1726 English cricket season

The 1726 cricket season was the 129th in England since the earliest known definite reference to cricket in January 1597 (i.e., Old Style – 1598 New Style). It is the first in which a newspaper report names a participant in a cricket match and the first players mentioned by name were Perry of London and Piper of Hampton who played a single wicket match. The main story of the year, as in some earlier seasons, concerns cricket's relationship with the law, though once again the issue was non-payment of gambling debts.

Single wicket matches

The London Evening Post dated 27 August carried an advertisement for a single wicket match between players called "the noted Perry (of London) and the famous Piper (of Hampton", the earliest definite reference to a single wicket contest.^[1] The venue was Moulsey Hurst, near Molesey in Surrey, famous for various sporting activities, especially prizefighting, and was often used for cricket throughout the 18th century.^[2]

Important matches

The following matches are classified as important:^{[fc 1]}

date	match title	venue	result	source
29 August (M)	London & Surrey v Edwin Stead's XI (i.e., Kent)	Kennington Common	result unknown	^[3]^[4]
notes	An important match played "for 25 guineas between the men belonging to Edwin Stead, Esq. of Maidstone and the men of London and Surrey". This is the only match in 1726 that could be considered an inter-county fixture. Kent, based on the esteem of the Dartford club and the successful patronage of Edwin Stead, is generally believed to have been the strongest county in the 1720s.^[3]

? Sept (see 1724)	Edwin Stead's XI v Chingford	Dartford Brent	result unknown	^[3]
notes	This was the conclusion of the 1724 match which was unfinished at that time and became the subject of a lawsuit. Lord Chief Justice Pratt ordered it "to be played out", but he died in 1725 before it was played out.^[3]

Other events

On the subject of legal matters, a letter has survived that was written by an Essex resident. The writer complained that a local Justice of the Peace (JP) had seen fit to literally "read the Riot Act" to some people who were playing cricket on Saturday, 10 September. He had a constable with him who dispersed the players.^[5] G. B. Buckley commented that it seems the JP considered any game or sport as a pretence covering the gathering of disaffected people in order to raise a rebellion. Given the ruling by Lord Chief Justice Pratt, who in effect ordered the Chingford v Stead's XI game to be played on Dartford Brent, the issue raised was that it was apparently lawful to play cricket in Kent but not in Essex.^[6]^[5]

First mentions

Counties

none

Clubs and teams

Players

Perry (London)^[1]
Piper (Hampton)^[1]

Venues

none

Footnotes

↑ First-class cricket was officially defined in May 1894 by a meeting at Lord's of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the county clubs which were then competing in the County Championship. The ruling was effective from the beginning of the 1895 season. Pre-1895 matches of the same standard have no official definition of status because the ruling is not retrospective and the important matches designation, as applied to a given match, is based on the views of one or more substantial historical sources. For further information, see First-class cricket, Forms of cricket and History of cricket.

References

1 2 3 4 Maun, p. 33.
↑ Leach, John (2007). "From Lads to Lord's – 1726". Stumpsite. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
1 2 3 4 5 Waghorn, p. 6.
↑ ACS, Important Matches, p. 19.
1 2 Buckley, p. 3.
↑ "Our history: Cricket in Dartford". Dartford Cricket Club. 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2013.

Bibliography

ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709 – 1863. Nottingham: ACS.
Buckley, G. B. (1935). Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Cotterell.
Maun, Ian (2009). From Commons to Lord's, Volume One: 1700 to 1750. Roger Heavens. ISBN 978-1-900592-52-9.
Waghorn, H. T. (1906). The Dawn of Cricket. Electric Press.
Wilson, Martin (2005). An Index to Waghorn. Bodyline.

Additional reading

Altham, H. S. (1962). A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914). George Allen & Unwin.
Birley, Derek (1999). A Social History of English Cricket. Aurum.
Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. Eyre & Spottiswoode.
Buckley, G. B. (1937). Fresh Light on pre-Victorian Cricket. Cotterell.
Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. HarperCollins.
Marshall, John (1961). The Duke who was Cricket. Muller.
McCann, Tim (2004). Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century. Sussex Record Society.
Underdown, David (2000). Start of Play. Allen Lane.

External links

Terry, David (2008). "The Seventeenth Century Game of Cricket: A Reconstruction of the Game" (PDF). SportsLibrary.
Leach, John (2008). "Classification of cricket matches from 1697 to 1825". Stumpsite. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011.

English cricket teams in the 18th century

"All" England

English cricket venues to 1825

English cricket seasons

Historic era

1597 to 1725 1726 1727 1728 1729 1730 1731 1732 1733 1734 1735 1736 1737 1738 1739 1740 1741 1742 1743 1744 1745 1746 1747 1748 1749 1750 1751 1752 1753 1754 1755 1756 1757 1758 1759 1760 1761 1762 1763 1764 1765 1766 1767 1768 1769 1770 1771 1772 1773 1774 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779 1780 1781 1782 1783 1784 1785 1786 1787 1788 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800 1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824

Pre-County Championship era

1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889

County Championship era

1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/26/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.