William Bedle

William Bedle (4 March 1680 – 3 June 1768) was an English cricketer who played for Dartford Cricket Club and Kent in the first quarter of the 18th century. With the possible exception of Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond, Bedle is the earliest known accomplished player, certainly the earliest who is renowned solely for his expertise as a player. He was born in Bromley but lived most of his life near Dartford, where he was a wealthy farmer and grazier.

Cricket career Bedle is the first known cricketer "who achieved great prominence in the game" for it was said of him in his obituary in Lloyd's Evening Post dated 10 June 1768 that he was "formerly accounted the most expert cricket player in England". Rowland Bowen wrote that Bedle was thus "the first in a long line (of the best players in England) that must include Fuller Pilch, W. G. Grace, Jack Hobbs and Wally Hammond". This assessment of his ability means that three things can be deduced: he was a great player; the means of judging a player's prowess were then available; and Bedle's reputation lasted at least a generation after his playing career ended.

Bedle played in the first quarter of the 18th century and his career dates are tentatively given as 1700 to 1725 (ages 21 to 46), though the span could have been much greater. He was a member of Dartford Cricket Club, which was "the greatest Kent team of the first half of the eighteenth century" and which was often representative of Kent as a county. The Dartford club's website records that Bedle was "the first great player in cricketing annals" and "the earliest Dartford cricketer whose name has come down to posterity".

At Dartford upon the Heath (i.e., Dartford Brent) as we came out of the town, the men of Tonbridge and the Dartford men were warmly engaged at the sport of cricket, which of all the people of England the Kentish folk are the most renowned for, and of all the Kentish men, the men of Dartford lay claim to the greatest excellence.

Records have survived of six matches involving Dartford or Kent teams against London or Surrey between 1700 and 1725. The earliest known inter-county match took place in the 1709 season between Kent and Surrey on Dartford Brent. The result is unknown. London hosted Kent at White Conduit Fields in August 1719 and July 1720, Kent winning the first and London the second. There were London v Dartford fixtures in July 1722 and then two in June 1724. The 1722 match, played on White Conduit Fields, was the subject of a letter in The Weekly Journal dated 21 July 1722. Of the two 1724 matches, the second one was the earliest known match at Kennington Common, near where The Oval is now sited. The results of these matches are unknown. Bedle was a near contemporary of Edwin Stead, the first great patron of Kent cricket who is known to have had a Dartford connection. Stead was 22 years younger than Bedle but it is possible that they were colleagues in the mid to late 1720s.

Personal life Bedle lived near Dartford for most of his life, where he was a farmer and grazier. His name, also spelled Beddel, is recorded on a tablet in Dartford parish church listing the bellringers of 1749. He died at his home near Dartford on 3 June 1768, aged 88.