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1741 – Cricket players of Europe – Matthew Darly
Caricature satirising European Royal families; each character has a speech bubble. There are rhyming verses below the image.
Amazing stuff, it shows that the imagery of cricket was already widely recognised. Hockey stick bats are on the ground, the later curved bat in play – why, I wonder…
1784 – The Grand Cricket Match
The Duke of Dorset is batting. The Duke had been appointed as Ambassador to the French Court and was rumoured to be a lover of Marie Antoinette. The cartoon shows him facing the comments of the French.
1799 – Bowl Fair Sir – George Woodward
There is an earlier scene to this cartoon which I do not have. I understand that there are two men in conversation – one says, ‘Well, Mordecai, how have you gone on upon change today!’ The other replies, ‘A very bad day’s work indeed – nothing to do!’
The cricket scene features the modern three wickets but the archaic style of curved bat. The wicket keeper, as you can see, is saying ‘He’ll have you out to a certainty’. Blatant sledging I’m afraid.
Note the large, if somewhat uniform, crowd. Perhaps they are all related.