1743 English cricket season

1743 English cricket season
Cricket formats first-class and single wicket

In the 1743 English cricket season, a significant development was the rise of a very strong club at Woburn who beat London 2-1 in a tri-series played in May and June.

The heavy modern-type ball with wound core and thick leather cover may have come into use about this time for it is recorded that Mr Clout was by then active in Sevenoaks as "the first cricket ball maker of any pretention".[1]

The well known painting The Cricket Match by Francis Hayman (1708–1786) dates from this year. It now hangs at Lord’s. It apparently depicts a game at the Artillery Ground and shows a "tall" two stump wicket. The batsman has a bat that is distinctly hockey shaped; the ball has been trundled but appears to be "off the ground" so perhaps it was a quicker skimmed delivery; and in the foreground is a scorer notching the tally.

From the same year comes An Exact Representation of the Game of Cricket by Louis Philippe Boitard (c.1733 – c. 1767). This now hangs in the Tate Gallery.

Matches

Date Match Title Venue Result
16 May (M) Kent v London, Middlesex & Surrey [1] Bromley Common LM&S won (Kent forfeited)

Scores at eight o’clock pm: LM&S 97 & 112-3; Kent 69. Play was due to continue next day but Kent "gave it up". The LM&S team was also described as Lord Montford’s XI. Lord Montford was a noted patron of the game. The Kent side was organised by Lord John Philip Sackville.

27 May (F) Woburn v London [1] Woburn Park London won

Woburn was the seat of the Duke of Bedford who was another noted patron.

28 May (S) Woburn v London [1] Woburn Woburn won

This must have been arranged as soon as the previous game finished. The further game on 13 June may have been intended to be a decider.

9 June (Th) Greenwich & Deptford v London [2] Blackheath G&D won

Played for a "considerable sum".

13 June (M) London v Woburn [1] Artillery Ground Woburn won by 54 runs

London were ante-post 11 to 8 favourites. The match may have been a decider following the two at Woburn on 27 and 28 May (see above).

24 June (F) Chislehurst & Bromley v London [1] Bromley Common C&B won "with difficulty"

It was specified beforehand that the game is to be played out, presumably to emphasise a main clause in the articles which were drawn up to define the terms of the wager. In any case, it was completed on the first day of play.

27 June (M) London v Chislehurst & Bromley [1] Artillery Ground result unknown

No details known other than the pre-announcement.

4 July (M) Richmond & Kingston v London [1] Richmond Green London won

Robert "Long Robin" Colchin of Bromley played for London as a given man.

18 July (M) London v Richmond, Kingston & Egham [2] Artillery Ground London won by 67 runs

Scores are known: London 57 & 117; Richmond &c 55 & 52.

This was a return to the match at Richmond Green on 4 July (see above). Robert "Long Robin" Colchin of Bromley again played for London as a given man.

25 July (M) London v Addington [1] Artillery Ground Addington won by inns & 4 runs

Scores are known: London 32 & 74; Addington 110. Robert "Long Robin" Colchin of Bromley Cricket Club and Tom Peake of Chelsfield played for Addington as given men. William Sawyer of Richmond played for London as a given man. Tom Peake, who died in 1767, lived at Chelsfield and Orpington.

Addington is about 3 miles south-east of Croydon and this was the club’s first game in London. They had a very strong eleven for some years at this time and the club immediately accepted the Slindon challenge, in 1744, to play against “any parish in England”.

1 August (M) Woburn v London [1] Woburn London won by 3 runs

Scores are known: London 46 & 60; Woburn 72 & 31.

3 August (W) Lewes v Pevensey [1] Lewes Down result unknown

The venue was described as on Lewes Down, near the Horse-Course.

8 August (M) London v Woburn [1] Artillery Ground London won by 1 wicket

Scores are known: Woburn 104 & 36; London 93 & 48-9.

23–24 August (Tu-W) Sevenoaks v London [1] Sevenoaks Vine London won 6 runs

Scores are known: London 41 & 54; Sevenoaks 49 & 40. Sevenoaks had been 24-6 in the second innings at close of play on the Tuesday, still needing 23 to win.

29 August (M) London v Sevenoaks [2] Artillery Ground London won

The match report states that London won "with great difficulty". The standards of journalism and editing at the time are self-evident when you read that: the match played on Sevenoaks Vine, being won with great difficulty by London, has caused several considerable bets to be laid, between the noblemen and gentlemen then present; ‘tis desired all persons will keep the utmost extent of the line.

5–6 September (M-Tu) London v Horsmonden & Weald [2] Artillery Ground London won by 1 wicket

Three runs were still required when the last man went in.

12 September (M) London v Horsmonden & Weald [2] Artillery Ground London won

No details were reported of this return match which London won perhaps without difficulty.

14 September (W) London v Sevenoaks [2] Artillery Ground result unknown

Pre-announced as "the third great match of cricket" between the two sides. It followed the games on 23 & 20 August (see above). As London won the first two, the series as such was already decided. No report of the outcome of the third match could be found.

19 September (M) London v Middx, Bucks & Berks [2] Artillery Ground London won by 53 runs

Scores are known: London 70 & 97; MB&B 71 & 43. It was announced beforehand that: the days being short, it is ordered that the wickets be pitched at 10 o’clock. This will be the last great match of the season.

Other events

Mon 6 June. A game between Shacklewell and Westminster played at The Cock in Shacklewell, near Stoke Newington. This is evidence of the involvement of the brewing industry in the sport; a number of grounds, ranging from Broadhalfpenny Down to Trent Bridge, were established on fields adjacent to inns and taverns.[1]

Thurs 16 June. A game on Walworth Common in which Bermondsey defeated Deptford & King’s Yard by an innings and 27 runs. Clearly a minor fixture but Mr Ashley-Cooper helpfully explains that Walworth Common was situated where Westmoreland Road, Faraday Street and Mann Street stood in 1900. The ground was about three-quarters of a mile from where the Bee Hive Ground afterwards existed. At the end of the 18th century, Walworth was the home of the Montpelier Cricket Club who played on Aram’s New Ground.[1]

Mon 11 July. A three-a-side game was played at the Artillery Ground and the six players were stated to be the best in England. They were William Hodsoll (Dartford), John Cutbush (Maidstone) and Val Romney (Sevenoaks) playing as Three of Kent; and Richard Newland (Slindon), William Sawyer (Richmond) and John Bryant (Bromley) playing as Three of All-England. Hodsoll and Newland were captains. Kent won by 2 runs. The London Evening Post says the crowd was computed (sic) to be 10,000. A return match was arranged at Sevenoaks Vine on Wed 27 July but it did not come off. The Daily Advertiser of Thurs 7 July says that Ridgeway was to play alongside Hodsoll and Romney. Then, on Fri 8 July, John Cutbush, known to have been a clockmaker from Maidstone, was named instead of Ridgeway.[3]

Tues 16 August. A five a side game on Richmond Green between Five of Richmond and Five of London. Wickets were pitched at one o’clock on forfeiture of fifty pounds.[1]

Mon 29 August. A five a side game at the Artillery Ground between Five of London and Five of Richmond. Wickets were pitched at two o’clock and the prize was "a considerable sum".[1]

First mentions

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 F S Ashley-Cooper, At the Sign of the Wicket: Cricket 1742-1751, Cricket Magazine, 1900
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 H T Waghorn, The Dawn of Cricket, Electric Press, 1906
  3. ↑ G B Buckley, Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket, Cotterell, 1935

Bibliography

Additional reading

External links

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