The first definite mention of cricket in connection with the county is a highly controversial match in 1724 between Chingford and Edwin Stead's XI, which is recorded in The Dawn of Cricket by H. T. Waghorn.
Lord Chief Justice Pratt presided over the case and he ordered them to play it out on Dartford Brent, though it is not known if this was the original venue.
In a return game at Ilford on 1 August 1737, Essex won by 7 runs.
[1] References are then occasional until 1785 when the Hornchurch Cricket Club, based at Langton Park, became prominent.
But there is no doubt that Essex held important match status from 1785 until 1794, after which the county strangely and abruptly disappeared from the records for a long time.