Hampshire county cricket teams
| Established: | before 1729 |
|---|---|
| Last match: | 1861 |
| Home venue: |
Broadhalfpenny Down Windmill Down Itchin Stoke Down |
| Notable players: |
John Small Thomas Brett Tom Taylor David Harris |
Hampshire county cricket teams have been traced back to the 18th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that. Given that the first definite mention of cricket anywhere in the world is dated c.1550 in Guildford, in neighbouring Surrey, it is almost certain that the game had reached Hampshire by the 16th century.
As elsewhere in south east England, cricket became established in Hampshire during the 17th century and the earliest village matches took place before the English Civil War. It is believed that the earliest county teams were formed in the aftermath of the Restoration in 1660.
A Latin poem by Robert Matthew in 1647 contains a probable reference to cricket being played by pupils of Winchester College on nearby St Catherine’s Hill. If authentic, this is the earliest known mention of cricket in Hampshire. But with the sport having originated in Saxon or Norman times on the Weald, it must have reached Hampshire long before 1647.
In 1680, lines written in an old Bible invite "All you that do delight in Cricket, come to Marden, pitch your wickets". Marden is in West Sussex, north of Chichester, and close to Hambledon, which is just across the county boundary in Hampshire.
Hampshire was used in a team name for the first time in August 1729, when a combined Hampshire, Surrey and Sussex XI played against Kent.
The earliest known cricket match to have been played in Hampshire took place on Tues 22 May 1733. It was at Stubbington, near Portsmouth, between Married v Single. The Married team won. Details were found by Martin Wilson in the American Weekly Mercury, a Philadelphia newspaper dated 20 to 27 September 1733. Wilson subsequently found an earlier version of the report in an English newspaper, the 18 June 1733 edition of Parker's Penny Post.
...
Wikipedia