1726 English cricket season

Cricket season review August 2024 August 2024 1725 1727 During the 1726 English cricket season, a newspaper report named the players in a match, the first time this ever happened. The players concerned were Perry of London and Piper of Hampton, who played in what is the sport's earliest known single wicket match. In addition, brief reports of two eleven-a-side matches have survived.note status Any match listed in the ACS' Important Match Guide (1981) is historically important, and therefore of the highest standard, whether or not a scorecard might exist. The same applies to numerous matches discovered by researchers since 1981.ACS 1981 1–40 For further information, see First-class cricket. The main story of the year, as in some earlier seasons, concerns cricket's relationship with the law, and once again the issue was non-payment of gambling debts. County cricket was gaining in strength, and teams representing Kent and Surrey were prominent in 1726. Background alt=Colour portrait of a man wearing armour|thumb|right|250px|Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond was one of cricket's main patrons in the 1720s. By 1726, cricket had become an established sport in London and the south-eastern counties of England. It had also been played in India and North America by English colonists and sailors.Haygarth 1996 viBowen 1970 50https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-history-of-cricket-in-the-united-states-132185661/ Worrall Simon The History of Cricket in the United States Smithsonian Magazine Smithsonian Institution Washington DC October 2006 10 March 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20190312074440/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-history-of-cricket-in-the-united-states-132185661/ 12 March 2019 liveByrd 1941 144–146 The spread of cricket at home was limited by the constraints of travel at the time, but it was slowly gaining adherents in other parts of the country with references being found in counties outside the south-east, although it had apparently not reached the North of England yet.Altham Swanton 1962 23Birley 1999 11https://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/152818.html Wisden 1965 : Cricket in the 17th and 18th centuries Bowen Rowland Rowland Bowen ESPNcricinfo 1965 12 August 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150924233825/http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/152818.html 24 September 2015 liveWaghorn 2005 27 Having been essentially a rural pastime for well over a century, cricket was becoming a focus for wealthy patrons such as the 2nd Duke of Richmond; and also for gamblers whose interests would fund its growth through the 18th century. Other famous patrons in the 1720s were Edwin Stead of Kent; Sir William Gage of Sussex; and Alan Brodrick of Surrey.Major 2007 46–50Underdown 2000 38McCann 2004 liiiMarshall 1961 47–48 Gambling was prevalent at cricket matches in the Georgian era, and many gambling – or alcohol-fuelled incidents occurred.Malcolm 2013 27 The issue was not addressed by the sport's ruling body until the 1770s, and it remained a significant factor even then. The counterpart of that was the reliance of cricket, as a professional sport, upon the investment accrued through gambling interests.Malcolm 2013 20 Media coverage No cricket had been reported in the infant newspaper industry before 1697 due to the Licensing of the Press Act 1662, which controlled the press until 1696. Reports were beginning to increase by the mid-1720s, though it would be a very long time before coverage became anything like comprehensive.http://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol5/pp428-435 Charles II, 1662: An Act for Preventing the Frequent Abuses in Printing Seditious Treasonable and Unlicensed Bookes and Pamphlets and for Regulating of Printing and Printing Presses British History Online Statutes of the Realm: Volume 5 1662 4 November 2016 9 March 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20180309011806/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol5/pp428-435 live Buckley 1935 1McCann 2004 xli alt=Black-and-white photo of an old newspaper|thumb|left|250px|Front page of the London Evening Post in October 1746 The typical early report tended to be an advertisement for a scheduled match or else a brief discussion of the gambling odds, rather than the actual play, and it was not until 1726 that any player was mentioned by name in a newspaper report.Maun 2009 33 The London Evening Post was founded in 1726 and carried a good many cricket notices until it ceased publication in 1797. The growth of the newspaper industry was important contemporarily for giving the sport much needed publicity, and historically for providing glimpses into a developing sport that had still not learned how to record itself for posterity.Maun 2009 33Buckley 1935 ix–x; 1–20 Single wicket It was the London Evening Post, in its issue dated Saturday, 27 August 1726, that carried an advertisement for a single wicket match between players called "the noted Perry" (of London) and "the famous Piper" (of Hampton), playing for twenty pounds each. The match was played at Moulsey Hurst, a multi-sport venue near Molesey in Surrey. This is the first time that players are known to have been named in a newspaper, and the match itself is the earliest known to have been played under single wicket rules.Maun 2009 33 Moulsey Hurst was especially famous for prizefighting, but it was often used for cricket throughout the 18th century.Maun 2009 27, 33 County cricket A feature of cricket in the 1720s was the increasing use by teams of county names. Teams called Kent and Surrey had been recorded as far back as 1709, though those may have been parish teams only.Buckley 1937 1 On 29 August 1726, a combined London & Surrey team hosted Stead's Kent on Kennington CommonWaghorn 2005 6 in a match classified as "important" by The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS).ACS 1981 19 The brief newspaper report said it was played "for 25 guineas between the men belonging to Edwin Stead, Esq. of Maidstone and the men of London and Surrey". The result is unknown. 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 team in the 1720s.Waghorn 2005 6 Controversies alt=Colour portrait of a man with a huge wig dressed in red and white|thumb|right|250px|Lord Chief Justice Pratt, painted c.1710 by Michael Dahl. Cricket encountered some legal issues in the first quarter of the 18th century, including two court cases about unpaid gambling debts. The second of these followed a match in 1724 between Edwin Stead's XI and a Chingford team. Terminating Stead's lawsuit, Lord Chief Justice Pratt ordered the match "to be played out" on Dartford Brent in order that the stakes could be settled, but he died in 1725 before it was played out. The replay took place in September 1726 but, again, the result is unknown.Waghorn 2005 6 In the same month and still on the subject of legal matters, a letter was written by a resident of Essex who 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.Buckley 1935 3 G. B. Buckley commented that it seems the JP saw any game or sport as a pretence covering the gathering of disaffected people who intended to raise a rebellion. Given the ruling by Pratt, who had ordered the Stead v Chingford match to be played out on Dartford Brent, the issue raised by the letter-writer was that it was apparently lawful to play cricket in Kent, but not in Essex.Buckley 1935 3 Edmund Chapman One Surrey player who could well have been involved in the game at Kennington was Edmund Chapman of Chertsey, who died on Wednesday, 30 July 1763, aged 68. Chapman was an eminent master bricklayer, and "accounted one of the most dextrous cricket players in England". There are no known references to Chapman earlier than his obituary notice but, given his age, he must have been an active player from the 1710s until perhaps the 1730s, presumably playing for Chertsey, and possibly for Surrey, as his county team.Waghorn 2005 31Maun 2009 128–129 First mentions Clubs and teams HamptonMaun 2009 33 London & SurreyWaghorn 2005 6 Players Perry (London)Maun 2009 33 Piper (Hampton)Maun 2009 33 Notes note References Bibliography ACS Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709–1863 1981 ACS Nottingham https://archive.acscricket.com/online_library/match_guides/bi_imp_match_guide/index.html 85045528 Altham H. S. Harry Altham E. W. Swanton E. W. Swanton A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914) 5th 1962 George Allen & Unwin London 894274808 Birley Derek Derek Birley A Social History of English Cricket 1999 Aurum Press London 978-18-54107-10-7 https://archive.org/details/socialhistoryofe0000birl_d1n5 Internet Archive Bowen Rowland Rowland Bowen Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development 1970 Eyre & Spottiswoode London 978-04-13278-60-9 Buckley G. B. G. B. Buckley Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket 1935 Cotterell & Co. Birmingham 23450280 Buckley G. B. G. B. Buckley Fresh Light on pre-Victorian Cricket 1937 Cotterell & Co. Birmingham 23469107 Byrd William The Secret Diary of William Byrd of Westover, 1709-1712 Dietz Publishing Richmond, Virginia 1941 1364677 https://archive.org/details/secretdiaryofwil0000byrd Internet Archive Haygarth Arthur Arthur Haygarth Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826) Frederick Lillywhite Kennington 1996 1862 978-19-00592-23-9 Major John John Major More Than A Game 2007 HarperCollins London 978-00-07183-64-7 https://archive.org/details/morethangamestor0000majo_b8t0 Internet Archive Malcolm Dominic Globalizing Cricket 2013 Bloomsbury Publishing London 978-18-49665-27-8 https://archive.org/details/oapen-20.500.12657-58720 Internet Archive Marshall John John Marshall (cricket writer) The Duke Who Was Cricket Frederick Muller Ltd London 1961 11214571 Maun Ian Ian Maun From Commons to Lord's, Volume One: 1700 to 1750 2009 Roger Heavens Cambridge 978-19-00592-52-9 McCann Tim Timothy J. McCann Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century 2004 West Sussex Record Office Lewes 978-08-54450-55-8 https://www.sussexrecordsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/Digital_editions/SRS-Vol-88.pdf 88 Underdown David David Underdown Start of Play 2000 Allen Lane Westminster 978-07-13993-30-1 https://archive.org/details/startofplaycrick0000davi Internet Archive Waghorn H. T. H. T. Waghorn The Dawn of Cricket J. W. McKenzie London 2005 1906 978-09-47821-17-3 Further reading ACS 1982 A Guide to FC Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles ACS Nottingham https://archive.acscricket.com/online_library/match_guides/bi_match_guide/index.html 10586869 Wilson Martin An Index to Waghorn Bodyline Books (limited edition, by subscription only) London 2005 Category:1720s in cricket Category:1726 in England Category:English cricket seasons in the 18th century