History of cricket 1697 - 1725
Encyclopedia
Little is known about English 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...

 from the earliest known "great match" in 1697 to 1725 as few records were kept. Newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

 reports about the sport became more common after 1725 and gradually provided greater detail. By the end of the 17th century, English cricket had developed to the point where inter-county matches were being held in addition to the "grassroots" form of village cricket
Village cricket
Village cricket is a term, sometimes pejorative, given to the playing of cricket in rural villages in England. Many villages have their own teams that play at varying levels of the English cricket pyramid....

. The end of press censorship in 1696 meant that cricket could now be reported in the newspapers and the first known report of a match appeared in 1697. But the newspaper industry was still in its infancy and it would be a long time before anything like comprehensive coverage would be achieved.

1697

The "great match" in 1697 was the first to be recorded by a contemporary newspaper but by no means the first such match to be held. It must have been organised by at least one patron and, given its Sussex venue, it is likely that the first Duke of Richmond
Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond
Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond, 1st Duke of Lennox, 1st Duke of Aubigny was the illegitimate son of Charles II of England and his mistress Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth....

 was involved.
Date Match title Venue Result
30 June (W) "A Great Match" Sussex result unknown

The earliest known newspaper report of a match proclaimed to be great or a similar adjective. The report was in the Foreign Post dated Wednesday, 7 July 1697 and describes a great match at cricket that was played the middle of last week in Sussex with eleven of a side and they played for fifty guineas apiece. The stakes on offer indicate the importance of the fixture and the fact that it was eleven-a-side suggests that two strong and well-balanced teams were assembled. No other details were given but the report is evidence to support the view that top-class cricket, in the form of "great matches" played for high stakes, was in vogue in the years following the Restoration
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...

 in 1660.

1700

Date Match title Venue Result
April series of matches Clapham Common results unknown

A series of matches, to be held on Clapham Common
Clapham Common
Clapham Common is an 89 hectare triangular area of grassland situated in south London, England. It was historically common land for the parishes of Battersea and Clapham, but was converted to parkland under the terms of the Metropolitan Commons Act 1878.43 hectares of the common are within the...

, was pre-announced on 30 March by a periodical called The Post Boy. The first was to take place on Easter Monday and prizes of £10 and £20 were at stake. No match reports could be found so the results and scores remain unknown. Interestingly, the advert says the teams would consist of ten Gentlemen per side but the invitation to attend was to Gentlemen and others. This clearly implies that cricket had achieved both the patronage that underwrote it through the 18th century and the spectators who demonstrated its lasting popular appeal.

1702

Date Match title Venue Result
date unknown Duke of Richmond's XI v Arundel Sussex Duke of Richmond's XI won?

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
Shilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...

 and sixpence
Sixpence
Sixpence may refer to:*Sixpence *Sixpence *Sixpence *Flat cap, also called a sixpence*Sixpence None the Richer, an American pop/rock band...

 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. This was the first Duke of Richmond
Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond
Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond, 1st Duke of Lennox, 1st Duke of Aubigny was the illegitimate son of Charles II of England and his mistress Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth....

, also called Charles Lennox. He died in 1723 and it was his son, Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond
Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond
The 2nd Duke of Richmond has been described as early cricket's greatest patron. Although he had played cricket as a boy, his real involvement began after he succeeded to the dukedom...

, who became the famous patron of Sussex cricket.

The British East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...

 bought control of the New (or English) Company that had been set up as a rival trading organisation in 1698. An Act of Parliament
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...

 then amalgamated the two as "The United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies". The charter was renewed several times in the 18th century, each time with financial concessions to the Crown. The significance of this piece of information is that it was largely via the success of the East India Company that cricket was introduced to and established in India; and consequently in Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

 and Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

. The first report of cricket in India concerns mariners of the so-called "John Company" playing at Cambay in 1721 as recorded below.

1705

Date Match title Venue Result
? July West of Kent v Chatham Malling result unknown

This was an 11-a-side game advertised in The Post Man dated 24 July 1705.

1706

William Goldwin
William Goldwin
William Goldwin was an English schoolteacher and vicar who left his mark on cricket by creating the sport's earliest known work of literature. Goldwin, whose name is sometimes spelt "Goldwyn", wrote a poem of 95 competent and sometimes graceful lines of Latin hexameters on a rural cricket match...

 wrote a Latin poem of 95 lines on a rural cricket match. It was called In Certamen Pilae (On a Ball Game) and it was published in his Musae Juveniles.

The spread of cricket relied heavily on ease of transport and communications. In 1706, Parliament established the first Turnpike trust
Turnpike trust
Turnpike trusts in the United Kingdom were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road tolls for maintaining the principal highways in Britain from the 17th but especially during the 18th and 19th centuries...

s which placed a length of road under the control of trustees drawn from local landowners and traders. The turnpike trusts borrowed capital for road maintenance against the security of tolls. This arrangement became the common method of road maintenance for the next 150 years.

1707

Date Match title Venue Result
1 July (Tu) Croydon v London Croydon (Duppas Hill
Duppas Hill
Duppas Hill is a park, road and surrounding residential area in Waddon, near Croydon in Greater London . It is thought to be named after a family called 'Dubber' or 'Double'.Duppas Hill has a long history of sport and recreation...

?)
result unknown
3 July (Th) or 8 July (Tu) London v Croydon Lamb's Conduit Field
Lamb's Conduit Field
Lamb's Conduit Field was an open area of Holborn, London, that was used for major cricket matches in the first half of the 18th century.-Location:...

, Holborn
result unknown

These two matches were advertised in a periodical called The Post Man (dates 21–24 June 1707) as "two great matches at cricket (to be) plaid (sic), between London and Croydon; the first at Croydon
Croydon
Croydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...

 on Tuesday, 1 July, and the other to be plaid in Lamb's-Conduit-Fields, near Holborn
Holborn
Holborn is an area of Central London. Holborn is also the name of the area's principal east-west street, running as High Holborn from St Giles's High Street to Gray's Inn Road and then on to Holborn Viaduct...

, on the Tuesday (sic) following, being the 3rd of July". No match reports could be found so the results and scores are unknown. The dates are uncertain as the report states: "the first game to be played on Tuesday, 1 July 1707 [which is a correct date in the then in use Julian Calendar] and the other to be played on the Tuesday following, being the 3rd of July [it is assumed that the second game was played on either Thursday, 3 July or Tuesday, 8 July]".

There is record of a London Club
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:...

 from 1722 but it is not known when that organisation was founded or if it formed the London teams in the 1707 matches. Later matches in Croydon were played at Duppas Hill
Duppas Hill
Duppas Hill is a park, road and surrounding residential area in Waddon, near Croydon in Greater London . It is thought to be named after a family called 'Dubber' or 'Double'.Duppas Hill has a long history of sport and recreation...

, but it is not known for certain if that was the venue in 1707. Lamb's Conduit Field
Lamb's Conduit Field
Lamb's Conduit Field was an open area of Holborn, London, that was used for major cricket matches in the first half of the 18th century.-Location:...

 was near Holborn
Holborn
Holborn is an area of Central London. Holborn is also the name of the area's principal east-west street, running as High Holborn from St Giles's High Street to Gray's Inn Road and then on to Holborn Viaduct...

 in Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...

. It had no connection with White Conduit Fields
White Conduit Fields
White Conduit Fields in Islington was an early venue of major cricket matches and the original home of the White Conduit Club, forerunner of MCC...

 in Islington
Islington
Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...

 which later became the home venue of the White Conduit Club
White Conduit Club
The White Conduit Club, although short-lived, was perhaps the most significant club in cricket history for it bridged the gulf between the rural and rustic Hambledon era and the new, modern and metropolitan era of MCC and Lord's, the two entities that it spawned.We do not know for certain when the...

, forerunner of MCC
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...

.

1709

Date Match title Venue Result
29 June (W) Kent
Kent county cricket teams
Kent county cricket teams have been traced back to the 17th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that. Kent, jointly with Sussex, is the birthplace of the sport...

 v Surrey
Surrey county cricket teams
Surrey county cricket teams have been traced back to the 17th century but the county'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.-17th century:...

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

The earliest known match involving county teams or at any rate teams bearing the names of counties. The match was advertised in the Post Man dated Saturday 25 June 1709. The stake was £50.

It has been suggested that the teams in reality were Dartford and a Surrey parish, but this contradicts evidence of patronage and high stakes. 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...

 was the foremost Kent club in this period and possibly provided not only the venue but also the nucleus of the team with some players coming from elsewhere in the county. The Surrey team may equally have been drawn from a number of Surrey parishes and subscribed by their patron.

It is possible that one of the Kent players was William Bedle
William Bedle
William Bedle was an English cricketer who played for Dartford and Kent in the first quarter of the 18th century. He is the sport's earliest known accomplished player...

 (1680–1768), of Dartford, the earliest great player whose name has been recorded. He was reckoned to be "the most expert player in England" and would have been in his prime c.1700 to c.1720.

Dartford Brent was a popular Kent venue in the 18th century and was possibly used for matches in the 17th century also.

1710

The earliest reference has been found to cricket being played at Cambridge University
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

.

1717

Thomas Marchant, a farmer from Hurstpierpoint
Hurstpierpoint
Hurstpierpoint is a village in the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, England. Together with Sayers Common it forms one of the Mid Sussex civil parishes, with an area of 2029.88 ha and a population of 6,264 persons....

 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.

1718

Date Match title Venue Result
1 Sept (M) London v Rochester Punch Club to be confirmed completed in 1719

This game was unfinished on 1 September 1718 because some of the Rochester players walked off in an attempt to have the game declared incomplete so that they would retain their stake money. London was clearly winning at the time. The game while incomplete became the subject of a noted lawsuit where the terms of the wager were at issue. The court ordered it to be played out and this happened in July 1719. Rochester with 4 wickets standing needed 30 (presumably 30 more runs rather than 30 runs in total) but were out for 9 (again, presumably, 9 more runs).

1719

Date Match title Venue Result
? July (see 1718) London v Rochester Punch Club to be confirmed London won by 21 runs
19 August (W) London v Kent White Conduit Fields Kent won

The report says the teams played "for a considerable sum of money".

1720

Date Match title Venue Result
9 July (S) London v Kent White Conduit Fields
White Conduit Fields
White Conduit Fields in Islington was an early venue of major cricket matches and the original home of the White Conduit Club, forerunner of MCC...

London won

Two London fielders were badly injured by a clash of heads and the original source expressed a concern about their eventual recoveries. Waghorn noted that advertising and reporting of cricket ceased for some years and wondered if that was due to a perception that the sport is dangerous.

NOTE: Waghorn's comment about reduced reporting (reduced matches?) needs further examination in the light of the 1720 South Sea Bubble (possible economic impact) and the 1721 Stamp Act (possible impact on publication of sporting news).

1721

English sailors were reported to be playing cricket at Cambay, near Baroda, and this is the earliest known reference to cricket being played in India.

1722

Although teams styled London were already in existence, the first actual reference to a London Club
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:...

 was dated in 1722.
Date Match title Venue Result
18 July (W) London v Dartford Islington unknown

There was a letter about this game in The Weekly Journal dated 21 July 1722.

1723

Date Match title Venue Result
date unknown Dartford v Tonbridge Dartford Brent unknown

Recorded in the journal of Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford
Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer
Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer KG was a British politician and statesman of the late Stuart and early Georgian periods. He began his career as a Whig, before defecting to a new Tory Ministry. Between 1711 and 1714 he served as First Lord of the Treasury, effectively Queen...

: "Upon Dartford, upon the Heath as we came out of the town, the men of Tonbridge and the Dartford men were warmly engaged at the sport of cricket, which of all the people of England the Kentish folk are the most renowned for, and of all the Kentish men, the men of Dartford lay claim to the greatest excellence". "The Heath" was 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...

.

Robert Harley (1661–1724) was a noted Tory politician who was against spending on the armed forces; he was a particular favourite of Queen Anne
Anne of Great Britain
Anne ascended the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Act of Union, two of her realms, England and Scotland, were united as a single sovereign state, the Kingdom of Great Britain.Anne's Catholic father, James II and VII, was deposed during the...

 and a strong opponent of Sir Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, KG, KB, PC , known before 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British statesman who is generally regarded as having been the first Prime Minister of Great Britain....

.

1724

Date Match title Venue Result
11 June (Th) Dartford v London Dartford Brent result unknown
18 June (Th) London v Dartford Kennington Common result unknown

London v Dartford is the earliest known match at Kennington Common
Kennington Park
Kennington Park is in Kennington in London, England, and lies between Kennington Park Road and St Agnes Place. It was opened in 1854. Previously the site had been Kennington Common. This is where the Chartists gathered for their biggest 'monster rally' on 10 April 1848...

, where (it is believed) The Oval
The Oval
The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...

 is now sited.
10 August (M) Penshurst &c. v Dartford Islington result unknown

This match featured the combined parishes of Penshurst, Tunbridge and Wadhurst versus 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...

. It is reported in a diary entry by one John Dawson, who may have watched it. No details are known but as 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...

 was already recognised as a leading club, it may have been a great cricket match as Mr Dawson says.
date unknown Chingford v Mr Edward Stead
Edward Stead
Edward Stead was a famous patron of English cricket, particularly of Kent county cricket teams, in the early 18th century.-Cricket career:...

's XI
venue unknown completed in 1726

This match seems to be the earliest reference to cricket being played in Essex (if at Chingford) or by an Essex team. The game echoed the one in 1718 as the Chingford team refused to play to a finish when Mr Stead's team had the advantage. A court case followed and, as in 1718, it was ordered to be played out presumably so that all wagers could be fulfilled. We know that Lord Chief Justice Pratt presided over the case and that he ordered them to play it out on 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...

, though it is not known if this was the original venue. The game was completed in 1726.

Mr Edward Stead
Edward Stead
Edward Stead was a famous patron of English cricket, particularly of Kent county cricket teams, in the early 18th century.-Cricket career:...

 (sometimes called Edwin Steed) of Maidstone was a noted patron of early 18th century cricket, especially in his native Kent.

1725

7 May. Minutes of the Honourable Artillery Company
Honourable Artillery Company
The Honourable Artillery Company was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1537 by King Henry VIII. Today it is a Registered Charity whose purpose is to attend to the “better defence of the realm"...

 make the earliest known reference to the famous 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...

 in Finsbury being used for cricket. There is a note which concerns "the abuse done to the herbage of the ground by the cricket players".
Date Match title Venue Result
15 July (Th) Sir William Gage's XI v unknown XI venue unknown Sir William Gage's XI lost
20 July (Tu) Duke of Richmond's XI v Sir William Gage's XI venue unknown result unknown

Knowledge of these two games is based on a humorous letter sent by Sir William Gage to the Duke of Richmond
Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond
The 2nd Duke of Richmond has been described as early cricket's greatest patron. Although he had played cricket as a boy, his real involvement began after he succeeded to the dukedom...

on 16 July. Gage bemoans that he was shamefully beaten the previous day in his first match of the year but says nothing of his opponents. He then looks forward to playing the Duke's team next Tuesday and wishes his Grace success in everything except his cricket match!

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK