Bromley Cricket Club was one of the strongest English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

clubs in the mid-18th century when its team was led by

Robert Colchin Robert Colchin (1713 – 1750) was an English cricketer and match organiser of the mid-Georgian period at a time when the single wicket version of the game was popular. He was christened at Chailey in Sussex in 1713 and buried at Deptford in ...

a.k.a. "Long Robin".

Earliest mentions

Cricket almost certainly originated in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

and Sussex so it must have been played in and around

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, c ...

since time immemorial. The first definite mention of the area in a cricket connection is a 1735 match on Bromley Common between a Kent side and

London Cricket Club The original London Cricket Club was formed in 1722 and was one of the foremost clubs in English cricket over the next four decades, holding important match status. It is closely associated with the Artillery Ground, where it played most of i ...

. The report of this match states that "a large crowd attended and a great deal of mischief was done. It seems that horses panicked and riders were thrown while some members of the crowd were ridden over. One man was carried off for dead as HRH passed by at the entrance to the Common". "HRH" was

Frederick, Prince of Wales Frederick, Prince of Wales, (Frederick Louis, ; 31 January 170731 March 1751), was the eldest son and heir apparent of King George II of Great Britain. He grew estranged from his parents, King George and Queen Caroline. Frederick was the fa ...

1740s

Apart from Colchin, Bromley also produced noted players like John Bowra, his son

William Bowra William Bowra (1752 – 7 May 1820) was an English cricketer who played in 50 first-class matches between 1775 and 1792.

and the brothers James and John Bryant. A match took place in June 1742 between London and Bromley at the

Artillery Ground The Artillery Ground in Finsbury is an open space originally set aside for archery and later known also as a cricket venue. Today it is used for military exercises, cricket, rugby and football matches. It belongs to the Honourable Artillery Com ...

which is the second known instance of a match finishing as a tie. F S Ashley-Cooper: ''At the Sign of the Wicket: Cricket 1742 – 1751'' The club probably reached its peak in September 1744, a time when Colchin was also at the pinnacle of his career. Following the victory over London by Richard Newland's

Slindon Slindon is a mostly rural village and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England, containing a developed nucleus amid woodland. Much of Slindon's woodland belongs to the National Trust on the southern edge of the escarpment of th ...

at the Artillery Ground, the "Slindon Challenge" was issued to "play any parish in England". They received immediate acceptances from

Addington Cricket Club Addington Cricket Club fielded one of the strongest cricket teams in England from about the 1743 season to the 1752 season although the village of Addington is a very small place in Surrey about three miles south-east of Croydon. The team was ...

and from Bromley who were due to play Slindon in the same month. Bromley was a top-class team through the 1740s until its final important match in 1752, two years after Colchin's death.

References

{{English cricket teams in the 18th century Former senior cricket clubs English cricket teams in the 18th century Sports clubs established in the 18th century Cricket in Kent English club cricket teams Sport in the London Borough of Bromley