Ridgeway (Sussex cricketer)

Ridgeway (first name and dates of birth and death unknown) was a noted English cricketer of the mid-18th century who played for Sussex and All-England.

He is first recorded in 1743 when he was reported to be one of "the six best players in England". This was when he was due to play in a big "threes" match at the Artillery Ground that attracted high stakes and a crowd in excess of 10,000 (according to the "London Evening Post"). Ridgeway did not play in the match, however, probably due to injury, and he was replaced by John Cutbush F S Ashley-Cooper, "At the Sign of the Wicket: Cricket 1742-1751", "Cricket" Magazine, 1900] .

In 1744, Ridgeway played for Slindon against London Cricket Club in the match from which the earliest known scorecard has survived .

In 1745, after Sussex lost to Surrey at Arundel, Lord John Philip Sackville in a letter dated 14 September to the Duke of Richmond, Sussex's patron said: "I wish you had let Ridgeway play instead of your stopper behind it might have turned the match in our favour" Timothy J McCann, "Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century", Sussex Record Society, 2004] .

That is the last report of this considerable player, whose career probably began in the 1720s or 1730s when match reports did not include much detail [ [http://www.jl.sl.btinternet.co.uk/stampsite/cricket/ladstolords/biog.html#ridgeway From Lads to Lord's – biography of Ridgeway] ] .

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