1730 English cricket season

Infobox cricket season
season = 1730 English cricket season


imagesize =
caption =
cricket formats = first-class and single wicket
tourists =
county champions = Kent
knockout cup winners =
national league winners =
most runs =
most wickets =
most victims =
most catches = The most noticeable aspect of the 1730 English cricket season record is that it has the largest number of matches to date, with much more coverage in the newspapers than previously. But the most significant aspect of the time was the growing importance of the sport in metropolitan London. The famous Artillery Ground enters the record for the first time and it is clear that the old London Club is establishing predominance over its rivals.

Honours

* Champion County [An unofficial seasonal title proclaimed by media or historians prior to December 1889 when the official County Championship was constituted] – Kent [http://www.jl.sl.btinternet.co.uk/stampsite/cricket/histories/champions.html Champion counties from 1728] ]

Major Matches

Other Events

28 May. Four men of Kent played four of Brentford for £50 at Westerham in Kent, "articles being drawn to play or pay" .

4 June. The return match of the above was scheduled at Kew Green .

29 June. There was a "two threes" contest for £50 at Mickleham Downs in Surrey between three men of Surrey and three men of Sussex. The report in the "London Evening Post" says they were "esteemed the best players in the respective Counties" but unfortunately does not name them. The Sussex three won .

Sometime in August, Mr Edward Stead and three colleagues played a four-a-side game against four Brentford men "for a considerable wager". The Brentford men won. This may have been a repeat of the games on 28 May and 4 June [http://www.jl.sl.btinternet.co.uk/stampsite/cricket/main.html From Lads to Lord's; The History of Cricket: 1300–1787] ] .

On Monday 17 August, a twelve a side game was played at Tonbridge and was "backed by a great many of the noblemen and gentry of that place". It seems to have been a tight contest which was unfinished on the day, so another date was chosen for the conclusion, but nothing further is known .

"October". A match on Datchet Heath, near Windsor, is the first reference to cricket in Buckinghamshire .

References

External sources

* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Seasons/1730_ENG.html CricketArchive match lists]
* [http://www.jl.sl.btinternet.co.uk/stampsite/cricket/main.html From Lads to Lord's; The History of Cricket: 1300 – 1787]

Further reading

* H S Altham, "A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914)", George Allen & Unwin, 1962
* Derek Birley, "A Social History of English Cricket", Aurum, 1999
* Rowland Bowen, "Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development", Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970
* David Underdown, "Start of Play", Allen Lane, 2000