1735 English cricket season

The 1735 English cricket season was the 39th cricket season since the earliest recorded eleven-aside match was played. Details have survived of 10 top-class matches, nine played eleven-a-side and one single wicket match.

Kent patron Edwin Stead died in August and the leading patron of Kent teams became the Sackvilles of Knole House in Sevenoaks. County teams of which records exist in 1735 were Kent, Middlesex, Surrey and Sussex whilst London and Croydon remained the major town clubs.

Recorded matches

Records have survived of nine eleven-a-side matches:[1][2]

Date	Teams	Venue	Result	Source
27 May	Croydon v London	Duppas Hill, Croydon	London won	[3]
	G. B. Buckley found four different notices of this match in the Whitehall Evening Post, the London Evening Post, the Weekly Register and the Grub Street Journal. The WEP called the game Surrey v London but the others all agreed it was Croydon v London. The day of the match was Whit Tuesday. The Weekly Register (31 May) reported that London beat Croydon "with very great ease" on 28 May, and Ian Maun has recorded this as a second match,[4] but it is almost certainly the same one.[3]
7 June	Surrey v London	Moulsey Hurst	London won by 9 wickets	[5][6]
	Scores are known: Surrey 54 & 44; London 61 & 38/1.
18 June	London v Surrey	Artillery Ground	unknown	[2]

25 June	Surrey v London	Artillery Ground	drawn	[7][6]
	Originally arranged to be played on Kennington Common, as reported by the General Evening Post on 12 June, the venue was altered to the Artillery Ground. Team scores are known: London 67 & 72; Surrey 97 & 33/7.
12 July	London & Middlesex v Kent	Moulsey Hurst	Kent won by 4 wickets	[8][9]
	Scores are known: London 95 & 41; Kent 80 & 57/6. The London & Middlesex team consisted of eight players of the London club and three of Middlesex, including Cook of Brentford who was reckoned to be "one of the best bowlers in England". Kent's patron was the Earl of Middlesex, who was the eldest son of the 1st Duke of Dorset. Their opponents were backed by the Prince of Wales. The match was staged for £1,000 a side. The report confirmed that a second match would be played in two weeks on Bromley Common (see below).
18 July	Surrey v London	Kennington Common	London won	[10]
	The London Daily Post on 19 July, reported that London beat Surrey "with ease".
30 July	Kent v London	Bromley Common	Kent won by 10 wickets	[11]
	The return match to that played on 12 July. Scores were: London 73 & 32; Kent 97 & 9/0. The report states that a large crowd attended and "a great deal of mischief was done". It seems that horses panicked and riders were thrown while some members of the crowd were "rode over". One man was "carried off for dead" as "HRH" passed by at the entrance to the Common.
13 August	Sussex v Kent	Lewes	Sussex won	[12]
	The source for this match is a letter from John Whaley to Horace Walpole dated 13 August. He says the Sussex team "seem as much pleased as if they had got an Election". He also reported that "we have been at supper with them all" until one o'clock in the morning.
20 August	Kent v Sussex	Vine Cricket Ground, Sevenoaks	Kent won	[13]
	The London Evening Post speculated that a deciding match would be played in a few days, but there is no record of a further match.

Single wicket matches

The General Evening Post of 7 August, announced a single wicket match would be played at Kennington Common on 11 August involving seven players of the London Club.[10]

Other events

Other matches known to have been played include ones between an Acton & Brentford team and Harrow on Willesden Green "for a guinea a man" and between Romford and Brentwood on Shenville Common. Westminster Cricket Club played in three known matches during the year, one against Greenwich Cricket Club in June and two against London in August. The match against Greenwich was for a stake of £500 with Prince of Wales, the Earl of Middlesex and Lord John Philip Sackville expected to attend the match.[10]

The death of Edwin Stead on 28 August was reported in the Grub Street Journal of 4 September. He was a noted patron of the game from the mid-1720s from Maidstone who did much to promote the game in Kent.[14]

First mentions

Clubs and teams

London & Middlesex[8]
Westminster[3]

Venues

References

ACS, p.20.
Other matches in England 1735, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
Buckley, p.10.
Maun, p.67.
Waghorn, pp.8–9.
Wilson, p.45.
Waghorn, pp.9–10.
Waghorn, pp.10–11.
Buckley, pp.10–11.
Buckley, p.11.
Waghorn, pp.11–12.
McCann, p.15.
McCann, pp.15–16.
Buckley, p.12.

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.
McCann, Tim (2004). Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century. Sussex Record Society.
Maun, Ian (2009). From Commons to Lord's, Volume One: 1700 to 1750. Roger Heavens. ISBN 978 1 900592 52 9.
Waghorn, H. T. (1899). Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730–1773). Blackwood.
Wilson, Martin (2005). An Index to Waghorn. Bodyline.