The 1742 English cricket season was the 46th cricket season since the earliest recorded eleven-aside match was played. Details have survived of ten significant matches, including two famous matches London and Slindon in September.
Recorded matches
Records have survived of ten significant matches:[1][2]
The counties team is described as "the Gentlemen of Kent and Surry and the Sussex Man from Slending". A large sum of money was at stake with play due to begin at noon. The announcement says "the booths (retail) are to be set back and the ground to be roped round" (i.e., forming a boundary).
"Played for a considerable sum". Wickets were pitched at twelve o’clock. Waghorn's source remarked that this was a return to the "tie game" on 14 June "which gave so much satisfaction to the spectators".[4]
It is known that two Kent players and "the noted bowler from Slendon" 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.
"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". Slindon had only lost one match before the match.[6]
Was originally to have been played on 8 September, but was postponed on account of rain. At the conclusion of the above match Slindon offered to play again, either at Guildford or on the South Downs, for £100, but the challenge was not accepted.[6]
ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709 – 1863. Nottingham: ACS.
Ashley-Cooper, F. S. (1900). "At the Sign of the Wicket: Cricket 1742–1751". Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game. London: Cricket Magazine. OCLC28863559.
McCann, Tim (2004). Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century. Sussex Record Society.
Waghorn, H. T. (1906). The Dawn of Cricket. Electric Press.
Further reading
Altham, H. S. (1962). A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914). George Allen & Unwin.
Birley, Derek (1999). A Social History of English Cricket. Aurum.
Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. Eyre & Spottiswoode.
Buckley, G. B. (1935). Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Cotterell.
Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. HarperCollins.
