1732 English cricket season

The 1732 cricket season was the 135th in England since the earliest known definite reference to cricket in January 1597 (i.e., Old Style – 1598 New Style). Details have survived of twelve important matches.

London Cricket Club continued to predominate and it was said that its team did not lose a game, although a team called London did lose to Croydon in May. The Artillery Ground came into more frequent use and its Master, Mr Jones, was mentioned in one newspaper report.

Cricket at this time was still played with two stumps and a bat shaped like a hockey stick, which was the ideal implement for dealing with the rolled ball. There was still no indication of the major rule changes that transformed the sport into its modern guise.

The following matches are classified as important:

Although Croydon clearly won this match, a report at the end of the season (see below) says London played thirteen matches during the season and "did not lose a game this year".

According to the Dartford Cricket Club website, there seems to have been some confusion in contemporary accounts between this game and the one on Monday, 12 June. One account apparently had Brentford & Sunbury called Kent. In Appendix B of his Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket, G. B. Buckley recorded that a source called The Craftsman on 3 June announced the match as "the whole County of Kent against the City of London and Bills of Mortality". This source also stated that the venue would be Walworth Common.

This was reported on both Tuesday, 6 and Thursday, 8 June by the St James Evening Post. The pre-match notice said stumps would be pitched at one o’clock and, at the request of two (unnamed) gentlemen who have laid a very great sum of money, the ground is to be staked and all gentlemen are desired to keep outside the rope. On Thursday, 8 June, the paper simply reported that "London won by 8 notches".

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