The earliest definite reference to the sport ofcricket is dated Monday, 17 January 1597^[1] (Old Style), equating to 27 January 1598 in modernNew Style dates.^{[note 1]} It is a deposition in the records of alegal case atGuildford,Surrey, regarding usage of a parcel of land. John Derrick, acoroner, testified that he had played cricket on the land when he was a boy in about 1550. Derrick's testimony is confirmation that the sport was being played by the middle of the 16th century, but its true origin is unknown. All that can be said with a fair degree of certainty is that its beginning was earlier than 1550, probably somewhere in south-east England within the counties ofKent,Sussex andSurrey. There have been suggestions that it can be traced toFlemish immigrants then resident in the area. The origin of the word cricket could derive from the Flemish wordkrick(-e), meaning a stick. Unlike other games withbatsmen,bowlers andfielders, such asstoolball androunders, cricket can only be played onrelatively short grass, especially asthe ball wasdelivered along the grounduntil the 1760s. Forest clearings and land where sheep had grazed would have been suitable places to play.

The sparse information available about the early years suggests that it may have been a children's game in the 16th century but, by about 1610, it had become an adult pastime. The earliest known organised match was played around that time. Other significant references to the sport are dated 1611. From then to 1725, fewer than thirty matches are known to have been organised between recognised teams. Similarly, only a limited number of players, teams and venues of the period have been recorded. The earliest matches played by English parish teams are examples ofvillage cricket. Although village matches are now considered minor in status, the early matches are significant in cricket's history simply because they are known. There were no newspaper reports of matches until the end of the seventeenth century and so the primary sources are court records and private diaries, hence games were rarely recorded.

During the reign ofCharles I, the gentry took an increased interest as patrons and occasionally as players. A big attraction for them was the opportunity that the game offered forgambling and this escalated in the years following theRestoration when cricket in London and the south-eastern counties of England evolved into a popular social activity. Thepatrons staged lucrative eleven-a-side matches featuring the earliestprofessional players. Meanwhile, English colonists had introduced cricket to North America and theWest Indies, and the sailors and traders of theEast India Company had taken it to theIndian subcontinent.

In the first quarter of the 18th century, more information about cricket became available as the growingnewspaper industry took an interest. The sport noticeably began to spread throughout England as the century went on. By 1725, significant patrons—such asEdwin Stead;Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond; andSir William Gage—were forming teams of county strength inKent andSussex. The earliest-known great players, includingWilliam Bedle andThomas Waymark, were active. Cricket was attracting large, vociferous crowds and the matches were social occasions at which gambling andalcoholic drinks were additional attractions.

The most widely accepted theory about the origin of cricket is that it developed in early medieval times to the south and south-east of London in the geographical areas of theNorth Downs, theSouth Downs, and theWeald.^[2] The counties ofKent,Sussex, andSurrey were therefore the sport's earliest locations, and it was from these that it reached London, where its lasting popularity was ensured, and other southern counties likeBerkshire,Essex,Hampshire, andMiddlesex. As early as about 1610, a cricket match was played atChevening, in Kent, between teams representing the Downs and the Weald.^[2]

A number of words in common use at the time are thought to be possible sources for cricket's name. In the earliest known reference to the sport in 1598 (N.S.), it is calledcreckett. Given the strong medieval trade connections between south-east England and theCounty of Flanders when the latter belonged to theDuchy of Burgundy, the name may have been derived from theMiddle Dutch^{[note 2]}krick(-e), meaning a stick; or theOld Englishcricc orcryce meaning a crutch or staff.^[3] In what may be an early reference to the sport, a 1533 poem attributed toJohn Skelton describes Flemish weavers as "kings ofcrekettes", a word of apparent Middle Dutch origin.^[4] InSamuel Johnson'sDictionary of the English Language (1755), he derived cricket from "cryce, Saxon, a stick".^[5] InOld French, the wordcriquet seems to have meant a kind of club or stick, though this may have been the origin ofcroquet.^[3] The first mention ofcriquet in France is in a letter of grievance toKing Louis XI on 11 October 1478, following a riot inLiettres.^[6] Another possible source is the Middle Dutch wordkrickstoel, meaning a long low stool used for kneeling in church, the shape of which resembled the twostumpwicket used in early cricket.^[7] According to Heiner Gillmeister, a European language expert of theUniversity of Bonn, cricket derives from the Middle Dutch phrase forhockey,met de (krik ket)sen (i.e., "with the stick chase").^[8]

Cricket was probably devised by children and survived for many generations as essentially a children's game.^[9] The invention of the game could have happened in Norman or Plantagenet times anytime before 1300; or even in Saxon times before 1066.^[10]

All acknowledged subject experts and authorities agree that there is no evidence of cricket having evolved from another bat-and-ball sport and, equally, no evidence that any other bat-and-ball sport evolved from cricket. The authorities include writersHarry Altham,John Arlott,Derek Birley,Arthur Haygarth,David Underdown,Roy Webber andPeter Wynne-Thomas. Their consensus view is that the only thing that can definitely be said about the origin of cricket is that its earliest record is in a late 16th-century court case in Surrey which proves it was played by children in southeast England in the middle of that century.^{[11][5][12][13]} There have been alternative theories of origin but these have been dismissed or ignored by authorities. For example, the writerAndrew Lang claimed in 1912 that cricket evolved from a bat-and-ball game which may have been played inDál Riata as early as the 6th century and this claim has been dismissed, by Anthony Bateman among others, in terms of "Lang's idiosyncratic belief in theCeltic origin of cricket".^[14] It is true that cricket is one of many bat-and-ball sports existing worldwide which have no known origin. Others are the definitely Celtic sports ofhurling andshinty.Golf andhockey are other British ball games involving a club or stick whilecroquet was apparently imported from France and globally there are games such as Sweden'sbrännboll, Italy'slippa, India'sgilli-danda, Finland'spesäpallo and Samoa'skilikiti. However, it is generally believed that cricket essentially belongs to the same family of bat-and-ball games asstoolball,rounders andbaseball but whether it evolved from any of these, orvice versa, cannot be determined.^[15] There is a 1523 reference to stoolball at a designated field inOxfordshire; this may then have been a generic term for any game in which a ball is somehow hit with a bat or stick.^[1] 18th century references to stoolball in conjunction with cricket clearly indicate that it was a separate activity.^[16]

On Thursday, 10 March 1300 (Julian calendar), wardrobe accounts of KingEdward I of England included refunds to one John de Leek of monies that he had paid out to enablePrince Edward to play "creag and other games" at bothWestminster andNewenden.^[15] Prince Edward, the future Prince of Wales, was then aged 15. It has been suggested that creag was an early form of cricket,^[17] but it could have been something quite different.^[18] Creag is possibly an early spelling of the wordcraic here taken as an Irish word meaningfun, entertainment, or enjoyable conversation. Thissense of the wordcrack is found inIrish English,Scottish English, andGeordie inNorth East England. In Ireland the spellingcraic is now more common thancrack.^{[note 3]}

The earliest definite reference to cricket being played anywhere in England (and hence anywhere in the world) is in evidence given at a 1598legal case, concerning ownership of a parcel of land, which confirms that it was played oncommon land inGuildford,Surrey, around 1550.^[5] The court in Guildford heard on Monday, 17 January 1597^[1] (Julian date, equating to 27 January 1598 in the Gregorian calendar) from a 59-year-oldcoroner,John Derrick, who gave witness that when he was a scholar fifty years earlier at the Free School of Guildford, "hee and diverse of his fellows did runne and play [on the common land] at creckett and other plaies", confirming that the sport was played there by schoolboys c.1550. It is perhaps significant that cricket is the only one of theplaies to be specifically named.^[19][13]

In 1598, there was a reference to cricket in an Italian-English dictionary byGiovanni Florio. His definition of the wordsgillare was: "to make a noise as acricket, to playcricket-a-wicket, and be merry".^[20] Florio is the first writer known to have defined cricket in terms of both an insect and a game. In a later edition of his dictionary in 1611, Florio infers that to play cricket-a-wicket has sexual associations with references tofrittfritt, defined "as we say cricket a wicket, orgigaioggie", anddibatticare, defined "to thrum a wench lustily till the bed crygiggaioggie".^[20]

The first definite mention of cricket inKent is deduced from a 1640 court case which recorded a "cricketing" of the Weald and the Upland versus the Chalk Hill atChevening "about thirty years since" (so, around 1610). As with the 1598 reference, the case concerned the land on which the game was played.^[1] This is the earliest knownvillage cricket match; and the earliest known organised match in Kent, in England, and in the world. Inter-parish contests became popular in the first half of the 17th century.^[21]

In 1611, a French-English dictionary was published byRandle Cotgrave who defined the nouncrosse as "the crooked staff wherewith boys play at cricket"; the verb form of the word iscrosser, defined as "to play at cricket".^[22][23] Although cricket was defined as a boys' game in Cotgrave's dictionary, as per the Guildford schoolboys above, other references from this time indicate adult participation. The first is in a 1613 court case which recorded that someone was assaulted with a "cricket staffe" atWanborough, near Guildford.^[12][24] In 1616,John Bullokar referred to cricket in hisAn English Expositor as "a kind of game with a ball".^[25] In 1617, the 18-year-oldOliver Cromwell is recorded as playing cricket andfootball inLondon. This is the earliest definite reference to cricket in London.^[22]

In 1624, a fatality occurred following a match on Saturday, 28 August, atHorsted Keynes inSussex. A fielder calledJasper Vinall was struck on the head by the batsman, Edward Tye, who was trying to hit the ball a second time to avoid beingcaught. Vinall, who died thirteen days later at home inWest Hoathly, is thus the earliest recorded cricketing fatality. The matter was recorded in acoroner's court, which returned a verdict ofdeath by misadventure.^[26] The tragedy was repeated in 1647 when another fatality was recorded atSelsey, now in West Sussex, a player called Henry Brand being hit on the head by a batsman trying to hit the ball a second time.^[27] When the firstLaws of Cricket were encoded in 1744, it was illegal to hit the ball twice and a batsman breaking the rule was to be given out.^[28] The record of the 1624 case confirms that two villages, Horsted Keynes and West Hoathly, were involved in the match and provides further evidence of the growth of village cricket.^[26]

The first definite mention of cricket in Sussex was in 1611 and relates toecclesiastical court records stating that two parishioners ofSidlesham, Bartholomew Wyatt and Richard Latter, had failed to attend church onEaster Sunday because they were playing cricket. They were fined 12pence each and made to dopenance, which meant confessing their guilt to the whole church congregation the following Sunday.^[29][30]

The Sidlesham case is the first of several 17th century cricket references, until theRestoration in 1660, arising fromPuritan disapproval of recreational activity, especially on Sundays.^[31] Puritan interference had become enough of a problem by 1617 forJames I to issue theDeclaration of Sports (also known asThe Book of Sports) which listed the sports and recreations that were permitted on Sundays. Cricket is not mentioned.^[30] Initially, the declaration was effective inLancashire only, partly as a reaction to Puritan suppression there of certain activities which were pursued by the Roman Catholic gentry. In 1618, the declaration was issued nationally and then reissued byCharles I in 1633. Sunday amusements were strongly opposed by the Puritans.^[32]

The declaration had limited success until theCivil War began in 1642. The Puritans were by then in control of Parliament which closed the theatres and issued sanctions against other recreational activities although, again, there was no mention of cricket except when individual players were accused of "breaking the Sabbath". TheDeclaration of Sports manuscript was publicly burned by order of the Puritan Parliament in 1643.^[29]

In 1622, several parishioners ofBoxgrove, nearChichester, were prosecuted for playing cricket in a churchyard on Sunday, 5 May. There were three reasons for the prosecution: one was that it contravened a local bye-law; another reflected concern about church windows which may or may not have been broken; the third was thata little childe had like to have her braines beaten out with a cricket batt!^[24] The latter reason was because the rules at the time allowed the batsman tohit the ball twice and so fielding near the batsman was very hazardous, as the incidents involving Jasper Vinall and Henry Brand would drastically confirm. In 1628, an ecclesiastical case related to a game atEast Lavant, also near Chichester, being played on a Sunday. One of the defendants argued that he had not played during evening prayer time but only before and after. It did him no good as he was fined the statutory 12 pence and ordered to do penance.^[33]

There are three further references before the Civil War. In a 1636 court case concerning a tithe dispute, a witness called Henry Mabbinck testified that he played cricket "in the Parke" atWest Horsley in Surrey.^[34] Another ecclesiastical case recorded parishioners ofMidhurst, Sussex, playing cricket during evening prayer on Sunday, 26 February 1637 (i.e., Julian date).^[35] In 1640, Puritan clerics at bothMaidstone andHarbledown, nearCanterbury, denounced cricket as "profane", especially if played on Sunday.^[36]

When theEnglish Civil War began in 1642, theLong Parliament banned theatres, as they had met with Puritan disapproval. Although similar action would be taken against certain sports, there is no evidence of cricket being prohibited.^[37] Except that players must not "break the Sabbath", references to the game before and during theCommonwealth suggest that it was approved; and Cromwell himself had been a player as a young man.^[22]

In 1654, three men were prosecuted atEltham in Kent for playing cricket on a Sunday. As the Puritans were now firmly in power, Cromwell'sProtectorate having been established the previous year, the penalty was doubled to 24 pence (twoshillings). The defendants were charged with "breaking the Sabbath", not with playing cricket.^[37] Similarly, when Cromwell's commissioners banned sport in Ireland two years later on the grounds of "unlawful assembly", there is no evidence that the ban included cricket, which had probably not reached Ireland by that time (according to Bowen, the earliest known match in Ireland was in 1792).^[38]

Puritan prejudice did not survive the Restoration. In 1671, a man called Edward Bound was charged with playing cricket on the Sabbath and was exonerated: evidence that attitudes had changed. The case was reported inShere, Surrey.^[23]

The beginnings of cricket's social division between amateurs and professionals, from which the annualGentlemen v Players contest ultimately evolved, can be traced to the reign ofCharles I. In 1629, Henry Cuffin, a curate atRuckinge in Kent, was prosecuted by an archdeacon's court for playing cricket on Sunday evening after prayers. He claimed that several of his fellow players were "persons of repute and fashion".^[39][29] This statement is the first evidence of cricket achieving popularity among the gentry.^[39]

It was the gentry who introduced large-scalegambling into cricket and some of these gamblers subsequently becamepatrons by forming select teams that would improve their chances of winning. During theCommonwealth, gambling was, of political necessity, low key. The earliest reference to gambling on a cricket match is in the records of a 1646 court case concerning non-payment of a wager that was made on a game atCoxheath in Kent on Friday, 29 May that year. Curiously, considering the huge sums of money staked later in the century, this wager was for twelve candles, but the participants included members of the local gentry. The match at Coxheath is the earliest known example of an "odds" game as two Coxheath players were against four Maidstone players; the Coxheath two won. It was possibly asingle wicket match and, if that could be proved, it would be the earliest on record.^[40]

In 1652, a case atCranbrook against John Rabson, Esq. and others referred to "a certain unlawful game called cricket". Rabson was evidently a member of the gentry but the other defendants were all working class.^[41] Cricket has long been recognised as a sport that bridged the class divide but, in time, the cricketing gentlemen came to be called "amateurs" to emphasise the distinction between themselves and the professionals who belonged to the lower social classes, mostly to the working class.^[42] The amateur became not merely someone who played cricket in his spare time but a particular type of top class cricketer who existed officially until 1962, when the distinction between amateur and professional was abolished and all the then players became nominally professional. In terms of remuneration, amateurs claimed expenses for playing while professionals were paid a salary or fee.^[43] Amateur cricket was an extension of the game played in schools, universities and other centres of education, both as a curricular and extracurricular activity. The schools and universities formed the "production line" that created nearly all the noted amateur players.^[44]

There are few 17th century references to cricket being played at or in the vicinity of schools but, in 1647, a Latin poem contains a probable reference to cricket being played atWinchester College; if so, it is the earliest known mention of cricket inHampshire.^[45] There is a reference to the game atSt Paul's School, London c.1665 concerningJohn Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, who studied there.^[46] In hisSocial History of English Cricket, Derek Birley comments that school cricket was "alive and well during the interregnum" (1649–1660). He speculates that the game "must have been known to every schoolboy in the south-east" of England. He doubts, however, that the sport at this time was part of any school's curriculum. Apart fromEton College andWestminster School, all schools in the 17th century had local intakes and no class segregation. Therefore, the sons of rich and poor families played together.^[47] As evidenced by the legal cases of 1646 and 1652, described above, cricket was played jointly by gentry and workers.

The earliest reference to cricket atOxford University is dated 1673. InJohn Phillips'Duellum Musicum, a 1673 pamphlet concerning music tuition, there is a criticism of his rivalThomas Salmon, who had boasted of being a graduate ofTrinity College, Oxford: "He shews but a slender sign of his University-Education: Where he seems to have spent his time rather in the more laudable Exercises of Trap and Cricket, than in any sound Reading".^[48]

Depending on when Salmon graduated, it would seem that cricket was a normal activity at Oxford for some time before Phillips wrote his pamphlet.^[49] It was certainly well established at Oxford by October 1728 when the 19-year-oldSamuel Johnson enteredPembroke College. He toldJames Boswell that cricket matches were played during the one year he was at Oxford and this was recorded by Boswell in hisLife of Samuel Johnson.^[50] A comment byHorace Walpole confirms that cricket was being played atEton during the first quarter of the 18th century.^[51] The earliest reference to cricket being played atCambridge University is dated 1710 and both of those establishments were attended byWilliam Goldwin who, in 1706, wrote a Latin poem of 95 lines on a rural cricket match. It was calledIn Certamen Pilae (On a Ball Game) and it was published in hisMusae Juveniles.^[52]

It was during the second half of the 17th century that, as Roy Webber put it, "the game took a real grip" especially in the south-eastern counties.^[53] The nobility withdrew to their country estates during the Commonwealth and were involved in village cricket as a pastime which, after the Commonwealth expired in 1660, they took with them when they returned to London.^[54] Even so, there is a shortage of references from this period due to theLicensing of the Press Act 1662 which imposed stringent controls on the newspaper industry and sports, including cricket, were not reported. The few surviving references have been found in official records, such as court cases, or in private letters and diaries.^[30] In May 1666,Sir Robert Paston, a resident ofRichmond, wrote a letter to his wife and mentioned that their son had taken part in "a game of criquett (sic) on Richmond Green" which is the first reference to cricket atRichmond Green, a popular venue for matches during the 17th and 18th centuries.^[55]

The Restoration of the monarchy in England in 1660 was immediately followed by the reopening of the theatres and sanctions imposed by the Puritans on sports were also lifted. According toRowland Bowen, "it is likely that the Restoration was the crucial factor in leading to the social acceptance of the game".^[56] Although there are only scattered references to the game in the time ofCharles II, it is clear that its popularity was increasing and that it was expanding.^[57]

The Restoration was effectively completed during the spring of 1660 and, in the general euphoria which both accompanied and followed these historic events, gambling on cricket and other sports was freely pursued.^[57] The nobility adopted cricket as one of their main sports along withhorse racing andprizefighting.^[54] Under their patronage, the first teams representing several parishes and even whole counties were formed in the 1660s and the period saw the first "great matches" as cricket evolved into a major sport.^[58] A significant aspect of this evolution was the introduction ofprofessionalism as the nobility returned to London after the Restoration. They were keen to develop cricket and brought with them some of the "local experts" from village cricket whom they now employed as professional players.^[58]

H. S. Altham asserted that, within a year or two of the Restoration, "it became the thing in London society to make matches and form clubs".^[58] He claimed that a kind of "feudal patronage" was established as the nobility took control of the sport, their interest fuelled by the opportunities for gambling that it provided, and this set the pattern for cricket's development through the next century.^[58] These claims by Altham are challenged byJohn Major who wrote that he could find no evidence at all of matches in London before the 1700s and no mention of any club prior to 1722.^[59]

The Gaming Act 1664 was passed by the Cavalier Parliament to try to curb some of the post-Restoration excesses, including gambling on cricket, and it limited stakes to £100.^[57] That was equivalent to about £19,000 in present-day terms.^[60] It is known that cricket could attract stakes of 50 guineas by 1697 and it was funded by gambling throughout the next century.^[61]

There was a significant development at Maidstone on Saturday, 28 March 1668 when thequarter sessions made a ruling thatcustoms and excise could not claimexcise duty on alcoholic drinks sold at a "kricketing"; it was further ruled that a match promoter had the right to sell ale to spectators, presumably after obtaining the necessary licence. As John Major suggested, this dealt a massive blow to "Puritan morality", and it could have been the beginning of the long-term relationship between sport and alcohol.^[62] Derek Birley's comment on the excise ruling was that cricket's "connection withpublic houses is historic in every sense of the word". In his view, the sport had "arrived" because thebrewery trade was the earliest and strongestsponsor of popular sport.^[63]

In 1677, accounts ofThomas Lennard, 1st Earl of Sussex, include an item which refers to £3 being paid to him when he went to a cricket match being played at "ye Dicker", which was a common nearHerstmonceux in East Sussex.^[64] In 1678, there was mention of cricket as "a play" (presumably in the sense of a sport that is played) in a Latin dictionary published by DrAdam Littleton. In 1694, accounts of Sir John Pelham record 2s 6d paid for a wager concerning a cricket match atLewes.^[65]

It has been claimed thatMitcham Cricket Club was formed in 1685, the club playing on what is today known asMitcham Cricket Green. The site has hosted cricket matches ever since.^[66] While Mitcham is believed by some to be the world's oldest cricket club, there is no evidence of any club being founded before 1722.Croydon,Dartford andLondon may all have been founded by the 1720s but no dates of origin have been found, although there was an actual reference to a London Club in 1722.^{[note 4]} John Major and his team of researchers could find no evidence for any club prior to 1722.^[59] Major mentions Mitcham as one of several localities in which impromptu games were thriving on common land. The others were Chelsea, Kennington, Clapham, Walworth and the Weald.^[67]

London Cricket Club was to become chiefly associated with theArtillery Ground inFinsbury. This venue was first mentioned re cricket on Friday, 7 May 1725, when the minutes of theHonourable Artillery Company referred to its being used for cricket: there is a note which concerns "the abuse done to the herbage of the ground by the cricket players".^[68] The Artillery Ground became the feature venue for cricket in the mid-18th century.^[69]

In 1695, Parliament decided against a renewal of the1662 Licensing Act and so cleared the way fora free press on the Act's expiry in 1696. Censorship had already been relaxed following theBill of Rights 1689. It was from this time that cricket matters could be reported in the newspapers, but it would be a very long time before the newspaper industry adapted sufficiently to provide frequent, let alone comprehensive, reports.^[70] The earliest known newspaper report of a "great match" was in theForeign Post dated Wednesday, 7 July 1697:^[61][65]

"The middle of last week (i.e., probably on Wednesday, 30 June 1697) a great match at cricket was played in Sussex; there were eleven of a side, and they played for fifty guineas apiece".

The match has been recorded by more than one source, starting withG. B. Buckley who said it is the earliest record of an eleven-a-side match.^[61] The stakes on offer confirm the importance of the fixture and the fact that it was eleven-a-side suggests that two strong and well-balanced teams were assembled.^[65] Following the decision of the English government in 1695 to allow freedom of the press (i.e., they decided not to renew theLicensing of the Press Act 1662 which had inhibited the scope of publications), it was possible for sporting events to be reported; but, as John Major says, reports in the early newspapers were sparse, although trivia tended to make good copy and large wagers between rival patrons were given coverage.^[71]

Periodicals calledThe Post Boy andThe Post Man were in circulation during the early 18th century. In 1700, a series of ten-a-side matches to be held onClapham Common, nearVauxhall, was pre-announced on Saturday, 30 March, byThe Post Boy. The first was to take place on Easter Monday, 1 April, and prizes of £10 and £20 were at stake. No match reports could be found so the results and scores remain unknown. The advert says the teams would consist of ten "Gentlemen" per side but the invitation to attend was to "Gentlemen and others". This clearly implies that cricket had achieved both the patronage that underwrote it through the 18th century and the spectators who demonstrated its lasting popular appeal. As the event involved "gentlemen only", it was probably minor in quality but is nevertheless the earliest known organised match in the county ofSurrey.^[72]

Earlycricketers played in their everyday clothes and had no protective equipment such as gloves or pads. A 1743 painting of a game in progress at theArtillery Ground depicts twobatsmen and abowler dressed alike in white shirt, breeches, white knee-length stockings and shoes with buckles. Thewicket-keeper wears the same clothes with the addition of a waistcoat. Anumpire andscorer wear three-quarter length coats and tricorn hats. Apart from the shirts and stockings, none of the clothes are white and no one wears pads or gloves. Theball is bowledunderarm along the ground, as inbowls, at varying speed towards awicket consisting of twostumps mounted by a singlecrosspiece. The batsman addresses the delivery with abat that resembles a modernhockey stick, this shape being ideal for dealing with a ball on the ground.^{[note 5]} The modern straight bat is said to have evolved in the 1760s after the introduction of thepitched delivery.^[73]

The record of the 1622 case at Boxgrove contains the earliest reference to thecricket bat. The term "batt" in cricket was peculiar to Kent and Sussex, where coastal smugglers were known as "batmen" because of the cudgels they carried. The earliest reference to a "flat-faced" bat (i.e., with a flat surface at the bottom of the stick inice hockey style) also occurs in 1622.^[74] The term "bat" remained comparatively rare until about 1720. The terms in more general use were "staff", "stave" or "stick". These tended to have regional usage: for example, "stave" was used in the Gloucester area and "batt" in the south-east; while "staff" and especially "stick" were more widely used.^{[8][note 6]}

The earliest reference to thecricket ball is found in 1658 inMysteries of Love and Eloquence byEdward Phillips.^[22] Thepitch has been 22 yards long (i.e., achain) since the first known code of Laws in 1744^[75] and it is believed this length had been in use since the introduction ofGunter's chain in 1620.^[76] Theover consisted of four deliveries until the 19th century.^[75]

The earliest known reference to thewicket is contained in lines written in an old bible in 1680 which invited "All you that do delight in Cricket, come toMarden, pitch your wickets".^[77] Marden is in West Sussex, north of Chichester, and close toHambledon, which is just across the county boundary in Hampshire. The wicket until the 1770s comprised two stumps and a single bail. By that time, the shape of the wicket was high and narrow after the 1744 Laws defined the dimensions as 22 inches high and six inches wide. But earlier 18th century pictures show a wicket that was low and broad, perhaps two feet wide by one foot high. The ends of the stumps were forked to support the light bail and there were criteria for the firmness of pitching the stumps into the ground and for the delicate placing of the bail so that it would easily topple when a stump was hit.^[8]

There has been a lot of conjecture about the origin of the wicket, but suffice to say that the 17th century outline shape is more akin to the profile of a church stool, which is low and broad. Furthermore, the legs of the stool were called stumps, which adds further credence to the idea that stools were used as early wickets.^[8] According to theChurchwarden's Accounts for Great St. Mary's Church of Cambridge (1504–1635), a church stool was sometimes known in the south-east by the Dutch name of "kreckett", this being the same word used for the game by John Derrick in 1598.^[8]

The earliest known mention of theumpire dates from 1680 and is the first entry in Buckley'sFresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Buckley does not quote the reference "that is quite unfit for publication nowadays" but he confirms a clear reference to "the two umpires" and that the double wicket form of the game was already well known in London. It is also the first mention of cricket in the county ofMiddlesex.^[61]

There were two mainforms of cricket in the 17th and 18th centuries. One wassingle wicket in which, as the name implies, there is only one batsman, although teams of threes or fives usually took part. The converse is the "double wicket" form, with two batsmen, which has long been associated with eleven-a-side teams playing two innings each—it is these games which, depending on the teams involved, may be considered "important".^[78] Although single wicket was in vogue through the period of this history, the earliestdefinite record of a single wicket match is in 1726, so it is out of scope in this article.^[79]

In early cricket, there were twoumpires as now, but the modern square-leg umpire stood close to the striker's wicket. Both umpires carried a bat which the running batsman was required to touch in order to complete his run.^[80] There were twoscorers who sat on the field and recorded the scores by making notches on tallysticks; runs were then known as notches for this reason.^[81]

On an unknown date in 1702, the1st Duke of Richmond's XI defeated anArundel XI at an unspecified venue in Sussex. The source for this game is a receipt sent by one Saul Bradley to the Duke on Monday, 14 December 1702. The receipt was for oneshilling and sixpence paid by the Duke "for brandy when your Grace plaid at Cricket with Arundel men". It is thought the brandy was bought to celebrate a victory. The venue was probably eitherGoodwood, where Richmond had his estate, orArundel, possibly onBury Hill which was used for cricket in later years. Arundel was a prominent centre of cricket in the 18th century.^[82]

After the 1st Duke of Richmond died in 1723, his sonCharles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, quickly succeeded him as cricket's main benefactor and became a famous patron of Sussex cricket for the next thirty years. The 2nd Duke enjoyed a friendly rivalry with his friendSir William Gage, another Sussex patron. Their teams played each other many times and their earliest known contest was on Tuesday, 20 July 1725, five days after Sir William's team was beaten by unknown opponents. Richmond wrote to Gage in early July 1725 and issued a challenge for a match to be played atGoodwood. Gage replied to him by letter on 16 July and confirmed that his team would play the Duke's on Tuesday, 20 July. Gage then stated that he is "in great affliction from being shamefully beaten yesterday (Thursday, 15 July 1725) the first match I played ys (sic) year". He went on to wish the Duke success in everything except his cricket match. The game on 20 July was actually played atBury Hill, Arundel and Richmond's team won by "above forty (runs)". The report in theDaily Journal newspaper on Wednesday, 21 July, confirms Bury Hill (then called Berry Hill), near Arundel, as the venue. The match, played before "a vast Concourse of People", was hosted byThomas Howard, 8th Duke of Norfolk who gave a ball atArundel Castle in the evening.^[83][84]

The main rival to Richmond and Gage wasEdwin Stead of Maidstone, who was the first of the noted Kent patrons. The Sussex of Richmond and Gage enjoyed an inter-county rivalry with Stead's Kent that could have originated the concept of theCounty Championship.^[85]

The patrons ensured that cricket was financed in the 18th century but their interest, equally applicable to horse racing and prizefighting, was based on the opportunities that cricket provided for gambling. Every important match in the 18th century, whether eleven-a-side or single wicket, was played for stakes. The early newspapers recognised this and were more interested in publishing the odds than the match scores. Reports would say who won the wager rather than who won the match.^[86]

Sometimes, gambling would lead to dispute and two matches ended up in court when rival interests sought legal rulings on the terms of their wagers. On Monday, 1 September 1718, a game onWhite Conduit Fields inIslington betweenLondon and the Rochester Punch Club was unfinished because three Rochester players "made an elopement" in an attempt to have the game declared incomplete so that they would retain their stake money. London was clearly winning at the time. The London players sued for their winnings and the game while incomplete was the subject of a noted lawsuit in which the terms of the wager were at issue. The court ordered that the match must be "played out" and this happened in early July 1719 (the exact date is uncertain but it was before the 4th). Rochester with four wickets standing needed thirty more runs to win but were all out for 9. It is not certain if 30 was their overall target or if they needed thirty more in addition to runs scored in the original encounter; equally, it is not known if 9 was the innings total they achieved or if they added nine more to their "overnight" score. London's 21-run victory is the earliest known definite result of any cricket match. The match is the earliest known mention of White Conduit Fields as a venue.^[87][88]

In 1724 (exact date unknown),Edwin Stead's XI vChingford ended early because the Chingford team refused to play to a finish when Stead's team held the advantage. Another court case followed. It is known thatLord Chief Justice Pratt presided over the case and ordered them, as in the London v Rochester match in 1718, to play it out so that all wagers could be fulfilled. Pratt "referr'd the said Cause back toDartford Heath, to be played on where they left off, and a Rule of Court was made accordingly".^[79] The game was completed in 1726 but the final result is not on record, and there is no confirmation that Stead's team held their advantage and won.^[89]

The introduction ofarticles of agreement, agreed before matches by the stakeholders, largely resolved any problems between patrons and match organisers. The concept was more important in terms of defining the rules of play and eventually these were codified as theLaws of Cricket.^[90]

On Tuesday, 24 July 1705,The Post Man announcedWest of Kent vChatham, an 11-a-side game to be played in Kent on Tuesday, 7 August. The primary source gives the venue as "Maulden" which almost certainly refers toTown Malling. There were several matches throughout the 18th century involving teams called "West Kent" and "East Kent". Chatham was a prominent centre of cricket in the 18th century.^[72][91]

On Thursday, 26 June 1707, there was aLondon vMitcham match atLamb's Conduit Field,Holborn. The result is unknown. This is the earliest known significant match inMiddlesex and possibly the earliest known to involve the original London Cricket Club, though the date of the club's formation is uncertain and the team here might have been anad hoc London XI. In a similar vein to the "all England" term used later in the century, the source calls this team "all London". The Mitcham team may have represented the extant Mitcham Cricket Club, which has a claimed foundation date of 1685.^[92]

On Tuesday, 1 and Tuesday, 8 July 1707,Croydon played London twice, the first game played in Croydon, probably atDuppas Hill, and the second atLamb's Conduit Field inHolborn. Both matches were advertised byThe Post Man as "two great matches at cricket (to be) plaid, between London and Croydon; the first at Croydon on Tuesday, 1 July, and the other to be plaid in Lamb's-Conduit-Fields, near Holborn, on the Tuesday following, being the 3rd (sic) of July". No post-match reports could be found so the results and scores are unknown. The match in Croydon is the earliest known significant match inSurrey. As with the previous match, it is not known if the teams at this time represented formally constituted clubs and it is possible that both weread hoc teams drawn from local residents. Croydon and London both had important teams in the first half of the 18th century.^[93][87] The match in Holborn was a return to the one on 1 July. There has been some confusion about the date of the second match following a misreading of the original source byH. T. Waghorn, who was the first modern researcher, but Tuesday, 8 July is believed to be correct.^[94]

On Wednesday, 23 June 1708, a local match took place somewhere in theCanterbury area and was recorded in the diary of one Thomas Minter, a Canterbury resident, who wrote: "We beat Ash Street at Crickets (sic)". Although this was probably a minor match only, it illustrates the popularity of cricket in Kent.^[72][95]

The earliest known match that definitely involved county teams, or teams using the names of counties, wasKent vSurrey atDartford Brent on Wednesday, 29 June 1709. This was advertised in thePost Man the previous Saturday and played for a stake of £50.^[87][96] From this time, there are references to counties in use as team names although it is generally believed that the earliest "inter-county matches" were really inter-parish matches involving two villages on either side of a county boundary.Dartford was an important club in the first half of the 18th century and the match is the earliest known mention of Dartford Brent as a venue.^[96][97]

One player who could have taken part in the 1709 match wasWilliam Bedle (1680–1768), of Dartford, who is the earliest great player whose name has been recorded. He was "reckoned to be the most expert player in England" and must have been in his prime c. 1700 to c. 1725.^[98] Other good players known to have been active in the 1720s were Edwin Stead of Kent;Edmund Chapman andStephen Dingate of Surrey;Tim Coleman of London; andThomas Waymark of Sussex.

Village cricket continued to thrive in the 18th century. On Friday, 31 May 1717, Thomas Marchant, a farmer fromHurstpierpoint in Sussex, first mentioned cricket in his diary. He made numerous references to the game, particularly concerning his local club, until 1727. His son Will played for "our parish", as he often called the Hurstpierpoint team. In total, his diaries mention 21 village matches and the entries provide evidence of the widespread popularity of cricket in Sussex.^[99] It is from the 1717 season that a continuous history of English cricket by season is possible. Records of cricket have survived from every season after 1716, although the details in most seasons through the 18th century remain sparse.

The first great rivalry in cricket history was between theDartford andLondon clubs who are first known to have played each other in 1722. London played some matches againstKent but the county side is believed to have largely consisted of Dartford players. On Wednesday, 19 August 1719, London v Kent was played atWhite Conduit Fields and Kent won. The report said the teams played for "a considerable sum of money". There is an insight into the priorities of early 18th century cricketers as the contemporary report concludes with: "The Kentish men won the wager" (i.e., the wager was more important than the match).^[93]

On Saturday, 9 July 1720, London v Kent at White Conduit Fields was won by London.^[87] In this match, two Londonfielders were badly injured by a clash of heads.^[93]H. T. Waghorn noted a lull in the advertising and reporting of cricket after this game and he wondered if that was due to a perception of the sport as dangerous.^[93] If there was a lapse in cricket at this time, the more likely causes would be either: (a) theSouth Sea Bubble which ruined many investors and so could have reduced cricket patronage; or (b), as Waghorn himself mentions, "the (news)papers were small, and space limited, the advertising and reporting (of) matches ceased".^[93] TheSouth Sea Bubble may have had an economic impact on investment and gambling as, when the South Sea Company was found to be insolvent, its crash in 1720 caused massive repercussions throughout the economy and many formerly prosperous investors were ruined.^[100] A potential impact on reporting was theStamp Act 1712 which appliedstamp duty to newspapers and so increased their publication costs. This in turn caused publishers to reduce paper size with limited space for content.^[101]

On Wednesday, 18 July 1722, London v Dartford was the subject of a letter inThe Weekly Journal dated Saturday, 21 July 1722. It is believed the match took place somewhere in theIslington area, so the exact venue may have beenWhite Conduit Fields. The match was abandoned following a dispute. The letter said: "A Match at Cricket was made between the little Parish of Dartford in Kent, and the Gentlemen known by the name of the London Club". Teams styled "London" were already in existence, as above, but this is the first actual reference to a "London Club".^{[87][102][103]}

Dartford and London met atDartford Brent on Thursday, 11 June 1724^[104] and, one week later, a return game was the earliest known match atKennington Common, near whereThe Oval is now sited. The results of both matches are unknown.^[87][105]

On Wednesday, 6 July 1720,Kingston vRichmond was played at an unknown venue and Kingston won. The secondary source is uncertain about the date due to a slight ambiguity in the primary source, a contemporary newspaper published Saturday, 16 July, which refers to "Wednesday last". The date of the match must therefore be either 6 or 13 July. The source says 5 or 12 July but this is an error as those dates were Tuesdays.^[104]

Surrey vLondon was played atMoulsey Hurst on an unknown date in 1723. The result is unknown. The source states that "XI Gentlemen of Surrey played XI of London at Moulsey Hurst during the summer". It is the earliest known mention of Moulsey Hurst as a venue for cricket.^[106]

In 1723, the prominentTory politicianRobert Harley, Earl of Oxford recorded in his journal: "At Dartford upon the Heath 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".^[102] It is more than likely to have been Dartford Brent where this game was taking place.^[102]

On Monday, 10 August 1724, there was a match atPenshurst Park (result unknown) which featured the combined parishes ofPenshurst, Tonbridge & Wadhurst versus Dartford. This was recorded in a diary entry by one John Dawson, who may have watched it. No details are known but Mr Dawson says it was "a great cricket match". Some sources have mistakenly given the venue as Islington but contemporary newspapers confirm that it took place at Penshurst Park.^[107]

The earliest known mention of cricket being played outside England is dated Saturday, 6 May 1676. A diarist called Henry Tonge, who was part of a British mission atAleppo in theOttoman Empire, recorded that "at least forty of the English" left the city for recreational purposes and, having found a nice place to pitch a tent for dinner, they "had several pastimes and sports" including "krickett". At six they "returned home in good order".^[108]

The first definite references to cricket in India and North America date from the early 18th century. It so happens that these precede the earliest-known mentions of the sport in any of Ireland, Scotland or Wales occurring much later in the century.^[111]

In 1709, cricket was played byWilliam Byrd of Westover on hisJames River estates in theColony of Virginia.^[112] This is the earliest reference to cricket being played in the New World.^[113]

In 1721, British sailors of theEast India Company were reported to be playing cricket atCambay, nearBaroda, and this is the earliest reference to cricket being played in the Indian sub-continent. One of the players wrote: "When my boat was lying for a fortnight in one of the channels, though the country was inhabited by the Culeys, we every day diverted ourselves with playing Cricket and to other Exercises, which they would come and be spectators of".^[114]

While Britain's seafaring and trading concerns ensured the spread of cricket overseas, at home it relied heavily on ease of transport and communications, most of these being waterborne as long journeys tended to be undertaken using coastal or river vessels. Road transport was slowly improving and, in 1707, Parliament established the firstturnpike trusts that placed a length of road under the control of trustees drawn from local landowners and traders. The turnpike trusts borrowed capital for road maintenance against the security of tolls. This arrangement became the common method of road maintenance for the next 140 years until the railway network became widespread.^[115]

The earliest match designated inter-county was in 1709 and thetraditional county soon became the key unit of organisation.^[116] By 1725, however, only eight counties (plus London) had been mentioned as having a cricket connection in surviving records. In three cases, the connection was educational. The rest were among, and were not all of, theHome Counties. The following list summarises the known spread of cricket in England to 1725:

• Cambridgeshire – first mentioned in 1710 at theUniversity of Cambridge.^[52]
• Essex – 1724 re the Chingford/Stead match.^[89]
• Hampshire – 1647 atWinchester College.^[34]
• Kent – c.1610 re the match at Chevening.^[2]
• London – 1617 re Oliver Cromwell.^[22]
• Middlesex – 1680; also the first mention ofumpires.^[61]
• Oxfordshire – 1673 at theUniversity of Oxford.^[48]
• Surrey – 1597 (1598New Style) reJohn Derrick and theGuildford court case; the world's earliest definite mention of cricket.^[5][19]
• Sussex – 1611 re an ecclesiastical court case.^[24]

The table below is fully chronological. It summarises the known organised matches from c.1610 to 1725 and does not separate matches by form or status. In terms of perceived status, some of the matches may have been "minor", but are nevertheless historically significant. Althoughsingle wicket was in vogue at the time, the earliest definite record of a single wicket match is in 1726.^[79]

• 1725 English cricket season
• History of English cricket (1726–1750)
• List of earliest references in English cricket
• List of English cricketers (1598–1787)
• List of historically significant English cricket teams

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• English cricket in the 14th to 17th centuries
• English cricket in the 18th century
• History of Indian cricket
• History of United States cricket
• 1720s in cricket

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