1729 English cricket season
Encyclopedia
The 1729 English cricket season is the one in which Samuel Johnson
played at Oxford University. The season is also noted for the earliest known innings victory and the earliest known surviving cricket bat
.
There is a bat in The Oval
pavilion which belonged to John Chitty of Knaphill, Surrey. Dated 1729, it is the oldest known bat. It looks more like a field hockey
stick than a modern cricket bat but its curvature was to enable the batsman to play a ball that was always rolled, as in bowls
, never pitched. Pitching began about 30 years later and the straight bats used nowadays were invented in response to the pitched delivery.
Dr Samuel Johnson
attended Oxford University from October 1728 until the following summer and later told James Boswell
that cricket matches were played there. Boswell mentioned this in his Life of Samuel Johnson.
A local game in Gloucester
on Monday 22 September is the earliest known reference to cricket in Gloucestershire
.
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
played at Oxford University. The season is also noted for the earliest known innings victory and the earliest known surviving cricket bat
Cricket bat
A cricket bat is a specialised piece of equipment used by batsmen in the sport of cricket to hit the ball. It is usually made of willow wood. Its use is first mentioned in 1624....
.
Matches
| Date | Match Title | Venue | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 June (Tu) | Kent Kent county cricket teams Kent county cricket teams have been traced back to the 17th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that. Kent, jointly with Sussex, is the birthplace of the sport... v Sussex |
Walworth Common | result unknown | |
The match was for fifty pounds per side with a play or pay rule agreed. |
||||
| 30 July (Wed) | Dartford Dartford Cricket Club Dartford Cricket Club is one of the oldest in England and its origins go back to the early 18th century, perhaps earlier.See also: Dartford Brent... v London London Cricket Club The original London Cricket Club was formed by 1722 and was one of the foremost clubs in English cricket over the next four decades. It is closely associated with the Artillery Ground, where it played most of its home matches.-Early history of London cricket:... |
Dartford (precise venue not specified) | result unknown | |
The teams were described as "the Gentlemen of Dartford and London"; the stake was fifty pounds. |
||||
| 5 August (Tu) | Gentlemen of Middlesex Middlesex county cricket teams Middlesex county cricket teams have been traced back to the 18th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that. Given that the first definite mention of cricket anywhere in the world is dated c.1550 in Guildford, it is almost certain that the game had reached... v Gentlemen of London |
The Woolpack, Islington Islington Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street... |
result unknown | |
The venue was described as "in the Field behind the Woolpack Back Gate near Sadler’s Wells", the match having a stake of £50 per side. Several sources have listed the match in 1728 due to an error in original research. |
||||
| 5 August (Tu) | London v Dartford | Kennington Common | Dartford won "very much" | |
Described thus: "a great Cricket Match at Kennington Common between the Londoners and the Dartford men, for a considerable Sum of Money, Wager and Betts, and the latter beat the former very much". |
||||
| 28 August (Th) | Mr Edward Stead Edward Stead Edward Stead was a famous patron of English cricket, particularly of Kent county cricket teams, in the early 18th century.-Cricket career:... ’s XI v Sir William Gage’s XI |
Penshurst Park | Sir William Gage’s XI won by an innings? | |
This match seems to have resulted in the earliest known innings victory as Gage's XI "got (within three) in one hand, as the former did in two hands, so the Kentish men (i.e., Stead's XI) threw it up". The report added re Thomas Waymark Thomas Waymark Thomas Waymark was an English professional cricketer in the first half of the 18th century... that "a groom of the Duke of Richmond Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond The 2nd Duke of Richmond has been described as early cricket's greatest patron. Although he had played cricket as a boy, his real involvement began after he succeeded to the dukedom... signalised himself by extraordinary agility and dexterity". |
||||
| ? Sept | Sussex, Surrey & Hampshire v Kent Kent county cricket teams Kent county cricket teams have been traced back to the 17th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that. Kent, jointly with Sussex, is the birthplace of the sport... |
Lewes | result unknown | |
This is the first time that Sussex and Hampshire are used in a team name, though not individually. |
||||
Other events
The Oval
The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
pavilion which belonged to John Chitty of Knaphill, Surrey. Dated 1729, it is the oldest known bat. It looks more like a field hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
stick than a modern cricket bat but its curvature was to enable the batsman to play a ball that was always rolled, as in bowls
Bowls
Bowls is a sport in which the objective is to roll slightly asymmetric balls so that they stop close to a smaller "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a pitch which may be flat or convex or uneven...
, never pitched. Pitching began about 30 years later and the straight bats used nowadays were invented in response to the pitched delivery.
Dr Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
attended Oxford University from October 1728 until the following summer and later told James Boswell
James Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland; he is best known for the biography he wrote of one of his contemporaries, the English literary figure Samuel Johnson....
that cricket matches were played there. Boswell mentioned this in his Life of Samuel Johnson.
A local game in Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
on Monday 22 September is the earliest known reference to cricket in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
.