| PREHISTORY |
| 673 | Life of Cuthbert by The Venerable Bede includes an illustration of a youth playing with a curved stick |
| c1180 | Joseph of Exeter, writing in Latin, is quoted in translation as saying; ‘The youths at cricks did play / Throughout the merry day. |
| c1250 | A youth holding some kind of sports stick in the Six Ages of Man Window, Canterbury Cathedral |
| c1250 | A bat-and-ball game illustrated in a 13th-century manuscript of the Galician Cantigas de Santa Maria. |
| 1300 | ‘creag’ – an unknown pastime referred to in Latin, in the Wardrobe Accounts of Prince Edward, later Edward I. |
| c1340 | Pictorial reference on the border of an illuminated manuscript of the Romance of Alexander. |
| c1350 | A bat and ball game appears on a stained-glass window in Gloucester Cathedral – most liely a version of hockey called Bandyball |
| 1477 | ‘Handyn and Handoute’ among pastimes listed in a statute of Edward IV. |
| 1478 | ‘criquet’ mentioned in a French manuscript, referring to a place in the district of St Omer, north-east France. |
| THE FOLK CRICKET ERA |
| 1562 | ‘Clyckett’ mentioned as an unlawful game played in Malden, Essex. |
| 1593 | St Omer College for English Catholics opens in France, taking with it seems, a version of cricket apparently popular at the time – Stoneyhurst Cricket |
| 1598 | Sgrillare defined as ‘to make a noise as a cricket, to play cricket-a-wicket and be merry’ in Florio’s Italian-English Dictionary. |
| 1598 | Creckettâ referred to in a court ease in Guildford during an argument over a piece of landâ A witness, John Derrick, stated that when a schoolboy he and his friends played âcreckettâ on the land about 50 years previously. |
| 1611 | Two young men fined for playing cricket on Sunday in Sidlesham, West Sussex. |
| 1611 | ‘Crosse’ is defined in Randle Cotgrave’s French-English Dictionary as ‘a cricket staffeâ or the âcrooked staff wherein boyes play at cricket’. Cotgrave went to St Johnâs College, Cambridge, in I587, and was in the Inner Temple ln 1591. |
| 1613 | An assault with a ‘cricket staffe’ in a court ease. the assault taking place at Wanborough, near Guildford. |
| 1617 | Oliver Cromwell, then aged 18, went to London and trained for a time at one of the Inns of Court. William Dugdale later recorded that Cromwell played cricket and football there. This is the earliest known reference to cricket in London. Somewhat ironic, given Cromwell’s later objection to sports of all kinds. |
| 1622 | A number of youths ‘playing at cricket in the churchyard’ at Boxgrove, West Sussex |
| 1624 | Inquest on Jasper Vinall, accidentally hit with a ‘cricket batt’ while trying to catch the ball – a group were playing cricket on Horsted Green, Sussex |
| 1629 | Henry Cuffin brought before the Archdeacon’s court for ‘playing at cricketts’ immediately after divine service. Cuffin was curate of Ruckinge, Kent and claimed that several of his fellow players were ‘persons of quality’ |
| 1636 | Henry Mabbinck stated he played cricket ‘in the parke’, West Horsley, Surrey – a Court case re a tithe dispute. |
| 1640 | A court case involving land at Chevening, Kent, mentions cricket being played there ‘about 10 years since’. |
| 1640 | The Revd Thomas Wilson charged some cricketers with playing on a Sunday, smashing a window, endangering the life of a child, Maidstone, Kent. |
| 1646 | A court ease at Coxheath, near Maidstone, involving a match and betting on cricket, |
| 1648 | Court case about the death of Thomas Hatter, wounded when struck by a cricket bat at Selsey, West Sussex |
| 1652 | Court ease involving the playing of cricket in Cranbrook, Kent, involving John Rabson esq. |
| 1654 | Money received for misdemeanours by ‘Cricket players’ on the Lord’s Day, Eltham, Kent. |
| 1656 | Cricket banned in Ireland – Cromwell’s Commissioners clearly mistook hurling for cricket. |
| 1658 | Cricket-ball referred to as such for the first time, in a book by Edward Phillips (1630-1696), nephew of Milton. The book was published in London. Phillips was tutor to the son of the diarist John Evelyn, when the latter was living in Deptford. |
| 1665 | There is a reference to John Churchill, later the first Duke of Marlborough, playing cricket at St Paul’s school, London. |
| 1666 | âHe saw your son very well engaged in a game at cricquett on Richmond Green”‘ Letter from Sir Robert Paston, Richmond ln Surrey |
| 1666 | St Alban’s cricket club said to be formed. No evidence; probably a misread date – 1666 should be 1806. |
| 1668 | Reference to the sale of drink at cricket matches, ln Maidstone, |
| 1668 | Court case concerning the ‘playinge at crickett and strokebase, at Shoreham’ Kent. |
| 1668 | Landlord of the Ram Inn, Smithfield, rated for a Cricket Field – this is a misreading of the Clerkenwell Rate Book. |
| 1671 | Edward Bound charged with playing cricket on Sunday – exonerated’. Surrey. |
| 1677 | âPd to my Lord when his Lordship went to the crekitt match at ye Dicker.’ Dicker ln East Sussex. From the Earl of Sussex’s Accounts |
| 1678 | The first edition of Dr Adam Littletonâs Linguae Latinae Liber Dictlionarus’ Quadripartitus: A Latin Dictionary in Four Parts defines cricket as ‘a play’ ludus, Ludus baculi & pilae (game of stick and ball). He also defines the Latin word ,vibia’ as: ‘A pole or stick laid across on Forks, like the cricket-bar at bat-play” Littleton was educated at Westminster (and Christ Church, Oxford) and later taught at the school, |
| 1694 | ‘2/6 pald for a wagger about a cricket match at Lewis,’ steward’s Accounts of Sir John Pelham, who lived at Halland, West Sussex’. The first solid evidence of gambling on cricket. |
| 1697 | âThe middle of last week a great match at Cricket was played in Sussex there were eleven of a side, and they played for fifty guineas apiece” Foreign Post,7 July. The first record of a match that we know was eleven-a-side. |
| 1700 | A cricket match announced on Clapham Common |
| 1705 | Eleven-a-side match, west of Kent vs, Chatham, arranged for Malling |
| 1706 | Publication of William Goldwyn’s Latin poem describing a cricket match – In Certamen Pilae (About a ball-game) |
| 1707 | Two matches between Croydon and London, one at Croydon and one at Lamb’s Conduit Fields, Holborn |
| 1708 | âWe beat Ash street at Crickets” Diary of Thomas Minter of Canterbury (manuscript in Brittsh Museum). |
| 1709 | First inter-county match Kent vs, Surrey at Dartford for ÂŁ50 |
| 1710 | First mention of cricket at Cambridge University, noted by Thomas Blomer, Fellow of Trinity College, in a dispute about undergraduates. |
| 1712 | Political tract featuring cricket published ln London |
| 1717 | Eighteen references to inter-village cricket between 1717 and 1727 by Thomas Marchant of Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, in his diary’ |
| 1718 | Law suit between two cricket teams, Rochester Punch Club Society and the London Gamesters |
| THE RISE OF PROFESSIONALISM ERA |
| 1722 | Long letter published regarding a match between London and Dartford |
| 1724 | Probable first reference to cricket in Essex. Chingford vs. Dartford |
| 1725 | References to matches between the Duke of Richmond‘s team and Sir William Gage‘s team |
| 1726 | Single wicket match advertised between Perry of London and Piper of Hampton, Middlesex, to be played at Moulsey Hurst |
| 1727 | Articles of Agreement between the Duke of Richmond and Alan Brodrick of Peper Harow, Surrey |
| 1728 | French traveler César-François de Saussure refers to cricket in his journal. |
| 1729 | Probable first reference to cricket at Oxford University, (Dr Samuel Johnson stated he played at the University. He was only there one year.) |
| 1729 | First reference to cricket in Gloucestershire, in Gloucester. |
| 1729 | Earliest surviving bat. John Chitty of Knaphill, Surrey, was the original owner. It is now kept in The Oval pavilion. |
| 1730 | First mention of a match on the Artillery Ground, London v Surrey |
| 1730 | First mention of cricket ln Buchinghamshire – at Datchet. |
| 1731 | Prince of Wales attends a match. |
| 1735 | London v Kent: teams chosen respectively by the Prince of Wales and the Earl of Middlesex. Advertised to be played for ÂŁ1,000. |
| 1737 | First mention in Hertfordshire – Hertford vs. Stansted |
| 1739 | First pictorial representation of cricket. |
| 1741 | Bedfordshire vs. Northamptonshire, home and away, at Woburn and Northampton; first mention in both those counties |
| 1743 | Stradbroke vs. Finningham; first mention in Suffolk |
| 1744 | First full score preserved. First extant Laws. First recorded charge for admission |
| 1744 | The year of the Slidon Challenge, when a Sussex village offered to play any team in the country. |
| 1745 | First recorded women’s cricket match: at Gosden Common, Surrey, between Bramley and Hambleton (of Surrey) |
| 1745 | Setting up of a club in Norwich; first mention in Norfolk |
| 1748 | Cricket bats being made at Welbeck first mention of cricket in Nottinghamshire. |
| 1749 | Portsmouth vs. Fareham & Titchfield; first match in Hampshire |
| 1751 | First mentions ln Somerset (Saltford, Bath), Warwickshire (Aston, Birmingham), Yorkshire (Standwick) and Berkshtre (near Windsor). |
| 1754-56 | Several references to cricket in the diary of Thomas Turner of East Hoathly, Sussex. |
| 1755 | First edition of Dr Samuel Johnsonâs Dictionary defines cricket as ‘A sport, at which the contenders drive a ball with sticks in opposition to each other.’ Johnson then quotes the poet Alexander Pope’s use of the word ‘cricket’ in The Dunciad, Book IV, which Pope published 13 years earlier. |
| 1756 | First recorded use of Broadhalfpenny Down as a cricket field. |
| 1757 | Wirksworth vs, Sheffield at Brampton Moor first mention in Derbyshire. |
| 1766 | Cricket played on ice in Hexham – first mention of the game in Northumberland |
| 1767 | The Revd Charles Powlett establishes the Hambledon Club |
| 1768 | Hambledon play the Caterham Club at Croydon who under the patronage of Henry Rowed, Caterham became a powerful club in the 1760s, essentially representing Surrey |
| 1769 | First individual century – 107 by John Minshull. |
| 1769 | First mention of cricket in Wiltshire, at Upford |
| 1771 | First recorded match in Nottingham – v Sheffield |
| 1773 | First mention of cricket in Devon, at Teignmouth |
| 1774 | Large bat incident – bat width set at four and a quarter inches, when laws revised at Star and Garter. |
| 1775 | William Waterfall was convicted of manslaughter at Derby Assizes for “unlawfully killing George Twigg at a cricket match”. |
| 1775 | Cricket at Huntingdon – first mention in that county |
| 1776 | First known scorecards – in Sevenoaks, Kent |
| 1776 | First mention of cricket ln Dorset (Poole) and Leicestershire (Mount Sorrel vs, Barrow on Soar) |
| 1777 | John Aylward makes a record score of 167 |
| 1785 | The first match in Scotland for which records are available was played in September 1785 at Schaw Park, Alloa. |
| 1785 | White Conduit Club play Gentlemen of Kent |
| 1787 | Foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), opening of first Lord’s ground |
| 1788 | MCC publishes revised code of Laws |
| 1789 | Proposed visit to Paris by an England team |
| 1791 | Lord Frederick Beauclerk makes his first appearance |
| 1792 | A military match is known to have been played at Dublin, the first cricket known to have been played in Ireland. |
| 1797 | Richard Nyren, who was a pioneer of the game with the Hambledon Club died in April. |
| 1798 | The Laws of Cricket were revised by MCC during the year. Significant changes saw the height of the stumps raised by two inches to 24 inches and the width increased by an inch to 7 inches and the bowling side able to ask for a new ball at the start of every innings. |
