1742 English cricket season

Cricket season review November 2025 November 2025 1741 1741 English cricket season 1743 1743 English cricket season The highlights of the 1742 English cricket season were the two famous London versus Slindon matches in September. There was another match involving a team called England, and the word "cricketer" was used for the first time. Details of ten historically important matches are known.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. London v Slindon In September, London and Slindon played two matches on the Artillery Ground.ACS 1981 21 There has been confusion about the dates, and the margin of London's victory in the second match, due to one source's misinterpretation of ambiguous reports in the London Evening Post dated 9 to 11 September.Waghorn 1899 28–29Wilson 2005 45 Elsewhere, the references to the second match confirm that 6th and 10th are the correct dates for the two matches. The Daily Advertiser of Saturday, 11 September 1742, reports the margin in the second match as 184 notches and says it was played yesterday.McCann 2004 24 According to Maun's source, the game was due to commence on Wednesday, 8 September, "but was postponed (to the 10th) on account of rain".Maun 2009 114 Ashley-Cooper said of the first game on the 6th that "London won with great difficulty". A contemporary report said Slindon came into the match having "played forty-three games and lost but one". Several wagers were laid that one Slindon batter—almost certainly Richard Newland—would obtain forty runs off his own bat, a feat he failed to achieve.https://archive.acscricket.com/cricket/1900/10/ Ashley-Cooper F. S. F. S. Ashley-Cooper At the Sign of the Wicket Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game Merritt & Hatcher Ltd London XIX 530 4–6 25 January 1900 ACSMcCann 2004 22 On the 10th, London won the postponed return match by 184 runs. Slindon offered to play a third match against London, either at Guildford or on the South Downs for £100, but the challenge wasn't accepted.McCann 2004 23–24 Surrey v England Surrey met and defeated a multi-county team, 23 August on Moulsey Hurst. Although later sources have called Surrey's opponents England, the original notice described them as "London, Westminster, Middlesex, Southwark and Part of Kent". Ashley-Cooper mentioned that the Moulsey Hurst ground was in 1900 held by the Hurst Park Racing Club.ACS 1981 21 London v Bromley Following the tied match between London and Surrey in 1741, there was another when London met Bromley, 14 June 1742, on the Artillery Ground. Waghorn's source remarked that the game "gave so much satisfaction to the spectators".ACS 1981 21Waghorn 2005 12 The teams arranged a rematch on 9 August, also on the Artillery Ground. This was to be "played for a considerable sum", but the result is unknown.ACS 1981 21Waghorn 2005 12 In 1900, Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game presented a series of 18th century cricket notices, collated by F. S. Ashley-Cooper, as part of his regular At the Sign of the Wicket feature. The series ran through six issues (nos 530–535) from 25 January to 26 April 1900. The London v Bromley tie was the first match notice in the series, which covered the ten seasons from 1742 to 1851. The last notice was about a single wicket event on 26 August 1751.https://archive.acscricket.com/cricket/1900/89/ Ashley-Cooper F. S. F. S. Ashley-Cooper At the Sign of the Wicket Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game Merritt & Hatcher Ltd London XIX 535 83–85 26 April 1900 ACS Matches with unknown results In addition to the August match against Bromley, London arranged five others which were pre-announced but have no known outcomes. The first was scheduled for 7 July, against Richmond on the Artillery Ground. A "considerable sum" was at stake.ACS 1981 21 The same situation applied to a match against Croydon on 26 July.ACS 1981 21Waghorn 2005 12 On 2 August, London were due to play a combined Kent, Surrey & Sussex at Duppas Hill, Croydon. The pre-match notice describes the counties team as "the Gentlemen of Kent and Surry and the Sussex Man from Slending (Slindon)". It is possible, but by no means certain, that Richard Newland was the given man. A large sum of money was at stake, and the announcement says "the booths (retail) are to be set back and the ground to be roped round (i.e., forming a boundary)".McCann 2004 22 Croydon were due to play London a second time, 16 August, again on the Artillery Ground. It is known that two Kent players and "the noted bowler from Slendon (sic)" were to assist Croydon; while two Surrey players were given men to London. The "noted Slindon bowler" may have been Edward Aburrow Sr.ACS 1981 21Waghorn 2005 12McCann 2004 22 The last of these matches was London v Surrey, due 2 September on the Artillery Ground. A Kent player from Bromley (possibly Robert Colchin) was to be a given man for London. This match was originally scheduled for 6 September. It was rearranged because of the visit of Slindon to London on the 6th.ACS 1981 21Waghorn 2005 12 Other events A schoolteacher in New Romney made the earliest known use of the word "cricketer" when completing a diary entry. He bestowed the accolade upon one William Pullen of Cranbrook, but it was in connection with Pullen's death. He had just been hanged, on Penenden Heath near Maidstone, for stealing a sheep and five bushels of wheat.Maun 2009 115 On Thursday, 27 May, the poet Thomas Gray (1716–1771) wrote a letter to a Mr Richard West and said: "There is my Lords ** and ***, they are Statesmen; Do not you remember them dirty boys playing at cricket"? The two "noble lords" are believed to have been John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford and John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich.Maun 2009 110 First mentions Clubs and teams BromleyWaghorn 2005 12 Kent, Surrey & SussexMcCann 2004 22 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 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 Waghorn H. T. H. T. Waghorn Cricket Scores, Notes, &c. From 1730–1773 Blackwood Edinburgh 1899 1086375331 Waghorn H. T. H. T. Waghorn The Dawn of Cricket J. W. McKenzie London 2005 1906 978-09-47821-17-3 Wilson Martin An Index to Waghorn Bodyline Books (limited edition, by subscription only) London 2005 Further reading 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 Major John John Major More Than A Game 2007 HarperCollins London 978-00-07183-64-7 https://archive.org/details/morethangamestor0000majo_b8t0 Internet Archive Marshall John John Marshall (cricket writer) The Duke Who Was Cricket Frederick Muller Ltd London 1961 11214571 Category:1740s in cricket Category:English cricket seasons in the 18th century Category:1742 in England