1736 English cricket season
The 1736 cricket season was the 139th in England since the earliest known definite reference to cricket in January 1597 (i.e., Old Style – 1598 New Style). Details have survived of seventeen important matches and one notable single wicket match. Chertsey Cricket Club and its Laleham Burway venue are found in the sources for the first time.
Important matches
The following matches are classified as important:[note 1]
date | match title | venue | result | source |
---|---|---|---|---|
before July | Croydon v Chertsey | Croydon | Croydon won | [1] |
notes | ||||
before July | Chertsey v Croydon | Laleham Burway | Chertsey won | [1] |
notes |
The above two games were played before July. Knowledge of them is from the announcement in Read’s Weekly Journal dated Saturday, 3 July, about a deciding game on Richmond Green to be played on Monday, 5 July (see below). In each of the first two matches, the home team won "by a great number of runs". The match at Laleham Burway is the first important one known to have been played at this famous venue in Chertsey. | |||
13 May (Th) | London v Mitcham | Kennington Common | result unknown | [1] |
notes |
Recorded by Fresh Light in conjunction with the London v Mitcham games on c. Tues 22 June and on Thu 2 September. | |||
c.22 June (Tu) | London v Mitcham | Kennington Common | London won | [1] |
notes |
Recorded by Fresh Light' in conjunction with the London v Mitcham game on Thu 13 May. | |||
5 July (M) | Croydon v Chertsey | Richmond Green | drawn | [1] |
notes |
Scores are known: Chertsey 88 & 55; Croydon 58 & 25-9. Croydon with one wicket standing still needed 61 to win when the clock struck eight and the game was drawn. Chertsey could claim a moral victory but the result remained a draw. Played for £50. The report in Read’s Weekly Journal dated Sat 3 July says this was “a new match to decide which are best”, the two teams having met twice before: Croydon won at Duppas Hill and Chertsey won at Laleham Burway (see above). | |||
14 July (W) | London v Surrey | Artillery Ground | London 30 runs | [1] |
notes |
The report in the General Evening Post next day states that “London beat Surrey by 30 notches and had three men to go in”; there may have been a declaration of sorts in the second innings. | |||
19 July (M) | Chertsey v London | Laleham Burway | London won | [2] |
notes | ||||
late July | London v Chertsey | Artillery Ground | Chertsey 8 wkts | [2] |
notes |
The first game on Mon 19 July was reported as "the hard match" and London won "by a very few notches". Scores are known from the second game: London 48 & 60; Chertsey 97 & 12-2. Chertsey’s team was said to be the same one that played Croydon on Richmond Green (see above). | |||
11 August (W) | London v Surrey | Barnes Common | Surrey 19 runs | [1] |
notes |
The report in the Whitehall Evening Post on Saturday 14 August refers to Surrey as "Barnes, Fulham and Richmond". It goes on to say that the return on Tuesday 17 August would be played in the fields behind Powis House. It extends the hope that "the company will keep a good ring which was very much wanted at Barnes Common". | |||
16 August (M) | Middlesex v Surrey | Chelsea Common | Middlesex 9 runs | [1] |
notes |
Played for 50 guineas a side as reported in the General Evening Post on Tues 17 August. | |||
17 August (Tu) | London v Surrey | Lamb’s Conduit Field | London 86 runs | [1] |
notes |
The Daily Gazetteer on Wed 18 August states that London beat Surrey by "upwards of 90 notches". The Whitehall Evening Post next day gives the scores and repeats the report of the previous match by first referring to Surrey as "Barnes, Fulham and Richmond"; but it then talks about "the Surrey men". London scored 55 and 75; Surrey scored 31 and 13 to give London the game by 86 runs. Two London batsmen in the second innings had a partnership of 51, which was a considerable achievement at the time given the usual condition of the pitches. | |||
21 August (S) | Surrey v Middlesex | Moulsey Hurst | Surrey 5 runs | [2] |
notes |
The source says "there were about £100 to £60 for the (sic) Middlesex". | |||
2 September (Th) | London v Mitcham | Kennington Common | result unknown | [1] |
notes |
Recorded in conjunction with the London v Mitcham game on Thu 13 May. | |||
11 September (S) | Surrey v Middlesex | Moulsey Hurst | Surrey 2 runs | [1] |
notes |
Reported a week later on Sat 18 September by the Whitehall Evening Post. The match was for 50 guineas a side. | |||
20 September (M) | Surrey v Kent | Kennington Common | Surrey by 2 wkts | [2] |
notes |
Scores are known: Kent 41 & 53; Surrey 71 & 24-8. During this match, an incident occurred in the crowd. Three soldiers apprehended a deserter but the crowd turned on them, rescued the deserter and "after a severe discipline let them go about their business"! Fresh Light added to this by quoting the General Evening Post on Sat 18 September.[1] This report said the Kent team consisted of "the same that beat Middlesex last year on Moulsey Hurst and Bromley Common". Mr Buckley gives examples of when this report was variously quoted by other publications, including WDC, and dated wrongly. The content is itself incorrect as the teams played by Kent in the two matches were London & Middlesex at Moulsey Hurst and London Club at Bromley Common. | |||
22 September (W) | Middlesex v Surrey | Lamb’s Conduit Field | result unknown | [1] |
notes |
Announced the previous day in the London Evening Post. | |||
4 October (M) | Kent v Surrey [2] | Coxheath | drawn (rain) | [3] |
notes |
First innings scores were level when the rain began, though Kent still had five wickets in hand. The date was given by Kent Cricket Matches after Cricket Scores had vaguely placed the date in September. | |||
Other events
June. Mr Waghorn in Cricket Scores recounts a report of a single wicket match on Kennington Common. This names Mr Wakeland the distiller and Mr George Oldner playing together against two "famous" Richmond players who are "esteemed the best two in England". Unfortunately the esteemed pair are not named, though one of them suffered serious facial injuries in this game when the ball came off his bat and hit his nose. The report rails against "human brutes" who insisted he should play on despite his injuries, their money being more important, of course! [2]
Fri 9 July. Rayner’s Morning Advertiser announced a same day match at White Lion Fields in Streatham between Streatham and London. No report of the game was found; it might not have been an important matches.[1]
First mentions
Counties
Clubs and teams
Players
Venues
Notes
- ↑ 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
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.
- McCann, Tim (2004). Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century. Sussex Record Society.
- Maun, Ian (2009). From Commons to Lord's, Volume One: 1700 to 1750. Roger Heavens. ISBN 978-1-900592-52-9.
- Waghorn, H. T. (1899). Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730–1773). Blackwood.
- 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.
- Underdown, David (2000). Start of Play. Allen Lane.
External links
- Classification of cricket matches from 1697 to 1825
- From Lads to Lord's; The History of Cricket: 1300 – 1787