Featured Article Summary #272

The earliest clear record of cricket dates to 17 January 1597 (Old Style), from a legal case in Guildford, Surrey. A coroner named John Derrick said he had played cricket on the land as a boy around 1550, showing the game was already established by the mid-1500s, though its exact origin is unknown. What seems most likely is that cricket began earlier than 1550, probably in south-east England around Kent, Sussex, and Surrey, with some theories linking it to Flemish immigrants, including a possible Flemish origin for the word “cricket.” In the early years, cricket may have started as a children’s game but by about 1610 it had become an adult pastime, and only a small number of matches and details were recorded up to 1725. Under Charles I, the gentry became more involved, partly because the sport offered chances for gambling, and interest grew after the Restoration as cricket became a popular social activity in London and the south-east. By the early 1700s, newspapers helped spread information, cricket reached wider parts of England, and by 1725 wealthy patrons were building strong county teams, with major players drawing big crowds for matches that were often social events with gambling and alcohol. Cricket is thought to have developed in early medieval times in areas south and southeast of London—especially Kent, Sussex, and Surrey—before spreading into London and other nearby counties. The name “cricket” may come from several related terms found in Dutch, English, and French, including words for a stick or club, and the earliest known spelling appears as “creckett” in 1598. While some theories suggest older or different origins, the only firm early evidence is a late-16th-century court case showing the game was played by children in Surrey, and there is no proof it developed from (or into) another bat-and-ball sport. In March 1300 (old style), King Edward I’s accounts record refunds to John de Leek for money he paid so Prince Edward could play “creag and other games” at Westminster and Newenden. Prince Edward was about 15 at the time. Some people think “creag” may have been an early form of cricket, but most historians believe it was likely a different game. The earliest clear evidence of cricket in England comes from a court case in 1598, which confirmed that cricket was played on common land in Guildford, Surrey, around 1550. A witness, John Derrick, said that as a schoolboy at the local free school he and other students “ran and played” cricket there. Cricket was then also mentioned in 1598 by Giovanni Florio in an Italian-English dictionary, where he described “play cricket-a-wicket” and linked the word to the sound of a cricket insect. In a later 1611 edition, Florio’s wording suggests the game also had sexual associations. A court case from 1640 suggests that cricket was already being played in Kent about thirty years earlier, around 1610, making it the earliest known recorded match anywhere in the world. It was between village teams, and such contests became popular in the early 1600s, marking the start of village cricket that continues today. Other records from 1613 to 1617 show that adults were involved too, including an assault involving a “cricket staff” and the 18-year-old Oliver Cromwell playing cricket in London—the first definite mention of cricket there.