Stephen Dingate was a leading English cricket

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...

er of the mid-Georgian period. He almost certainly began playing in the 1720s and was one of the best known players in England through the 1740s.

He is reported in one source to have been a barber. It is known that he was born at Reigate

Reigate

Reigate is a historic market town in Surrey, England, at the foot of the North Downs, and in the London commuter belt. It is one of the main constituents of the Borough of Reigate and Banstead...

 in Surrey

Surrey

Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

 and he was employed by the Duke of Richmond

Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond

The 2nd Duke of Richmond has been described as early cricket's greatest patron. Although he had played cricket as a boy, his real involvement began after he succeeded to the dukedom...

 . He was a prominent single wicket player and often led his own team, playing for high stakes with and against famous contemporaries like Thomas Waymark

Thomas Waymark

Thomas Waymark was an English professional cricketer in the first half of the 18th century...

, 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:...

, William Hodsoll

William Hodsoll

William Hodsoll , was a noted English cricketer of the mid-Georgian period. Hodsoll lived at Dartford for some years and was a tanner ....

, Val Romney

Val Romney

Valentine "Val" Romney was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket during the 1740s. A specialist batsman, he was mainly associated with Kent but also represented All-England...

, 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...

, William Sawyer and John Bryant.

Dingate's first recorded appearance was on Saturday 2 June 1744 when he played in an eleven-a-side game for London

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:...

 v 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. Slindon won the game by 55 runs and the match is now famous for the world's oldest known scorecard .

Dingate is last known to have played in July 1752. Unfortunately, very little is known of him apart from the reports of his matches. There is no doubt from the source material that he was a considerable player .