1738 English cricket season

The 1738 English cricket season was the 42nd cricket season since the earliest recorded eleven-aside match was played. Details have survived of seven matches.

Recorded matches

Records have survived of seven matches:[1][2]

Date	Teams	Venue	Result	Source
July	Chislehurst v London	Chislehurst Common	London won	[3]
	A game that "turned several times" until finally being won by London.
July	London v Chislehurst	Artillery Ground	Chislehurst won by 5 wickets	[4]
	London scored less than 100 in their combined innings. Chislehurst had scored 73 in the first innings and won "without much difficulty".
July	London & Surrey v Kent	Kennington Common	Kent "won easily"	[5]
	A return match was organised but no details remain.[3]
11 July	Chislehurst v Horsmonden	Chislehurst Common	Chislehurst won	[3]
	Played for "a considerable sum of money". The first reference to teams which were prominent for a few seasons before and after 1740. Not recorded by CricetArchive.
21 July	Horsmonden v Chislehurst	Horsmonden	Horsmonden won by an innings and 4 runs	[4]
	Not recorded by CricketArchive.
11 August	London v Mitcham	Artillery Ground	London won by 1 wicket	[6]
	Mitcham totalled 117 in two innings; London 118. The only report was in the Warwickshire & Staffordshire Journal dated 17 August.
September	London v Chislehurst	Artillery Ground	London won	[7]
	Betting on London at the start of the second innings was a guinea to a shilling.

Other events

An advertisement in the Sherborne Mercury on 9 May, is the earliest reference to cricket in Dorset. Twelve Dorchester men at Ridgway Races challenged twelve men from elsewhere to play them at cricket for the prize of twelve pairs of gloves valued at a shilling a pair.[8]

First mentions

Clubs and teams

Chislehurst Cricket Club[3]
Horsmonden Cricket Club[3]

Venues

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References

ACS, p.20.
Other matches in England 1738, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
Waghorn, p.20.
Waghorn, p.21.
Maun, p.91.
Buckley, p.15.
Waghorn, pp.21–22.
Major, p. 116.

Bibliography

ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709 – 1863. Nottingham: ACS.
Buckley, G. B. (1935). Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Cotterell.
Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. HarperCollins.
Maun, Ian (2009). From Commons to Lord's, Volume One: 1700 to 1750. Roger Heavens. ISBN 978 1 900592 52 9.
Waghorn, H. T. (1899). Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730–1773). Blackwood.