1742 English cricket season

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The 1742 English cricket season is notable for the two great London versus Slindon matches in September.

1 Matches
2 Other Events
3 Main Sources
4 Additional References

[edit] Matches

Date	Match Title	Venue	Source	Result
14 June (M)	London v Bromley	Artillery Ground	ASW	tied
This is the second known instance of a tied match, following the Surrey v London game at Richmond Green on Wed 22 July 1741. ASW = At the Sign of the Wicket (Cricket Magazine 1900) by FS Ashley-Cooper.
7 July (W)	London v Richmond	Artillery Ground	ASW	result unknown
This was "played for a considerable sum". Wickets were pitched at one o’clock.
26 July (M)	London v Croydon	Artillery Ground	ASW	result unknown
This was "played for a considerable sum". Wickets were pitched at one o’clock.
2 August (M)	Kent/Surrey/Sussex v London	Duppas Hill, Croydon	TJM	result unknown
The counties team is described as "the Gentlemen of Kent and Surry (sic) and the Sussex Man from Slending (sic)".
9 August (M)	London v Bromley	Artillery Ground	ASW	result unknown
This was "played for a considerable sum". Wickets were pitched at twelve o’clock.
16 August (M)	London/Surrey v Kent/Croydon/Slindon	Artillery Ground	ASW	result unknown
We know that two Kent players and "the noted bowler from Slendon (sic)" assisted Croydon; while two Surrey players were given men to London. Played for a "considerable sum of money" with the ground to be roped round. This was clearly a replay of the game on Monday 2 August (see above).
23 August (M)	Surrey v All-England	Moulsey Hurst	ASW	Surrey won
Mr Ashley-Cooper mentioned that the Moulsey Hurst ground was in 1900 held by the Hurst Park Racing Club.
2 September (Th)	London v Surrey	Artillery Ground	ASW	result unknown
We know that a Kent player from Bromley assisted London as a given man. The match was originally scheduled for 6 September and was rearranged because of the visit of Slindon to London on that date.
6 September (M)	London v Slindon	Artillery Ground	ASW	London won
ASW states: "London won with great difficulty. The wickets were pitched at twelve o’clock on the forfeit of 100 guineas. During the last innings of the match, the betting was as much as 20 to 1 in favour of Slindon so much praise must be given to London for winning. Before the match, the Slindon men had played forty-three games and lost but one. Several wagers were laid that one Slindon batsman, almost certainly Richard Newland, would obtain forty runs from his own bat – a feat he failed to perform. Had the match not been completed on the Monday play would have resumed on the Wednesday".
10 September (F)	London v Slindon	Artillery Ground	TJM	London won by 184 runs
ASW states: "The wickets were pitched at eleven o’clock on the forfeit of 100 guineas. This match was to have been played on Wed 8 September, but was postponed to above date on account of rain. At the conclusion of the above match Slindon offered to play another match against London either at Guildford or on the South Downs for £100, but the challenge was not accepted".

There has been confusion about the dates of the two London v Slindon matches and the margin of victory in the second, due to Mr Waghorn’s use of ambiguous reports in the London Evening Post dated 9th to 11th September. In TJM, the references to the second match make it clear that 6th and 10th are the correct dates for the two matches. Mr McCann has The Daily Advertiser of Sat 11 September 1742 reporting the margin in the second match as 184 notches and that it was played yesterday.

[edit] Other Events

A schoolteacher in New Romney made the earliest known use of the word "cricketer" when completing a diary entry. He bestowed the accolade upon one William Pullen of Cranbrook but it was in connection with Pullen’s death. He had just been hanged on Penenden Heath near Maidstone for stealing a sheep and five bushels of wheat!

Thursday 27 May. The poet Thomas Gray (1716 – 1771) wrote a letter to Mr Richard West and said: "There is my Lords ** and ***, they are Statesmen; Do not you remember them dirty boys playing at cricket?" The two "noble lords" are believed to have been the Duke of Bedford and the Earl of Sandwich.

Mr Waghorn in WCS has London v Woburn at the Artillery Ground on Sun 13 June but he has the year wrong. The match was played on Mon 13 June 1743 and the return match which he says was scheduled for 1 August 1742 was also in 1743. Correct information about both games is in ASW.

Similar errors were made re the Chislehurst & Bromley v London games on Fri 24 June 1743 and Mon 28 June 1743, Mr Waghorn in WCS noting the year as 1742. As before, see ASW for correct versions.

English cricketers of 1701 to 1760

English cricket teams in the 18th century

English cricket venues in the 18th century

English cricket seasons to 1815

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[edit] Main Sources

Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians - various publications
At the Sign of the Wicket: Cricket 1742 - 1751 by F S Ashley-Cooper in Cricket Magazine (1900) (ASW)
Cricket Scores 1730 - 1773 by H T Waghorn (WCS)
Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket by G B Buckley (FL18)
Fresh Light on Pre-Victorian Cricket by G B Buckley (FLPV)
Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century by Timothy J McCann (TJM)
The Dawn of Cricket by H T Waghorn (WDC)