John Capon (cricketer)

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John Capon (dates unknown) was an English professional cricketer who played for London Cricket Club and Surrey during the 1740s and 1750s. He was a noted single wicket performer. Nothing is known of him apart from his participation in first-class cricket matches.

Cricket Team sport played with bats and balls

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a 20-metre (22-yard) pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striking the ball bowled at the wicket with the bat, while the bowling and fielding side tries to prevent this and dismiss each player. Means of dismissal include being bowled, when the ball hits the stumps and dislodges the bails, and by the fielding side catching the ball after it is hit by the bat, but before it hits the ground. When ten players have been dismissed, the innings ends and the teams swap roles. The game is adjudicated by two umpires, aided by a third umpire and match referee in international matches. They communicate with two off-field scorers who record the match's statistical information.

The original London Cricket Club was formed by 1722 and was one of the foremost clubs in English cricket over the next four decades, holding important match status. It is closely associated with the Artillery Ground, where it played most of its home matches.

Surrey county cricket teams have been traced back to the 17th century, but Surrey's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that. The first definite mention of cricket anywhere in the world is dated c.1550 in Guildford.

Career

Capon is first mentioned in August 1748 when he played in two single wicket games at the Artillery Ground, in one of which he represented the London club. [1]

Artillery Ground park in the United Kingdom

The Artillery Ground in Finsbury is an open space originally set aside for archery and later known also as a cricket venue. Today it is used for military exercises, rugby and football matches. It belongs to the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC), whose headquarters, Armoury House, overlook the grounds.

His earliest known first-class appearance was for Stephen Dingate's XI versus Long Robin's XI at the Artillery Ground on 26 June 1749. [2]

First-class cricket is an official classification of the highest-standard international or domestic matches in the sport of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adjudged to be worthy of the status by virtue of the standard of the competing teams. Matches must allow for the teams to play two innings each although, in practice, a team might play only one innings or none at all.

Stephen Dingate was a leading English cricketer of the mid-Georgian period. He almost certainly began playing in the 1720s and was one of the best known players in England through the 1740s.

Robert "Long Robin" Colchin was a highly influential professional English cricketer and match organiser of the mid-Georgian period at a time when the single wicket version of the game was popular. He was born at Chailey, East Sussex and died at Deptford.

His earliest known appearance for Surrey was in a first-class match versus Kent at Dartford Brent on 6 July 1750. Kent won by 3 wickets. [2]

There are further references to Capon in 1752 and 1754. His last known appearance was on 26 June 1755 when he played for London in a single wicket match on Kennington Common. [1]

Capon may have continued his career after 1755 but cricket was severely disrupted by the Seven Years' War from 1756. He is not recorded in any matches after the war ended in 1763.

References

  1. 1 2 G B Buckley, Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket, Cotterell, 1935
  2. 1 2 F S Ashley-Cooper, At the Sign of the Wicket: Cricket 1742-1751, Cricket Magazine, 1900

Further reading

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