1750 English cricket season

1750 English cricket season

1750 was the 54th English cricket season since the earliest known important match was played. Details have survived of six important eleven-a-side and four single wicket matches. Kent and Surrey played three inter-county matches.

In At the Sign of the Wicket, F. S. Ashley-Cooper gives the opinion that the Hambledon Club was founded in or about 1750, but there is no evidence to support this view and the club's origin is unknown. As the team was playing top-class cricket in the 1756 season (i.e., its earliest recorded matches), it seems likely that a local club of some kind was founded much earlier than 1750 as it must have risen to a position of prominence in Hampshire before being able to take on the likes of Dartford from 1756. It is possible, as with many later county clubs, that a parish club was in existence for a long time and was then subject to substantial reorganisation after its team became famous. This might explain the many "origins" of the Hambledon Club up to about the 1767 season.

Important matches

The following matches are classified as important:[note 1]

date match title venue result source
18 June (M) Two Elevens Artillery Ground result unknown [1][2]
notes

The teams played for 50 guineas and were composed entirely of players from Kent, London, Middlesex and Surrey.

6 July (F) Kent v Surrey Dartford Brent Kent won by 3 wkts [1][2]
notes

Surrey scored 57 and 36; Kent replied with 54 and 40-7. No individual scores are known but the teams are.

Kent: William Hodsoll, Rawlings, James Bryant, John Bryant, Garrett, John Bell, Broad, Thomas Bell, Val Romney, Thomas Brandon, Howard.

Surrey: Stephen Dingate, Tom Faulkner, Joe Harris, John Harris, George Jackson, Robert Bartholomew, John Frame, Frame, Maynard, John Capon, Perry.

The first name of John Frame’s brother is unknown. Kent were without Robert Colchin, who had died in April aged 36.

9 July (M) Kent v Surrey Artillery Ground Surrey won by 9 wkts [1][2]
notes

A return match. Kent scored 53 and 55; Surrey replied with 80 and 29-1 to win with some ease. The teams were unchanged from the first match but again no individual scores are known.

17 July (Tu) Dartford v Addington Dartford Brent Dartford won by 6 runs [1][2][3]
notes

Dartford scored 46 and 34; Addington replied with 39 and 35. William Hodsoll and the two Bryants all played for Dartford as given men. According to the London Evening Post on Thursday, 19 July, Dartford lost five second innings wickets in five successive deliveries by a mixture of caught and bowled, but they still made enough to win. The source says: "It is remarkable Dartford had five men bowled and caught out in five succeeding bowls the last hands".[4]

20 July (F) Kent v Surrey Artillery Ground Kent won by 1 wicket [1][2]
notes

Surrey scored 55 and 42; Kent replied with 63 and 35-9 to win a very tight contest. A deciding match and again it was won by the team batting second. Five runs were still needed when the penultimate wicket fell. The teams were unchanged from the two previous matches but again there are no individual scores. The London Club ruled beforehand that players must reside in the county they play for. The Frames still lived at Warlingham in 1750, though John Frame was latterly associated with Dartford.

20 July (F) Bearsted v Hadlow venue unknown result unknown [5]
notes

A one-line announcement in the Kentish Weekly Post on Saturday, 21 June. No other details known.

8 August (W) London v Hampton Artillery Ground result unknown [1][2]
notes

No details reported.

Single wicket

Thursday, 26 July. Five of Richmond played Five of London for a guinea a man on the Artillery Ground. No details are known.[2]

Monday, 10 September. The first of three "fives" between Stephen Dingate's Five and Tom Faulkner's Five at the Artillery Ground. Faulkner's team won this one, which was played for fifty guineas. Teams were: Stephen Dingate, James Bryant, John Bryant, John Bell and Thomas Bell versus Tom Faulkner, Joseph Harris, John Harris, Durling and Perry.[2]

Friday, 14 September. The second match ended in a tie, both sides totalling nine. As single-wicket rules applied, all batsmen were out. It is known they were all bowled (but not who by) except for Dingate who was caught in the 2nd innings, Thomas Bell who was run out in the 2nd innings and Joe Harris who was caught in the 2nd innings (apparently while trying to hit the winning run).[2]

Monday, 17 September. The third and deciding game of "fives" was won by Tom Faulkner’s side by an innings and one run. Dingate’s team scored 10 and 18 but Faulkner’s scored 29. The individual figures in the recorded score of Dingate’s second innings add up to 20 but 18 was definitely the correct total so one or more of the individual scores was wrong.[2]

Monday, 24 September. Five of London v Five of Addington. Venue unknown.[6]

Other events

c.Monday, 27 April. Death, at Deptford, of Robert Colchin (1713–1750), aka "Long Robin", apparently of smallpox.[7]

Wednesday, 8 August. Death, at Godalming, of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond (1701–1750), who was arguably the greatest of the game’s early patrons, particularly of the Slindon Cricket Club and of Sussex cricket in general. His death was followed by an immediate slump in Sussex cricket and it is not until 1766 that a recovery can be discerned.[8]

First mentions

Countries

Counties

  • none

Clubs and teams

    Players

    Venues

      Notes

      1. ↑ First-class cricket was officially defined in May 1894 by a meeting at Lord's of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the county clubs which were then competing in the County Championship. The ruling was effective from the beginning of the 1895 season. Pre-1895 matches of the same standard have no official definition of status because the ruling is not retrospective and the important matches designation, as applied to a given match, is based on the views of one or more substantial historical sources. For further information, see First-class cricket, Forms of cricket and History of cricket.

      References

      1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 ACS, Important Matches, p. 22.
      2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Ashley-Cooper, At the Sign of the Wicket, 19 April 1900, p. 68.
      3. ↑ Buckley, FL18C, p. 24.
      4. ↑
      5. ↑
      6. ↑ Maun, p. 208.
      7. ↑ Maun, p. 203.
      8. ↑ Maun, p. 206.

      Bibliography

      • ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709 – 1863. Nottingham: ACS.
      • Ashley-Cooper, F. S. (1900). At the Sign of the Wicket: Cricket 1742–1751. Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game. London: Cricket Magazine. OCLC 28863559.
      • Buckley, G. B. (1935). Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Cotterell.
      • Maun, Ian (2009). From Commons to Lord's, Volume One: 1700 to 1750. Roger Heavens. ISBN 978 1 900592 52 9.

      Further reading

      • 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.
      • Marshall, John (1961). The Duke who was Cricket. Muller.
      • McCann, Tim (2004). Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century. Sussex Record Society.
      • Underdown, David (2000). Start of Play. Allen Lane.
      • 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.
      • Leach, John (2008). "Classification of cricket matches from 1697 to 1825". Stumpsite. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011.
      • Leach, John (2007). "From Lads to Lord's; The History of Cricket: 1300 – 1787". Stumpsite. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011.
      • Collins, A. R. (2016). "Historical Calendar". Dr A. R. Collins.
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