1757 English cricket season

1757 English cricket season

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Details have survived of two eleven-a-side matches in the 1757 English cricket season, but no notable single wicket matches. ^{[note 1]}

A match in September between Wirksworth and Sheffield at Brampton Moor, near Chesterfield, is the earliest reference to cricket in Derbyshire. Although cricket is known to have been played in Sheffield since 1751, this may be the earliest indication of the Sheffield Cricket Club from which Yorkshire County Cricket Club eventually evolved. ^[3]

The following reference is contained in William White's History & General Directory of the Borough of Sheffield (1833). In his introductory history, Mr White says: In 1757 we find the Town Trustees attempting the abolition of brutal sports by paying 14s6d to the cricket players on Shrove Tuesday "to entertain the populace and prevent the infamous practice of throwing at cocks". He does not give the primary source from which he himself derived the information but it would likely be in parish or town records of some kind which may or may not still exist. There is a reference to the same in Waghorn who quotes his source as the much later Records of the Burgery of Sheffield (1897) by Jno. D Leader (p. 382) which dates the contract as 6 February 1757 (which may have been a Julian date as 6 February 1757 in the Gregorian Calendar was a Sunday). ^[4]

Matches

date	match title	venue	result	source
25 & 26 July (M-Tu)	London v Surrey	Artillery Ground	Surrey won by 50 runs	[5] [6] [7] [8]
notes	There would seem to have been a declaration here. Surrey batted first and scored 84 to which London replied with 89. Surrey batted until close of play when they were apparently 126/4. It seems that London batted when play restarted on Tuesday morning and scored 71. The primary source concludes: "so that Surrey beat London by 50 notches and had six wickets to knock down". There are conflicting versions because the London Chronicle on Tuesday, 26 July, reported the close of play score on Monday as "(Surrey) had three hands put out but had got 117 notches ahead". That would make the close of play score 122/3 so it seems they received a slightly premature report, as confirmed in another source.
26 August (F)	Chertsey v Hampton	Moulsey Hurst	Chertsey won	[5]
notes	Reported in the General Evening Post next day.

Notes

1. 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.

References

1. ACS 1982, pp. 4–5.
2. ACS 1981, pp. 1–40.
3. Rowland Bowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970
4. H. T. Waghorn, The Dawn of Cricket, Electric Press, 1906
5. G. B. Buckley, Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket, Cotterell, 1935
6. Buckley, FLPVC, p. 3.
7. H. T. Waghorn, Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730-1773), Blackwood, 1899
8. ACS, Important Matches, p. 23.

Bibliography

• ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709–1863. Nottingham: ACS.
• ACS (1982). A Guide to First-class Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles. Nottingham: ACS.
• Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. Eyre & Spottiswoode.
• Buckley, G. B. (1935). Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Cotterell.
• Buckley, G. B. (1937). Fresh Light on pre-Victorian Cricket. Cotterell.
• Waghorn, H. T. (1899). Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730–1773). Blackwood.
• Waghorn, H. T. (1906). The Dawn of Cricket. Electric Press.
• Wilson, Martin (2005). An Index to Waghorn. Bodyline.

Additional reading

• Altham, H. S. (1962). A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914). George Allen & Unwin.
• Birley, Derek (1999). A Social History of English Cricket. Aurum.
• McCann, Tim (2004). Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century. Sussex Record Society.
• Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. HarperCollins.
• Maun, Ian (2011). From Commons to Lord's, Volume Two: 1751 to 1770. Martin Wilson. ISBN   978-0-9569066-0-1.
• Mote, Ashley (1997). The Glory Days of Cricket. Robson.
• Underdown, David (2000). Start of Play. Allen Lane.