In the 1731 English cricket season, a total of 31 eleven-a-side matches are known to have been arranged, more than double the number in 1730, though it is not certain they were all actually played. Seventeen involved the London Cricket Club which played most of its home games on the Artillery Ground in Finsbury. Although newspaper coverage was increasing, the notices carried were always brief, and it remained rare for a player to be named in the press. However, this did happen when "the famous Tim Coleman", of London, was mentioned after he played for another team as a given man.
The most controversial match of the season, which ended in a riot, was also the first from which team totals are known. Elsewhere, the Prince of Wales is known to have taken an interest in the sport, and he became a noted patron until his death in 1751.
Eleven-a-side matches
Reports have survived of thirty matches, mostly between recognised teams, some involving parish teams.[note 1]
drawn; Duke of Richmond later conceded Richmond Green Umpires: not known
This match is the earliest from which team totals are known, but no individual batting or bowling performances were recorded.[4]
The match was the third, possibly a decider, played between these two teams who had met on each of the two previous Mondays—the first was at Richmond Green on the 9th (result unknown) with a return at Chichester on the 16th (Chambers won). The start and finish times, specified in the Articles, were two pm and seven pm. Richmond and his team arrived late, so start of play was delayed. Evidently, the large crowd expected the lost time to be added on at the end. Richmond, whose team were losing, insisted on ending the match as soon as the clock struck seven. The gambling odds were on Chambers, and his backers were furious that Lennox would not play on, so they rioted.[5]
Chambers' team coming in again wanted about 8 or 10 notches when the hour agreed on being come, they were obliged to leave off, though the hands then playing, they had four of five more to come in. Thus it proved a drawn battle.
The match is significant in another aspect because it is the earliest of which team totals are known, though no individual scores were recorded. Richmond's XI batted first and were all out for 79, to which Chambers' XI replied with 119 for a first innings lead of 40. Richmond's XI were dismissed for 72 in their second innings, leaving Chambers' XI with a target of 33 to win. Their precise total at the end is uncertain, but the wording of the report suggests they had scored from 23 to 25 runs for the loss of five or six wickets.[7]
The northern half of Richmond Green today
During the riot, some of Richmond's players had "the shirts torn off their backs", and one report said "a law suit would commence about the play".[8] However, the brief report of a different match on 6 September implied that Richmond had conceded the result to Chambers: "11 of Surrey beat the 11 who about a fortnight ago beat the Duke of Richmond's men".[8]
County cricket
Teams that were nominally counties took part in ten matches altogether. Nomenclature at this time was indefinite, so a team called Kent or Surrey might actually have been Dartford or Chertsey, for example. London Cricket Club played four matches against teams with county names: Kent on 24 May (Kent won by 3 runs) and 8 June (London won); Surrey on 17 April (London won by 35 runs) and 28 September (result unknown). Surrey defeated Thomas Chambers' XI on 6 September, as mentioned above, and played two other matches against parish teams; Kent also played one against parish opposition.[9][10][7]
Only two matches were "inter-county", inasmuch as both teams had county names. These were Kent v Middlesex at Kennington Common on 19 July, and Surrey v Kent at Dulwich Common on 4 September. The Kent v Middlesex match was billed in advance as "the County of Kent v. the County of Middlesex, for £50 a side", but the result is unknown.[11] In the second match, Surrey in their second innings needed twelve to win with three wickets in hand when heavy rain began, and it was ended as a draw.[12]
Single wicket
Royal Horse Guards (The Blues). Painting by David Morier, 1751.
Only one single wicket match is in the known records. It was played in July, at a venue in Maidstone, between two Royal Horse Guards officers called Captain Beak and Lieutenant Coke. The brief report said "a considerable sum of money" was at stake, and Beak won after three hours "very hard played".[13]
The main source for this match is H. T. Waghorn, who remarked that it was the first "military match" he found in his researches. Nothing is known about the playing standards of Beak or Coke, or if either of them played for Kent or another county, but many Army officers did play in top-class matches through the 18th and 19th centuries.[13] Two examples were Colonel Charles Lennox (1764–1819) and Captain Charles Cumberland (1764–1835), both members of the White Conduit Club and, in 1787, original members of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Colonel Lennox became the 4th Duke of Richmond in 1806, and was the 2nd Duke's grandson.[14]
The earliest known ground enclosures were done this year. The playing area on Kennington Common was roped off twice in an attempt to keep spectators off the field. A notice for the London v Sevenoaks match on 12 July informed spectators that "the ground will be roped round and all persons are desired to keep without side of the same".[15]
Surrey v London on 28 September was promoted as "likely to be the best performance of this kind that has been seen for some time, there being great wagers depending", and the Prince of Wales was expected to attend. The notice also stated: "for the convenience of the gamesters, the ground is to be staked and roped out".[12]
It is not known when admission fees were introduced but there was certainly a two pence charge in place at the Artillery Ground by the early 1740s.[16]
Tim Coleman
There was a match on 2 October, a Saturday, between the parish teams of Mitcham and Ewell, which Mitcham won "by several notches". A newspaper report mentions that "the famous Tim Coleman" was in the Ewell team, adding that he "usually played on the London side". It was rare at this time for a newspaper to name a player, and so Coleman is one of the earliest cricketers whose name has survived in contemporary records. The full span of his career is unknown.[12]
Notes
↑Some eleven-a-side matches played before 1864 have been rated "first-class" by certain sources, but there was no such standard at the time. The term came into common use from around 1864, when overarm bowling was legalised, and was formally defined as a standard by a meeting at Lord's, in May 1894, of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the county clubs which were then competing in the County Championship. The ruling was effective from the beginning of the 1895 season, but pre-1895 matches of the same standard have no official definition of status because the ruling is not retrospective. However, matches of a similar standard since the beginning of the 1864 season are generally considered to have an unofficial first-class status.[1] Pre-1864 matches which are included in the ACS' "Important Match Guide" may generally be regarded as top-class or, at least, historically significant.[2] For further information, see First-class cricket.
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