1750 English cricket season
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In the 1750 English cricket season, Kent and Surrey played three inter-county matches.
In ASW, Mr Ashley-Cooper gives the opinion that the famous Hambledon Club was founded in or about 1750, but there is no evidence to support this view and the fact is that we do not know when the club started. As the team was playing top-class cricket in 1756 (i.e., the earliest matches we know of), it seems likely that a local club of some kind was founded much earlier than 1750 as it must have risen to a position of prominence in Hampshire before being able to take on the likes of Dartford from 1756.
It is possible, as with many later county clubs, that a parish club was in existence for a long time and was then subject to substantial reorganisation after its team became famous. This might explain the many "origins" of the Hambledon Club up to about 1767!
Contents |
[edit] Matches
| Date | Match Title | Venue | Source | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 June (M) | Two Elevens | Artillery Ground | ASW | result unknown |
|
The teams played for 50 guineas and were composed entirely of players from Kent, London, Middlesex and Surrey. |
||||
| 6 July (F) | Kent v Surrey | Dartford Brent | ASW | Kent won by 3 wkts |
|
Surrey scored 57 and 36; Kent replied with 54 and 40-7. No individual scores are known but the teams are. Kent: William Hodsoll, Rawlins, John Bryant, James Bryant, Garrett, John Bell, Broad, Thomas Bell, Val Romney, Thomas Brandon, Howard. Surrey: Stephen Dingate, Tom Faulkner, Joseph Harris, John Harris, George Jackson, Robert Bartholomew, John Frame, ? Frame, Maynard, John Capon, Perry. Perry is possibly the same player who took part with Piper of Hampton in the 1726 single-wicket contest. We do not know the name of John Frame’s brother. Kent was without Robert Colchin, who had died in April aged 36. Thomas Brandon was a good batsman for Kent during the 1750s and took part in single wicket contests. Little is known of him except that he was a shopkeeper in Dartford who also acted as churchwarden. |
||||
| 9 July (M) | Kent v Surrey | Artillery Ground | ASW | Surrey won by 9 wkts |
|
A return match. Kent scored 53 and 55; Surrey replied with 80 and 29-1 to win with some ease. The teams were unchanged from the first match but again no individual scores are known. |
||||
| 17 July (Tu) | Dartford v Addington | Dartford Brent | ASW | Dartford won by 6 runs |
|
Dartford scored 46 and 34; Addington replied with 39 and 35. We know that William Hodsoll and the two Bryants all played for Dartford as given men. According to the London Evening Post on Thursday 19 July, Dartford lost their last five second innings wickets in five successive deliveries by a mixture of caught and bowled. But they still made enough to win. |
||||
| 20 July (F) | Kent v Surrey | Artillery Ground | ASW | Kent won by 1 wicket |
|
Surrey scored 55 and 42; Kent replied with 63 and 35-9 to win a very tight contest. A deciding match and again it was won by the team batting second. We know that five runs were still needed when the penultimate wicket fell. The teams were unchanged from the two previous matches but again we do not have individual scores. The London Club ruled beforehand that players must reside in the county they play for. The Frames still lived at Warlingham in 1750, though John Frame was latterly associated with Dartford. |
||||
| 8 August (W) | London v Hampton | Artillery Ground | ASW | result unknown |
|
No details reported. |
||||
[edit] Other events
Thurs 26 July. Five of Richmond played Five of London for a guinea a man on the Artillery Ground. No details are known. (ASW)
Wed 8 August. Death of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond (1701 – 1750), who was arguably the greatest of the game’s early patrons, particularly of the Slindon Club and of Sussex cricket in general. His death was followed by an immediate slump in Sussex cricket and it is not until 1766 that a recovery can be discerned.
Mon 10 September. The first of three "fives" between Stephen Dingate and Tom Faulkner at the Artillery Ground. Faulkner won this one, which was played for fifty guineas. Teams were: Stephen Dingate, John Bryant, James Bryant, John Bell and Thomas Bell versus Tom Faulkner, Joseph Harris, John Harris, Durling and Perry.
Fri 14 September. The second match ended in a tie, both sides totalling nine. As single-wicket rules applied, all batsmen were out. We know they were all bowled (but not who by) except for Dingate who was caught in the 2nd innings, Thomas Bell who was run out in the 2nd innings and Joe Harris who was caught in the 2nd innings (apparently while trying to hit the winning run).
Mon 17 September. The third and deciding game of "fives" was won by Tom Faulkner’s side by an innings and one run. Dingate’s team scored 10 & 18 but Faulkner’s scored 29. Interestingly, the individual figures in the recorded score of Dingate’s second innings add up to 20 but 18 was definitely the correct total so one or more of the individual scores was wrong.
| English cricket teams in the 18th century |
|
Berkshire | Essex | Hampshire | Kent | Leicestershire | Middlesex | Mitcham | Nottingham | Sheffield | Surrey | Sussex |
| English cricket venues in the 18th century |
|
Artillery Ground | Bishopsbourne Paddock | Broadhalfpenny Down | Bromley Common | Dartford Brent | Duppas Hill |
| English cricket seasons to 1815 |
|
1300 - 1696 | 1697 - 1725 |
|
to 1815 • 1816-1863 • 1864-1889 • 1890-1918 • 1919-1945 • 1946-1968 • 1969-2000 • from 2001 |
[edit] Main Sources
- Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians - various publications
- 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)
- Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century by Timothy J McCann (TJM)
- The Dawn of Cricket by H T Waghorn (WDC)
[edit] Additional References
- A Social History of English Cricket by Derek Birley
- Cricket: History of its Growth and Development by Rowland Bowen
- Chertsey Cricket Club website
- Dartford Cricket Club website (DCC)
- From the Weald to the World by Peter Wynne-Thomas (PWT)
- Hambledon Cricket Chronicle by F S Ashley-Cooper (HCC)
- Hambledon: Men and Myths by John Goulstone (HMM)
- Kent Cricket Matches by F S Ashley-Cooper (KCM)
- Pre-Victorian Sussex Cricket by HF & AP Squire (PVSC)
- Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 by Arthur Haygarth (SBnnn)
- Start of Play by David Underdown
- The Cricketer magazine (Cktr)
- The Glory Days of Cricket by Ashley Mote
- John Nyren's The Cricketers of my Time by Ashley Mote
- Wisden Cricketers Almanack (annual): various issues
