# Chapter 1: History & Origins

Cricket · Chapter 1: History & Origins · Insporta Book (https://book.insporta.app/cricket/interesting-facts/chapter-1-history-origins/)

Verified facts about cricket's earliest records and how the game first travelled: church courts and coroners, the first great matches, the oldest bat that survives, the first women's match, and the first reports of cricket overseas.

## 1.11 The Earliest Records

Cricket before it had a governing body: what church courts, a coroner, newspapers and private diaries tell us about the game in the 1600s and 1700s, at home and in the first places it reached overseas.

### Test 1: Courts, diaries and the first great matches

- The ecclesiastical records blame cricket for the two men's absence from church on Easter Sunday 1611, which is the first definite mention of the game in Sussex. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, 'A brief history of Sussex' (espncricinfo.com/story/a-brief-history-of-sussex-261967))
- Vinall was struck by a bat while trying to catch the ball at Horsted Green in Sussex, and died of the injury: the first known cricket fatality. (Source: ESPNcricinfo history of cricket timeline (espn.com/cricket/story/_/id/22771053))
- The 1697 game, played for fifty guineas, is the first reference to a 'great match' with eleven players a side. (Source: ESPNcricinfo history of cricket timeline (espn.com/cricket/story/_/id/22771053))
- Kent against Surrey in 1709 is the first recorded inter-county match. (Source: ESPNcricinfo history of cricket timeline (espn.com/cricket/story/_/id/22771053))
- On 6 May 1709 William Byrd II of Westover, Virginia, wrote that he and three friends 'played at cricket' before breakfast, and that he won a small stake. (Source: The Diary of William Byrd II of Virginia, 1709-1712, selections, National Humanities Center (nationalhumanitiescenter.org); USA Cricket, Our History (usacricket.org/history))
- Clement Downing, a midshipman, wrote that the men of two Company vessels and the East Indiaman London passed time with 'cricket and other exercises' on a riverbank by the Gulf of Cambay; his book appeared in 1737. (Source: Kent Cricket Heritage Trust, 'Kent in India 1721' (heritage.kentcricket.co.uk))
- Eleven maids of Bramley played eleven of Hambledon, both Surrey villages, on Gosden Common near Guildford; Hambledon won by 127 notches to 119. (Source: Bramley History Society, the 1745 women's match (bramleyhistorysociety.org.uk), after Nancy Joy, 'Maiden Over')
- 1611, 1624, 1697 and 1745. (Source: ESPNcricinfo history pages; Bramley History Society)
- Byrd's diary (1709), the New York Gazette's report of London v New York (1751), Franklin and the Laws (1754), the Dartmouth engraving (1793). (Source: USA Cricket, Our History (usacricket.org/history))
- The bat belonged to John Chitty of Knaphill, near Woking. It weighs 2lb 4oz, its blade curves like a hockey stick for a ball rolled along the ground, and it is held by Surrey at The Oval. (Source: Wisden Almanack 2024, 'Around the South in nine objects' (wisden.com); ESPNcricinfo history of cricket timeline)

## 1.12 Taking the Game Abroad

How cricket left England: the first matches in Australia and India, the first international match between two nations, the first English tours overseas, and the first Australian team to tour England.

### Test 1: First matches and first tours overseas

- The Australian War Memorial dates the first recorded match in Australia to Sydney, December 1803, by which time cricket was already being played in the young colony. (Source: Australian War Memorial, 'Not Just Cricket' (awm.gov.au/visit/exhibitions-online/cricket))
- The Madras Courier of 23 February 1792 reported the Calcutta Cricket Club's fixtures against Barrackpore and Dum Dum, the earliest firm proof of the club. (Source: Calcutta Cricket & Football Club, club history (ccfc1792.com))
- At the St George's club ground in Manhattan, Canada made 82 and 63, the United States 64 and 58: a 23-run win for Canada watched by more than 20,000 people over three days. (Source: USA Cricket, 'The oldest sports international in the world' (usacricket.org))
- Twelve English professionals sailed from Liverpool in September 1859 and played in Montreal, at Hoboken near New York, and in Philadelphia. (Source: ESPNcricinfo history of cricket timeline (espn.com/cricket/story/_/id/22771053); USA Cricket, Our History (usacricket.org/history))
- Felix Spiers and Christopher Pond first tried to bring Charles Dickens to Australia; when he declined, they invited a team of leading English cricketers instead. (Source: SS Great Britain Trust, 'England Cricket Team' and 'New Exhibition Tells Story of First ENG Vs AUS Tour' (ssgreatbritain.org))
- Brunel's SS Great Britain left Liverpool in October 1861 and reached Melbourne to a rapturous welcome in December; the ship's museum in Bristol tells the story of the tour. (Source: SS Great Britain Trust, 'England Cricket Team' and 'New Exhibition Tells Story of First ENG Vs AUS Tour' (ssgreatbritain.org))
- Charles Lawrence, an ex all-England cricketer, was captain-coach of the thirteen men from Victoria's Western District; between May and October 1868 they won 14, drew 19 and lost 14. (Source: Sport Australia Hall of Fame, 1868 tour of England (sahof.org.au))
- 1859, 1861-62, 1868 and 1874: the baseball players, who also played cricket, made the first American tour of England. (Source: ESPNcricinfo history of cricket timeline; SS Great Britain Trust, 'England Cricket Team' and 'New Exhibition Tells Story of First ENG Vs AUS Tour' (ssgreatbritain.org); USA Cricket, Our History (usacricket.org/history))
- 1868, 1878, 1884 and 1897: Philadelphia was the heart of American cricket in the late 1800s. (Source: USA Cricket, Our History (usacricket.org/history))
- A touring eleven often played local sides of eighteen or twenty-two to even up the contest; at Hoboken England made 156 and bowled out the American XXII for 38 and 54. (Source: USA Cricket, Our History (usacricket.org/history); ESPNcricinfo history of cricket timeline)

## 1.13 Patrons and Wagers

The age of noble backers and big stakes: dukes, earls, a betting clergyman and the first player banned from Lord's.

### Test 1: Backers, bets and bans

- Beauclerk was a Church of England priest who openly played for money; he was President of MCC in 1826. (Source: Lord's (lords.org), MCC history, MCC Presidents; ESPNcricinfo, Lord Frederick Beauclerk profile)
- His own estimate was about 600 guineas a year, a large income at the time, and he was not shy of saying so. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, Lord Frederick Beauclerk profile; Wisden on cricket's betting age)
- Accused of 'selling' the England v Nottingham match, Lambert never played at Lord's again. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, William Lambert profile; Lord's (lords.org), MCC history)
- The match at Ball's Pond in north London is often called the first women's county match. (Source: MCC Museum, women's cricket history; ESPNcricinfo, women's cricket timeline)
- The regiment still owns the ground in Finsbury, where cricket drew crowds of thousands in the 1740s. (Source: Honourable Artillery Company, history of the Artillery Garden (hac.org.uk))
- Tankerville kept Lumpy on his staff at Walton-on-Thames, which let him play in the earl's big matches. (Source: Surrey Cricket heritage; ESPNcricinfo, Lumpy Stevens profile)
- His birthplace in Thirsk is now the town's museum, with a plaque to the founder of Lord's. (Source: Thirsk Museum (thirskmuseum.org), Thomas Lord's birthplace; Lord's (lords.org), MCC history)
- 1755, 1787, 1811 and 1817. (Source: Lord's (lords.org), MCC history; ESPNcricinfo, cricket timeline)
- The Duke, Britain's ambassador in Paris, met his cricketers at Dover as he fled the Revolution in August 1789. (Source: Kent Cricket heritage, the 3rd Duke of Dorset; ESPNcricinfo, cricket timeline)
- Their patron, the Duke of Dorset, was Britain's ambassador in Paris; he met them at Dover on his way home. (Source: Kent Cricket heritage, the 3rd Duke of Dorset; ESPNcricinfo, cricket timeline)

## 1.14 The Travelling Elevens

Professional sides that toured the country in the 1840s and 1850s, and the characters who made them.

### Test 1: Clarke, Mynn, Felix and Parr

- The Eleven played local sides, often of twenty-two, all over Britain and made money from the gate. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, William Clarke profile; Trent Bridge history (trentbridge.co.uk))
- He bowled slow underarm, cleverly flighted, long after roundarm had taken over. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, William Clarke profile)
- He married the widow who kept the Trent Bridge Inn and laid out the ground behind it. (Source: Trent Bridge history (trentbridge.co.uk))
- Players tired of Clarke's pay and manner left to start a rival travelling team. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, John Wisden profile; Wisden, history of the travelling elevens)
- Mynn stood over six feet and weighed some eighteen stone; Kent's supporters called him their Lion. (Source: Kent Cricket heritage, Alfred Mynn; ESPNcricinfo, Alfred Mynn profile)
- He ran a school at Blackheath and thought parents might frown on a professional-style cricketer. (Source: Kent Cricket heritage, Felix; ESPNcricinfo, Nicholas Felix profile)
- It fired balls at the batter with a spring, so a player could practise without a bowler. (Source: MCC Museum collection; Kent Cricket heritage, Felix)
- 1838, 1845, 1846 and 1852. (Source: ESPNcricinfo; Trent Bridge history)
- After Clarke died in 1856; then 1859, 1863-64 and 1976. (Source: Trent Bridge history; ESPNcricinfo, George Parr profile)
- Parr's Tree was a Trent Bridge landmark until a storm brought it down in 1976. (Source: Trent Bridge history (trentbridge.co.uk), Parr's Tree)

## 1.15 Cricket at War

Cricketers who served and fell in two world wars, and what became of the game and its grounds.

### Test 1: The world wars

- Blythe died near Passchendaele in November 1917; Kent keep a memorial to him at Canterbury. (Source: Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Colin Blythe; Kent Cricket heritage)
- Cotter served with the 12th Light Horse and died during the charge at Beersheba. (Source: Australian War Memorial, Albert 'Tibby' Cotter)
- Verity was wounded leading his company in Sicily and died a prisoner of war in Italy. (Source: Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Hedley Verity; Yorkshire CCC heritage)
- The matches were not official Tests but drew huge crowds in the summer the war in Europe ended. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, the 1945 Victory Tests; Lord's (lords.org), MCC history)
- Miller flew Mosquito fighter-bombers with the RAAF in Europe. (Source: Australian War Memorial, Keith Miller; ESPNcricinfo, Keith Miller profile)
- Grace thought it unfitting for fit men to play cricket while others fought; the season soon ended. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, W. G. Grace and the 1914 season; Wisden 1915)
- Huts and wire went up on the outfield, but no prisoners were ever held there. (Source: Kia Oval history (kiaoval.com))
- Cotter took 89, Blythe 100 and Verity 144. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, player profiles)
- 1919; Sydney, December 1920; The Oval, August 1939; Wellington, March 1946. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, Test records by date)
- The bomb landed outside the ground; when play restarted Jack Robertson hit the next ball for six. (Source: Lord's (lords.org), MCC history, Lord's in the Second World War)

## 1.16 India's Early Pioneers

The Parsi tours, a Dalit spin bowler, princes who led teams and India's first steps in Test cricket.

### Test 1: Parsis, princes and pioneers

- Parsi clubs in Bombay took up cricket in the mid-1800s and sent teams to England in 1886 and 1888. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, the Parsi tours of England; MCC Museum)
- Dr Pavri took 170 wickets on that tour and is often called the father of Parsi cricket. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, Mehallasha Pavri profile)
- Baloo rose from the Dalit community, then barred from much of Indian life, to become India's best bowler. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, Palwankar Baloo profile; The Cricket Monthly)
- Bhupinder Singh of Patiala led the first all-India team; it won six of its fourteen first-class matches. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, the 1911 All-India tour)
- The Maharaja of Porbandar felt his form was not good enough, so Nayudu became India's first Test captain. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, India in England 1932; C. K. Nayudu profile)
- He is the only man to have played Test cricket for both England and India. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi profile)
- K. S. Duleepsinhji played 12 Tests for England from 1929 to 1931, making 173 on his Ashes debut. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, K. S. Duleepsinhji profile; BCCI, Duleep Trophy)
- 1886, 1911, 1932 and 1934-35. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, Indian cricket timeline)
- 1896, 1929, 1932 and 1961. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, player profiles)
- Amarnath made 118 against England; Mushtaq Ali made India's first Test hundred abroad in 1936. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, Lala Amarnath profile; India v England, Bombay 1933)

## 1.17 The Caribbean Story

From the first tour of 1900 to the first Test wins: Constantine, Headley, Worrell and the grounds of the Caribbean.

### Test 1: West Indies' early years

- Plum Warner was born in Port of Spain, where their father was Attorney General. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, West Indies in England 1900; Pelham Warner profile)
- He was the first West Indian to do the double on a tour of England. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, Learie Constantine profile)
- He was called to the bar in London and later served Trinidad and Tobago as High Commissioner. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, Learie Constantine profile; Middle Temple)
- He was made a life peer as Baron Constantine of Maraval and Nelson. (Source: UK Parliament, Lord Constantine; ESPNcricinfo, Learie Constantine profile)
- Headley was born in Colon, where his father worked on the canal, and grew up in Jamaica. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, George Headley profile)
- They beat England by 289 runs in the third Test of the 1929-30 series. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, West Indies v England, Georgetown 1930)
- Worrell died of leukaemia aged 42; the service was held there that April. (Source: Westminster Abbey, Sir Frank Worrell; ESPNcricinfo, Frank Worrell profile)
- 1900, 1928, 1930 and 1950. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, West Indies cricket timeline)
- The series went Barbados, Trinidad, British Guiana, Jamaica, from January to April 1930. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, England in the West Indies 1929-30)
- Learie Constantine played for Nelson from 1929 to 1937 and helped them to seven league titles. (Source: Nelson Cricket Club history; ESPNcricinfo, Learie Constantine profile)

## 1.18 Southern Firsts

South Africa and New Zealand find their feet: first hundreds, first wins and the trophies of the south.

### Test 1: South Africa and New Zealand

- Dempster made 136 and put on 276 for the first wicket with Jackie Mills. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, New Zealand v England, Wellington 1930)
- Sinclair played rugby for South Africa against the British Isles in 1903. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, Jimmy Sinclair profile)
- Dave Nourse and Percy Sherwell put on 48 for the last wicket to win it. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, South Africa v England, Johannesburg 1906)
- It came in their 45th Test, 26 years after their first. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, New Zealand v West Indies, Auckland 1956)
- Otago won the match played in January 1864. (Source: New Zealand Cricket Museum; ESPNcricinfo)
- C. Aubrey Smith, nicknamed 'Round the Corner' for his curving run-up, starred in Hollywood films into the 1940s. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, C. Aubrey Smith profile)
- Rhodesia first played in the Currie Cup in 1904-05 and were regular members from the 1940s. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, Currie Cup history)
- 1889-90, 1892-93, 1906-07 and 1934-35. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, domestic competition histories)
- 1864, 1889, 1906, 1930 and 1956. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, Test records by date)
- Kimberley won it first; it became the Currie Cup, South Africa's first-class championship. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, Currie Cup history; Cricket South Africa)

## 1.19 Keeping the Score

Notched sticks, the first scorecards and hundreds, and the people who kept the record.

### Test 1: Scorers and record-keepers

- Kent beat All-England by one wicket in June 1744. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, cricket timeline; Lord's (lords.org), MCC history)
- He made it against Wrotham at the Vine, Sevenoaks. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, John Minshull profile; Kent Cricket heritage)
- A printer named Pratt sold them; the ground was given to the town by the Duke of Dorset. (Source: Sevenoaks Vine Cricket Club history; ESPNcricinfo, cricket timeline)
- His volumes, published by MCC, are still the main record of matches before 1878. (Source: Lord's (lords.org), MCC history, MCC Library; ESPNcricinfo)
- He printed scorecards on the spot and later wrote the first book about an English tour abroad. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, Fred Lillywhite profile; USA Cricket history)
- Brian Johnston gave him the name; Frindall scored every home Test for over 40 years. (Source: BBC Sport, Bill Frindall obituary (2009))
- Simon King, a British researcher at the University of Minnesota, started it. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, 'How Cricinfo began')
- 1849, 1864, 1921 and 1993. (Source: ESPNcricinfo; Wisden; The Cricketer)
- Notched sticks in the early game; printed cards from 1776; radio from the 1920s; the internet from the 1990s. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, cricket timeline)
- Runs were long called 'notches' because of it. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, glossary; Lord's (lords.org), MCC history)

## 1.20 Princes and Peers

Royal cricketers, a prince who ruled a state, governors and the one Prime Minister who played first-class cricket.

### Test 1: Royals, rulers and politicians

- He played for I Zingari and the army, and died on service in the Boer War in 1900. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, Prince Christian Victor profile; Royal Collection Trust)
- A club president normally serves one year; the Duke of Edinburgh did it twice, 25 years apart. (Source: Lord's (lords.org), MCC history, MCC Presidents)
- He became its Jam Sahib and went on playing for Sussex. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, K. S. Ranjitsinhji profile)
- In Bombay from 1890 to 1895 he encouraged cricket among Indians as well as Europeans. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, Lord Harris profile; Kent Cricket heritage)
- As Lord Dunglass he played for Middlesex, Oxford University and MCC in the 1920s. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, Lord Dunglass profile; Lord's (lords.org), MCC history)
- He was the grandson of the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, Lionel Tennyson profile)
- Lord Brabourne was Governor when the Cricket Club of India built the ground in the 1930s. (Source: Cricket Club of India history; ESPNcricinfo, Brabourne Stadium)
- 1900, 1907, 1921 and 1949. (Source: ESPNcricinfo; Lord's (lords.org), MCC history)
- 1920s, 1963 and 1966. (Source: Lord's (lords.org), MCC history, MCC Presidents; ESPNcricinfo)
- Lionel Tennyson made 63 and 36 that way against Australia's fast bowlers. (Source: ESPNcricinfo, England v Australia, Leeds 1921)

Sources: Primary/official sources only, no Wikipedia citations: ESPNcricinfo's history pages, USA Cricket's history, Kent Cricket's heritage archive, Wisden, the Australian War Memorial, the SS Great Britain Trust, the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, the Calcutta Cricket & Football Club, the National Humanities Center's edition of William Byrd's diary, and local history societies. Paraphrased in original wording; original questions authored. Facts already asked in Knowledge Testing (Guildford 1597, Cotgrave 1611, Coxheath 1646, Hambledon, the 1744 Laws, MCC and Lord's) are left out on purpose.

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