1759 English cricket season

Three Dartford v All-England matches were played in the 1759 English cricket season and a number of well-known names were involved.

Honours

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

Matches

Arthur Haygarth refers to this "tri-series" on page 2 of "Scores & Biographies", but only to the two games won by Dartford. He appears to believe that only two games were played. He found the names of the players in both those matches in "Bell’s Life" dated 23 November 1845, but no scores Arthur Haygarth, "Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744-1826)", Lillywhite, 1862] . "Bell’s Life" stated that the matches took place in 1765 and Mr Haygarth says another account has 1762, but it is evident that G B Buckley has got the dates (and the sequence) right as above.

Dartford’s team, evidently unchanged in all three games, was: Tom Faulkner, Gascoigne (both London, given men), John Frame, John Bell (wk), Potter (long stop), Thomas Brandon, Thomas Bell, Goldstone, Killick, Stevens (possibly Edward "Lumpy" Stevens), Wakelin.

The All-England team, also apparently unchanged, was: Burchwood (Kent), John Edmeads (Surrey), Gill (Bucks, wk), Wood (Surrey, long stop), Stephen Harding (Surrey), John Haynes (Surrey), Durling (Kent), Saunders (Berkshire), Allen (Middlesex), Nyland ("sic", Sussex), Cheeseman (Sussex).

The main bowlers were stated to be Faulkner and Frame for Dartford; and Burchwood and Edmeads for All-England.

The most intriguing names are Nyland, who could have been any of the Newland brothers or perhaps their famous nephew Richard Nyren; and Stevens, who may have been the great Lumpy himself. Richard Nyren and Lumpy were both 24 in 1759.

John Frame, who began in the 1740s, played on into the 1770s. He was the greatest bowler in England before Lumpy, Brett and Harris came along. John Edmeads, assuming it is the same man, was still playing for Chertsey and Surrey in the 1770s. Gill of Bucks is probably the wicket keeper in the score-recorded Hampshire v All-England match of June 1772. Wood the long stop is probably the Surrey player of the 1770s who is often confused in the records with his namesake from Kent.

First mentions

* John Edmeads
* Gill (Bucks)
* John (Thomas) Wood (Chertsey and Surrey)
* Burchwood (Kent)
* John Haynes (Surrey)

References

External sources

* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Seasons/1759_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
* Ashley Mote, "The Glory Days of Cricket", Robson, 1997
* David Underdown, "Start of Play", Allen Lane, 2000