1764 English cricket season

The 1764 cricket season was the 167th in England since the earliest known definite reference to cricket in January 1597 (i.e., Old Style – 1598 New Style). Details have survived of seven important eleven-a-side matches. Chertsey and Hambledon, by now the leading teams in cricket, played each other three times.

A number of notable players are mentioned in sources for the first time, including three of the greatest 18th century players: Richard Nyren, John Small and Lumpy Stevens. The 1764 season marks the beginning of the "Hambledon Era" in earnest and it is believed to be about this time that the Hambledon Club was founded. The team must have continued to make a name for itself ever since the tri-series v Dartford Cricket Club in 1756, but there can be no doubt that the records of many matches have been lost.

The following matches are classified as important:

This was reported in the Gazetteer & London Daily Advertiser on Tues 28 August.

This was announced in the Chelmsford Chronicle on Fri 24 August. Dartford was a leading club; it is interesting they travelled to play an Essex team on presumably level terms as this would suggest that playing standards in Essex were good at this time.

The team scores were: Chertsey 48 and 127; Hambledon 76 and 100-6. The stakes were £20 a side.

The Hambledon team is believed to have been: Richard Nyren (captain), John Small, Peter Stewart, William Hogsflesh, William Barber, John Bayton, Osmond, John Woolgar, Edward Woolgar, Thomas Ridge and Squire Thomas Land. Hambledon at this time was sometimes referred to as "Squire Land’s Club". Chertsey is believed to have had three given men from Dartford, perhaps including John Frame. Thomas "Daddy" White and Edward "Lumpy" Stevens may have played for Chertsey. John Edmeads and Thomas Baldwin certainly did for they shared a partnership of 40.

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