Category:English cricketers of the 18th century

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As the list of cricketers on WP grows, it seems wise to indicate the periods when these players were in action. This category is concerned with players of what is loosely termed the 18th century but in fact covers the whole era from time immemorial to 1815, which is the year in which cricket began its slow recovery from the impact of the Napoleonic Wars. Given the growth of roundarm bowling in the post-Napoleonic period, the hiatus imposed by the war from 1811 to 1815 can be seen as an effective delimiter between the underarm era of the game and the roundarm era that succeeded it.

The earliest good player that we know of is William Bedle of Dartford whose career must have spanned the first two or three decades of the 18th century.

It was not until the 1730s that newspapers began to mention players by name on a fairly regular basis. From 1772, when completed scorecards became commonplace, we have an extensive record of nearly all players, although a few names still pose difficulties because of shared surnames or the use of pseudonyms.