Alresford Cricket Club was one of the strongest

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

teams in England during the late 18th century. It represented the adjacent small towns of

New Alresford New Alresford or simply Alresford ( or ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Winchester district of Hampshire, England. It is northeast of Winchester and southwest of the town of Alton, Hampshire, Al ...

and

Old Alresford Old Alresford ( or ) is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It is north of the town of New Alresford, northeast of the city of Winchester, and south-west of the town of Alton. Alresford Pond is a large water feature sout ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

. According to

John Arlott Leslie Thomas John Arlott, (25 February 1914 – 14 December 1991) was an English journalist, author and cricket commentator for the BBC's '' Test Match Special''. He was also a poet and wine connoisseur. With his poetic phraseology, he becam ...

, between about 1770 and 1795 Alresford "stood higher in cricket than any town its size has done in the history of the game". During this period there were four grounds in Alresford. The main one was Itchin Stoke Down, which as of 1978 was part of Itchen Down Farm. Tichborne Down was also used for important games. Matches were also played on The Nythe and on Fob Down. Old Alresford and New Alresford often played each other, the latter usually winning, but for some fixtures they put out a joint team.

Connections with Hambledon

Its period of greatness roughly coincided with that of the even more eminent Hambledon, not too far distant. Many Alresford players also appeared for Hambledon, including

Tom Taylor Tom Taylor (19 October 1817 – 12 July 1880) was an English dramatist, critic, biographer, public servant, and editor of Punch (magazine), ''Punch'' magazine. Taylor had a brief academic career, holding the professorship of English literatu ...

Richard Aubrey Veck Richard Aubrey Veck (1756 at New Alresford, Hampshire – 13 November 1823 at Bishops Waltham, Hampshire) was a famous English cricketer who played for the Hambledon Club. He is one of the first cricketers whose full name is known and in fact it ...

and the Freemantle brothers,

Andrew Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...

and

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

. Some of Hambledon's matches, even including some fixtures with All-England, were played at Alresford. In 1778 Hambledon announcedMost information about matches at this time comes from announcements in the press of matches to be played, with the reporting of scores - and even of results - being scanty. home and away fixtures with Alresford for fifty guineas a match, with no "given" men. At this period it was common for the weaker team to bring in players from outside, or from their opponents, to even things up. That this was not thought necessary in this case indicates Alresford's perceived strength.

References

* Arlott's piece on Alresford was originally written for the Winter 1978–79 issue of a magazine entitled ''Alresford Displayed''.

Connections with Hambledon

References

Further reading