- 1771 English cricket season
The 1771 English cricket season is notable for the infamous wide bat affair which resulted in a rule being established within the
Laws of Cricket whereby the maximum width of the bat has ever since been four and a quarter inches.Also of great historical significance is the Nottingham v Sheffield match in August which heralded the beginnings of
first-class cricket in the North of England.Honours
* Champion County [An unofficial seasonal title proclaimed by media or historians prior to December 1889 when the official County Championship was constituted] – Hambledon/Hampshire [http://www.jl.sl.btinternet.co.uk/stampsite/cricket/histories/champions.html Champion counties from 1728] ]
Matches
Other events
There were two minor games at Cobham Tilt in which one of the teams was led by
Charles Bennet, 4th Earl of Tankerville , a famous patron of Surrey teams in the 1770s and the employer ofEdward "Lumpy" Stevens , who was a gardener at his Walton-on-Thames estate. Tankerville succeeded to his title on the death of his father on 27 October 1767. This seems to be the earliest mention of him in a cricketing connection .On Sat
16 November , a general meeting "of the subscribers to the Broadhalfpenny Cricket Club will be held at the George Inn, at Hambledon, in order to appoint stewards and settle the plan for the ensuing year"H T Waghorn , "The Dawn of Cricket", Electric Press, 1906] .First mentions
* Thomas White
* ReverendReynell Cotton
*John Thomas de Burgh References
External sources
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Seasons/1771_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
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