the 18th century, records of the names of cricketers begin to emerge. 1726 to 1750 The first scorecards to have survived date from the 1744 season. These record the names of each player involved in matches between London and a combined Surrey and Sussex side and those who played in a match between an England XI and a Kent side, which is the first match for which methods of dismissal are known. Both matches took place at the Artillery Ground in London in June. 1751 to 1771 The period between 1751 and 1771 saw the emergence of the Hambledon Club in Hampshire in around 1767 as an important centre of the game following "the decline in importance" of the Artillery Ground in London. It saw the scoring of the first known century by John Minshull in 1769, by which time scores, which had previously been kept on tally sticks, had begun to be written down more frequently. The first full scorecards since the match between Kent and England in 1744, date from the 1772 season. These are now generally considered to be the first matches to have first-class cricket status. See also List of English cricketers (1772–1786) List of English cricketers (1787–1825) List of English cricketers (1826–1840) List of English cricketers (1841–1850) List of English cricketers (1851–1860) List of English cricketers (1861–1870) Notes References Bibliography Ashley-Cooper, F. S. (1900) At the Sign of the Wicket: Cricket 1742–1751, Cricket. (Available online at The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 2023-01-15.) (Available online at the HathiTrust. Retrieved 2023-01-14.) 1786 early English