1753 English cricket season

1753 English cricket season

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The first mentions of Hambledon and Broadhalfpenny Down are found in the 1753 English cricket season. Only a handful of matches, including one significant single wicket event, are on record. ^{[note 1]}

A poem, dedicated to the 1st Duke of Dorset, refers to a crimson cricket ball. ^[5] It may have been made by Mr Clout, whose firm was in Sevenoaks where the Dukes of Dorset reside at Knole House.

Hambledon v Surrey

There was a match on 7 & 8 August in which a team called Hambledon hosted Surrey. The Hambledon Club per se probably didn't exist at this time. Its foundation is generally believed to have been in the 1760s, so the team in 1753 would have been a parish eleven. However, it wasn't limited to local players because John Lucas, of Portsmouth, scored 82 in Hambledon's first innings. Hambledon scored 202 and 105; Surrey scored 131 and 63. Hambledon won by 113 runs. The match was played on Broadhalfpenny Down, its first mention in connection with cricket. ^[6]

Single wicket

Monday, 10 September. Two of London were to play Tom Faulkner and Joe Harris for £20 at the Artillery Ground. ^[7]

Other events

• On 6 & 7 August, Dover hosted Dartford and won by 7 runs. Dover scored 57 and 83; Dartford scored 95 and 38. ^{[8] [9]}

• A benefit match was staged 15 August on the Artillery Ground ^[8] for a Mr Anderson of the Dial in Long Alley, Moorfields. The teams were unnamed and no result has been recorded. There was a well-known player called William Anderson, first mentioned in 1745, so possibly this was he. The two elevens were made up of various players from the general London area with "the best bowlers to be parted". ^[9]

• On 30 August, London played Marylebone (no connection with Marylebone Cricket Club). ^[8] This was on the Artillery Ground, but the result is unknown. Marylebone had Tall Bennett and William King as given men. ^[7]

Notes

1. Some eleven-a-side matches played from 1772 to 1863 have been rated "first-class" by certain sources. ^[1] However, the term only came into common use around 1864, when overarm bowling was legalised. It 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. ^[2] Matches of a similar standard since the beginning of the 1864 season are generally considered to have an unofficial first-class status. ^[3] Pre-1864 matches which are included in the ACS' "Important Match Guide" may generally be regarded as top-class or, at least, historically significant. ^[4] For further information, see First-class cricket.

References

1. "First-Class matches in England in 1772" . CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
2. Wisden (1948). Preston, Hubert (ed.). Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (85th ed.). London: Sporting Handbooks Ltd. p. 813. OCLC   851705816.
3. ACS 1982, pp. 4–5.
4. ACS 1981, pp. 1–40.
5. Hugh Barty-King, Quilt Winders and Pod Shavers: the history of cricket bat and ball manufacture, MacDonald and James, 1979
6. Maun 2011, p. 38.
7. Buckley 1935, p. 33.
8. ACS 1981, p. 23.
9. Buckley 1935, p. 32.

Bibliography

• ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709–1863. Nottingham: ACS. OCLC   85045528.
• ACS (1982). A Guide to First-class Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles. Nottingham: ACS. OCLC   10586869.
• Buckley, G. B. (1935). Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Birmingham: Cotterell & Co. OCLC   23450280.
• Maun, Ian (2011). From Commons to Lord's, Volume Two: 1751 to 1770. Leicester: Martin Wilson. ISBN   978-09-56906-60-1.

Further reading

• Altham, H. S.; Swanton, E. W. (1962). A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914) (5th ed.). London: George Allen & Unwin. OCLC   894274808.
• Birley, Derek (1999). A Social History of English Cricket. London: Aurum Press. ISBN   978-18-54107-10-7 – via Internet Archive.
• Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. ISBN   978-04-13278-60-9.
• Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. London: HarperCollins. ISBN   978-00-07183-64-7 – via Internet Archive.