1765 English cricket season

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The 1765 English cricket season gave an indication of increased cricket activity in the north of England as Leeds played Sheffield.

Few matches were reported in 1765 but events at the Artillery Ground in August may have been almost the last straw where this infamous old venue was concerned.

1 Matches
2 Other events
3 Main Sources
4 Additional References

[edit] Matches

Date	Match Title	Venue	Source	Result
19 & 20 August (M-Tu)	Surrey v Dartford	Artillery Ground	WCS	Surrey won
Played for 100 guineas a side with a crowd estimated at 12,000. Mr Waghorn records re the close of play situation on the Monday: the mob (many of whom had laid large bets), imagining foul play, several of whom were dangerously wounded and bruised. There is a fascinating report in the St James Chronicle of Thurs 22 August about this match (see FL18) which states that: a young fellow, a butcher, being entrusted with about £40 by his mistress to buy cattle in Smithfield market, instead went into the Artillery Ground and sported away the whole sum in betting upon the Cricket players. These reports give a clue to the disrepute that the Artillery Ground had acquired by this time and few matches of importance were played there after 1765. After 1778, it ceases to appear in the records.
26 August (M)	Leeds v Sheffield	Chapeltown Moor, near Leeds	FLPV	Sheffield won
This was reported by the London Chronicle on Thurs 5 September. Sheffield won "with great difficulty". As it was rated a "great match" and reported by a London newspaper, this shows that cricket was already well-established in Yorkshire only 14 years after it was first reported there.
c.9 September (Tu)	Chertsey v Richmond	Laleham Burway	WCS	result unknown
All we know is that this game took place a week before the next one.
c.16 September (Tu)	Richmond v Chertsey	Richmond Green	WCS	Chertsey won by 106 runs
The scores were: Chertsey 130 & 116; Richmond 48 & 92. Mr Waghorn says: "Chertsey headed 94" so someone had his maths wrong. Stephen Harding, Chertsey bowler, scored 24 in four balls with a five, two sixes and a seven. The Edmeads brothers, Richard and John, scored 108 between them in the whole match.

[edit] Other events

FL18 records a "threes" game on Friday 30 August at Moulsey Hurst in which Surrey beat Kent "after a smart contest". The source is the Gazetteer & London Daily Advertiser on Wed 4 September.

A notice in the Salisbury Journal on Monday 16 September might have interested the Hambledon Club: The Cricket players of the parish of Portsea (in Hampshire) will play the game of Cricket with any parish in the said County for 20 guineas each match, home and home (sic). We do not know if the challenge was taken up.