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The Laws of Cricket is a code that specifies the rules of the game of cricket worldwide. The earliest known code was drafted in 1744. Since 1788, the code has been owned and maintained by the private Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in Lord's Cricket Ground, London. There are currently 42 Laws, which describe all aspects of how the game is to be played. MCC has re-coded the Laws six times, each with interim revisions that produce more than one edition. The most recent code, the seventh, was released in October 2017; its 3rd edition came into force on 1 October 2022.
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club in 2005 are playing their cricket in Division One of both the County Championship and totesport League. They started the Championship at 18–1 to win it, and as one of the teams most likely to be relegated from it. So they were—only their five draws prevented them from finishing bottom, and they were the only team to lose to bottom-placed Glamorgan. By the end of August, they were relegated, with three games to spare. In the National League, they were never better than sixth at any time during the season, and lost three games in succession to be ninth before the final round of matches. They won their last match, but were still relegated due to a worse net run rate than Lancashire. They were thus the first club to suffer double relegation since Leicestershire in 2003. Their Twenty20 and C&G Trophy campaigns ended almost as early as they could have done—Gloucestershire did get past the first round of the C&G Trophy, beating Berkshire, but were knocked out by Surrey.
Kent County Cricket Club in 2005 played their cricket in Division One of the County Championship and Division Two of the totesport League. They started the Championship at 11–2 to win it, behind Surrey and Warwickshire. Their first first-class game, however, was against the students of Cardiff UCCE. They fell to 104 for 6 before rain prevented any further play. They had little luck in their first Sunday League game, against Derbyshire, which was also abandoned through rain.
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.
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.
Richard Nyren (1734–1797) 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.
Arthur Fielder was an English professional cricketer who played as a fast bowler for Kent County Cricket Club and the England cricket team from 1900 to 1914. He played a major role in Kent's four County Championship wins in the years before World War I and toured Australia twice with the England team making six Test match appearances. He was chosen as one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year in 1907.
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.
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 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.
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.
1947 was the 48th season of County Championship cricket in England. It is chiefly remembered for the batting performances of Denis Compton and Bill Edrich who established seasonal records that, with the subsequent reduction in the number of first-class matches, will probably never be broken. Their form was key to their team Middlesex winning the County Championship for the first time since 1921, although they were involved in a tight contest for the title with the eventual runners-up Gloucestershire, for whom Tom Goddard was the most outstanding bowler of the season. Compton and Edrich were assisted by the fact that it was the driest and sunniest English summer for a generation, ensuring plenty of good batting wickets.
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.
The Australian cricket team toured England during the 1902 English cricket season. The five-Test series between the two countries has been fondly remembered; in 1967 the cricket writer A. A. Thomson described the series as "a rubber more exciting than any in history except the Australia v West Indies series in 1960–61". Australia had won the previous three Test rubbers between the two countries, and now won their fourth successive series, by two matches to one with two draws. In the process they "beat the records of all their predecessors in the country" by losing only two of 39 matches during the tour, their defeats being against England in the Fifth Test and in the first of their two fixtures against Yorkshire. The remaining 37 matches gave 23 wins for Australia and 14 draws.
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.
Bernard James Tindal Bosanquet was an English cricketer best known for inventing the googly, a delivery designed to deceive the batsman. When bowled, it appears to be a leg break, but after pitching the ball turns in the opposite direction to that which is expected, behaving as an off break instead. Bosanquet, who played first-class cricket for Middlesex between 1898 and 1919, appeared in seven Test matches for England as an all-rounder. He was chosen as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1905.
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.
References
- 1 2 F S Ashley-Cooper, At the Sign of the Wicket: Cricket 1742-1751, Cricket Magazine, 1900
- ↑ Arthur Haygarth, Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744-1826), Lillywhite, 1862
- ↑ H T Waghorn, Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730-1773), Blackwood, 1899