1729 English cricket season
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The 1729 English cricket season is the one in which Samuel Johnson played at Oxford University. The season is also noted for the earliest known innings victory and the earliest known surviving cricket bat.
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[edit] Honours
- Champion County [1] – Sussex (Sir William Gage's XI) [2]
[edit] Matches
| Date | Match Title | Venue | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 August (Tu) | London v Dartford [3] | Kennington Common | Dartford won | |
| 28 August (Th) | Mr Edward Stead’s XI v Sir William Gage’s XI [4] [5] | Penshurst Park | Sir William Gage’s XI won by an innings? | |
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This match seems to have the first known innings victory as Gage got (within three) in one hand, as the former did in two hands, so the Kentish men (i.e., Stead’s team) threw it up. It is said that "a groom of the Duke of Richmond signalised himself by extraordinary agility and dexterity": almost certainly this was Thomas Waymark [5] |
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| ? Sept [6] [5] | Sussex, Surrey & Hampshire v Kent | Lewes | result unknown | |
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This is the first time that Sussex and Hampshire are used in a team name, though not individually [7]. |
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[edit] Events
There is a bat in The Oval pavilion which belonged to John Chitty of Knaphill, Surrey. Dated 1729, it is the oldest known bat [8]. It looks more like a field hockey stick than a modern cricket bat but its curvature was to enable the batsman to play a ball that was always rolled, as in bowls, never pitched. Pitching began about 35-40 years later and the straight bats we use nowadays were created in response to the pitched delivery.
The earliest reference to cricket at Oxford University seems to have made by Dr Samuel Johnson, no less. He was there for that one year and says he played cricket there [9].
A local game in Gloucester on Monday 22 September is the earliest known reference to cricket in Gloucestershire [8].
[edit] References
- ^ An unofficial seasonal title proclaimed by media or historians prior to December 1889 when the official County Championship was constituted
- ^ Champion counties from 1728
- ^ G B Buckley, Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket, Cotterell, 1935
- ^ Stead v Gage was also titled Kent (Stead) v Surrey, Sussex & Hampshire (Gage). It was 11 a side and played for 100 guineas with "some thousands" watching
- ^ a b c H T Waghorn, The Dawn of Cricket, Electric Press, 1906
- ^ A report dated 13 September says that: the great match played at Penshurst will be played again in Sussex
- ^ From Lads to Lord's; The History of Cricket: 1300–1787
- ^ a b Rowland Bowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970
- ^ John Major, More Than A Game, HarperCollins, 2007
[edit] External sources
[edit] Further reading
- H S Altham, A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914), George Allen & Unwin, 1962
- Derek Birley, A Social History of English Cricket, Aurum, 1999
- Rowland Bowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970
- David Underdown, Start of Play, Allen Lane, 2000
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