1727 English cricket season

1727 English cricket season

Cricket formats	major, including single wicket

The 1727 English cricket season is notable for the Articles of Agreement which formalised the rules applicable to major cricket matches promoted by the Duke of Richmond and Alan Brodrick, who were two of cricket's foremost patrons. The best of the known professional players was the all-rounder Thomas Waymark, who was apparently a groom employed by the Duke of Richmond.

List of matches

date	match title	venue	result	source
date unknown	Duke of Richmond’s XI v Sir William Gage’s XI	venue unknown	result unknown
notes	This match and the next one are listed by the source without comment from a brief reference in an earlier work, Pre-Victorian Sussex Cricket by H.F. & A.P. Squire (1951). The primary source is the Articles of Agreement drawn up for the Richmond-Brodrick matches (see below): "the Duke of Richmond to choose any Gamesters, who have played in either of His Grace's two last Matches with Sir William Gage". Although the Squires were probably correct, it is nevertheless an assumption that the "last two matches" were played earlier in the 1727 season.
date unknown	Sir William Gage’s XI v Duke of Richmond’s XI	venue unknown	result unknown
notes	Same comments as for previous match.
? July	Mr Alan Brodrick’s XI v Duke of Richmond’s XI	possibly Peper Harow ?	result unknown
notes	This match and the next one are notable for the surviving Articles of Agreement that were drawn up by the participants. The Articles state: "the first Match shall be played some day of this instant July in the county of Surry (sic)". Peper Harow is mentioned: "Mr. Brodrick to choose any Gamesters within three Miles of Pepperhara (sic), provided they actually lived there last Lady Day". Peper Harow is about four miles from Godalming and was the home of the Brodrick family. There is a view that it was the venue of the match in July.
? August	Duke of Richmond’s XI v Mr Alan Brodrick’s XI	Sussex (venue to be chosen by the Duke of Richmond)	result unknown
notes	In the Articles of Agreement: "the second match to be played in August next in the County of Sussex, the Place to be named by the Duke of Richmond".

Articles of Agreement

References to the games between the Duke of Richmond and Mr Brodrick mention that they drew up Articles of Agreement between them to determine the rules that must apply in their contests. This may be the first time that rules were formally agreed, although rules as such definitely existed. In early times, the rules would be agreed orally and subject to local variations. This syndrome was also evident in football until the FA was founded, especially re the question of handling the ball.

County cricket

Unless the Richmond v. Brodrick matches can be seen as the equivalent of Sussex v. Surrey, there were no known inter-county matches in 1727. Kent, generally believed to have been the strongest county in the 1720s, are absent from the season's surviving records.

Other events

A match was played at Cranbrook, Kent on Monday, 29 May between "14 old men of that town". The oldest, Richard Shefe, was 84. The match was to celebrate Restoration Day, also known as Oak Apple Day.

There was a game at Warehorne Green, near Ashford, Kent on Monday, 5 June that was arranged by George Baker, Esq. who is described as the General Receiver; and Thomas Hodges, Esq. The teams were Warehorne v Hawkshurst and they played 12 a side.

First mentions

• Alan Brodrick, 2nd Viscount Midleton (Surrey)
• Thomas Waymark (Sussex)