1728 English cricket season

The 1728 English cricket season was the 32nd cricket season since the earliest recorded eleven-aside match was played. Details have survived of four matches with another match possibly having been played in this year.

1728 English cricket season

A Swiss traveller in southern England recorded his experiences of watching cricket being played. Teams which played under the names of counties were being formed as patrons, such as Edwin Stead, Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond and Sir William Gage sought stronger combinations to help them win

Recorded matches

Records of the following matches exist:[1][2]

Date Teams Venue Result Source
25 June Edwin Stead's XI v 2nd Duke of Richmond's XI Coxheath Common Edwin Stead's XI won [3]
The date of the match was confirmed by G. B. Buckley in his Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket Appendix B, based on a report in the Kentish Weekly Post on 19 June. Buckley was correcting an oversight in F. S. Ashley-Cooper's Kent Cricket Matches.
July Edwin Stead's XI v 2nd Duke of Richmond's XI Penshurst Park Edwin Stead's XI won [3]
The only known primary source is a brief mention in the Whitehall Evening Post dated 6 August 1728.
August Edwin Stead's XI v Sir William Gage's XI Penshurst Park Edwin Stead's XI won [4][5][6]
The report of this match states that Stead's victory was "the third time this summer that the Kent men have been too expert for those of Sussex".
Unknown 2nd Duke of Richmond's XI v Sir William Gage's XI Lewes result unknown [3]
All that is known is "a match between elevens" organised by the two patrons. The exact location of the ground in Lewes is unknown.

In several sources, a Gentlemen of Middlesex v Gentlemen of London match is listed as due to take place in Islington on 5 August.[2][4][5][6] Research suggests that this match may have been played in 1729.[7]

Other events

Swiss traveller César-François de Saussure noted in his journal the frequency with which he saw cricket being played while he was making his journeys across southern England in June.[8] He referred to county matches as "a commonplace" and wrote that "everyone plays it, the common people and also men of rank".[9]

First mentions

Venues

References
  1. ACS, Important Matches, p.19.
  2. Other matches in England 1728, CricketArchive. Retrieved 3 January 2019. (subscription required)
  3. McCann, p.8.
  4. Wilson, p.50.
  5. Waghorn, p.7.
  6. Maun 2009, p.37.
  7. Maun 2011, p.248.
  8. César de Saussure. "Letters from London 1725-1730 : Introduction". Adnax Publications. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  9. César de Saussure, A Foreign View of England in the Reigns of George I and George II. The Letters of Monsieur César de Saussure to his Family, General Books LLC, 2010.

Bibliography
  • ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709 – 1863. Nottingham: ACS.
  • Maun, Ian (2009). From Commons to Lord's, Volume One: 1700 to 1750. Roger Heavens. ISBN 978 1 900592 52 9.
  • Maun, Ian (2011). From Commons to Lord's, Volume Two: 1751 to 1770. Martin Wilson. ISBN 978 0 9569066 0 1.
  • McCann, Tim (2004). Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century. Sussex Record Society.
  • 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.
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