1752 English cricket season

The 1752 English cricket season saw a resurgence of the famous Dartford Cricket Club.

Impact of the Gregorian Calendar

It was a very important year in dating terms. The Gregorian calendar, first devised in 1582, was finally adopted in Great Britain. An 11-day discrepancy between the Julian and Gregorian versions was corrected by having Wednesday 2 September 1752 followed by Thursday 14 September 1752. There was civil unrest among the population due to a widespread belief that people’s lives were literally being shortened by 11 days! Fortunately, for the purposes of cricket history, the calendar change has minimal impact because the cricket season never began before 25 March and so the year is always the same whether a Julian or Gregorian date is used, apart from a few "out of season" references that need to be noted accordingly. The only problem is that care has to be taken re any original sources that insisted on using the Julian date after the Gregorian Calendar was introduced. Indeed, there is an example of this below re the "Sussex Weekly Advertiser".

Honours

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

Matches

Other events

On Thursday 27 February (Julian), the "Daily Advertiser" reported that George Smith of the Artillery Ground had taken the late Duke of Somerset’s house at Marlborough and intended to open it as an inn. Smith offered the Artillery Ground and its dwelling house, etc. on lease for 7 years. Smith had evidently overcome his bankruptcy problems in 1748 .

On Saturday 30 May (Julian), the "Daily Advertiser" carried a notice re the Artillery Ground that "gentlemen may be supplied with bats and balls" and that "the ground is kept in good order for play by your humble servant William Sharpe" .

The "Daily Advertiser" on Mon 31 August (two days before the end of the Julian Calendar) announced a game on the same day between Marybone ("sic") Club and 11 of London for a guinea a man: "to meet at Francis Ludgate’s, the Sun and Sportsman next the church. Wickets to be pitched at 1, and the match played out". Note that this "Marylebone Club" had no connection with the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) .

On the same day, there was a match at Durdham Down near Bristol between 11 of Bristol and 11 of London for 20 guineas. This was announced in "Felix Farley’s Bristol Journal" on Sat 29 August (Julian) G B Buckley, "Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket", Cotterell, 1935] .

References

External sources

* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Seasons/1752_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