Cricket in Sussex
[6] Wynne-Thomas suggests that cricket is likely to have begun approximately where the three counties meet, around East Grinstead, and spread out from there.
[7] In 1622, several parishioners of Boxgrove, near Chichester in west Sussex, were prosecuted for playing cricket in a churchyard on Sunday, 5 May.
There were three reasons for the prosecution: one was that it contravened a local bye-law; another reflected concern about church windows which may or may not have been broken; the third was that a little childe had like to have her braines beaten out with a cricket batt!
In 1624, a fatality occurred at Horsted Keynes when a fielder called Jasper Vinall was struck on the head by the batsman, Edward Tye, who was trying to hit the ball a second time to avoid being caught.
[11] In 1637, another ecclesiastical case recorded parishioners of Midhurst playing cricket during evening prayer on Sunday, 26 February.
In 1677, accounts of Thomas Lennard, 1st Earl of Sussex, include an item which refers to £3 being paid to him when he went to a cricket match being played at "ye Dicker", which was a common near Herstmonceux.
[14] In 1694, accounts of Sir John Pelham record 2s 6d paid for a wager concerning a cricket match at Lewes.
[16] The earliest known newspaper report of a major cricket match was in the Foreign Post dated Wednesday, 7 July 1697: "The middle of last week a great match at cricket was played in Sussex; there were eleven of a side, and they played for fifty guineas apiece".
[15]The stakes on offer confirm the importance of the fixture and the fact that it was eleven a side suggests that two strong and well-balanced teams were assembled.
The receipt was in respect of one shilling and six pence paid by the Duke "for brandy when your Grace plaid at Cricket with Arundel men".
Sir William bemoaned that he was "shamefully beaten" the previous day in "his first match of the year" but says nothing of his opponents.
He then looked forward to playing the Duke's team next Tuesday and wished his Grace "success in everything except his cricket match".
[19] The main rival to Richmond and Gage was Edwin Stead of Maidstone, who was the first of the noted Kent patrons.
The Sussex teams of Richmond and Gage enjoyed an inter-county rivalry with Stead's Kent that could have originated the concept of the County Championship.
[20] Other good players known to have been active in the 1720s were Edwin Stead of Kent; Edmund Chapman and Stephen Dingate of Surrey; Tim Coleman of London; and Thomas Waymark of Sussex.
In 1727 the first formal rules of cricket, the articles of agreement, were drawn up between the 2nd Duke of Richmond and Mr Alan Brodrick for two matches between a team from Sussex and another from Surrey.
Gage's Sussex team in the 1729 season achieved the sport's earliest known innings victory against Kent.
[24] Contemporary records show that women's matches were played on many occasions between villages in Sussex, Hampshire and Surrey.
Slindon's best player was the great Richard Newland, supported by his brothers Adam and John; and by the controversial Edward Aburrow, a good cricketer but a known smuggler.
After the death of Richmond in 1751, Sussex cricket declined until the emergence of the Brighton club at its Prince of Wales Ground in 1790.
It has been suggested by historians that the Hambledon Club represented Sussex as well as Hampshire for inter-county purposes.
Several noted Sussex cricketers, including Richard Nyren, Noah Mann and William Barber, played for Hambledon.
Their success owed much to the prowess of two top-class bowlers William Lillywhite and Jem Broadbridge, both of whom were champions of the roundarm style, when they could get away with it.
On 17 June 1836, the Sussex Cricket Fund was set up to support county matches, after a meeting in Brighton.
A One Day International match of the 1999 Cricket World Cup between India and South Africa was staged at Hove.
Other cricket clubs formed in the 18th century include Steyning (1721), East Grinstead (1731, reformed 1857), Slindon (1740-1754), Battle (1738),[38] Rye (1754), Maresfield (1756), Firle (1758),[39] Rottingdean (1758),[40] Chalvington & Ripe (1762),[41] Broadwater (1771),[42] Henfield (1771),[43] Petworth (1784), Brighton (1790-1839), Southwick (1790) and Wadhurst & Lamberhurst (1790).
