William Sawyer (c. 3 December 1712 – c. 2 April 1761) was an 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 who played during the 1730s and 1740s. He was mainly associated with Richmond and Surrey. Although information about his career is limited by a lack of surviving data, he is known to have made two

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 ...

and four other appearances between 1736 and 1747. He spent his whole life in Richmond and was an innkeeper there.Ashley-Cooper

Cricket career

In June 1736, there was a major

match on

Kennington Common Kennington Common was a swathe of common land mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth. It was one of the earliest venues for cricket around London, with matches played between 1724 and 1785.G B Buckley, ''Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket'' ...

and the report names Wakeland and George Oldner of

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 ...

playing together against two "famous" Richmond players who are "esteemed the best two in England". Unfortunately the esteemed pair are not named, though one of them suffered serious facial injuries in this game when the ball came off his bat and hit his nose. The report rails against "human brutes" who insisted he should play on despite his injuries, the money they had staked being of much greater importance to them. It is believed that one of the Richmond players was William Sawyer, who was certainly active in the 1730s and who, in 1743, was acclaimed by name as "one of the best six players in England". Sawyer is first definitely mentioned in a contemporary report of a celebrated single wicket "threes" game played 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 ...

on 11 July 1743. The ''Daily Advertiser'' declared that the six players involved were the "best in England". They were

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 ...

( Dartford),

Val Romney Valentine Romney (1718 – December 1773) was an English cricketer who played during the 1740s. Considered a specialist batsman, he was mainly associated with Kent sides but also played for England sides. Information about his career is limit ...

(Sevenoaks) and John Cutbush (Maidstone) (replacing Ridgeway of Sussex) who played as Three of Kent; and Richard Newland (

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 ...

), John Bryant (

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 ...

) and Sawyer, who played as Three of All-England. Kent won by 2 runs. The ''London Evening Post'' says the crowd was computed to be 10,000. A return match was arranged at Sevenoaks Vine on Wed 27 July but it did not come off. On 25 July 1743, Sawyer played as a

given man This is a general glossary of the terminology used in the sport of cricket. Where words in a sentence are also defined elsewhere in this article, they appear in italics. Certain aspects of cricket terminology are explained in more detail in cr ...

for London against Addington at the Artillery Ground, but Addington won by an innings and 4 runs having scored 110 while London could only manage 32 and 74. In 1744, Sawyer played in both of the matches from which scorecards have survived. When London met

at the Artillery Ground on 2 June, Sawyer was in the London team, possibly batting third, and scored 4 in each innings as Slindon won by 55 runs. On 18 June, he was a given man in the

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 ...

team that played

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 ...

at the Artillery Ground, scoring 0 and 5 as Kent won a low-scoring game by 1 wicket.Haygarth, p.1. Sawyer's last known appearance was on 31 August 1747, when he played in a first-class match for All-England v Kent at the Artillery Ground. The result is unknown but the match had been postponed earlier in the season because of a parliamentary election.

References

Bibliography

* F S Ashley-Cooper, ''At the Sign of the Wicket: Cricket 1742–1751'', Cricket Magazine, 1900 *

Arthur Haygarth Arthur Haygarth (4 August 1825 – 1 May 1903) was a noted amateur cricketer who became one of cricket's most significant historians. He played first-class cricket for the Marylebone Cricket Club and Sussex between 1844 and 1861, as well as num ...

, ''Scores & Biographies'', Volume 1 (1744–1826), Lillywhite, 1862 * Timothy J McCann, ''Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century'', Sussex Record Society, 2004 *

H T Waghorn Henry Thomas Waghorn (11 April 1842 – 30 January 1930), was a cricket statistician and historian. He is best known for his two classic researches into cricket's early history: ''The Dawn of Cricket'' and Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730 - 1773 ...

, ''Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730–1773)'', Blackwood, 1899 {{DEFAULTSORT:Sawyer, William 1712 births 1761 deaths English cricketers English cricketers of 1701 to 1786 Surrey cricketers Non-international England cricketers