Val Romney

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Valentine (Val) Romney (born c.1718, probably at Sevenoaks, Kent; died December 1773 at Sevenoaks) was a famous English cricketer of the mid-Georgian period. He excelled at both the single wicket and eleven-a-side versions of the game.

Romney was lauded as a "mighty play’r" (sic) in Cricket, An Heroic Poem (1745) by James Love. This poem was written to commemorate the famous match between Kent and All-England at the Artillery Ground in 1744, in which Romney was captain of the Kent XI ^[1].

Romney lived mostly at Sevenoaks and was employed by the 1st Duke of Dorset as gardener at Knole House, a post later occupied by John Minshull ^[2].

Val Romney's last recorded appearance was in a fives match for Kent against Surrey at the Artillery Ground on Monday 3 June 1751 ^[3].

[edit] References

^ Arthur Haygarth, Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744-1826), Lillywhite, 1862
^ David Underdown, Start of Play, Allen Lane, 2000
^ H T Waghorn, The Dawn of Cricket, Electric Press, 1906