)
Mathews (All-England)
Stephens (Dartford)
Stone (Kent)
Wilden (Kent)

Venues

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 F S Ashley-Cooper, At the Sign of the Wicket: Cricket 1742-1751, Cricket Magazine, 1900
1 2 3 4 G B Buckley, Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket, Cotterell, 1935
↑ G B Buckley, Fresh Light on Pre-Victorian Cricket, Cotterell, 1937

Bibliography

Ashley-Cooper, F. S. (1900). At the Sign of the Wicket: Cricket 1742–1751. Cricket magazine.
Buckley, G. B. (1935). Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Cotterell.
McCann, Tim (2004). Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century. Sussex Record Society.
Waghorn, H. T. (1899). Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730–1773). Blackwood.
Waghorn, H. T. (1906). The Dawn of Cricket. Electric Press.
Wilson, Martin (2005). An Index to Waghorn. Bodyline.

Additional reading

ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709 – 1863. Nottingham: ACS.
Altham, H. S. (1962). A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914). George Allen & Unwin.
Birley, Derek (1999). A Social History of English Cricket. Aurum.
Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. Eyre & Spottiswoode.
Buckley, G. B. (1937). Fresh Light on pre-Victorian Cricket. Cotterell.
Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. HarperCollins.
Maun, Ian (2011). From Commons to Lord's, Volume Two: 1751 to 1770. Martin Wilson. ISBN 978-0-9569066-0-1.
Underdown, David (2000). Start of Play. Allen Lane.

External links

English cricket teams in the 18th century

"All" England

English cricket venues to 1825

English cricket seasons

Historic era

1597 to 1725 1726 1727 1728 1729 1730 1731 1732 1733 1734 1735 1736 1737 1738 1739 1740 1741 1742 1743 1744 1745 1746 1747 1748 1749 1750 1751 1752 1753 1754 1755 1756 1757 1758 1759 1760 1761 1762 1763 1764 1765 1766 1767 1768 1769 1770 1771 1772 1773 1774 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779 1780 1781 1782 1783 1784 1785 1786 1787 1788 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800 1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824

Pre-County Championship era

1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889

County Championship era

1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/3/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.