A poem, dedicated to the1st Duke of Dorset, refers to a crimson cricket ball.[5] It may have been made by Mr Clout, whose firm was inSevenoaks where the Dukes of Dorset reside atKnole House.
There was a match on 7 & 8 August in which a team calledHambledon hostedSurrey. TheHambledon Clubper se probably didn't exist at this time. Its foundation is generally believed to have been in the 1760s, so the team in 1753 would have been a parish eleven. However, it wasn't limited to local players because John Lucas, ofPortsmouth, scored 82 in Hambledon's first innings. Hambledon scored 202 and 105; Surrey scored 131 and 63. Hambledon won by 113 runs. The match was played onBroadhalfpenny Down, its first mention in connection with cricket.[6]
On 6 & 7 August, Dover hostedDartford and won by 7 runs. Dover scored 57 and 83; Dartford scored 95 and 38.[8][9]
A benefit match was staged 15 August on theArtillery Ground[8] for a Mr Anderson of the Dial in Long Alley,Moorfields. The teams were unnamed and no result has been recorded. There was a well-known player calledWilliam Anderson, first mentioned in 1745, so possibly this was he. The two elevens were made up of various players from the general London area with "the best bowlers to be parted".[9]
^Some eleven-a-side matches played from 1772 to 1863 have been rated "first-class" by certain sources.[1] However, the term only came into common use around 1864, whenoverarm bowling was legalised. It was formally defined as a standard by a meeting atLord's, in May 1894, ofMarylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and thecounty clubs which were then competing in theCounty Championship. The ruling was effective from the beginning of the1895 season, but pre-1895 matches of the same standard have noofficial definition of status because the ruling is not retrospective.[2] Matches of a similar standard since the beginning of the 1864 season are generally considered to have anunofficial first-class status.[3] Pre-1864 matches which are included inthe ACS' "Important Match Guide" may generally be regarded as important or, at least, historically significant.[4] For further information, seeFirst-class cricket.
