1736 English cricket season

The 1736 cricket season was the 139th in England since the earliest known definite reference to cricket in January 1597 (i.e., Old Style – 1598 New Style). Details have survived of eighteen important matches and two notable single wicket matches.

One of the single wicket matches resulted in a tie, the earliest known instance of this result in cricket history. Chertsey Cricket Club and its Laleham Burway venue are found in the sources for the first time.

The following matches are classified as important:

Recorded in Buckley's FL18C in conjunction with the London v Mitcham games on about Tuesday, 22 June and on Thursday, 2 September.

Recorded by FL18C in conjunction with the London v Mitcham game on Thursday, 13 May.

see notes in next entry.

The above two games were played before July. Knowledge of them is from the announcement in Read’s Weekly Journal dated Saturday, 3 July, about a deciding game on Richmond Green to be played on Monday, 5 July (see below). In each of the first two matches, the home team won "by a great number of runs". The match at Laleham Burway is the first important one known to have been played there.

Scores are known: Chertsey 88 & 55; Croydon 58 & 25-9. Croydon with one wicket standing still needed 61 to win when the clock struck eight and the game was drawn. Chertsey could claim a moral victory but the result remained a draw. Played for £50. The report in Read's Weekly Journal dated Saturday, 3 July, says this was "a new match to decide which are best", the two teams having met twice before: Croydon won at Duppas Hill and Chertsey won at Laleham Burway (see above).

This is the only reference to a Streatham team in surviving sources and so the status of the match is uncertain. Generally, however, matches involving London against teams representing other boroughs are regarded as important.

The report in the General Evening Post next day states that "London beat Surrey by 30 notches and had three men to go in"; there may have been a declaration of sorts in the second innings.

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