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In English cricket, the years from 1751 to 1775 are notable for the rise of the Hambledon Club and the continuing spread of the sport across England. The Laws of Cricket underwent a re-codification in 1775, including the introduction of the leg before wicket rule and the addition of the third stump to the wicket.
The mid-century deaths of some of the game's leading patrons reduced investment and the sport seems to have regressed during the period of the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), but it underwent an evolutionary change around 1760 with the introduction of pitched delivery bowling and the consequent invention of the straight bat. Around the same time, the Hambledon Club was founded and cricket thrived under its leadership for the next 25 years. Cricket continued its spread throughout England with several references in 1751 followed by Derbyshire in 1757, [1] [ page needed ] Northumberland in 1766,[ citation needed ] and Wiltshire in 1769.[ citation needed ]
In 1769, the Whitehall Evening Post reported that a "great match at Cricket" was to be played at Calais in northern France. [2] [ page needed ]
The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) caused economic hardship in England. Consequently, it would seem, investment in cricket was considerably reduced.[ citation needed ] The British declaration of war against France was confirmed on 17 May 1756, although military operations had already begun. The war lasted until 10 February 1763 when Britain signed the Treaty of Paris with France and Spain. One outcome of the war was that Great Britain could expand its interests in India at the expense of France. The era of the British Raj began and, in time, ensured the spread of cricket throughout the sub-continent.[ citation needed ]
There was certainly a reduction in the number of matches recorded during the war years. There were five in 1756, all involving Dartford and including three against Hambledon – these are the earliest Hambledon matches on record. In the later years of the war, the number of eleven-a-side matches ranged from none at all in 1760 to eight in 1762. Records of only two matches have survived from the 1763 season which began soon after the war ended; a post-war recovery is discernible from 1764.[ citation needed ]
The origin of the Hambledon Club has not been fully established but it had certainly been founded by 1764 as three matches against Chertsey are listed that season. [3] Based at Broadhalfpenny Down, near the village of Hambledon in rural Hampshire, it was actually a social club with a wide range of activities.[ citation needed ] It is best remembered for its organisation of county cricket matches and it ran the Hampshire county teams of the period. [4] In August 1771, the Hambledon Club played against a team called "All England" [5] but lost by ten wickets. [6] [ page needed ]
The earliest known matches involving a team called Hambledon were three against Dartford in the 1756 season. The source for one of them, played on Broadhalfpenny Down, is a newspaper advert placed by the owner of a missing dog which was lost at the match. [2] [ page needed ] Given the uncertainty about when the Hambledon Club was founded, it is possible that some kind of parish organisation was operating in 1756, perhaps led by a patron.[ citation needed ]
Following the death of the Duke of Richmond in 1750, cricket lost another key supporter when Frederick, Prince of Wales died on March 31, 1751.[ citation needed ]
There were two matches between Kent and an England XI on the Artillery Ground in May 1751. England won the first by nine runs and the second by an innings and nine runs. [7] [8] These seem to have been the last known big matches for many years as there is much less coverage of cricket in the sources after 1751.[ citation needed ]
The earliest references to cricket in the counties of Durham, Somerset, Warwickshire and Yorkshire all occurred in 1751. [9] [10] [11] There were two matches in Yorkshire: a local game in Sheffield and one patronised by two aristocrats near Richmond. [9]
The earliest known mentions of Hambledon and Broadhalfpenny Down are in August 1753 when Hambledon played a Surrey team and won by 113 runs. [12]
That cricket can be a dangerous game was evident in August 1755 when a player on Kennington Common lost his right eye after being hit by the ball. [13] [ page needed ]
Fewer matches were played during the Seven Years' War (1756–1763). Dartford played three matches against an England XI in the 1759 season and the names of several participants are known. Dartford won two of the matches; England won one. [3] [2] [ page needed ]
There was a report of a game being played in the Chapeltown area of Leeds on Thursday, 9 July 1761. This is the earliest mention of cricket in Leeds, following records of the game in Sheffield a decade earlier.[ citation needed ] Surviving records indicate that the Chertsey club in Surrey was active through the war years. [2] [ page needed ] Details of two Middlesex v Surrey games have survived from the 1763 season, which began shortly after the war ended.[ citation needed ]
The 1764 season marked the beginning of the "Hambledon Era" in earnest and it is believed to be about this time that the Hambledon Club was founded. A number of notable players are mentioned in sources for the first time, including three of the greatest 18th century players: Richard Nyren, John Small and Lumpy Stevens. Seven eleven-a-side matches between significant teams are known to have taken place. Chertsey and Hambledon, by then the leading teams in cricket, played each other three times as did teams called Norfolk and Suffolk. [3] [14]
Five eleven-a-side matches were recorded in 1765 including two in Yorkshire between the Leeds and Sheffield clubs. [3] [15] There were only three matches in 1766 but including Sussex v Hampshire, which is the earliest reference to Hampshire as an individual county team. [3] [16] Seven matches were recorded in 1767 including one between Hampshire and Sussex. [3] [17]
'The Blecheley Diary of the Rev. William Cole 1765-67' (edited by F.G Stokes) includes a reference to a cricket match in the diary's entry for Thursday 30th October 1766. The relevant sentence reads "Tom engaged himself to go with Mrs Willis's servants & others to Dinner at a Cricket Match at Fenny-Stratford, but I would not let him go 'till after Dinner." While it is true that 30th October is an unusually late time of year to be playing cricket, this is still significant in showing how popular the game was outside its early strongholds of the south-east counties and London. Both Bletchley (modern-day spelling) and Fenny Stratford are only around a mile apart, which would have made a journey by foot very easy.
In 1768, the earliest references to patrons John Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset, and Sir Horatio Mann have been found in a cricketing context.[ citation needed ] In a game between Hampshire and Kent on Broadhalfpenny Down, Hampshire batsman John Small reportedly scored "above seven score notches" (i.e., over 140 runs), but it is not known if it was his match total or his score in Hampshire's second innings. Hampshire totalled 131 and 194 to win the match by 144 runs.[ citation needed ] A week later, Small scored more than 80 in a match against Sussex.[ citation needed ] Reports have survived of eight eleven-a-side matches in the season. [3] [18]
1769 was the last season in which the original London Cricket Club and the Artillery Ground feature prominently in the records. There were three matches between Kent and London that season, the first in Blackheath and the last two on the Artillery Ground. Kent won the first and third, London the second. [3] [19]
A partial score has survived of a game between the Duke of Dorset's XI and Wrotham, played at Sevenoaks Vine in August 1769. John Minshull (aka Minchin) scored 107 for Dorset's XI in the second innings and this is the earliest century in any class of cricket that has definitely been recorded. [20] There were eleven recorded matches in 1769. [21] [22] Surrey played Berkshire, winning by six runs on Datchet Common. This is the first time Berkshire is recorded as a county team and it became a strong centre of the game in the late 18th century, producing numerous players good enough to take part in major matches.[ citation needed ] On 28 September, Hambledon defeated Surrey by an innings and 41 runs after their opening batsmen, Tom Sueter and George Leer shared a century partnership of 128 for the first wicket; this was apparently a rare occurrence at the time. [13] [ page needed ]
On Thursday, 29 June 1770, the Middlesex Journal reported the death of a Mr Johnson, who was a goldsmith at London Wall. His death was "occasioned by a blow which he received from a cricket ball on Thursday, 21 June near Islington". [23] Little is known of the 1770 season but there was a county match at the Artillery Ground in August when a combined London and Middlesex team played against Surrey. [5] In October, Hambledon played Caterham on Broadhalfpenny Down and won by 57 runs. [5] [24]
On 26–27 August 1771, there was a match on the Forest Racecourse, Nottingham, between the Nottingham and Sheffield clubs. [5] Rowland Bowen, writing in the 1965 edition of Wisden, mentions the rise of cricket in the industrial cities of Leicester, Nottingham and Sheffield. Apart from London, cricket in this period was elsewhere a rural game. Bowen's view is that the trades (hose, lace and cutlery) practised in these cities provided the opportunity for contract piece work so that each man worked in his own home in his own time, outside the restrictions of the later factory system. He argues that this enabled them to play cricket during the day in summer and work at night. [25]
The first documented match scorecards originate from 1744, but few have been discovered prior to 1772. The scorecards for three 1772 matches have survived, and as scorecards grew more popular in the years thereafter, these three have served as the foundation for cricket's statistical record. The first match in the ESPN cricinfo database was played on 24 June 1772 between Hampshire and an England XI at Broadhalfpenny Down, near Hambledon; Hampshire won by 53 runs. [26]
The other two games with surviving scorecards were England v Hampshire at Guildford [27] and England v Hampshire at Bishopsbourne in Kent. [28] Hampshire won the Guildford match by 62 runs [27] and England won by two wickets at Bishopsbourne. [28]
These early scorecards gave scores only with no details of dismissals or bowling. The leading runscorers in the three matches were John Small of Hampshire, who totalled 213 in six innings with a highest score of 78 in the first match, and William Yalden of England, who scored 136 in six innings with a highest of 68 at Guildford. [29]
In cricket, a century is a score of 100 or more runs in a single innings by a batter. The term is also included in "century partnership" which occurs when two batsmen add 100 runs to the team total when they are batting together. A century is regarded as a landmark score for batters and a player's number of centuries is generally recorded in their career statistics. Scoring a century is loosely equivalent in merit to a bowler taking a five-wicket haul, and is commonly referred to as a ton or hundred. Scores of more than 200 runs are still statistically counted as a century, although these scores are referred to as double, triple, and quadruple centuries, and so on. Reaching 50 runs in an innings is known as a half-century.
John Small was an English professional cricketer who played during the 18th century and had one of the longest careers on record. Born at Empshott, Hampshire, he is generally regarded as the greatest batsman of the 18th century and acknowledged as having been the first to master the use of the modern straight bat which was introduced in the 1760s. He probably scored the earliest known century in important cricket. The strength of the Hambledon/Hampshire team during Small's prime years can be seen in the team being rated the (unofficial) Champion County in 10 seasons: 1766–1771, 1776–1777, 1779 and 1783. He died at Petersfield, where he was in residence for most of his life and where he established businesses.
Broadhalfpenny Down is a historic cricket ground in Hambledon, Hampshire. It is known as the "Cradle of Cricket" because it was the home venue in the 18th century of the Hambledon Club, but cricket predated the club and ground by at least two centuries. The club is in the parish of Hambledon close to the neighbouring parish of Clanfield. The club took the name of the neighbouring rural village of Hambledon, about 2.7 miles away by road.
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.
William "Silver Billy" Beldham was an English professional cricketer who played for numerous teams between 1782 and 1821. He was born at Wrecclesham, near Farnham in Surrey, and died at Tilford, Surrey. In some sources, his name has been given as "Beldam" or "Beldum". A right-handed batting all-rounder, he is widely recognised as one of the greatest batsmen of cricket's underarm era. Using an underarm action, he bowled pitched deliveries at a fast medium pace. He generally fielded in close catching positions, mostly at slip and sometimes played as wicket-keeper.
Richard Nyren was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket during the heyday of the Hambledon Club. A genuine all-rounder and the earliest known left-hander of note, Nyren was the captain of Hampshire when its team included players like John Small, Thomas Brett and Tom Sueter. Although the records of many matches in which he almost certainly played have been lost, he made 51 known appearances between 1764 and 1784. He was known as the team's "general" on the field and, for a time, acted as the club secretary as well as taking care of matchday catering for many years.
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.
In the 1772 English cricket season, it became normal practice to complete match scorecards and there are surviving examples from every subsequent season. Scorecards from 1772 have been found for three eleven-a-side matches in which the Hampshire county team played against an England team, and for one top-class single wicket match between Kent and Hampshire. The three Hampshire v England matches have been unofficially recognised by certain sources as first-class, although no such standard existed at the time. Prior to 1772, only four scorecards have survived, the last from a minor match in 1769.
Joseph Miller was a noted English cricketer who is generally considered to have been one of the greatest batsmen of the 18th century. He is mostly associated with Kent but also made appearances for All-England and Surrey. First recorded in the 1769 season, Miller made 65 known appearances from then to 1783. He was unquestionably an outstanding batsman and perhaps second only to John Small in the 18th century.
Chertsey Cricket Club in Surrey is one of the oldest cricket clubs in England, the foundation of the club dating to the 1730s. The club is based in Chertsey and plays in the Surrey Championship.
William Palmer was an English cricketer who played during the 1760s and 1770s. He was born and died in Coulsdon, Surrey. As a top-order batsman, he was a member of the local Coulsdon Cricket Club and also played county cricket for Surrey. Most of Palmer's career was before cricket's statistical record began in the 1772 season so relatively little is known of him. However, he regularly played in noteworthy matches until 1776. He has been recorded in 24 eleven-a-side matches and in one top-class single wicket match. He was last recorded playing for Coulsdon against Chertsey in 1784 when he was 47 years old.
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 world's earliest known organised match was held in Kent c.1611 and the county has always been 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 1745 English cricket season was the second season following the earliest known codification of the Laws of Cricket.
In the 1773 English cricket season, there was a downturn in the fortunes of the Hambledon Club as their Hampshire team lost every match they are known to have played, and some of their defeats were heavy. Their poor results owed much to star bowler Thomas Brett having been injured. Three other county teams were active: Kent, Middlesex and Surrey. Teams called England took part in five matches, all against Hampshire, and won all five.
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.
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.
Addington Cricket Club fielded one of the strongest cricket teams in England from about the 1743 season to the 1752 season although the village of Addington is a very small place in Surrey about three miles south-east of Croydon. The team was of county strength and featured the noted players Tom Faulkner, Joe Harris, John Harris, George Jackson and Durling. The team immediately accepted the Slindon Challenge, in 1744, to play against any parish in England. The only other club to accept was Robert Colchin's Bromley.
Richmond Green cricket ground, on The Green at Richmond, London, has been a venue for cricket matches since the 17th century. The earliest reference dates from May 1666 and some top-class matches were played there in the first half of the 18th century. A match in 1731, which culminated in a riot, is the earliest in cricket history of which team scores are known. The result of a match in July 1741 is the sport's earliest known tie.
Events in world sport through the years 1751 to 1755.
Events in world sport through the years 1766 to 1770.
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