Bennett (London cricketer)
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Bennett (London cricketer) refers to two English cricketers, probably brothers, who played for the famous London Cricket Club in the 1740s and 1750s. They also played for All-England teams and were prominent in the single wicket variety of the sport, which was hugely popular at that time.
Unfortunately, very little is known about the Bennetts outside contemporary match reports. Their first names are not recorded anywhere and they are consistently referred to as "Little" Bennett and "Tall" Bennett, so we do know that they were not the same height!
They are first noted in 1744 playing for London against Slindon.
In 1745, we find "Little" Bennett twice playing for Surrey but as a "given man".
In 1752, they both played for Westminster against the famous Addington club.
In 1753, "Tall" Bennett played against London as a given man for a Marylebone XI.
The last we hear of them is in 1755 when they both took part in a "fives" match playing for London against Windsor & Eton on Kennington Common.
[edit] References
- At the Sign of the Wicket: Cricket 1742 – 1751 by F S Ashley-Cooper in Cricket Magazine (1900) (ASW)
- Cricket Scores 1730 - 1773 by H T Waghorn (WCS)
- Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket by G B Buckley (FL18)
- Fresh Light on Pre-Victorian Cricket by G B Buckley (FLPV)
- Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 by Arthur Haygarth (SBnnn)
- Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century by Timothy J McCann (TJM)
- The Dawn of Cricket by H T Waghorn (WDC)
