page_title: Cricket in Sussex
section_title: 18th century
hierarchical_section_title: Cricket in Sussex / Origins and development / 18th century
caption_attribution_description: Portrait of Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond and Lennox (1672-1723)
context_page_description: Cricket in Sussex refers to the sport of cricket in relation to its participation and history within Sussex, England. One of the most popular sports in Sussex, it is commonly believed that cricket was developed in Sussex and the neighbouring counties of Kent and Surrey. Records from 1611 indicate the first time that the sport was documented in Sussex; this is also the first reference to cricket being played by adults. The first reference to women's cricket is also from Sussex and dates from 1677; a match between two Sussex women's teams playing in London is documented from 1747. Formed in 1839, Sussex County Cricket Club is believed to be the oldest professional sports club in the world and is the oldest of the county cricket clubs. Sussex players, including Jem Broadbridge and William Lillywhite were instrumental in bringing about the change from underarm bowling to roundarm bowling, which later developed into overarm bowling. For some time roundarm bowling was referred to as 'Sussex bowling'.
  Sussex's 'golden era' was in the 2000s when the club won 8 competitions including the County Championship three times, winning the County Championship for the first time in 2003.
context_section_description: The most notable of the early patrons were a group of aristocrats and businessmen who were active from about 1725, which is the time that press coverage became more regular, perhaps as a result of the patrons' influence. These men included the 2nd Duke of Richmond and Sir William Gage. Slindon was backed by the Duke of Richmond and featured the star player Richard Newland. Village cricket continued to thrive in the 18th century. In 1717, Thomas Marchant, a farmer from Hurstpierpoint in Sussex, first mentioned cricket in his diary. He made numerous references to the game, particularly concerning his local club, until 1727. His son Will played for "our parish", as he often called the Hurstpierpoint team.
  The diaries of Marchant and Thomas Turner, another Sussex diarist, from East Hoathly, show that in the 18th century cricket was commonplace in the Sussex Weald. In 1702, the Duke of Richmond's XI defeated an Arundel XI in Sussex. The source for this game is a receipt sent by one Saul Bradley to the Duke on 14 December 1702. The receipt was in respect of one shilling and six pence paid by the Duke "for brandy when your Grace plaid at Cricket with Arundel men". It is thought the brandy was bought to celebrate a victory.
  After the 1st Duke of Richmond died in 1723, his son Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, quickly succeeded him as cricket's main benefactor and became a famous patron of Sussex cricket for the next thirty years. The 2nd Duke enjoyed a friendly rivalry with his friend Sir William Gage, another Sussex patron. Their teams played each other many times and their earliest known contest was on Tuesday, 20 July 1725, five days after Sir William's team was beaten by unknown opponents. Our knowledge of these two games is based on a humorous letter sent by Sir William to the Duke on 16 July. Sir William bemoaned that he was "shamefully beaten" the previous day in "his first match of the year" but says nothing of his opponents. He then looked forward to playing the Duke's team next Tuesday and wished his Grace "success in everything except his cricket match". The main rival to Richmond and Gage was Edwin Stead of Maidstone, who was the first of the noted Kent patrons. The Sussex teams of Richmond and Gage enjoyed an inter-county rivalry with Stead's Kent that could have originated the concept of the County Championship. Other good players known to have been active in the 1720s were Edwin Stead of Kent; Edmund Chapman and Stephen Dingate of Surrey; Tim Coleman of London; and Thomas Waymark of Sussex.
  In 1727 the first formal rules of cricket, the articles of agreement, were drawn up between the 2nd Duke of Richmond and Mr Alan Brodrick for two matches between a team from Sussex and another from Surrey. Gage's Sussex team in the 1729 season achieved the sport's earliest known innings victory against Kent. Given that Kent had effectively claimed the title of champion county in 1728, the first known instance of such a claim, Sussex could justifiably claim to have won the title in 1729.  Sarah Lennox, Duchess of Richmond and Lennox sponsored three cricket matches for her husband Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond in 1731 and arranged matches for Slindon in 1741.
  Early women's matches were not necessarily genteel affairs. A match, on 13 July 1747, held at the prestigious Artillery Ground in Middlesex (now London) between a team from the villages of Singleton and Charlton (described as the women from the 'Hills of Sussex') and another from West Dean and Chilgrove (described as the women from the 'Dales of Sussex') spilled over into the following day after it was interrupted by crowd trouble. The women playing would have shown particular talent to have played at such as prestigious ground and would have been attended by the Duchess of Richmond. The fixture attracted large sums of gambling money, with sums of over £1,000 at stake for the winners. Contemporary records show that women's matches were played on many occasions between villages in Sussex, Hampshire and Surrey. In 1768 the women of Harting played the women of Rogate
caption: Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond.
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