Lord John Sackville

Lord John Philip Sackville (22 June 1713 – 3 December 1765) was the second son of Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset. He was a keen cricketer who was closely connected with the sport in Kent. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamworth from 1734 to 1747. Cricket career Sackville was first recorded as a cricketer in 1734 when he and his brother, Lord Middlesex, played for a Kent side against one from Sussex at Sevenoaks Vine. In August 1735, Sackville captained Kent to victory against Sir William Gage's Sussex side on the same ground. He became the main patron of the Kent team and captained the side in many matches until 1745, but he is not mentioned after that. In 1739, he played for London Cricket Club. In 1744 Sackville challenged an England side to play against his team. Kent won, in part thanks to Sackville himself taking a catch to dismiss Richard Newland. The catch was eulogised in Cricket, An Heroic Poem (1745) by James Love. The match details were recorded and preserved in what is now cricket's second oldest known scorecard.