1760 English cricket season

No games of importance in the 1760 English cricket season have been discovered. A number of minor matches have been recorded ^[1][2] with additional news items, some in a military context, which is a sign of the times.

The drain of manpower and economic resource to the Seven Years' War might explain the paucity of matches but could another cause have been the sort of rows that accompanied the implementation of both roundarm and overarm? It must have been in the decade or so before 1770 that bowlers stopped trundling the ball along the ground and started pitching it. It is feasible to suggest that some patrons may have withdrawn their support in disgust at such a radical change and even that whole teams may have refused to play each other. Strangely, in contrast to the bitterness and fury generated by the later roundarm and overarm controversies, the sources are very quiet about the pitching issue.^[3]

References

Bibliography

• Buckley, G. B. (1935). Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Cotterell. 
• Haygarth, Arthur (1862). Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826). Lillywhite. 
• McCann, Tim (2004). Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century. Sussex Record Society. 
• Waghorn, H. T. (1899). Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730–1773). Blackwood. 
• Waghorn, H. T. (1906). The Dawn of Cricket. Electric Press. 
• Wilson, Martin (2005). An Index to Waghorn. Bodyline. 

Additional reading

• ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709 – 1863. Nottingham: ACS. 
• Altham, H. S. (1962). A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914). George Allen & Unwin. 
• Birley, Derek (1999). A Social History of English Cricket. Aurum. 
• Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. Eyre & Spottiswoode. 
• Buckley, G. B. (1937). Fresh Light on pre-Victorian Cricket. Cotterell. 
• Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. HarperCollins. 
• Maun, Ian (2011). From Commons to Lord's, Volume Two: 1751 to 1770. Martin Wilson. ISBN 978-0-9569066-0-1. 
• Mote, Ashley (1997). The Glory Days of Cricket. Robson. 
• Underdown, David (2000). Start of Play. Allen Lane. 

External links

• Classification of cricket matches from 1697 to 1825
• CricketArchive – 1760 match list