1732 English cricket season

The 1732 English cricket season was the 36th cricket season since the earliest recorded eleven-aside match was played. Details have survived of 12 matches.

1732 English cricket season

Most of the matches for which records survive feature London Cricket Club. Their main ground, the Artillery Ground in Finsbury, was used for four matches and its groundsman, Mr Jones, was mentioned in one newspaper report. Cricket at this time was still played with two stumps and a bat shaped like a hockey stick, which was the ideal implement for dealing with the rolled ball.

Recorded matches

Records have survived of twelve matches:[1][2]

Date Teams Venue Result Source
8 May Croydon v London Walworth Common Croydon won "by great odds" [3]
Although Croydon clearly won this match, a report at the end of the season (see below) says London played thirteen matches during the season and "did not lose a game this year".
5 June London v Brentford & Sunbury Walworth Common London won "by very considerable odds" [3]
 
7 June London v Surrey Artillery Ground London won by 8 runs [4]
This was reported on both 6 and 8 June by the St James Evening Post. The pre-match notice said stumps would be pitched at one o’clock and, at the request of two (unnamed) gentlemen who have laid a very great sum of money, the ground is to be staked and all gentlemen are desired to keep outside the rope. On 8 June, the paper simply reported that "London won by 8 notches".
12 June Kent v London Dartford Brent London won
 
26 June Surrey v London Sanderstead Downs, near Croydon draw [4]
A report states that "the London gamesters got 77 ahead the last hands and but 4 men out, time not permitting them to play it out".
6 July London v Essex & Hertfordshire Epping Forest unknown [4]
The earliest known reference to either an Essex or Hertfordshire side as a county team. The terms were "for £50 a side, play or pay; wickets to be pitched at one o’clock precisely or forfeit half the money".
27 July "A great cricket match" Kew Green unknown [4]
The Whitehall Evening Post reported on Thursday, 3 August that there was a "great cricket match" at Kew on 27 July, attended by Frederick, Prince of Wales. The team names were not recorded. Not recorded by CricketArchive.
7 August London v Middlesex Woolpack, Islington unknown [4]
The advertisement echoes an earlier game by stating that the venue would be "the field behind the Woolpack at Islington".
29 August London v Surrey Artillery Ground unknown [4]
The game was unfinished at seven o’clock and so they "are to play it again on Monday, 11 September". This match is also mentioned in Dawn of Cricket with the date given as 30 August.[5]
4 September London v Middlesex Kew Green unknown [6]
 
11 September London v Surrey Artillery Ground unknown [4]
Re-match of the unfinished game from 29 August.
13 September London v Middlesex Artillery Ground drawn [6]
A re-match of the game played on 4 September. A controversial match as the report states: "Middlesex went in first and got 88 notches; the Londoners got 84; the County went in again and got 58; the Londoners then went in for 63 notches to win; they got 56 and but four men out, when one of the County men would not play any longer, pretending the time was expired as they were to play to, which was six o'clock, although there wanted six minutes of the time by the scorer's watch. The London gamesters intend to go to law for the money, there being upward of £100 depending on the game. This is the thirteenth match the London gamesters have played this year and not lost one match".

Other events

There is a reference in The Craftsman dated 26 February to Mr Christopher Jones, Master of the Artillery Ground, at the "Pied Horse" in Chiswell Street.[7]

First mentions

Clubs and teams
  • Brentford & Sunbury[3]
  • Essex & Hertfordshire[4][1]

Players
  • Christopher Jones (Artillery Ground keeper)[7]

Venues

References
  1. ACS, p.20.
  2. Other matches in England 1732, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
  3. Buckley 1935, p. 6.
  4. Buckley 1935, p.7.
  5. Waghorn, p.11.
  6. Buckley 1935, p.8.
  7. Buckley 1937, p.1.

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. (1906). The Dawn of Cricket. Electric Press.

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.
  • Maun, Ian (2009). From Commons to Lord's, Volume One: 1700 to 1750. Roger Heavens. ISBN 978 1 900592 52 9.
  • Underdown, David (2000). Start of Play. Allen Lane.
  • Waghorn, H. T. (1906). The Dawn of Cricket. Electric Press.
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