From 1836 to the late 1840s Kent was the strongest county in England. The combination of Alfred Mynn's fast roundarm bowling, Fuller Pilch's batting (after his 1836 transfer from Norfolk), Ned Wenman's wicketkeeping and Felix's amateur stroke-play made Kent the side every other county feared. The Canterbury Cricket Week, founded in 1842, would become the showpiece of this golden era.
County cricket in the 1830s was not yet a structured competition — there was no County Championship, and matches were arranged ad hoc. A county's strength was measured by which leading professionals it had engaged and by its results in marquee fixtures. Kent's combination of resources was unmatched.
Kent had been a serious cricketing county since the eighteenth century — its 1744 match against an All-England side at the Artillery Ground was the first recorded match for which a full scorecard survives — but its modern golden era began in 1836 with the engagement of Pilch as a paid professional. Pilch joined a side that already had Mynn (the most feared bowler in the country), Wenman (the best wicketkeeper), and Felix (an amateur batsman of the first rank). The Kent attack also included the steady roundarmers Tom Adams and Tom Hills. Through the seasons of 1836-39 Kent beat all comers in their county fixtures and supplied the bulk of the South side in the new North vs South matches. The Town Malling ground served as the team's home through the late 1830s, with the patron T.A. Anson hosting marquee fixtures. By 1840 the centre of Kent cricket was shifting to the St Lawrence ground at Canterbury, which would host the first Canterbury Cricket Week in 1842 — a ten-day festival of matches and theatricals that became the centrepiece of the Kentish cricketing year. Kent's dominance continued through the 1840s and only faded with Mynn's decline in the late 1840s and Pilch's retirement in 1854.
1836: Pilch engaged as Kent professional
1836-39: Kent unbeaten in most county fixtures
1836: First North v South match — South built around Kent men
Late 1830s: Town Malling ground at the centre of Kent cricket
1842: First Canterbury Cricket Week at the St Lawrence ground
1836
Pilch joins Kent
1836-39
Kent dominate county fixtures
1842
First Canterbury Cricket Week at St Lawrence ground
Late 1840s
Mynn's decline ends the golden era
“Kent, with Pilch, Mynn, Wenman and Felix, were the strongest county in England, and all the cricketing world acknowledged it.”
Kent's dominance lasted into the late 1840s, when Mynn's deteriorating health and Pilch's age began to tell. The 1850s saw Surrey rise as the leading county. But Canterbury Cricket Week continued every year (it is still played, the longest-running cricket festival in the world), and Kent's late-1830s eleven entered cricket folklore as the first great county side of the modern era.
The first great county era of post-roundarm cricket: a Kent eleven that combined the country's leading professional batsman, fastest bowler, best wicketkeeper and most cultured amateur for a decade and a half.
The Kent of Mynn, Pilch, Wenman and Felix is the prototype for every later great county side — Surrey of the 1850s, Notts of the 1880s, Yorkshire of the 1900s, the modern Surrey and Lancashire dynasties. The combination of fast bowler, master batsman, world-class wicketkeeper and cultured amateur set the template. Canterbury Cricket Week is the direct legacy.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.