This isn’t revolutionary stuff, but it is some of the earliest reporting of cricket scores that I’ve encountered, appearing in the Norwich Mercury in September 1826. Three separate matches are reported, including two between Attleburgh and a combined Caston and Griston side, followed by ten gentlemen, joined by Heyhoe of Shipdham, playing against Swaffham Club. I’m not a cricket expert, but the totals seem rather low by modern standards. Perhaps the quality of the bowling was exceptionally high in early nineteenth century Norfolk.
The newspaper uses the historical spelling Attleburgh, although the town is now generally known as Attleborough. The former has always made more sense to me, as that is how it is pronounced. The Swaffham game was likely played at the Racecourse Ground, which has some importance in the history of Norfolk cricket, with a tradition of the game being played in the town as early as 1700. Matches were recorded at the Racecourse Ground from 1797, while Norfolk teams played there between 1844 and 1850. Wikipedia notes that the location has now been lost, although I suspect it could be identified using older maps. That is a rabbit hole I won’t enter today, but I don’t think it would be a particularly deep one.
I now rather fear that historic cricket scores will start accumulating on this blog, as though it doesn’t already contain enough random piffle.