1730 English cricket season

The 1730 English cricket season was the 34th cricket season since the earliest recorded eleven-aside match was played. Details have survived of 14 matches as well as four notable single wicket matches.

Newspaper coverage of cricket increased during 1730 and the sport seems to have become more important in metropolitan London and its surrounding areas. The first recorded match took place at the Artillery Ground in London, although cricket is thought to have been played on the ground as early as 1725.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Recorded matches

The following eleven-aside matches are recorded:^[4]^[5]

Date	Teams	Venue	Result	Source
June or July	Surrey v Middlesex	Richmond Green	Surrey won	^[6]^[7]^[8]
	Waghorn's original source was imprecise about the date and he simply recorded it in his Cricket Scores as "June" but subsequent research revealed that the match was played in early July.^{[citation needed]}
12 June	Duke of Richmond's XI v Sir William Gage's XI	Bury Hill, Arundel	result unknown	^[9]
	In a letter written by Henry Forster two days earlier, he says: "Ye say in Chichester his grace is to play a cricket mach friday with Sr Willm Gaige on Bery Hill". It is unclear if the match was ever played.
2 July	London v Kent	Gray's Inn Lane, London	Kent won	^[6]^[7]^[8]^[10]
	The precise location was "a field near the lower end of Gray's Inn Lane, London". The original source reports "a cricket-match between the Kentish men and the Londoners for £50, and won by the former".
9 July	Andrews XI v Duke of Richmond's XI	Guildford Bason	Surrey won	^[6]^[7]^[8]^[11]
	Waghorn refers to the teams in terms of their respective patrons: Mr Andrews of Sunbury-on-Thames for Surrey and the Duke of Richmond for Sussex. Kent patron Edwin Stead was among the spectators.
23 July	Epsom v Sunbury	Epsom Down	result unknown	^[11]^[12]
	Not recorded by CricketArchive.
31 July	Greenwich v London	Blackheath	result unknown	^[11]
	Played for a prize of 20 guineas.
August	Putney v Fulham	Putney Heath	Putney won	^[13]^[14]
	The exact date is unknown. The match was reportedly played for "50 guineas per side". It is the only known instance of a team called Putney and of a match at this venue, now part of Wimbledon Common.
5 August	Duke of Richmond's XI v Sir William Gage's XI	The Dripping Pan, Lewes	result unknown	^[6]^[7]^[15]
	An announcement about the match states that it "was put off on account of Waymark, the Duke’s man, being ill". It is not clear if it was cancelled or postponed. A prize of 100 guineas was at stake.
5 August	Kent v London	Blackheath	drawn	^[11]
	The report says the "Kentish champions would have lost their honours by being beat at one innings if time had permitted". A repeat was scheduled for 12 August at Islington.
12 August	London v Kent	Frog Lane, Islington	result unknown	^[16]
	The match started at a place known only as "Frog Lane" in Islington on 12 August "but being obliged by their articles to leave off at seven o’clock, they could not finish it". London had a lead of 30 when play ended with a resumption scheduled for 18 August at Kennington Common, although no report has survived of the resumption.
21 August	Middlesex v Surrey	unknown	result unknown	^[14]
	Not recorded by CricketArchive.
26 August	London v Surrey	Kennington Common	London won by 1 run	^[16]
	London's single run victory over Surrey was "thought to be one of the completest matches that ever was played".
31 August	London v Surrey	Artillery Ground	London won by 6 runs	^[11]
	The stake was 20 guineas.
4 September	London v Surrey	Artillery Ground	result unknown	^[16]

Single wicket matches

Four single wicket matches are known to have taken place in 1730. On 28 May four men of Kent played four of Brentford for £50 at Westerham Common in Kent with a return scheduled at Kew Green on 4 June. On 29 June at Mickleham Downs in Surrey a match was played between three men of Surrey and three of Sussex. The newspaper report says the players were "esteemed the best in the respective counties" but does not name them.^[11] On 26 August Edwin Stead and three colleagues played a four-a-side single wicket match against four Brentford men on Walworth Common "for a considerable wager".^[7]^[17]

Other events

During April, there were reports in a number of journals about the Duke of Richmond and other members of the nobility playing cricket in Hyde Park. One such report on 7 April, stated: "His Grace the Duke of Richmond, and several other young Noblemen and gentlemen, have begun to divert themselves each Morning at the Play of Cricket in Hide Park, and design to pursue that wholesome Exercise every fair Morning during the Spring".^[18] A further report on 22 April mentioned an intention to play a match for 100 guineas.^[19]

A twelve-a-side game was played at Tonbridge on 17 August "backed by a great many of the noblemen and gentry of that place" and on 2 October a match on Datchet Heath, near Windsor, is the first reference to cricket in the county of Buckinghamshire..^[13]^[20]

First mentions

Clubs and teams

Players

Mr Andrews (Sunbury and Surrey)^[6]

Venues

References

^ ^a ^b Artillery Ground, CricInfo. Retrieved 2019-01-01.
^ ^a ^b Honourable Artillery Company Ground, Finsbury, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2019-01-01. (subscription required)
^ Cricket Club, The Honourable Artillery Company. Retrieved 2018-01-01.
^ ACS, p.19.
^ Other matches in England 1730, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2019-01-01. (subscription required)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Waghorn, p.1.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Wilson, p.44.
^ ^a ^b ^c Maun, p.42.
^ McCann, p. 10.
^ Ashley-Cooper, p.96.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Buckley 1835, p.4.
^ ^a ^b Maun, p.29.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Waghorn, p.3.
^ ^a ^b Maun, p.45.
^ Maun, p.43.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Waghorn, p.2.
^ Waghorn, pp.3–4.
^ Maun, p.41.
^ Buckley 1937, p.1.
^ Maun, p.46.

Bibliography

ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709 – 1863. Nottingham: ACS.
Ashley-Cooper, F. S. (1880). Kent Cricket Matches 1719–1796. Gibbs & Sons.
Buckley, G. B. (1935). Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Cotterell.
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.
Waghorn, H. T. (1899). Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730–1773). Blackwood.
Wilson, Martin (2005). An Index to Waghorn. Bodyline.