1765 English cricket season

1765 English cricket season

1765 was the 69th English cricket season since the earliest known important match was played. Details have survived of five important matches. There was a clear indication of increased cricket activity in the north of England as Leeds played Sheffield. Few significant matches were reported in 1765 but events at the Artillery Ground in August may have been almost the last straw where this infamous old venue was concerned.

Important matches

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

date match title venue result source
19 & 20 August (M-Tu) Surrey v Dartford [1] Artillery Ground Surrey won [2]
notes

Played for 100 guineas a side with a crowd estimated at 12,000. The source records re the close of play situation on the Monday: the mob (many of whom had laid large bets), imagining foul play, several of whom were dangerously wounded and bruised.

There is a report in the St James Chronicle of Thurs 22 August about this match [3] which states that: a young fellow, a butcher, being entrusted with about £40 by his mistress to buy cattle in Smithfield market, instead went into the Artillery Ground and sported away the whole sum in betting upon the Cricket players.

These reports give a clue to the disrepute that the Artillery Ground had acquired by this time and few matches of importance were played there after 1765. After 1778, it ceases to appear in the records.[4]

26 August (M) Leeds v Sheffield Chapeltown Moor, near Leeds Sheffield won [5]
notes

This was reported by the London Chronicle on Thurs 5 September. Sheffield won "with great difficulty". As it was rated a "great match" and reported by a London newspaper, this shows that cricket was already well-established in Yorkshire only 14 years after it was first reported there.

c.9 September (Tu) Chertsey v Richmond [1] Laleham Burway result unknown [2]
notes

All that is known is that this game took place a week before the next one.

c.16 September (Tu) Richmond v Chertsey [1] Richmond Green Chertsey won by 106 runs [2]
notes

The scores were: Chertsey 130 & 116; Richmond 48 & 92. The source says: "Chertsey headed 94" which is incorrect according to team totals.

Stephen Harding, Chertsey bowler, scored 24 in four balls with a five, two sixes and a seven. The Edmeads brothers, Richard and John, scored 108 between them in the whole match.

Other events

There was a "threes" game on Friday 30 August at Moulsey Hurst in which Surrey beat Kent "after a smart contest". The source is the Gazetteer & London Daily Advertiser on Wed 4 September.[3]

A notice in the Salisbury Journal on Monday 16 September might have interested the members of the Hambledon Club: The Cricket players of the parish of Portsea (in Hampshire) will play the game of Cricket with any parish in the said County for 20 guineas each match, home and home (sic). It is not known if the challenge was taken up.[3]

First mentions

Counties

    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 H T Waghorn, Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730-1773), Blackwood, 1899
        2. 1 2 3 ACS, Important Matches, p. 23.
        3. 1 2 3 G B Buckley, Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket, Cotterell, 1935
        4. ↑ From Lads to Lord's; The History of Cricket: 1300 – 1787
        5. ↑ Buckley, FLPVC, p. 4.

        Bibliography

        • ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709 – 1863. Nottingham: ACS.
        • Buckley, G. B. (1935). Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Cotterell.
        • Buckley, G. B. (1937). Fresh Light on pre-Victorian Cricket. Cotterell.
        • Waghorn, H. T. (1899). Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730–1773). Blackwood.
        • Wilson, Martin (2005). An Index to Waghorn. Bodyline.

        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.
        • Haygarth, Arthur (1862). Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826). Lillywhite.
        • McCann, Tim (2004). Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century. Sussex Record Society.
        • 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.
        • Waghorn, H. T. (1906). The Dawn of Cricket. Electric Press.
        • 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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