Robert Eures
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert Eures (dates of birth and death unknown) was a noted English cricketer of the mid-18th century. He came from Bexley in Kent and played for Kent county cricket teams as well as for All-England. He is known to have been a good batsman and he was frequently involved in single-wicket tournaments which were very popular during his career and attracted high stakes.
Robert Eures is first recorded in the Daily Advertiser on 31 August 1747 playing for Kent against All-England at the Artillery Ground. The match involved numerous leading players of the time.
In 1749 we find Eures playing for a very strong All-England team against Surrey, which was the leading county team that season.
In 1752, Eures was named as one of the three principal players when the famous Dartford Cricket Club issued a challenge to "the rest of England". Dartford's challenge was that with William Hodsoll, John Bryant, Robert Eures and "eight players from the parish of Dartford" it could take on and defeat any eleven players from the rest of England! The match was due to be played on 29 July 1752 at Dartford Brent but unfortunately no result has been found and it might have been rained off.
That is the last we hear of Robert Eures as match reports decreased after 1752 and then the sport itself went into decline during the Seven Years War. Given that his earliest reference was in 1747, it seems unlikely that he was a veteran of the 1730s. He was probably born in the early 1720s, made his name in the 1740s and, all being well, retired in the 1760s.
[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)
