William Sawyer
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William Sawyer (born 3 December 1712 at Richmond, Surrey; died 2 April 1761 at Richmond) was an English cricketer.
Sawyer almost certainly began playing in the 1730s but it was not until a celebrated three-a-side game was played at the Artillery Ground on Monday 11 July 1743 that his name appears in reports. The Daily Advertiser declared that the six players involved were the "best in England". They were William Hodsoll (Dartford), John Cutbush (Maidstone) and Val Romney (Sevenoaks) playing as Three of Kent; and Richard Newland (Slindon), William Sawyer (Richmond) and John Bryant (Bromley) playing as Three of All-England. Hodsoll and Newland were captains. Kent won by 2 runs. The London Evening Post says the crowd was computed (sic) to be 10,000. A return match was arranged at Sevenoaks Vine on Wed 27 July but it did not come off. In FL18, Mr Buckley quotes the Daily Advertiser of Thursday 7 July saying that Ridgeway (first name unknown) was to play alongside Hodsoll and Romney. Then, on Friday 8 July, John Cutbush, known to have been a clockmaker from Maidstone, was named instead of Ridgeway.
Sawyer's last known appearance was on Monday 31 August 1747 when he played in an eleven-a-side game for All-England v Kent at the Artillery Ground. The result is unknown but we do know the match had been postponed earlier in the season because of a Parliamentary Election!
William Sawyer lived in Richmond all his life. He was born there, kept an inn there, played for the local club and died there.
[edit] References
- At the Sign of the Wicket: Cricket 1742 – 1751 by F S Ashley-Cooper in Cricket Magazine (1900) (ASW);
- Cricket Scores 1730 - 1773 by H T Waghorn (WCS);
- Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket by G B Buckley (FL18);
- Fresh Light on Pre-Victorian Cricket by G B Buckley (FLPV);
- From the Weald to the World by Peter Wynne-Thomas (PWT);
- The Dawn of Cricket by H T Waghorn (WDC)
