Robert Eures (dates of birth and death unknown) was a noted 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 ...

er of the mid-18th century. He came from

Bexley Bexley is an area of south-eastern Greater London, England and part of the London Borough of Bexley. It is sometimes known as Bexley Village or Old Bexley to differentiate the area from the wider borough. It is located east-southeast of Ch ...

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 played for

Kent county cricket teams Kent county cricket teams have played matches since the early 18th century. The county's links to cricket go back further with Kent and Sussex generally accepted as the birthplace of the sport. It is widely believed that cricket was first played ...

as well as for

All-England The All England Open Badminton Championships is the world's oldest badminton tournament, held annually in England. With the introduction of the Badminton World Federation, BWF's latest grading system, it was given BWF Super Series, Super Series st ...

. He is known to have been a good batsman and he was frequently involved in

single wicket Single wicket cricket is a form of cricket played between two individuals, who take turns to bat and bowl against each other. The one bowling is assisted by a team of fielders, who remain as fielders at the change of innings. The winner is the one w ...

tournaments which were very popular during his career and attracted high stakes.

Career

Robert Eures is first recorded in the ''Daily Advertiser'' on 31 August 1747 playing for Kent against All-England 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 ...

. The match involved numerous leading players of the time. F S Ashley-Cooper, ''At the Sign of the Wicket: Cricket 1742-1751'', ''Cricket'' Magazine, 1900 In 1749 Eures played for a very strong All-England team against Surrey, which was the leading county team that season. In 1752, Eures was named as one of the three principal players when the famous

Dartford Cricket Club Dartford Cricket Club is one of the oldest cricket 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, but the club's ...

issued a challenge to "the rest of England". Dartford's challenge was that with

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 Bryant, Robert Eures and "eight players from the parish of Dartford" it could take on and defeat any eleven players from the rest of England. The match was due to be played on 29 July 1752 at

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 spectato ...

but unfortunately no result has been found and it might have been rained off. G B Buckley, ''Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket'', Cotterell, 1935

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eures English cricketers English cricketers of 1701 to 1786 Kent cricketers Non-international England cricketers