Cricket in Sussex refers to the sport of cricket in relation to its participation and history within Sussex, England. One of the most popular sports in Sussex, it is commonly believed that cricket was developed in Sussex and the neighbouring counties of Kent and Surrey. Records from 1611 indicate the first time that the sport was documented in Sussex; this is also the first reference to cricket being played by adults.[1] The first reference to women's cricket is also from Sussex and dates from 1677; a match between two Sussex women's teams playing in London is documented from 1747. Formed in 1839, Sussex County Cricket Club is believed to be the oldest professional sports club in the world[2] and is the oldest of the county cricket clubs. Sussex players, including Jem Broadbridge and William Lillywhite were instrumental in bringing about the change from underarm bowling to roundarm bowling, which later developed into overarm bowling. For some time roundarm bowling was referred to as 'Sussex bowling'.[3]
Sussex's 'golden era' was in the 2000s when the club won 8 competitions including the County Championship three times, winning the County Championship for the first time in 2003. Formed in 1971, the Sussex Cricket League is believed to be the largest adult cricket league in the world, with 335 teams in 2018.[4]
A mural at Cocking church (c1350) showing shepherds playing a bat and ball game is sometimes held to show that cricket existed earlier than the 16th and 17th centuries, but no stumps are shown in the mural and although the mural may show a sport it is not recognisably cricket.[5]
The map of pre-1675 references to cricket shows a crescent with its most westerly point at Selsey, rising to Surrey and Kent in the north and on to Ruckinge in Kent, close to the Sussex border in east.[6] Wynne-Thomas suggests that cricket is likely to have begun approximately where the three counties meet, around East Grinstead, and spread out from there.[6]
The first reference to cricket being played as an adult sport was in 1611, when two men in Sidlesham were prosecuted for playing cricket on Sunday instead of going to church.[7] In 1622, several parishioners of Boxgrove, near Chichester in west Sussex, were prosecuted for playing cricket in a churchyard on Sunday, 5 May. There were three reasons for the prosecution: one was that it contravened a local bye-law; another reflected concern about church windows which may or may not have been broken; the third was that a little childe had like to have her braines beaten out with a cricket batt![7] The latter reason was because the rules at the time allowed the batsman to hit the ball twice and so fielding near the batsman was very hazardous, as two later incidents drastically confirm.
In 1624, a fatality occurred at Horsted Keynes when a fielder called Jasper Vinall was struck on the head by the batsman, Edward Tye, who was trying to hit the ball a second time to avoid being caught. Vinall is thus the earliest recorded cricketing fatality. The matter was recorded in a coroner's court, which returned a verdict of misadventure.[8] The tragedy was repeated in 1647 when another fatality was recorded at Selsey a player called Henry Brand being hit on the head by a batsman trying to hit the ball a second time.[9] When the first Laws of cricket were encoded in 1744, it was illegal to hit the ball twice and a batsman breaking the rule was to be given out.[10] The record of the 1624 case confirms that two villages, Horsted Keynes and West Hoathly, were involved in the match and provides further evidence of the growth of village cricket.[8]
In 1628, an ecclesiastical case related to a game at East Lavant, near Chichester being played on a Sunday. One of the defendants argued that he had not played during evening prayer time but only before and after. It did him no good as he was fined the statutory 12d and ordered to do penance. Doing penance involved confessing his guilt to the whole East Lavant congregation the following Sunday.[11] In 1637, another ecclesiastical case recorded parishioners of Midhurst playing cricket during evening prayer on Sunday, 26 February.[12]
The record of the 1622 case at Boxgrove contains the earliest reference to the cricket bat. The term "batt" in cricket was peculiar to Sussex and Kent, where coastal smugglers were known in Sussex dialect and Kentish dialect as "batmen" because of the cudgels they carried. The earliest known reference to the wicket is contained in lines written in an old bible in 1680 which invited "All you that do delight in Cricket, come to Marden, pitch your wickets".[13]Marden is north of Chichester.
Important cricket matches 1677 onwards
In 1677, accounts of Thomas Lennard, 1st Earl of Sussex, include an item which refers to £3 being paid to him when he went to a cricket match being played at "ye Dicker", which was a common near Herstmonceux.[14] In 1694, accounts of Sir John Pelham record 2s 6d paid for a wager concerning a cricket match at Lewes.[15] Cricket was played by women as early as 1677 when it was recorded that Anne Lennard, Countess of Sussex, the wife of the Earl of Sussex was growing tired of the amusement, as played in Dicker near Herstmonceux.[16]
The earliest known newspaper report of a major cricket match was in the Foreign Post dated Wednesday, 7 July 1697:
"The middle of last week a great match at cricket was played in Sussex; there were eleven of a side, and they played for fifty guineas apiece".[15]
The stakes on offer confirm the importance of the fixture and the fact that it was eleven a side suggests that two strong and well-balanced teams were assembled.[15]
There is a newspaper report of a "great match" played in Sussex in 1697 which was 11-a-side and played for high stakes of 50 guineas a side.[7] The match in 1697 was probably Sussex versus another county.
18th century
The most notable of the early patrons were a group of aristocrats and businessmen who were active from about 1725, which is the time that press coverage became more regular, perhaps as a result of the patrons' influence. These men included the 2nd Duke of Richmond and Sir William Gage. Slindon was backed by the Duke of Richmond and featured the star player Richard Newland. Village cricket continued to thrive in the 18th century. In 1717, Thomas Marchant, a farmer from Hurstpierpoint in Sussex, first mentioned cricket in his diary. He made numerous references to the game, particularly concerning his local club, until 1727. His son Will played for "our parish", as he often called the Hurstpierpoint team.[17]
The diaries of Marchant and Thomas Turner, another Sussex diarist, from East Hoathly, show that in the 18th century cricket was commonplace in the Sussex Weald. In 1702, the Duke of Richmond's XI defeated an Arundel XI in Sussex. The source for this game is a receipt sent by one Saul Bradley to the Duke on 14 December 1702. The receipt was in respect of one shilling and six pence paid by the Duke "for brandy when your Grace plaid at Cricket with Arundel men". It is thought the brandy was bought to celebrate a victory.[18]
Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond.
After the 1st Duke of Richmond died in 1723, his son Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, quickly succeeded him as cricket's main benefactor and became a famous patron of Sussex cricket for the next thirty years. The 2nd Duke enjoyed a friendly rivalry with his friend Sir William Gage, another Sussex patron. Their teams played each other many times and their earliest known contest was on Tuesday, 20 July 1725, five days after Sir William's team was beaten by unknown opponents. Our knowledge of these two games is based on a humorous letter sent by Sir William to the Duke on 16 July. Sir William bemoaned that he was "shamefully beaten" the previous day in "his first match of the year" but says nothing of his opponents. He then looked forward to playing the Duke's team next Tuesday and wished his Grace "success in everything except his cricket match".[19] The main rival to Richmond and Gage was Edwin Stead of Maidstone, who was the first of the noted Kent patrons. The Sussex teams of Richmond and Gage enjoyed an inter-county rivalry with Stead's Kent that could have originated the concept of the County Championship.[20] Other good players known to have been active in the 1720s were Edwin Stead of Kent; Edmund Chapman and Stephen Dingate of Surrey; Tim Coleman of London; and Thomas Waymark of Sussex.
In 1727 the first formal rules of cricket, the articles of agreement, were drawn up between the 2nd Duke of Richmond and Mr Alan Brodrick for two matches between a team from Sussex and another from Surrey. Gage's Sussex team in the 1729 season achieved the sport's earliest known innings victory against Kent. Given that Kent had effectively claimed the title of champion county in 1728, the first known instance of such a claim, Sussex could justifiably claim to have won the title in 1729. Sarah Lennox, Duchess of Richmond and Lennox sponsored three cricket matches for her husband Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond in 1731 and arranged matches for Slindon in 1741.[21]
Early women's matches were not necessarily genteel affairs.[22] A match, on 13 July 1747, held at the prestigious Artillery Ground in Middlesex (now London) between a team from the villages of Singleton and Charlton (described as the women from the 'Hills of Sussex') and another from West Dean and Chilgrove (described as the women from the 'Dales of Sussex') spilled over into the following day after it was interrupted by crowd trouble.[23][24] The women playing would have shown particular talent to have played at such as prestigious ground and would have been attended by the Duchess of Richmond.[24] The fixture attracted large sums of gambling money, with sums of over £1,000 at stake for the winners.[24] Contemporary records show that women's matches were played on many occasions between villages in Sussex, Hampshire and Surrey. In 1768 the women of Harting played the women of Rogate three times[25] in a series that attracted crowds of up to 3,000, a number unheard of at the time.[24] In the 1780s and 1790s the Bury Common women's team were so successful when playing in some of the first six-a-side matches that they challenged any eleven in the country to a match,[24] including the men's All England XI to a match, with no response from the men's team.[26]
From 1741, Richmond patronised the famous Slindon Cricket Club, whose team was representative of the county and at one stage was proclaimed to be the best team in England. Slindon's best player was the great Richard Newland, supported by his brothers Adam and John; and by the controversial Edward Aburrow, a good cricketer but a known smuggler. After the death of Richmond in 1751, Sussex cricket declined until the emergence of the Brighton club at its Prince of Wales Ground in 1790. Despite some periods of decline, Sussex continued to be a major cricket county throughout the 18th century. It has been suggested by historians that the Hambledon Club represented Sussex as well as Hampshire for inter-county purposes. Several noted Sussex cricketers, including Richard Nyren, Noah Mann and William Barber, played for Hambledon.
Development of roundarm bowling
Nicknamed 'the Nonpareil' ('the Unrivalled'), William Lillywhite was one of the Sussex bowlers that helped bring about roundarm bowling
In 1826, Sussex had the best team in England and were acclaimed as the "Champion County" in some quarters. Their success owed much to the prowess of two top-class bowlers William Lillywhite and Jem Broadbridge, both of whom were champions of the roundarm style, when they could get away with it. Lillywhite was one of the all-time great bowlers and was nicknamed "the Nonpareil", while roundarm bowling became known as 'Sussex bowling'.[3] Complaints were made and in 1827 the MCC arranged to test the validity of roundarm bowling by holding three All-England v Sussex roundarm trial matches. Their purpose was to help the MCC, as the game's lawgivers, to decide if roundarm bowling should be legalised or if the only legitimate style of bowling should be underarm, which had been in use since time immemorial. Sussex won the first two matches but the trial was seen as inconclusive. Although it was many years before roundarm was formally legalised, roundarm was in practice adopted in 1827 as its practitioners, especially Broadbridge and Lillywhite, continued to use it with little, if any, opposition from the umpires.
Formation of Sussex County Cricket Club
On 17 June 1836, the Sussex Cricket Fund was set up to support county matches, after a meeting in Brighton. This led directly to the formation on 1 March 1839 of Sussex County Cricket Club, England's oldest county club.
Also in 1876, Sussex MP third Earl of Sheffield laid out a cricket pitch at Sheffield Park near Haywards Heath. It was used on 12 May 1884 for the first cricket match in England between England and Australia.[27] In 1891, he presented a donation of £150 to the New South Wales Cricket Association which was used to purchase a plate and establish the competition known as the Sheffield Shield, the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia.
The White Heather Club, the first female cricket club in England was formed in 1887 at Nun Appleton Priory in Yorkshire by eight ladies who thought it "advisable to start a club consequence of the large amount of cricket at Normanhurst, Glynde and Eridge".[28] Although the club was formed in Yorkshire, the eight noblewomen who founded the club were based in Sussex at the country houses of Normanhurst, Glynde and Eridge, which were the seats of the Brassey and Nevill families.[29]
In the late 20th century and early 21st century the County Ground in Hove was used for other cricket matches in addition to matches involving Sussex teams. A One Day International match of the 1999 Cricket World Cup between India and South Africa was staged at Hove. Also, various matches involving England women's cricket team as well as the finals of the 2017 and 2018Women's Cricket Super League tournaments were held at Hove. The 2019 tournament is also due to be played at Hove.
It has been suggested that the first county match was the match in 1697 recorded as a "great match" worth 50 guineas was between Sussex and another county. Teams represented Sussex unofficially but it was not until 1836 a meeting took place in Brighton to set up a Sussex Cricket Fund and on 1 March 1839 Sussex County Cricket Club was formally constituted, the first county cricket club in cricket history. Following the formation of the County Championship in 1890, Sussex were runners-up on seven occasions[31] before winning the County Championship in 2003, 2006 and 2007.
Limited overs
Sussex won the inaugural one-day Gillette Cup in 1963, a feat they repeated the following year and again in 1978. The competition was then known as the NatWest trophy, which they won in 1986 and then the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy, which they won in 2006.
Sussex also won the 1982Sunday League, then winning the 2008 and 2009 editions of the 40-over competition.
In the women's game, Sussex have won the Women's County Championship six times, in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2010 and 2013. With Kent, they have been referred to as being in the 'big two' of the women's game.
Sixteen different grounds in Sussex have been used for first class county cricket. Sussex's first main ground was Royal New Ground in Brighton to 1847. From 1848 to 1871, Sussex CCC used the Royal Brunswick Ground in Hove, also known as C H Gausden's Ground,[32] and since 1872, the club has been based at the County Cricket Ground, Hove, its present home.
Since Cricketfield Road in Horsham was not awarded any matches for the 2016 season due to financial difficulties.[33] The County Ground and Arundel Castle are the only two grounds two grounds scheduled to host Sussex matches in the 2016 season.[33]
Founded in 1971, the Sussex Cricket League is the top level of competition for recreational club cricket in Sussex. Since 1999 the Premier Division of the Sussex Premier League has been a designated ECBPremier League.[36] After Sussex clubs voted unanimously to allow Guernsey Sarnians to join the competition, Guernsey joined the Sussex Cricket League from 2016.[37] With nine titles, Preston Nomads are the league's most successful club.
Since November 2018 the Sussex Cricket League is the largest adult cricket league in the world, with 335 participating teams in 34 divisions. In 2018 the Sussex Cricket League saw the integration of the East Sussex Cricket League, Mid Sussex Cricket League, West Sussex Invitation Cricket League and the Sussex Premier Cricket League.[4]
Sussex has some of the oldest cricket clubs in the world. Dating from 1704, Arundel is the oldest cricket club in Sussex. Other cricket clubs formed in the 18th century include Steyning (1721), East Grinstead (1731, reformed 1857), Slindon (1740-1754), Battle (1738),[38] Rye (1754), Maresfield (1756), Firle (1758),[39] Rottingdean (1758),[40] Chalvington & Ripe (1762),[41] Broadwater (1771),[42] Henfield (1771),[43]Petworth (1784), Brighton (1790-1839), Southwick (1790) and Wadhurst & Lamberhurst (1790).
In 1987 and 2005 England played Australia in women's Test matches at Hove. This was followed in 2013 England played Australia twice in One Day Internationals at Hove, and played Australia at Hove in a T20 match in 2015. They are due to play Australia in a T20 match again at Hove in 2019.
Notable cricketers from Sussex
The following people from Sussex have played Test cricket for England:
Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Sussex. Its limited overs team is called the Sussex Sharks. The club was founded in 1839 as a successor to the various Sussex county cricket teams, including the old Brighton Cricket Club, which had been representative of the county of Sussex as a whole since the 1720s. The club has always held first-class status. Sussex 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.
Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, 2nd Duke of Lennox, 2nd Duke of Aubigny, of Goodwood House near Chichester in Sussex, was a British nobleman and politician. He was the son of Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond, 1st Duke of Lennox, the youngest of the seven illegitimate sons of King Charles II. He was the most important of the early patrons of the game of cricket and did much to help its evolution from village cricket to first-class cricket.
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 elsewhere with references being found in other southern 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 1744 cricket season in England is remembered for the earliest known codification of the Laws of Cricket. This was drafted by members of several cricket clubs, though the code was not published until 1755. Much of its terminology such as no ball, over, toss, umpire and wicket remain in current use. The season is also notable for the two earliest known surviving match scorecards. The second of those matches, played on Monday, 18 June, was a celebrated event in which a Kent county team challenged an England team at the Artillery Ground, Kent winning by one wicket.
Richard Newland was an English cricketer of the mid-Georgian period who played for Slindon and Sussex under the patronage of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond. He also represented various England teams and, in some matches, led his own select team. The eldest of three cricketing brothers, he is generally recognised as one of cricket's greatest early players and has been called a pioneer of the sport.
The 1741 English cricket season was the 45th cricket season since the earliest recorded eleven-a-side match was played. Details have survived of nine significant matches, including the first known appearance of Slindon Cricket Club. The earliest known tie in an eleven-a-side match occurred.
In English cricket, the years 1826–1845 were dominated by the roundarm bowling issue, which was resolved when the style was legalised in 1835, and by the formation of the first modern county clubs between 1839 and 1845.
William Sawyer was an English cricketer who played during the 1730s and 1740s. He was mainly associated with Richmond and Surrey. Although information about his career is limited by a lack of surviving data, he is known to have made two single wicket and four other appearances between 1736 and 1747. He spent his whole life in Richmond and was an innkeeper there.
Sussex county cricket teams have been traced back to the early 18th century but the county's involvement in cricket dates from much earlier times as it is widely believed, jointly with Kent and Surrey, to be the sport's birthplace. The most widely accepted theory about the origin of cricket is that it first developed in early medieval times, as a children's game, in the geographical areas of the North Downs, the South Downs and the Weald.
A variety of Kent county cricket teams played matches from the early 18th century until the formation of the original county club in 1842. The county's links to cricket go back further with Kent and Sussex generally accepted as the birthplace of the sport. It is widely believed that cricket was first played by children living on the Weald in Saxon or Norman times. The earliest known organised match was held in Kent in around 1611 and the county was always at the forefront of cricket's development through the growth of village cricket in the 17th century to representative matches in the 18th. A Kent team took part in the earliest known inter-county match, which was played on Dartford Brent in 1709.
The 1747 English cricket season was the fourth season following the earliest known codification of the Laws of Cricket.
Edward Aburrow Sr., also known as Cuddy, was an English cricketer of the mid-Georgian period who played for Slindon and Sussex under the patronage of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond. He also represented various England teams. A resident of Slindon, Sussex, he was a contemporary of the three Newland brothers – Richard, John and Adam – who were his colleagues in the Slindon team. Outside of cricket, Aburrow Sr was a tailor in Slindon but he became involved in smuggling. He was jailed in 1745, though he turned King's evidence to gain parole. He relocated to Hambledon, Hampshire and his son Edward Aburrow Jr, also known as "Curry", became a regular Hambledon player.
Frederick William Lillywhite was an English first-class cricketer during the game's roundarm era. One of the main protagonists in the legalisation of roundarm, he was one of the most successful bowlers of his era. His status is borne out by his nickname: The Nonpareil.
John Willes was an English cricketer who played for Kent county cricket teams as a fast bowler. Despite only playing five first-class cricket matches, he had a significant impact on the game's history and development for his "pivotal" role in the development of roundarm bowling.
Thomas Box was a famous English cricketer who is remembered as one of the most outstanding wicketkeepers of the 19th century.
Slindon Cricket Club was famous in the middle part of the 18th century when it claimed to have the best team in England. It was located at Slindon, a village in the Arun district of Sussex.
Sport in Sussex forms an important part of the culture of Sussex. With a centuries-long tradition of sport, Sussex has played a key role in the early development of both cricket and stoolball. Cricket is recognised as having been formed in the Weald and Sussex CCC is England's oldest county cricket club. Slindon Cricket Club dominated the sport for a while in the 18th century. The cricket ground at Arundel Castle traditionally plays host to a Duchess of Norfolk's XI which plays the national test sides touring England. The sport of stoolball is also associated with Sussex, which has a claim to be where the sport originated and certainly where its revival took place in the early 20th century. Sussex is represented in the Premier League by Brighton & Hove Albion and in the Football League by Crawley Town. Brighton has been in the Premier League since 2017 and has been a League member since 1920, whereas Crawley was promoted to the League in 2011. Brighton & Hove Albion W.F.C. play in the FA Women's Super League from 2017. Sussex has had its own football association, since 1882 and its own football league, which has since expanded into Surrey, since 1920. In horse racing, Sussex is home to Goodwood, Fontwell Park, Brighton and Plumpton. The All England Jumping Course show jumping facility at Hickstead is situated 8 miles (13 km) north of Brighton and Hove.
Representing Lingfield in Surrey, Lingfield Cricket Club was prominent in the 18th century, known to have taken part in important matches between 1739 and 1785. They were especially noted in the mid-1740s. According to surviving records, the club is believed to have used Lingfield Common as its home venue in the 18th century. The club has survived and its team currently plays in the Surrey County League; its home venue is Godstone Road, Lingfield.
Through the Napoleonic Wars, county cricket virtually died as cricket was impacted by losses of investment and manpower.
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