Early cricket
Origin
No one knows when or where cricket began but there is a body of
evidence, much of it circumstantial, that strongly suggests the game was
devised during Saxon or Norman times by children living in the Weald, an area of dense woodlands and clearings in south-east England
that lies across Kent and Sussex. In medieval times, the Weald was populated by
small farming and metal-working communities. It is generally believed that
cricket survived as a children's game for many centuries before it was
increasingly taken up by adults around the beginning of the 17th century.[1]
It is quite likely that cricket was devised by children and
survived for many generations as essentially a children’s game. Adult
participation is unknown before the early 17th century. Possibly cricket was
derived from bowls, assuming bowls is the older sport, by the
intervention of a batsman trying to stop the ball from reaching its target by
hitting it away. Playing on sheep-grazed land or in clearings, the original
implements may have been a matted lump of sheep’s wool (or even a stone or a
small lump of wood) as the ball; a stick or a crook or another farm tool as the
bat; and a stool or a tree stump or a gate (e.g., a wicket gate) as the wicket.[2]
Derivation of the name of "cricket"
A number of words are thought to be possible sources for the term
"cricket". In the earliest known reference to the sport in 1598 (see
below), it is called creckett. The name may have been derived from the Middle Dutch krick(-e), meaning a stick; or the Old English cricc or crycemeaning a crutch or
staff.[2] Another possible source is the Middle Dutch word krickstoel, meaning a long low stool used for kneeling inchurch and which resembled the long low wicket with two stumps used in early cricket.
According to Heiner Gillmeister, a European language expert of
Bonn University, "cricket" derives from the Middle Dutch met de (krik ket)sen(i.e., "with the stick chase"), which
also suggests a Dutch connection in the game's origin. It is more likely that
the terminology of cricket was based on words in use in south east England at
the time and, given trade connections with the County of Flanders, especially in the 15th century when it belonged to the Duchy of Burgundy, many Middle Dutch[3] words found their way into southern English
dialects.[4]
John Derrick was a pupil at The Royal Grammar
School in Guildford when he and his friends played creckett circa 1550
Despite many prior suggested references, the first definite
mention of the game is found in a 1598 court case concerning an ownership
dispute over a plot of common land in Guildford,Surrey. A 59-year old coroner, John Derrick, testified that he and his school friends had
played creckett on the site fifty years earlier when they
attended the Free School. Derrick's account proves beyond reasonable doubt that the game
was being played in Surrey circa 1550.[5][6]
The first reference to cricket being played as an adult sport was
in 1611, when two men in Sussex were prosecuted for playing cricket on Sunday
instead of going to church.[7] In the same year, a dictionary defined cricket
as a boys' game and this suggests that adult participation was a recent
development.[5]
Early 17th century
A number of references occur up to the English Civil War and these indicate that cricket had become an adult
game contested by parish teams, but there is no evidence of county strength
teams at this time. Equally, there is little evidence of the rampant gambling that characterised the game throughout the 18th
century. It is generally believed, therefore, that village cricket had developed by the middle of the 17th century
but that county cricket had not and that investment in the game had not begun.[1]
The Commonwealth
After the Civil War ended in 1648, the new Puritan government
clamped down on "unlawful assemblies", in particular the more raucous
sports such as football. Their laws also demanded a stricter observance of the
Sabbath than there had been previously. As the Sabbath was the only free time
available to the lower classes, cricket's popularity may have waned during the Commonwealth.
Having said that, it did flourish in public fee-paying schools such as Winchester and St Paul's.
There is no actual evidence that Oliver Cromwell's regime banned cricket specifically and there
are references to it during the interregnum that suggest it was
acceptable to the authorities provided that it did not cause any "breach
of the Sabbath".[1] It is believed that the nobility in general
adopted cricket at this time through involvement in village games.[5]
Gambling and press coverage
Cricket certainly thrived after the Restoration in 1660 and is believed
to have first attracted gamblers making large bets at this time. In 1664, the
"Cavalier" Parliament passed the Gaming Act 1664 which limited stakes
to £100, although that was still a fortune at the time,[1]equivalent to about £12 thousand in present
day terms [8]. Cricket had certainly become a significant
gambling sport by the end of the 17th century. There is a newspaper report of a
"great match" played in Sussex in 1697 which was 11-a-side and played
for high stakes of 50guineas a side.[7]
With freedom of the press having been granted in 1696, cricket for the first time could be
reported in the newspapers.
But it was a long time before the newspaper industry adapted sufficiently to
provide frequent, let alone comprehensive, coverage of the game. During the
first half of the 18th century, press reports tended to focus on the betting
rather than on the play.[1]
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