1756 English cricket season - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The 1756 English cricket season marks the beginning of cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

’s “Hambledon Era”. The Hambledon

Hambledon Club

The Hambledon Club was a social club that is famous for its organisation of 18th century cricket matches. By the late 1770s it was the foremost cricket club in England.-Foundation:...

team, then probably run by a parish organisation rather than the famous club which is believed to have been formed in about 1765, made its first recorded appearances in three matches against Dartford

Dartford Cricket Club

Dartford Cricket Club is one of the oldest in England and its origins go back to the early 18th century, perhaps earlier.See also: Dartford Brent...

.

The Seven Years' War

Seven Years' War

The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...

began in 1756 and there is no doubt that it had a huge impact on cricket as there is clearly a reduction in the number of major matches recorded during its span. Many players will have joined the forces and the patrons will have been reluctant to invest in games fielding weak teams; in any case, they would need to save their money in wartime. It is also very likely that cricket’s first bowling revolution occurred in the next ten years or so as bowlers were certainly pitching the ball by 1770, but there are no surviving reports to describe the reception that pitching had when it was tried and implemented.

Matches

Date	Match Title	Venue	Result
date unknown	Dartford Dartford Cricket Club Dartford Cricket Club is one of the oldest in England and its origins go back to the early 18th century, perhaps earlier.See also: Dartford Brent... v Hambledon Hambledon Club The Hambledon Club was a social club that is famous for its organisation of 18th century cricket matches. By the late 1770s it was the foremost cricket club in England.-Foundation:...	venue unknown	Dartford won
18 August (W)	Hambledon Hambledon Club The Hambledon Club was a social club that is famous for its organisation of 18th century cricket matches. By the late 1770s it was the foremost cricket club in England.-Foundation:... v Dartford Dartford Cricket Club Dartford Cricket Club is one of the oldest in England and its origins go back to the early 18th century, perhaps earlier.See also: Dartford Brent...	Broadhalfpenny Down Broadhalfpenny Down Broadhalfpenny Down, situated on a hilltop about a mile from the rural village of Hambledon in Hampshire, was the home venue for first-class cricket matches of the Hambledon Club from 1753 to 1781...	Dartford won
30 August (M)	Dartford Dartford Cricket Club Dartford Cricket Club is one of the oldest in England and its origins go back to the early 18th century, perhaps earlier.See also: Dartford Brent... v Hambledon Hambledon Club The Hambledon Club was a social club that is famous for its organisation of 18th century cricket matches. By the late 1770s it was the foremost cricket club in England.-Foundation:...	Artillery Ground Artillery Ground The Artillery Ground in Finsbury is one of London's most centrally located cricket grounds, situated just off the City Road immediately north of the City of London...	Dartford won
These three Dartford v Hambledon games are the earliest definite references to matches involving a Hambledon team. The one on Broadhalfpenny Down Broadhalfpenny Down Broadhalfpenny Down, situated on a hilltop about a mile from the rural village of Hambledon in Hampshire, was the home venue for first-class cricket matches of the Hambledon Club from 1753 to 1781... is known about because of a famous advert in the Reading Mercury concerning a dog called Rover whose owner lost him at the match. He was offering five shillings for Rover’s return but it is not known if the dog was recovered. It should be said that the advert does not conclusively prove that Hambledon was playing Dartford that day, but in the light of subsequent reports it seems a more than reasonable assumption. Nothing is known of the first match except that the last of the three on Monday 30 August was billed as "the deciding match between the two elevens" and played for £50 a side. Furthermore, in the Public Advertiser announcement which H T Waghorn recorded re the game below on Mon 6 September, Dartford is said to have beat Hampshire (sic) 3 matches successively. There is no definite knowledge of Hambledon cricket before 1756 but the team must have gained repute already to be capable of attempting three matches against Dartford, which had been a famous club since the 1720s if not earlier. Hambledon had presumably earned recognition as the best parish team in Hampshire, but no reports of their local matches have been found. It is not known for certain when the Hambledon Club was founded and it seems likely that some kind of parish organisation was operating in 1756, although there may well have been a patron involved, possibly Squire Thomas Land Squire Thomas Land Squire Thomas Land was a patron of English cricket and an occasional player. He was apparently the leading light in Hambledon cricket until about 1764 when he seems to have withdrawn from the scene... .
6 September (M)	London London Cricket Club The original London Cricket Club was formed by 1722 and was one of the foremost clubs in English cricket over the next four decades. It is closely associated with the Artillery Ground, where it played most of its home matches.-Early history of London cricket:... v Dartford Dartford Cricket Club Dartford Cricket Club is one of the oldest in England and its origins go back to the early 18th century, perhaps earlier.See also: Dartford Brent...	Artillery Ground Artillery Ground The Artillery Ground in Finsbury is one of London's most centrally located cricket grounds, situated just off the City Road immediately north of the City of London...	result unknown
Played for £50 a side. London had John Bryant, Joe Harris Harris brothers (cricketers) John Harris and his brother Joseph Harris were English cricketers in the 1740s and 1750s... , Durling Durling (Surrey cricketer) The Surrey and All-England cricketer called Durling was a noted player in the mid-18th century, although nothing is known of him outside mentions in match reports.... and George Smith George Smith (cricketer) George Smith was an English cricketer and also the "keeper" of the Artillery Ground, which was cricket's main venue in London during the mid-Georgian period.... playing for them.
9 September (Th)	Dartford Dartford Cricket Club Dartford Cricket Club is one of the oldest in England and its origins go back to the early 18th century, perhaps earlier.See also: Dartford Brent... v London London Cricket Club The original London Cricket Club was formed by 1722 and was one of the foremost clubs in English cricket over the next four decades. It is closely associated with the Artillery Ground, where it played most of its home matches.-Early history of London cricket:...	Dartford Brent Dartford Brent Dartford Brent was an extensive area of common land on the outskirts of Dartford in Kent. In history, it was the scene of a confrontation between King Henry VI and Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York in 1452; and in 1555 thousands of spectators were to witness the burning to death at the stake of...	result unknown
In the announcement for the game on Mon 6 September, it says "the second match will be played on Dartford Brim (sic) by the same gentlemen".

Other events

In Dawn of Cricket, H T Waghorn

H T Waghorn

Henry Thomas Waghorn , was a cricket statistician and historian. He is best known for his two classic researches into cricket's early history: The Dawn of Cricket and Cricket Scores: 1730 - 1773....

records a pre-announcement that a "fives" game involving a Hambledon side would be played on Sat 28 August at the Artillery Ground. The Hambledon players are unnamed but their opponents were a strong team: Tom Faulkner

Tom Faulkner

Tom Faulkner , known as "Long Tom", was a noted English cricketer of the mid-Georgian period.A Surrey man, he was a prominent single wicket player who frequently played in challenge matches at the Artillery Ground....

, Joe Harris

Harris brothers (cricketers)

John Harris and his brother Joseph Harris were English cricketers in the 1740s and 1750s...

, John Frame

John Frame (cricketer)

John Frame was an English cricketer and arguably the first great fast bowler in the game's history...

, John Bell and Durling

Durling (Surrey cricketer)

The Surrey and All-England cricketer called Durling was a noted player in the mid-18th century, although nothing is known of him outside mentions in match reports....

. No details of the result were recorded. Stakes were £20 a side. This may have been a curtain raiser for the main event on Monday 30 August.

Matches

Other events

External sources

Further reading