1755 English cricket season

1755 English cricket season

← 1754 1756 →

Details have survived of three eleven-a-side matches in the 1755 English cricket season, and two notable single wicket matches. ^{[note 1]} The season's biggest match was London against a combined Middlesex & Surrey team on the Artillery Ground. A Cambridge University team played two matches against an Eton College XI.

Eleven-a-side matches

Cambridge University v Eton College

3 June in Cambridge. ^[5]

Cambridge University won. ^[6]

Cambridge University v Eton

5 June in Cambridge. ^[5]

Cambridge University won. ^[6]

Cricket at the University of Cambridge was first mentioned in 1710. These two matches are the earliest known to have been played by a team representing the University. It is not clear if the Eton team was past or present pupils or both. From a comment made by the Public Advertiser , it is possible that the teams previously met in 1754, and that Eton won. ^[6]

Hampton v Kingston

10 July, Hampton Court Green.

Hampton won by 3 wickets. ^[7]

Kingston scored 95 and 50; Hampton scored 72 and 65-7. Play was delayed for an hour by rain after Hampton’s first innings ended. Odds were "a guinea to a crown on the Kingston side and at last as much on the Court side". ^[7]

London v Waltham

21 July, Artillery Ground. ^[5]

Result unknown. ^[6]

The game was pre-announced by the Daily Advertiser on Saturday, 19 July. ^[6]

London v Middlesex & Surrey

8 August, Artillery Ground. ^[5]

London won by 20 runs. ^[7]

The match was described as "so long depending" which suggests it may have been postponed. Only the result and venue are known. Tom Faulkner, Joe Harris, and John Frame all played for London as given men. ^[7]

Single wicket

Thursday, 26 June. A "fives" match on Kennington Common in which London defeated Eton & Windsor by 8 runs. London scored 13 and 22; Eton & Windsor scored 11 and 16. London's team was Perry, Little Bennett, Tall Bennett, Capon, and Clowder. ^[7]

Monday, 28 July. Joe Harris and another London player against two Surrey players at the Artillery Ground. Result unknown. ^[6]

Other events

The Daily Advertiser announced on Thursday, 12 June that on Monday next, 16 June, the Duke of Cumberland (aka the Butcher) would review Lt. Gen. Cholmondeley’s Regiment of Dragoons upon Datchet Common, Bucks. After the review a cricket match was to be played for a considerable sum of money. ^[8]

Thursday, 28 August. An horrific injury to a player who had his right eye "knocked out by a ball". The game was on Kennington Common but no other information was reported. ^[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. ACS 1981, p. 23.
6. Buckley 1935, pp. 34–35.
7. Waghorn 2005, pp. 29–30.
8. Buckley 1937, p. 2.

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.
• Buckley, G. B. (1937). Fresh Light on pre-Victorian Cricket. Birmingham: Cotterell & Co. OCLC   23469107.
• Waghorn, H. T. (2005) [1906]. The Dawn of Cricket. London: J. W. McKenzie. ISBN   978-09-47821-17-3.

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.
• Wilson, Martin (2005). An Index to Waghorn. London: Bodyline Books (limited edition, by subscription only).