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InEnglishcricket, the earliest matches known to have involved theDuke of Richmond andSir William Gage took place in the1725 season. TheArtillery Ground inFinsbury, soon to become the sport's major venue, was mentioned in a cricketing context for the first time. However, theHonourable Artillery Company was expressing its disapproval of the ground being used for cricket.
Richmond had written a letter to Gage in July, inviting him to form a team for a match[note 1] to be played on the 20th. Gage replied on the 16th:[5][6]
My Lord Duke,
I receiv'd this moment your Grace's letter and am extreamely happy your Grace intends us ye honour of making one a Tuesday and will without fail bring a gentleman with me to play against you, one that has played very seldom for ye severall years.
I am in great affliction from being shamefully beaten yesterday the first match I played ys year. However I will muster up all my courage against Tuesday's engagement. I will trouble your Grace with nothing more than that I wish you success in every thing but yr Cricket Match and that I am etc. etc.
W. Gage
Firle July ye 16th 1725.
Gage's letter is archived in theWest Sussex Record Office, on Orchard Street inChichester.[5] Other than the date and Gage's team having been defeated, nothing is known about the match on the 15th.[7][8] Gage was aMember of Parliament who represented the former constituency ofSeaford from 1722 until his death on 23 April 1744.[9]
The match on the 20th was to be played at Richmond's Goodwood estate, but the report in aDaily Journal newspaper on 21 July confirmsBury Hill (then called Berry Hill), nearArundel, as the venue. The match, played before "a vast Concourse of People", was hosted byThomas Howard, 8th Duke of Norfolk, who gave a ball atArundel Castle in the evening. The newspaper said Richmond's team "got the Victory above Forty, which was thought very much" and went on to praise the two teams as "the best that ever was seen to Play".[8][10][11]
TheHonourable Artillery Company (HAC) had, in 1639, acquired the land inFinsbury that would become theArtillery Ground. It was a multi-purpose venue first mentioned in the context of cricket in 1725 when the HAC said in itsMinutes of the Court of Assistants at the Armory:[12]
On the 7th of May, the Clerk [to the Court of Assistants of the Honourable Artillery Company] gave notice to Mr. Robinson, who rented the herbage (having obtained the lease in October 1722, from J. Smith, Jun.) to take up the posts and put a stop to the exercising of horses in the Ground, which was contrary to the lease, besides being 'dishonourable to this Company'.
Mr Robinson apparently took no notice of this and, on 7 October, proceedings were ordered to be taken against him for his neglect, and also for allowing cricket on the ground. A further note was added to the Court Minutes on 7 October concerning abuse done to the herbage of the ground by not only the horses but "also by Crickett Players".[8] Despite HAC disapproval, the ground was being used for big matches only five years later. The earliest known match there was betweenMiddlesex andSurrey on 10 August 1730.[13]
By 1725, cricket had been recorded in only eight English counties, although there had already been games in India and the Americas.[14] In March 1725, AmericanjudgeSamuel Sewall recorded instances of his lodger, Sam Hirst, playing cricket on common land inBoston. Sewall referred to the game as "wicket" and it had slight variations from English cricket. The pitch was longer at 25 yards (23 m) instead of 22 yards (20 m); the wickets were only four inches (ten centimetres) high and also much wider than in England.[12]
According to theLondon Evening Post on 27 March 1725, two men called Campbell and Marshall were arrested while they were playing cricket atMoorfields, north of London. They were charged withrobbery, havingmugged a courting couple a few days earlier inIslington.[12]