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Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Kent teams have played top-class cricket since the early 18th century, and the club has always held first-class status. The current Kent County Cricket Club was formed on 6 December 1870 following the merger of two representative teams. Kent have competed in the County Championship since the official start of the competition in 1890 and have played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England. The club's limited overs team is called the Kent Spitfires after the Supermarine Spitfire.
The earliest definite reference to the sport of cricket is dated Monday, 17 January 1597. It is a deposition in the records of a legal case at Guildford, Surrey, regarding usage of a parcel of land. John Derrick, a coroner, testified that he had played cricket on the land when he was a boy in about 1550. Derrick's testimony is confirmation that the sport was being played by the middle of the 16th century, but its true origin is unknown. All that can be said with a fair degree of certainty is that its beginning was earlier than 1550, probably somewhere in south-east England within the counties of Kent, Sussex and Surrey. There have been suggestions that it can be traced to Flemish immigrants then resident in the area. The origin of the word cricket could derive from the Flemish word krick(-e), meaning a stick. Unlike other games with batsmen, bowlers and fielders, such as stoolball and rounders, cricket can only be played on relatively short grass, especially as the ball was delivered along the ground until the 1760s. Forest clearings and land where sheep had grazed would have been suitable places to play.
In the years from 1726 to 1750, cricket became an established sport in London and the south-eastern counties of England. In 1726, it was already a thriving sport in the south east and, though limited by the constraints of travel at the time, it was slowly gaining adherents in other parts of England, its growth accelerating with references being found in many counties. Having been essentially a rural pastime for well over a century, cricket became a focus for wealthy patrons and gamblers whose interests funded its growth throughout the 18th century.
The 1787 cricket season in England is noteworthy for the foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) after the opening of Thomas Lord's first ground in the parish of Marylebone, north of London. MCC soon became the sport's governing body with the new ground as its feature venue. The first match known to have been played at Lord's was on Monday, 21 May, between the White Conduit Club and a Middlesex county team. The first match known to involve a team representing MCC was against White Conduit on Monday, 30 July. Including these two, reports and/or match scorecards have survived of numerous eleven-a-side matches played in 1787. Eleven are retrospectively, but unofficially, recognised as first-class.
Dandelion Paddock was a first-class cricket ground in Dent de Lion west of Margate, Kent. Sir Horatio Mann organised a number of matches there in the 1790s.
The Angel Ground was a sports ground at Tonbridge in the English county of Kent. It was used as a venue for first-class cricket by Kent County Cricket Club between 1869 and 1939 and then for association football by Tonbridge Angels F.C., until 1980. It was subsequently demolished and redeveloped by Tonbridge and Malling District Council in 1980.
White Hart Field was a cricket ground in Bromley in south-east London. The ground, which was in the county of Kent until 1965, was on an area of open space and farm land which stretched from Bromley Palace to Widmore Green. The area was used regularly for cricket in the 18th century and the cricket field was at the back of the White Hart Inn which it was named after, although the only recorded matches on the ground took place in the 1840s.
Swifts Park is a former country estate and manor house 1 mile (1.6 km) north-east of the town of Cranbrook in the English county of Kent. Through its history, the estate has been variously known by the names Swifts, Great Swift, Great Swifts, and Swifts Place and since 1995 as Oak Hill Manor. At its greatest extent it covered an area of around 158 hectares.
Sandgate Plain was a cricket ground in Folkestone in Kent. The ground was situated on the Folkestone Leas, an area along the coast to the west of the town centre close to the village of Sandgate. The ground was one of two located either side of the Upper Folkestone Road, now the A259 Sandgate Road, which were established by 1859. The ground was used by Folkestone Cricket Club between 1859 and 1901.
School Field Ground is a sports ground owned by Cranbrook School located in the town of Cranbrook, Kent. It is known by the school as Big Side Playing Field. The field, which is 4.63 hectares in size, and located south of Quaker Lane, is used by the school for cricket, rugby union and hockey.
Private Banks Sports Ground is a 20 acres (8.1 ha) cricket and multi-use sports ground in Catford Bridge in the London Borough of Lewisham. The ground, which was in the historic county of Kent until 1889, was used as a first-class cricket venue by Kent County Cricket Club between 1875 and 1921. In 2012, the ground was sold to the Educational Foundation of nearby independent school St Dunstan's College and renamed the Jubilee Ground.
New Brompton Cricket Ground was a short-lived cricket ground in New Brompton in Chatham, Kent. The first recorded match on the ground was in 1862 when Kent County Cricket Club played Cambridgeshire in the ground's only first-class cricket match.
Hesketh Park is a cricket ground in Dartford in Kent. The ground is the home of Dartford Cricket Club, one of the oldest cricket clubs in the United Kingdom. The ground was established at the beginning of the 20th century and has been used as a first-class cricket venue by Kent County Cricket Club.
Hawkhurst Moor is a village green and sports field at Hawkhurst in Kent. It was the centre of the original village and lies to the south of the modern town, with the A229 road running across the area. A cricket ground on the Moor was the venue for two first-class cricket matches in the 1820s.
Garrison 1 Cricket Ground is a cricket ground in Chatham, Kent. The ground is owned by the Ministry of Defence and has been used by military teams throughout its history, being linked with the various military establishments at Chatham. It has been known as the Nore Command Cricket Ground and the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Recreation Ground, the Nore Command being associated with the nearby Chatham Dockyard. It remains the main home ground used by the Royal Engineers Cricket Club.
B. M. Close's Ground was a cricket ground at Southborough in the English county of Kent. The ground was established in 1859 by Robert Winnifrith on land owned by George Newnham of Horsemunden Farm and was described in 1862 as "one of the best cricket grounds in Kent". The first recorded match on the ground was in 1859, when a Tunbridge Wells side played a New All-England Eleven.
The Beverley Ground was a cricket ground in Canterbury in Kent. It was in use in the mid-19th century, with recorded matches taking place between 1839 and 1846. It was the home ground of Beverley Cricket Club and was where the first Kent County Cricket Club was formed in August 1842 during Canterbury Cricket Week which was held at the ground until 1846.
The Bat & Ball Ground is a cricket and sports ground in Gravesend in Kent. The ground was used as a first-class cricket venue by Kent County Cricket Club between 1849 and 1971. It remains in use by Gravesend Cricket Club who have used the ground as their home since their formation in 1881. The site also has lawn bowls and tennis facilities and is the home of Gravesend Bowls Club.
East Kent and West Kent were titles sometimes given to two cricket teams from their respective areas of the English county of Kent which generally played in matches prior to the foundation of the official Kent County Cricket Club in the mid 19th century. West Kent teams have been recorded from 1705, but there is no known record of an East Kent team until 1781. There were seven major matches from 1781 to 1790 in which teams of this type faced each other, although there is doubt about the match titles with sources using different team names.
References
- ↑ Bowen R (1970) Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, p.47. Eyre & Spottiswoode.
- ↑ Other matches played on The Heath, Coxheath, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
- ↑ Buckley GB (1935) Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket, p.135. Cotterell.
- 1 2 Milton H (1979) Kent cricket grounds, in The Cricket Statistician, no.28, December 1979, pp.2–10.
- 1 2 Milton H (1979) Kent cricket grounds, in The Cricket Statistician, no.30, June 1980, p.15.
- 1 2 Star Inn, Coxheath, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
- ↑ First-class matches played on Star Inn, Coxheath, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2017-12-17.