On 11-12 August 1813 a Cambridge University XI played a Cambridge Town side on Parker's Piece — the earliest documented Town v Gown cricket match in Cambridge. The match is a milestone in the development of university cricket: it was the first time the undergraduates had played a non-college outside opponent, and it set the pattern for the inter-town fixtures that became central to Cambridge cricket through the nineteenth century.
Parker's Piece had been Cambridge's central cricket common since at least the early 1800s. The Town side drew on local tradesmen and on the small group of cricket professionals working in the area.
Inter-college cricket at Cambridge had been documented since 1805. By 1813 the university was strong enough — and confident enough — to play outside opposition. The August 1813 match against the Town was raised by an undergraduate committee and played on the Parker's Piece common. The University won by 38 runs; the Town side included a number of locally-employed cricket professionals. The fixture was repeated annually from 1814.
22 May 1805
Earliest documented inter-college match at Parker's Piece
11-12 Aug 1813
First University v Town match
1827
First University Match against Oxford
Town v Gown matches became annual. The professionalisation of Cambridge cricket through the 1840s emerged from this fixture.
The first University v Town fixture in Cambridge cricket — a foundation of the modern university game.
The 1813 match is the earliest documented step in Cambridge University's transition from inter-college play to representative outside fixtures — the foundation of the modern university game.
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1811-07-04
The 1811 Lord's season was the leanest of the Middle Ground years. With the Napoleonic blockade at its tightest, willow scarce, professionals diverted to militia service and the betting public's purses thin, only fourteen major matches were played at Lord's all summer. The 1811 season is the clearest measure of cricket's wartime contraction.
Officers vs Civilians
1812-12-15
By the close of 1812 cricket was being played regularly in both Madras and Bombay — the earliest documented fixtures in either Presidency. Garrison officers and civilian East India Company servants ran the matches; the Madras Gazette and Bombay Courier preserved the earliest scoresheets. The Calcutta game (documented 1804) had been joined by all three Presidency capitals.
Kent vs MCC
1813-09-09
On 9-10 September 1813 Kent played the MCC at the Vine, Sevenoaks — the first post-war major match at the historic Kent ground and the start of the Vine's revival as a regular major venue. The Vine had hosted little major cricket since 1808; the September 1813 fixture marked its return to the front rank.