1766 English cricket season

Details of only three significant matches have survived the 1766 English cricket season.^{[note 1]}

The Bartholomews

On Thursday, 6 February, Robert Bartholomew died. He had played for Surrey in the 1750s and may have been related to the Bartholomews who played for Chertsey in the 1770s. He was the master of the Angel Inn at Islington and also of White Conduit House.^[5]

Demise of the Artillery Ground

Perhaps another nail in the coffin of the Artillery Ground when its latest keeper Mr Read died on Thursday, 25 September. Like George Smith before him, he was also the landlord of the Pyed Horse Inn.^[5]

Matches

Sussex met Hampshire at a place called the Race Down, in the county of Hampshire.^[6] The London Evening Post on 8 May 1766 said: "On Thursday the 19th, will be played a Grand Subscription Cricket Match, play'd on the Race Down, between the Counties of Hampshire and Sussex. The Wickets to be pitched by Ten o'Clock". It is known that Hampshire won.^[7]

This is the earliest reference to Hampshire as an individual county team. Whether the Hambledon Club was involved is unrecorded. Some historians believe it was at about this time that the club, as distinct from a parish organisation, was founded. After the first innings the odds were 40 to 1 against Hampshire. Another source has recorded Tuesday, 17 June as the date, and has surmised that Goodwood was the venue, but all that can be said for certain is that Hampshire won.^[8]

On 29 September, Bourne, long associated with Horatio Mann, played Dartford on Bishopsbourne Paddock. No details are known of the game apart from a brief mention in the Kentish Weekly Post.^[9]^[10]

As late as 8 October, Chertsey met Hambledon on Dartford Brent, a neutral venue. The result is unknown.^[6]^[9]

Notes

^ Some eleven-a-side matches played from 1772 to 1863 have been rated "first-class" by certain sources.^[1] However, the term only came into common use around 1864, when overarm bowling was legalised. It was formally defined as a standard by a meeting at Lord's, in May 1894, of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the county clubs which were then competing in the County Championship. The ruling was effective from the beginning of the 1895 season, but pre-1895 matches of the same standard have no official definition of status because the ruling is not retrospective.^[2] Matches of a similar standard since the beginning of the 1864 season are generally considered to have an unofficial first-class status.^[3] Pre-1864 matches which are included in the ACS' "Important Match Guide" may generally be regarded as top-class or, at least, historically significant.^[4] For further information, see First-class cricket.

References

^ "First-Class matches in England in 1772". CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
^ Wisden (1948). Preston, Hubert (ed.). Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (85th ed.). London: Sporting Handbooks Ltd. p. 813. OCLC 851705816.
^ ACS 1982, pp. 4–5.
^ ACS 1981, pp. 1–40.
^ ^a ^b Buckley 1937, p. 4.
^ ^a ^b ACS 1981, p. 23.
^ Waghorn 1899.
^ Ashley Mote, The Glory Days of Cricket, Robson, 1997
^ ^a ^b Cricket Quarterly edited by Rowland Bowen.
^ Maun 2011, p. 163.

Bibliography

ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709–1863. Nottingham: ACS. OCLC 85045528.
ACS (1982). A Guide to First-class Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles. Nottingham: ACS. OCLC 10586869.
Buckley, G. B. (1937). Fresh Light on pre-Victorian Cricket. Birmingham: Cotterell & Co. OCLC 23469107.
Maun, Ian (2011). From Commons to Lord's, Volume Two: 1751 to 1770. Leicester: Martin Wilson. ISBN 978-09-56906-60-1.
Waghorn, H. T. (1899). Cricket Scores, Notes, &c. From 1730–1773. Edinburgh: Blackwood. OCLC 1086375331.