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Woburn Cricket Club

Woburn Cricket Club was based at Woburn, Bedfordshire. It was formed by the then Duke of Bedford, who was an enthusiastic patron of cricket. The team played six known important matches from 1743 to 1744, all of them against London Cricket Club. Woburn's home matches were played at Woburn Park.

History

Woburn Park is first recorded as a venue in August 1741 for Bedfordshire v Northamptonshire & Huntingdonshire. The combined Northamptonshire & Huntingdonshire team won. This is, incidentally, the earliest-known recorded mention of cricket in each of the three counties involved.

The Woburn team is first recorded on 27 and 28 May 1743 when it hosted London in two matches at Woburn Park. London won the first, and Woburn the second, both by unknown margins. A decider, then called a "conqueror", was arranged at the Artillery Ground on 13 June. This was won by Woburn. The winning margin was either 40 runs or 54 runs.

Two further matches against London were held on 1 and 8 August 1743. Both had close results as London won by 3 runs at Woburn on 1 August; and then by 1 wicket at the Artillery Ground on the 8th.

Woburn's last known match was at the Artillery Ground on 21 July 1744, but the result is unknown. The match had been postponed from 19 July as the venue became unavailable.

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