1762 English cricket season

1762 English cricket season

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Details have survived of eight eleven-a-side matches in the 1762 English cricket season. ^{[note 1]} Chertsey was again the most active club.

Matches

date	match title	venue	result	source
21 June (M)	Guildford v Chertsey [3]	Merrow Down	Chertsey won by 2 runs	[4]
notes	The source says “the former brought 99 and the latter 101” so the result was probably a win for Chertsey by 2 runs but it is by no means certain. Evidently the stakes amounted to “several hundred pounds”.
19 July (M)	Surrey v Kent [3]	Carshalton	drawn	[4]
notes	This was played for 100 guineas but was undecided. The report says: “...but was not decided, a dispute arising about one of the players being catched (sic) out when Surrey was 50 ahead the first innings. From words they came to blows, which occasioned several broken heads, as likewise a challenge between two persons of distinction. The confusion was so great that the bets were withdrawn.”
30 August (M)	London v Kent [3]	Artillery Ground	London won by 8 wickets	[4]
notes	The report says: “Played eleven-a-side for a considerable sum”.
30 August (M)	Chertsey v Middlesex [3]	Laleham Burway	Middlesex won by 6 wickets	[4]
notes	When announcing the return match, the Daily Advertiser on Sat 4 September refers to the above by saying that Middlesex won “with great difficulty” but later reports that Middlesex “had five to go in when they beat them”. NB: It should be pointed out, perhaps, that contemporary reports tended to number the men who have “not yet gone in” and it must be remembered that there are two men who have gone in who are still not out, so when there are five to go in it means that four wickets have fallen and the fifth wicket partnership is intact.
7 September (Tu)	Middlesex v Chertsey [5]	Moulsey Hurst	Middlesex won	[4]
notes	The Daily Advertiser describes the teams, probably quite accurately, as “the County of Middlesex” and “the parish of Chertsey”.
13 September (M)	Rest of Surrey v Chertsey [5]	Ripley Green	result unknown
notes	Played for £50. Chertsey was a very strong club at the time (see report of the next two matches) and a game against the rest of Surrey would be a significant fixture. The Daily Advertiser carried the curious sentence: Ordinary at Mr Fowler’s at the White Horse, an Ordinary being an "ordinary dinner".
21 September (Tu)	London & Middlesex v Chertsey & Dartford [5]	Hampton Court Green	result unknown	[4]
notes
27 September (M)	Chertsey & Dartford v London & Middlesex [5]	Laleham Burway	result unknown
notes	A report in the Daily Advertiser of Fri 17 September says that the teams are: “the County of Middlesex and London against the famous (sic) Parish of Chertsey with 3 of the best men from Dartford in Kent”. This underlines the afore-mentioned quality of the Chertsey team. The report also confirms the dates and venues of the two games as above and says: “Each match to begin at 11, and to be played out”.

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. H T Waghorn, Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730-1773), Blackwood, 1899
4. ACS, Important Matches, p. 23.
5. G B Buckley, Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket, Cotterell, 1935

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.
• Buckley, G. B. (1935). Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Cotterell.
• Haygarth, Arthur (1862). Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826). Lillywhite.
• McCann, Tim (2004). Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century. Sussex Record Society.
• 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.

Further 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.
• Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. Eyre & Spottiswoode.
• Buckley, G. B. (1937). Fresh Light on pre-Victorian Cricket. Cotterell.
• 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.