Start date 1729 | ||
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The 1729 cricket season was the 132nd in England since the earliest known definite reference to cricket in January 1597 (i.e., Old Style – 1598 New Style). Details have survived of seven important matches.
Contents
- Important matches
- County cricket
- Other events
- Counties
- Clubs and teams
- Players
- Venues
- Additional reading
- References
The earliest known innings victory is believed to have happened in 1729 and the earliest known surviving cricket bat dates from the season. The earliest known reference to cricket in the county of Gloucestershire has been found.
Important matches
The following matches are classified as important:
County cricket
It appears that Gage's XI was representative of three counties and so should perhaps be considered a Rest of England team formed to challenge Kent, who had hitherto enjoyed: "the scale of victory, which for some years past has been generally on the Kentish side" (see above). The match on 24 June involved a team specifically named Sussex, but the result is unknown. Despite losing to Gage's team in August, Kent under the patronage of Edwin Stead is generally believed to have been the strongest county team of the 1720s.
Other events
There is a bat in The Oval pavilion which belonged to John Chitty of Knaphill, Surrey. Dated 1729, it is the oldest known bat. It looks more like a field hockey stick than a modern cricket bat but its curvature was to enable the batsman to play a ball that was always rolled or skimmed along the ground, as in bowls, never pitched. Pitching began about 30 years later and the straight bats used nowadays were invented in response to the pitched delivery.
Dr Samuel Johnson attended the University of Oxford from October 1728 until the following summer and later told James Boswell that cricket matches were played there. Boswell mentioned this in his Life of Samuel Johnson.
A local game in Gloucester on Monday, 22 September is the earliest known reference to cricket in Gloucestershire.