Bromley Cricket Club
Encyclopedia
Bromley Cricket Club was one of the strongest English cricket
clubs in the mid-18th century when its team was led by Robert Colchin
aka "Long Robin".
and Sussex
so it must have been played in and around Bromley
since time immemorial. The first definite mention of the area in a cricket connection is a 1735 match
on nearby Bromley Common
between Kent
and London Cricket Club
. Kent won by 10 wickets after scoring 97 and 9-0 in reply to London's 73 and 32.
The report of this match states that a large crowd attended and a great deal of mischief was done. It seems that horses panicked and riders were thrown while some members of the crowd were rode over. One man was carried off for dead as HRH passed by at the entrance to the Common. "HRH" was Frederick, Prince of Wales
.
, his son William Bowra
, Robert Lascoe
and the brothers James and John Bryant.
A remarkable match took place on 14 June 1742 between London and Bromley at the Artillery Ground
. It ended in a tie and is only the second known instance of this result, following the Surrey
v London game at Richmond Green
on 22 July 1741.
The club probably reached its peak in September 1744, a time when Colchin was also at the pinnacle of his career. Following the victory over London by Richard Newland
's Slindon
at the Artillery Ground, the "Slindon Challenge" was issued to "play any parish in England". They received immediate acceptances from Addington Cricket Club
and from Bromley who were due to play Slindon in the same month.
Unfortunately, although it is known that Slindon v Bromley was arranged to be played at the Artillery Ground on Friday 14 September 1744, the result is unknown and it seems certain that, as with Slindon's game against Addington, it was rained off.
Bromley was a top-class team through the 1740s until its final major match in 1752, two years after Colchin's death.
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
clubs in the mid-18th century when its team was led by Robert Colchin
Robert Colchin
Robert "Long Robin" Colchin was a highly influential professional English cricketer of the mid-Georgian period at a time when the single wicket version of the game was popular.-Cricket career:...
aka "Long Robin".
Earliest mentions
Cricket almost certainly originated in KentKent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
and Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
so it must have been played in and around Bromley
Bromley
Bromley is a large suburban town in south east London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Bromley. It was historically a market town, and prior to 1963 was in the county of Kent and formed the administrative centre of the Municipal Borough of Bromley...
since time immemorial. The first definite mention of the area in a cricket connection is a 1735 match
1735 English cricket season
In the 1735 English cricket season, the county teams of which records exist were Kent, Surrey and Sussex while London and Croydon remained the predominant town clubs.-Matches:-Other events:...
on nearby Bromley Common
Bromley Common
Bromley Common is the area centered around the road of the same name, stretching between Masons Hill at the south end of Bromley and Hastings Road, Locksbottom. Part of the A21...
between Kent
Kent county cricket teams
Kent county cricket teams have been traced back to the 17th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that. Kent, jointly with Sussex, is the birthplace of the sport...
and London Cricket Club
London Cricket Club
The original London Cricket Club was formed by 1722 and was one of the foremost clubs in English cricket over the next four decades. It is closely associated with the Artillery Ground, where it played most of its home matches.-Early history of London cricket:...
. Kent won by 10 wickets after scoring 97 and 9-0 in reply to London's 73 and 32.
The report of this match states that a large crowd attended and a great deal of mischief was done. It seems that horses panicked and riders were thrown while some members of the crowd were rode over. One man was carried off for dead as HRH passed by at the entrance to the Common. "HRH" was Frederick, Prince of Wales
Frederick, Prince of Wales
Frederick, Prince of Wales was a member of the House of Hanover and therefore of the Hanoverian and later British Royal Family, the eldest son of George II and father of George III, as well as the great-grandfather of Queen Victoria...
.
1740s
Apart from Colchin, Bromley also produced noted players like John BowraJohn Bowra
John Bowra was an English professional cricketer of the mid-Georgian period who made 5 known appearances in first-class cricket.-Career:John Bowra has been identified as "Mr...
, his son William Bowra
William Bowra
William Bowra was an English cricketer who played regularly for Kent teams from 1768 until 1788 and then for Sussex until 1792. He had 47 known first-class appearances between 1775 and 1792. His name was pronounced "Borra".In a Hampshire Chronicle report of a 1775 game, his name is spelt "Bower"...
, Robert Lascoe
Robert Lascoe
Robert Lascoe was a native of Bromley in Kent. He was a noted English cricketer of the mid-18th century who played for Bromley Cricket Club and for Kent...
and the brothers James and John Bryant.
A remarkable match took place on 14 June 1742 between London and Bromley at the Artillery Ground
Artillery Ground
The Artillery Ground in Finsbury is one of London's most centrally located cricket grounds, situated just off the City Road immediately north of the City of London...
. It ended in a tie and is only the second known instance of this result, following the Surrey
Surrey county cricket teams
Surrey county cricket teams have been traced back to the 17th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that. The first definite mention of cricket anywhere in the world is dated c.1550 in Guildford.-17th century:...
v London game at Richmond Green
Richmond Green
Richmond Green is a recreation area located near the centre of Richmond, which is a town of about twenty thousand inhabitants situated in south west London. The green is essentially square in shape and its open grassland, framed with broadleaf trees, extends to roughly twelve acres...
on 22 July 1741.
The club probably reached its peak in September 1744, a time when Colchin was also at the pinnacle of his career. Following the victory over London by Richard Newland
Richard Newland
Richard Newland was an English cricketer in the mid-Georgian period who played for Slindon Cricket Club and Sussex under the patronage of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond. He also represented various All-England teams...
's Slindon
Slindon Cricket Club
Slindon Cricket Club was famous in the middle part of the 18th century when it claimed to have the best team in England. It was located at Slindon, a village in the Arun district of Sussex....
at the Artillery Ground, the "Slindon Challenge" was issued to "play any parish in England". They received immediate acceptances from Addington Cricket Club
Addington Cricket Club
Addington is about three miles south-east of Croydon. It is only a small place but Addington Cricket Club fielded one of the strongest cricket teams in England from about the 1743 season to the 1752 season....
and from Bromley who were due to play Slindon in the same month.
Unfortunately, although it is known that Slindon v Bromley was arranged to be played at the Artillery Ground on Friday 14 September 1744, the result is unknown and it seems certain that, as with Slindon's game against Addington, it was rained off.
Bromley was a top-class team through the 1740s until its final major match in 1752, two years after Colchin's death.
External links
- From Lads to Lord's; The History of Cricket: 1300 – 1787
- Classification of cricket matches from 1697 to 1825
Further reading
- F S Ashley-Cooper, At the Sign of the Wicket: Cricket 1742-1751, Cricket Magazine, 1900
- F S Ashley-Cooper, Kent Cricket Matches 1719-1880, Gibbs & Sons, 1929
- G B Buckley, Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket, Cotterell, 1935
- H T WaghornH T WaghornHenry Thomas Waghorn , was a cricket statistician and historian. He is best known for his two classic researches into cricket's early history: The Dawn of Cricket and Cricket Scores: 1730 - 1773....
, Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730-1773), Blackwood, 1899 - H T WaghornH T WaghornHenry Thomas Waghorn , was a cricket statistician and historian. He is best known for his two classic researches into cricket's early history: The Dawn of Cricket and Cricket Scores: 1730 - 1773....
, The Dawn of Cricket, Electric Press, 1906 - David UnderdownDavid UnderdownDavid E. Underdown was a historian of 17th-century English politics and culture and Professor Emeritus at Yale University. Born at Wells, Somerset, Underdown was educated at the Blue School and Exeter College, Oxford...
, Start of Play, Allen Lane, 2000