Woburn Cricket Club
Woburn Cricket Club was based at Woburn, Bedfordshire. It was formed by the then Duke of Bedford, who was an enthusiastic patron of cricket. The team played six known important matches[note 1] from 1743 to 1744, all of them against London Cricket Club. Woburn's home matches were played at Woburn Park.
History
Woburn Park is first recorded as a venue in August 1741 for Bedfordshire v Northamptonshire & Huntingdonshire. The combined Northamptonshire & Huntingdonshire team won. This is, incidentally, the earliest-known recorded mention of cricket in each of the three counties involved.[5][6]
The Woburn team is first recorded on 27 and 28 May 1743 when it hosted London in two matches at Woburn Park. London won the first, and Woburn the second, both by unknown margins.[7] A decider, then called a "conqueror", was arranged at the Artillery Ground on 13 June. This was won by Woburn. The winning margin was either 40 runs[8] or 54 runs.[9]
Two further matches against London were held on 1 and 8 August 1743. Both had close results as London won by 3 runs at Woburn on 1 August; and then by 1 wicket at the Artillery Ground on the 8th.[10]
Woburn's last known match was at the Artillery Ground on 21 July 1744, but the result is unknown. The match had been postponed from 19 July as the venue became unavailable.[11]
Notes
- ^ Some eleven-a-side matches played from 1772 to 1863 have been rated "first-class" by certain sources.[1] However, the term only came into common use around 1864, when overarm bowling was legalised. It was formally defined as a standard by a meeting at Lord's, in May 1894, of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the county clubs which were then competing in the County Championship. The ruling was effective from the beginning of the 1895 season, but pre-1895 matches of the same standard have no official definition of status because the ruling is not retrospective.[2] Matches of a similar standard since the beginning of the 1864 season are generally considered to have an unofficial first-class status.[3] Pre-1864 matches which are included in the ACS' "Important Match Guide" may generally be regarded as important or, at least, historically significant.[4] For further information, see First-class cricket.
References
- ^ "First-Class Matches in England in 1772". CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
- ^ Wisden (1948). Preston, Hubert (ed.). Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (85th ed.). London: Sporting Handbooks Ltd. p. 813. OCLC 851705816.
- ^ ACS 1982, pp. 4–5.
- ^ ACS 1981, pp. 1–40.
- ^ Waghorn 1899, p. 27.
- ^ Maun 2009, pp. 106–107.
- ^ Maun 2009, p. 118.
- ^ Waghorn 2005, p. 13.
- ^ Maun 2009, p. 119.
- ^ Maun 2009, pp. 125–126.
- ^ Ashley-Cooper, F. S. (29 March 1900). "At the Sign of the Wicket". Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game. XIX (532). London: Merritt & Hatcher Ltd: 35 – via ACS.
Bibliography
- ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709–1863. Nottingham: ACS. OCLC 85045528.
- ACS (1982). A Guide to First-class Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles. Nottingham: ACS. OCLC 10586869.
- Maun, Ian (2009). From Commons to Lord's, Volume One: 1700 to 1750. Cambridge: Roger Heavens. ISBN 978-19-00592-52-9.
- Waghorn, H. T. (1899). Cricket Scores, Notes, &c. From 1730–1773. Edinburgh: Blackwood. OCLC 1086375331.
- Waghorn, H. T. (2005) [1906]. The Dawn of Cricket. London: J. W. McKenzie. ISBN 978-09-47821-17-3.