1739 English cricket season

The 1739 English cricket season was the 43rd cricket season since the earliest recorded eleven-aside match was played. Details have survived of seven matches.

The season was the first time that a Rest of England side played, formed specifically to take on Kent which appears to have had the game's strongest county team.

Recorded matches

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

Date	Teams	Venue	Result	Source
18 June	Lingfield v London	unknown	Lingfield won by 2 wickets	[3]
	The report confirms a rematch to be played at the Artillery Ground on the 27 June. This is the first reference to the Lingfield club which had a noted team in the 18th century.
27 June	London v Lingfield	Artillery Ground	unknown	[3]
	The announcement said that "several large bets are depending".
9 July	Kent v Rest of England	Bromley Common	Kent won	[4]
	The earliest known instance of a non-international England cricket team, loosely termed the Rest of England. The match report billed it as between "eleven gentlemen" of Kent "and eleven gentlemen from any part of England, exclusive of Kent". Kent, which had a very strong team in this period and was described as "the Unconquerable County", won by "a very few notches".
12 July	Kingston & Moulsey v London	Moulsey Hurst	Kingston & Moulsey won	[3][5]
	Referenced in the report of the return match (see below).
19 July	London v Kingston & Moulsey	Kennington Common	Kingston & Moulsey won by 3 runs	[5]
	The London & Country Journal dated 24 July, reported on the second of these two matches but made references to the previous one. The report says that Kingston & Moulsey won the first game because of "the Londoners turning out three bad men who played on Moulsey Hurst". Kingston & Moulsey won the second game by three runs despite losing "five of their best hands" from the earlier match. London replaced the "three bad men" with Lord John Sackville, Mr Dunn and Mr Boarer, who were described as "three very good gamesters".
23 July	Rest of England v Kent	Artillery Ground	drawn	[6][7]
	Kent led by over 50 on the first innings, and betting was then 2 to 1 in their favour. The report says: "The Kentish Men were likely to have won, but a Dispute arose whether one of the Londoners was fairly out, which put an End to the Game. There were upwards of 10,000 People to see this Match". One account stated that Kent's opponents were London.
5 September	London v Chislehurst	Artillery Ground	unknown	[8]
	Announced in the London Evening Post on 1 September.

Other events

Generally agreed to be the "first modern representation of cricket", a series of engravings, The Game of Cricket, was made by Hubert-François Gravelot. The six engravings show groups of children paying cricket,[9] with a wicket of the "low stool" shape, probably 2-foot (0.61 m) wide by 1-foot (0.30 m) tall, with two stumps and a single bail. The engravings were used on porcelain.[9] Gravelot helped to establish the French Rococo style in English publishing and was one of the most celebrated illustrators of the time.[10]

1739 was the last year in which cricket was played on Lamb's Conduit Field. Thomas Coram's Foundling Hospital was established there in 1739.[11]

First mentions

Clubs and teams

Kingston & Moulsey[3]
Lingfield[3]
Rest of England[4]

References

ACS, p.20.
Other matches in England 1739, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
Waghorn, p.22.
Waghorn, pp.22–23.
Buckley, pp.15–16.
Maun, pp.95–96.
Waghorn, p.23.
Buckley, p.16.
Lot 49 Hubert-François Gravelot, invaluable. Retrieved 2019-01-11.
Major, pp.95 & 299.
Maun, p.97.

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.
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.
Waghorn, H. T. (1899). Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730–1773). Blackwood.