1766 English cricket season

The 1766 English cricket season is a season about which little is known.

On Thurs 6 February, Robert Bartholomew died (FLPV). He had played for Surrey in the 1750s and may well have been related to the Bartholomews who played for Chertsey in the 1770s. He was the master of the Angel Inn at Islington (well-known to Monopoly enthusiasts) and also of White Conduit House.

Perhaps another nail in the coffin of the Artillery Ground when its latest keeper Mr Read died on Thurs 25 September (FLPV). Like George Smith before him, he was also the landlord of the Pyed Horse Inn.

Historical background The Stamp Act was repealed but, at the same time, the Marquess of Rockingham passed the Declaratory Act which was a firm statement of imperial intent and asserted the complete authority of Parliament to make binding laws on the American colonies "in all cases whatsoever". Internal dissension within the government caused Rockingham to resign from office in July. Rockingham became an opposition leader for the next 16 years, strenuously objecting to Britain’s North American policies. The new prime minister (till 1768) was William Pitt (the Elder), 1st Earl of Chatham.

Australia and New Zealand

It was in 1766 that the Royal Society commissioned Captain James Cook (1728 – 1779) to lead an astronomical expedition to the Pacific Ocean for the primary purpose of charting a transit of Venus. He had a second purpose which was to search for a southern continent called Terra Australis, and to establish if this had a connection with the lands visited by Abel Tasman in the 1640s.

Captain Cook left England in 1768. He sailed south and around Cape Horn to reach Tahiti in April 1769, where the astronomical survey was concluded. He then sailed west to try and find New Zealand. He did so and, apart from a few minor errors, mapped the complete coastline. He discovered the Cook Strait between the two main islands, which Tasman had missed.

In April 1770, the expedition sailed westward from New Zealand and they became the first Europeans to reach the east coast of Australia at a place called Point Hicks on the coast of Victoria. Cook sailed northwards, following the coast, and charted some famous landmarks including Botany Bay, which would soon earn notoriety. In June, he encountered, rather than found, the Great Barrier Reef when his ship, HM Bark Endeavour, ran aground on one of its shoals. During repairs near modern Cooktown, his men made contact with Aboriginals and saw kangaroos. Cook continued the voyage around the northeast coast and through the Torres Strait to Batavia before returning to England in 1771.

Cook’s voyages were a highly significant precursor to the worldwide spread of cricket. It was to be some years before colonisation of Australia (from 1788) and New Zealand (after 1800) began but cricket soon arrived there too and we have our first definite references to the sport in Australia in 1804 and in New Zealand in 1832. Incidentally, the first cricket reference in the West Indies (Barbados to be exact) is in 1806 and in South Africa it is in 1808. We have already seen the game being introduced to India and North America.

Matches

Date	Match Title	Venue	Source	Result
c.19 June (Th)	Sussex v Hampshire	venue unknown	WCS	Hampshire won
This is the earliest reference to Hampshire as an individual county team. Whether the Hambledon Club was involved is unrecorded but presumably it was. 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. GDC has recorded Tues 17 June as the date and has surmised that Goodwood was the venue but all we can say for certain is that the Hampshire team won. WCS says the game was on a Thursday and 19 June seems a likely candidate.
29 September (M)	Bourne v Dartford	Bishopsbourne Paddock	CQ	result unknown
No details are known of the game apart from a mention in the Kentish Weekly Post.
8 October (W)	Chertsey v Hambledon	Dartford Brent	CQ	result unknown
The choice of Dartford Brent as the venue for the Chertsey v Hambledon match seems strange as it was neutral.

External links

• From Lads to Lord's; The History of Cricket: 1300 – 1787

References

• 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)