Dartford Cricket Club is one of the oldest

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 striki ...

clubs in England with origins which date from the early 18th century, perhaps earlier. The earliest known match involving a team from Dartford took place in 1722, against

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, but the club's own website says it was formally established in 1727.Our history: Cricket in Dartford
Dartford Cricket Club. Retrieved 2017-11-28. The club is still in existence and now plays in the

Kent Cricket League The Kent Cricket League is the top level of competition for recreational club cricket in Kent, England. The league was founded in 1970 and the first season of play was 1971. The twelve founding clubs were Ashford, Aylesford Paper Mills, Dartf ...

History

Dartford players were reckoned by

Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, KG PC FRS (5 December 1661 – 21 May 1724) was an English statesman and peer of the late Stuart and early Georgian periods. He began his career as a Whig, before defecting to a new Tory ...

, writing in his diary in 1723, to "lay claim to the greatest excellence" among English cricketers. The club played a number of big matches against

and, in 1756, they were involved in a tri-series against the sport's rising power, the

Hambledon Club The Hambledon Club was a social club that is famous for its organisation of 18th century cricket matches. By the late 1770s it was the foremost cricket club in England. Foundation The origin of the club, based near Hambledon in rural Hampshire, ...

. Dartford produced several famous players in the 18th century including cricket's earliest known great player

William Bedle __NOTOC__ William Bedle (4 March 1680 – 3 June 1768) was an English cricketer who played for Dartford Cricket Club and Kent county cricket teams in the first quarter of the 18th century. With the possible exception of Charles Lennox, 1st Duke o ...

. Later players included

William Hodsoll William Hodsoll (1718; christened 28 October 1718 at Ash-next-Ridley, Kent – 30 November 1776 at Ash-next-Ridley), was a noted English cricketer of the mid-Georgian period. Hodsoll lived at Dartford for some years and was a tanner. F S Ashle ...

, John Bell, John Frame and

Ned Wenman Edward Gower "Ned" Wenman (18 August 1803 – 28 December 1879) was an English first-class cricketer whose career spanned the 1825 to 1854 seasons. A specialist wicket-keeper, he was a prominent member of the great Kent team of the 1840s which a ...

. The club originally used

Dartford Brent Dartford Brent was an extensive area of common land on the outskirts of Dartford in Kent. Historically, it was the scene of a confrontation between King Henry VI and Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York in 1452 and in 1555 thousands of spectat ...

, an area of common land, as its ground. By the end of the 18th century it had moved to

Bowman's Lodge Bowman's Lodge is a house in Dartford, Kent, England and the location of Bowmans, an area in the north west of Dartford Heath. The historian John Dunkin wrote in 1844 that: A poem presented to E.M. Potts at Bowman's Lodge, in around 1834, ran ...

Dartford Heath Dartford Heath Common is an area of open heathland situated to the south-west of Dartford, Kent, England, covering around of open space. Dartford Heath is classified as lowland heath and is one of only two substantial heathland blocks remaining i ...

before its current ground at Hesketh Park was established in 1905. In 2002 the club merged with Dartford Halls Cricket Club, retaining the name Dartford Cricket Club for its First XI.Merger gives town's cricket more clout
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Kent Online KM Media Group is a multimedia company in the county of Kent, England which originated as the publisher of the Kent Messenger. The Group now produces local newspapers, radio stations and websites throughout the county. Iliffe Media acquired KM ...

'', 2002-03-21. Retrieved 2017-11-28.

References

{{Authority control Cricket in Kent Dartford English club cricket teams English cricket teams in the 18th century Former senior cricket clubs Sports clubs established in the 17th century