1821.7

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1821 Etching Shows Wicket Game in Progress

Salience Noteworthy
Location Connecticut
Game Wicket
Age of Players Youth, Adult
Text

This engraving was done by John Cheney in 1821 at the age of 20.  It was originally engraved on a fragment of an old copper kettle.  It is reported that he was lived in Hartford at the time.

Sources

Biographical details from "Memoir of John Cheney," by Edna Dow Cheney (Lee and Shepherd, Boston, 1889), page 10.

Comment

The etching depicts six players playing wicket.  The long, low wickets are shown and two runners, one prominently carrying a bat, are crossing between them as two fielders appear to pursue a large ball in flight.  Two wicketkeepers stand behind their wickets.

An interesting aspect of this drawing is that there appear to be four defensive players and only two offensive players. One can speculate that the wicketkeepers are permanently one defense and the other pairs alternate between offense and defense when outs are made. Another possibility is that all players rotate after each out, as was later seen in scrub forms of base ball.

Also note the relative lack of open area beyond the wickets.  Perhaps, as in single-wicket cricket, running was permitted only for balls hit forward from the wicket. 

 

 

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Query

We welcome other interpretations of this image.

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Submitted by John Thorn, email of 1/24/2013



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