1747 English cricket season

The 1747 English cricket season was the fourth season following the earliest known codification of the Laws of Cricket.

Matches

Details of 14 matches between significant teams have survived.^[1][2]

• 13 May – Addington & Croydon v Deptford & Greenwich – Duppas Hill, Croydon
• 29 May and 9 June – Addington & Croydon v London – Duppas Hill, Croydon
• 1–2 June – London v Addington & Croydon – Artillery Ground
• 12 June – Dartford v London – Dartford Brent
• 15 June – London v Addington & Croydon – Artillery Ground
• 29 June – London v Dartford – Artillery Ground
• 2 July – Dartford v Hadlow – Dartford Brent
• 9 July – Long Robin's XI v William Hodsoll's XI – Artillery Ground
• 28 July – Tom Faulkner's XI v John Bowra's XI – Kennington Common
• 17 August – London v Bromley & Ripley – Artillery Ground
• 20 August – Bromley & Ripley v London – Ripley Green
• 24 August – London v Hadlow – Artillery Ground
• 31 August – England XI v Kent – Artillery Ground
• 2 September – Kent v England XI – Bromley Common

The two games between Kent and England were due to be played at Bromley Common on 29 June and at the Artillery Ground on 1 July, but the source reports that both matches "are deferred on account of the gentlemen subscribers being engaged at several Elections", referring to the Parliamentary Election of 1747.

Single wicket matches

A single wicket cricket match between five players of Slindon against five of Dartford at the Artillery Ground on 6 July was the result of a challenge by Slindon, published in the Daily Advertiser on 29 June, to play "five of any parish in England, for their own Sum". The announcement advised interested parties: "If it is accepted of by any, they are desir'd to go to Mr Smith, who has Orders to make Stakes for them".^[3][4] Matches followed against Bromley on 8 July and Hadlow on 10 and 15 July at the same ground. Another game resulting from Slindon's five-a-side challenge. Details unknown.^[5]

In early August, two single wicket matches at the Artillery Ground which were organised by the 2nd Duke of Richmond^[5] and on 5 September a three-a-side game took place, again at the Artillery Ground, between teams led by Robert Colchin and Stephen Dingate.^[3][6]

Other events

According to Rowland Bowen, cricket was first played in New York this year.^[7] This is, however, doubted by Ian Maun, who states that "no contemporary record of cricket in New York is known before 1751".^[8]

First mentions

Clubs and teams

• Hadlow^[9]

Players

• John Bell (Dartford/Kent)^[3]
• Thomas Bell (Dartford/Kent)^[3]
• John Larkin (Hadlow/Kent)^[3]
• Robert Eures (Bexley/Kent)^[3]

Venues

• Ripley Green^[3]

References

Bibliography

• ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709 – 1863. Nottingham: ACS.
• Ashley-Cooper, F. S. (1900). "At the Sign of the Wicket: Cricket 1742–1751". Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game. London: Cricket Magazine. OCLC 28863559.
• Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. ISBN 0-413-27860-3.
• Buckley, G. B. (1937). Fresh Light on pre-Victorian 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.

Further 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.
• Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. HarperCollins.
• Underdown, David (2000). Start of Play. Allen Lane.