Start date 1756 | ||
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The 1756 cricket season was the 159th in England since the earliest known definite reference to cricket in January 1597 (i.e., Old Style – 1598 New Style). Details have survived of five important eleven-a-side and one single wicket matches. The season may be said to mark the beginning of the so-called "Hambledon Era". The Hambledon team, then probably run by a parish organisation rather than the famous club which is believed to have been formed in about 1765, makes its first recorded appearances in three matches against Dartford.
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The Seven Years' War began in 1756 and ended in 1763. It is possible this reduced the number of "great matches", as did the Napoleonic and the two World Wars later. It is probable that cricket's first bowling revolution occurred sometime between 1756 and 1763. Bowlers were certainly pitching the ball by 1770, but there are no surviving reports to describe the reception that pitching had when it was tried and implemented.
Important matches
The following matches are classified as important:
Other events
In Dawn of Cricket, H T Waghorn records a pre-announcement that a "fives" game involving a Hambledon side would be played on Sat 28 August at the Artillery Ground. The Hambledon players are unnamed but their opponents were a strong team: Tom Faulkner, Joe Harris, John Frame, John Bell and Durling. No details of the result were recorded. Stakes were £20 a side. This may have been a curtain raiser for the main event on Monday 30 August.