1731 English cricket season

Infobox cricket season
season = 1731 English cricket season


imagesize =
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cricket formats = first-class and single wicket
tourists =
county champions = Croydon CC/Surrey
knockout cup winners =
national league winners =
most runs =
most wickets =
most victims =
most catches = By the 1731 English cricket season, match reports were much more common and tended to contain more detail, sometimes including the names of patrons and players. Therefore we have a considerably larger record of the 1730s than of previous decades. There are 26 matches in 1731.

The most dramatic match of the season was the one at Richmond Green on 23 August. It ended in a riot and it is believed the Duke of Richmond conceded defeat after the match was originally declared a draw. But most significant of all is that it is the earliest match for which the team totals were recorded and have been preserved, rather than simply who won the wager.

Honours

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

Matches

Other events

"July". A single wicket match at Maidstone between two officers of the Royal Horse Guards, Captain Beak and Lieutenant Coke. It was for a "considerable sum of money" and won by Captain Beak after three hours "very hard played". Mr Waghorn says it is the first military match he found during his researches .

"July". An unusual match at Duppas Hill, Croydon between a Kent team and a Surrey team who were all called Wood. The Kent team won. This is interesting given the well documented confusion over different players called Wood in the 1770s H T Waghorn, "Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730-1773)", Blackwood, 1899] .

"Saturday 2 October": "a great cricket match will be play’d in the Artillery Ground; it will be the last plaid "(sic)" this season; 11 of a side, stumps to be pitch’d exactly at 12 o’clock" .

"Saturday 2 October" at Mitcham Cricket Green in Surrey. The local club played against Ewell, also in Surrey, for a small stake. This is interesting because it mentions "the famous Tim Coleman" who usually played for the London and was in the Ewell team on this occasion. It is rarely that a player is mentioned by name in these early reports and even more rarely that he is given praise. Mr Coleman was on the losing side in this game as the home team won "by several notches" H T Waghorn, "The Dawn of Cricket", Electric Press, 1906] .

References

External sources

* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Seasons/1731_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