Cricket, a globally adored sport, has a rich and complex history that goes back centuries. Its birthplace lies in south-east England, though the precise timeline is elusive. Our first definitive nod to the game takes us to Guilford in Surrey, England, a town nestled 27 miles southwest of London. A court case in 1597 chronicles a land dispute in which a man named John Derrick testified that he and his mates had played a game of ‘creckett’ on the conflicted patch some fifty years earlier while attending the Free School (now the Royal Grammar School). This places the origin of cricket at around the year 1550.
On the 27th of June, 1709, Peter Wynne-Thomas¹ documented a pivotal moment in his “The History of Cricket — From the Weald to the World.” This was when Dartford Brent hosted a noteworthy cricket match between Kent and Surrey, marking the first ever “inter-county match” to be played, a significant milestone recognized in the history of cricket.
As the English colonies sprung up in North America in the 17th century, cricket’s reach expanded. As per…
