1726 English cricket season
The 1726 English cricket season was the 30th cricket season since the earliest recorded eleven-aside match was played. It is the first season in which a surviving newspaper report names a participant and included the earliest-known single wicket match. Details of two matches have been found.
Recorded matches
Records of the following matches exist:[1][2]
| Date | Teams | Venue | Result | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 August | London & Surrey v Edwin Stead's XI | Kennington Common | Unknown | [3] |
| Played for 25 guineas between Edwin Stead of Maidstone in Kent and "the men of London and Surrey".[3] | ||||
| September | Edwin Stead's XI v Chingford | Dartford Brent | Unknown | [3] |
| The conclusion of a match from 1724 which had been unfinished and became the subject of a lawsuit. Lord Chief Justice Pratt ordered it "to be played out".[3] | ||||
Single wicket matches
The London Evening Post dated 27 August carried an advertisement for a single wicket match between players called "the noted Perry (of London) and the famous Piper (of Hampton)". This is the earliest definite reference to a single wicket contest. The venue was Moulsey Hurst, near Molesey in Surrey.[4]
Other events
A letter has survived written by an Essex resident complaining that a local Justice of the Peace had literally "read the Riot Act" to some people who were playing cricket on 10 September. He had a constable with him who dispersed the players.[5]
First mentions
References
- ACS, Important Matches, p.19.
- Other matches in England 1726, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2019-01-05.
- Waghorn, p.6.
- Maun, p.33.
- Buckley, p.3.
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.
- Maun, Ian (2009). From Commons to Lord's, Volume One: 1700 to 1750. Roger Heavens. ISBN 978 1 900592 52 9.
- Waghorn, H. T. (1906). The Dawn of Cricket. Electric Press.
- 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.
- Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. HarperCollins.
- Marshall, John (1961). The Duke who was Cricket. Muller.
- Underdown, David (2000). Start of Play. Allen Lane.
External links
- Terry, David (2008). "The Seventeenth Century Game of Cricket: A Reconstruction of the Game" (PDF). SportsLibrary. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 November 2009.