Bromley Cricket Club
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Bromley Cricket Club was one of the strongest English cricket clubs in the mid-18th century when it had a fine team led by star player Robert Colchin aka "Long Robin".
Cricket almost certainly originated in Kent and Sussex so it must have been played in and around Bromley since time immemorial. The first definite mention of the area in a cricket connection is a 1735 match on nearby Bromley Common between Kent and London Cricket Club. Kent won by 10 wickets after scoring 97 and 9-0 in reply to London's 73 and 32.
The report of this match states that a large crowd attended and a great deal of mischief was done. It seems that horses panicked and riders were thrown while some members of the crowd were rode over. One man was carried off for dead as HRH passed by at the entrance to the Common. "HRH" was Frederick, Prince of Wales.
Apart from Colchin, who was one of the greatest players of the pre-Hambledon period, Bromley also produced top performers in John Bowra, his son William Bowra, Robert Lascoe and the brothers James and John Bryant.
A remarkable match took place on 14 June 1742 between London v Bromley at the Artillery Ground (see ASW). It ended in a tie and is only the second known instance of this result, following the Surrey v London game at Richmond Green on 22 July 1741.
The club probably reached its peak in September 1744, a time when Colchin was also at the pinnacle of his career. Following the famous victory over London by Richard Newland's Slindon at the Artillery Ground, the audacious "Slindon Challenge" was issued to play any parish in England. They received immediate acceptances from Addington Cricket Club and from Bromley who were due to play Slindon in the same month.
Unfortunately, although we know that Slindon v Bromley was arranged to be played at the Artillery Ground on Friday 14 September 1744, the result is unknown and it seems certain that, as with Slindon's game against Addington, it was rained off.
Bromley was a top-class team through the 1740s until its final major match in 1752, two years after Colchin's death.
| English cricket teams in the 18th century |
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Berkshire | Essex | Hampshire | Kent | Leicestershire | Middlesex | Nottingham | Sheffield | Surrey | Sussex |
[edit] References
- Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians - various publications
- At the Sign of the Wicket (from "Cricket" magazine 1900) by F S Ashley-Cooper (ASW)
- Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 by Arthur Haygarth (SBnnn)
- Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket by G B Buckley (FL18)
- Fresh Light on Pre-Victorian Cricket by G B Buckley (FLPV)
- The Dawn of Cricket by H T Waghorn (WDC)
- A Social History of English Cricket by Derek Birley
- Cricket: History of its Growth and Development by Rowland Bowen
- From the Weald to the World by Peter Wynne-Thomas (PWT)
