History of English cricket (1726–1750)

In 1726, it was already a thriving sport in the south east and, though limited by the constraints of travel at the time, it was slowly gaining adherents elsewhere with references being found in other southern counties.

[4] The earliest references have been found of games being played in the traditional counties of Berkshire (1727),[5] Gloucestershire (1729),[5] Buckinghamshire (1730),[6][7] Hampshire (1733),[8] Essex (1737),[9] Hertfordshire (1737),[10] Dorset (1738),[11] Bedfordshire (1741),[12] Huntingdonshire (1741),[13] Northamptonshire (1741),[12][14] Suffolk (1743),[15][16] and Norfolk (1745).

[17][18][19] Even so, cricket had already reached the Americas and India as confirmed by references to it being played overseas by English sailors and colonists in the first quarter of the 18th century.

The six engravings show groups of children playing cricket,[41] 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.

[47][48] The most prominent patrons in the 1720s were Edwin Stead (Kent), who died on 28 August 1735;[49][50][51] the 2nd Duke of Richmond, Sir William Gage (both Sussex);[52][53][54][55] and Alan Brodrick (Surrey).

[62] Patrons of the 1740s included Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough;[63] John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, who organised matches at Woburn Abbey;[64] George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, in Northamptonshire;[65] John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, in Huntingdonshire;[65] Richard Grenville, in Buckinghamshire;[66] and Lord Montfort, who led a combined London, Middlesex and Surrey XI in 1743.

[67] In a 1742 letter to Mr Richard West, the poet Thomas Gray (1716–1771) said: "There is my Lords *** and ***, they are Statesmen; Do not you remember them dirty boys playing at cricket"?

The teams were Robert Colchin ("Long Robin"), Val Romney, and John Bryant against Richard Newland, Edward Aburrow Sr and Joe Harris.

[24][97] On 24 June 1745, in the Artillery Ground, a "threes match" was played by William Hodsoll, Val Romney, and Richard Newland versus Robert Colchin, John Bryant, and one of the Harris brothers.

For example, a letter from Sarah to her husband on 9 July 1741 mentions a conversation with John Newland about a Slindon match against a team from East Dean at Long Down, near Eartham, a week earlier.

[17] In August 1726, a combined London and Surrey team hosted Edwin Stead's Kent XI on Kennington Common, playing for a stake of 25 guineas.

[140] In June 1728, the Swiss traveller César-François de Saussure noted in his journal the frequency with which he saw cricket being played while he was making his journeys across southern England.

A match report singled out Thomas Waymark of Sussex for special praise, saying that he "turned the scale of victory, which for some years past has been generally on the Kentish side".

[146] The London Evening Post speculated that "the Conqueror" (i.e., a decider) between the Kent and Sussex teams, led by Lord John Sackville and Sir William Gage respectively, would be played in a few days, but there is no record of a further match.

[132] The first of these took place at the Artillery Ground on Monday, 19 August, which was a significant date in British history as that Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie") raised his standard at Glenfinnan to formally begin the '45 Rebellion.

The result is unknown but a flavour of the occasion is gained from a notice in that day's Daily Advertiser: "The Streatham Captain (George Williams), with his Flying Squadron of Red Caps, will attend at his grand Tent, to entertain Gentlemen with a cold Collation, the best French Wines, and other Liquours".

The result is unknown but it would seem that Surrey might have won in view of a comment made by Lord John Sackville in a letter dated Saturday, 14 September to the 2nd Duke of Richmond, Sussex's patron: "I wish you had let Ridgeway play instead of your stopper behind it might have turned the match in our favour".

On 18 June, England met Kent at the Artillery Ground in a celebrated match which left the second known scorecard and became the opening entry in Arthur Haygarth's Scores & Biographies, although he gave the year as 1746 instead of 1744.

Besides Colchin and Newland, leading players who took part included Hodsoll, Romney, Faulkner, John Bowra, Robert Lascoe, George Jackson, William Anderson, the Bennetts, the Bryants, and the Harrises.

Kent were again due to meet England at Bromley Common and the Artillery Ground but, as the source reported it, matches "are deferred on account of the gentlemen subscribers being engaged at several Elections".

[166] Before the match took place, the Artillery Ground keeper, George Smith, announced: "The Town may be certain that the taking Six-pence Admittance is out of no avaricious Temper.

[104] Well-known venues of the time included Dartford Brent,[121][17][167] Kennington Common,[167] Laleham Burway,[49] Moulsey Hurst,[168] Richmond Green,[38][169][170][171] and Sevenoaks Vine.

[121][140] Around 1730, this became the preferred home venue of London Cricket Club,[172] and the stage for numerous top-class matches, including lucrative single wicket contests.

[102][103][173] Some matches in the 1720s were arranged at places like Peper Harow and Penshurst Park which have long been horse racing locations (today, both house point-to-point racecourses), while Moulsey Hurst was perhaps better known as a prizefighting venue.

A number of notices appeared in the press during the first six months of 1748 but Smith eventually resolved his problems, perhaps through the sale of other property, and was able to retain control of the Artillery Ground until 1752.

Batsmen defended a two-stump wicket using a bat shaped like a modern hockey stick against a ball that was bowled all along the ground, either by rolling or skimming.

[50] In a letter written the same month, an Essex resident complained that a local Justice of the Peace had literally "read the Riot Act" to some people who were playing cricket.

[191] The other side of the coin was the importance to cricket, as a professional sport, of investment accrued through gambling interests – that was illustrated in 1730 when a match between teams sponsored by Richmond and Gage was cancelled "on account of Waymark, the Duke's man, being ill".

[193][113] The result caused a fracas among the crowd who were incensed by the prompt finish because the Duke of Richmond had arrived late and delayed the start of the game.

In May 1737, there was a tragic incident in a local match at Newick in Sussex when a player called John Boots was killed after he collided with his partner whilst going for a run.