1762 English cricket season

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1762 English cricket season
1761
1763

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

Contents

Matches

Guildford v Chertsey
21 June on Merrow Down. [5]
Chertsey won by 2 runs. [6]
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". [6]
Surrey v Kent
19 July in Carshalton. [5]
Match drawn. [6]
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 The confusion was so great that the bets were withdrawn". [6]
London v Kent
30 August on the Artillery Ground. [5]
London won by 8 wickets. [6]
The report says: "Played eleven-a-side for a considerable sum". [6]
Chertsey v Middlesex
30 August on Laleham Burway. [5]
Middlesex won by 6 wickets. [6]
When announcing the return match, the Daily Advertiser on Saturday, 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". [6] [note 2]
Middlesex v Chertsey
7 September on Moulsey Hurst. [5]
Middlesex won. [7]
The Daily Advertiser describes the teams, probably quite accurately, as "the County of Middlesex" and "the parish of Chertsey". [7]
Rest of Surrey v Chertsey
13 September on Ripley Green.
Result unknown. [7]
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". [7]
London & Middlesex v Chertsey & Dartford
21 September on Hampton Court Green [5]
Result unknown. [7]
Chertsey & Dartford v London & Middlesex
27 September on Laleham Burway
Result unknown. [7]
A report in the Daily Advertiser of Friday, 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". [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.
  2. 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 and who are still not out, so when there are "five to go in" it means that four wickets have fallen, as the fifth wicket partnership is intact.

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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 ACS 1981, p. 23.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Waghorn 1899, pp. 55–56.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Buckley 1935, pp. 40–41.

Bibliography

Further reading