1735 English cricket season
Encyclopedia
In the 1735 English cricket season, the county teams of which records exist were 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...

, Surrey
Surrey county cricket teams
Surrey county cricket teams have been traced back to the 17th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that. The first definite mention of cricket anywhere in the world is dated c.1550 in Guildford.-17th century:...

 and Sussex while 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:...

 and Croydon
Croydon Cricket Club
The original Croydon Cricket Club was one of the oldest in England with origins going back to the early 18th century and perhaps earlier. It played most of its matches at Duppas Hill. The earliest record of the club is in the 1707 season when it played two matches against London Cricket...

 remained the predominant town clubs.

Matches

Date Match Title Venue Result
27 May (Tu) Croydon
Croydon Cricket Club
The original Croydon Cricket Club was one of the oldest in England with origins going back to the early 18th century and perhaps earlier. It played most of its matches at Duppas Hill. The earliest record of the club is in the 1707 season when it played two matches against London Cricket...

 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:...

 
Duppas Hill
Duppas Hill
Duppas Hill is a park, road and surrounding residential area in Waddon, near Croydon in Greater London . It is thought to be named after a family called 'Dubber' or 'Double'.Duppas Hill has a long history of sport and recreation...

, Croydon
London won

Mr G. B. Buckley found four different notices of this match in the Whitehall Evening Post
Whitehall Evening Post
The Whitehall Evening Post was a London newspaper, founded in 1718.It was started in September 1718 by Daniel Defoe; and was then published on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Defoe left it in June 1720, but it continued to exist until the end of the century. It closed in 1801, with issue...

, the London Evening Post, the Weekly Register and the Grub Street Journal. The WEP called the game "Surrey v London" but the others all agreed it was "Croydon v London". The Weekly Register (Sat 31 May) reported that "London beat Croydon with very great ease". The date was Whit Tuesday.
7 June (S) Surrey
Surrey county cricket teams
Surrey county cricket teams have been traced back to the 17th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that. The first definite mention of cricket anywhere in the world is dated c.1550 in Guildford.-17th century:...

 v London
Moulsey Hurst
Moulsey Hurst
Moulsey Hurst is located in what is now West Molesey, Surrey on the south bank of the River Thames above Molesey Lock. It is one of England's oldest sporting venues and was used in the 18th and 19th centuries for cricket, prizefighting and other sports....

London by 9 wkts

Scores are known: Surrey 54 & 44; London 61 & 38-1. Also known are some of the players: Cook, Ellis, Dunn and Wheatley of London; and at least two players called Wood played for Surrey. Mr Ellis could not play because of an injured finger and he was London’s "best bowler". Cook of Brentford ("reckoned one of the best bowlers in England") was brought in to bowl instead of him. The Surrey players called Wood evidently came from Woodcot; one of them was injured during the game. After London lost one wicket in their second innings, the target was reached by Mr Wheatley, the distiller, and Mr Dunn. Never before have so many players’ names been given in a match report.

See also the mention of this match in the following entry (re the "Surrey bunglers"!).
18 June (W) Surrey v London Kennington Common and Artillery Ground
Artillery Ground
The Artillery Ground in Finsbury is one of London's most centrally located cricket grounds, situated just off the City Road immediately north of the City of London...

drawn

Originally arranged to be played on Kennington Common, as reported by the General Evening Post on Thu 12 June, the venue was altered to the Artillery Ground
Artillery Ground
The Artillery Ground in Finsbury is one of London's most centrally located cricket grounds, situated just off the City Road immediately north of the City of London...

 as reported in the London Daily Post on Sat 14 June. The GEP report says that Mr Jervoise of Croydon selected "11 men out of Croydon and that neighbourhood in Surrey". It goes on to report that "the three or four bunglers who played on the Surrey side at Moulsey Hurst
Moulsey Hurst
Moulsey Hurst is located in what is now West Molesey, Surrey on the south bank of the River Thames above Molesey Lock. It is one of England's oldest sporting venues and was used in the 18th and 19th centuries for cricket, prizefighting and other sports....

 last Saturday (7th inst.) do not play."

Scores are known: London 67 & 72; Surrey 97 & 33-7. It is also known that London lost their first wicket at 22-1.

Mr Waghorn says the report’s use of the word "innings" was the earliest he had noticed.
c.25 June (W) Surrey v London Moulsey Hurst
Moulsey Hurst
Moulsey Hurst is located in what is now West Molesey, Surrey on the south bank of the River Thames above Molesey Lock. It is one of England's oldest sporting venues and was used in the 18th and 19th centuries for cricket, prizefighting and other sports....

London by 1 wkt

Surrey was backed by the Prince of Wales
Frederick, Prince of Wales
Frederick, Prince of Wales was a member of the House of Hanover and therefore of the Hanoverian and later British Royal Family, the eldest son of George II and father of George III, as well as the great-grandfather of Queen Victoria...

 and London by 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:...

. One of Surrey’s best players broke a finger when catching the ball and this was said to be the reason for their defeat.
12 July (S) London & 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 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...

 
Moulsey Hurst
Moulsey Hurst
Moulsey Hurst is located in what is now West Molesey, Surrey on the south bank of the River Thames above Molesey Lock. It is one of England's oldest sporting venues and was used in the 18th and 19th centuries for cricket, prizefighting and other sports....

Kent by 4 wkts

This is also reported in Fresh Light . The scores are in Waghorn: London 95 & 41; Kent 80 & 57-6.

The London & Middlesex team consisted of 8 from London and 3 from Middlesex, including Cook of Brentford who was reckoned to be "one of the best bowlers in England". Curiously, Kent’s patron was the Earl of Middlesex, who was the eldest son of the Duke of Dorset. Their opponents were backed by the Prince of Wales. The match was staged for £1000 a side.

The report confirmed that a second match would played in two weeks on Bromley Common
Bromley Common
Bromley Common is the area centered around the road of the same name, stretching between Masons Hill at the south end of Bromley and Hastings Road, Locksbottom. Part of the A21...

 (see below). Interestingly, the General Evening Post reported that the London team was imbalanced by inclusion of the three Middlesex men and lost the match for that reason. The Prince of Wales was reported as saying that his team in the return match would therefore by an all London XI. As Mr Buckley says , this was an early appreciation of teamwork.
18 July (F) London v Surrey Kennington Common London won

The London Daily Post on Sat 19 July reported that London beat Surrey "with ease".
30 July (W) Kent v London Bromley Common
Bromley Common
Bromley Common is the area centered around the road of the same name, stretching between Masons Hill at the south end of Bromley and Hastings Road, Locksbottom. Part of the A21...

Kent by 10 wkts

Scores were recorded as: London 73 & 32; Kent 97 & 9-0.

The report states that a large crowd attended and "a great deal of mischief was done". It seems that horses panicked and riders were thrown while some members of the crowd were "rode over". One man was "carried off for dead" as "HRH" passed by at the entrance to the Common.
13 August (W) Sussex v Kent Lewes
Lewes
Lewes is the county town of East Sussex, England and historically of all of Sussex. It is a civil parish and is the centre of the Lewes local government district. The settlement has a history as a bridging point and as a market town, and today as a communications hub and tourist-oriented town...

Sussex won

The source for this match is a letter from John Whaley to Horace Walpole dated Wed 13 August. He says the Sussex team "seem as much pleased as if they had got an Election". He also reported that "we have been at supper with them all" until one o’clock in the morning.
c.20 August (W) Kent v Sussex Sevenoaks Vine Kent won

The London Evening Post speculated that "the Conqueror" (i.e., a decider) between the Kent and Sussex teams, led by Lord John Philip Sackville and Sir William Gage respectively, would be played in a few days but there is no record of a further match.

Other events

Mon 11 August. The General Evening Post on Thu 7 August announced a single wicket match the following Monday on Kennington Common involving seven players of the London Club. The game would be three against four with Mr Wakeland, Mr Dunn and Mr Pool against Mr Marshall, Mr Ellis and two others. Dunn and Ellis have been mentioned previously .

Thu 28 August. Death of Edward (aka Edwin) 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:...

 reported in the Grub Street Journal
Grub Street Journal
Published from January 8, 1730 to 1738, The Grub-Street Journal was a satire on popular journalism and hack-writing as it was conducted in Grub Street in London. It was largely edited by Richard Russel and the botanist John Martyn...

 dated Thu 4 September. Mr Stead was a noted patron of the game from the mid-1720s and may have been a good player too. He was a Maidstone man who undoubtedly did much to promote the game in Kent. A compulsive gambler, it seems he died in reduced circumstances. One account stated that he died "near Charing Cross" and another that he died "in Scotland Yard" .

External sources


Further reading

  • H S Altham
    Harry Altham
    Harry Surtees Altham, CBE, DSO, MC was an English cricketer who became an important figure in the game as an administrator, historian and coach. His Wisden obituary described him as "among the best known personalities in the world of cricket"...

    , A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914), George Allen & Unwin, 1962
  • Derek Birley
    Derek Birley
    Sir Derek Birley was an English educator and writer who had a strong interest in sport, especially cricket.He was educated at grammar school in Hemsworth, West Yorkshire, and at Queens' College, Cambridge University....

    , A Social History of English Cricket, Aurum, 1999
  • Rowland Bowen
    Rowland Bowen
    Major Rowland Francis Bowen was a cricket researcher, historian and writer....

    , Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970
  • David Underdown
    David Underdown
    David E. Underdown was a historian of 17th-century English politics and culture and Professor Emeritus at Yale University. Born at Wells, Somerset, Underdown was educated at the Blue School and Exeter College, Oxford...

    , Start of Play, Allen Lane, 2000
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