Cricket

The first record of a cricket match being played was in 1646 at a place called Coxheath in the English County of Kent. Although, a game played in the eastern county of Essex in 1562 was described as 'clykett'.

The top level of cricket in the UK, called 'first class' cricket, is played between 18 clubs named after the counties where they come from. The first match between counties was on 29th June 1709, when Surrey played Kent.

The earliest surviving written rules date back to 1744 and shortly after, in 1787, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) was founded. The MCC is the most famous cricket club in the world and is based at Lord's cricket ground in north London.

Lord's has long been seen as the "home of cricket" and the game's spiritual "headquarters". But its importance is not merely historical. In practice it remains, to this day, perhaps the most important single place in world cricket.

Cricket is a complex game; its rules, or Laws of Cricket as they are known, are very involved. As its popularity grew, however, the game spread to the British colonies - to India, Australia, Barbados and South Africa. The 19th century scientist, Charles Darwin mentions seeing Maoris playing cricket in New Zealand.

Many players of the past are as renowned as the game itself. Even those who are not cricket fans in Britain would probably recognize the face of W. G. Grace (1848-1915) with his long beard, the most famous cricketer of Victorian England. Few cricketers since have surpassed his amazing feats on the pitch where he scored nearly 55,000 runs as a batsman and took over 2,800 wickets as a bowler. His score of 344 in a match in 1876 was the first triple century (a century being 100 runs).

For further information visit: www.ecb.co.uk

Images courtesy of the England and Wales Cricket Board

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