History of cricket

From its probable origin as a children's game in south-east England, the sport of cricket has grown to become the national summer sport of several English-speaking countries. It stages top-level international tournaments played by professionals in modern, all-seater stadiums. Globally, it has a high level of player participation and is, apart from football, the world's most popular spectator sport.

Origin
It is widely believed that cricket began in England as a children's game. It most likely happened south-east of London in the areas known as the North Downs, the South Downs, and the Weald. These places can be found in the counties of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex. But, when the game began is less certain.

Cricket was not definitely recorded anywhere until January 1597, but it could have been hundreds of years old by then. The first mention was during a court case in Guildford. A coroner named John Derrick testified that he and his schoolfriends had played "creckett" on a disputed patch of land in the 1550s. As for the name of the game, it may be derived from the Middle Dutch word krick(-e), meaning a stick, as many Flemish immigrants had settled in south-east England during the 16th century (Derrick is itself a name of Flemish origin).

17th century 
The earliest known match took place sometime around the year 1611. That was at Chevening in Kent where a team called Weald and Upland played against a team called Chalkhill. The game became popular in the three south-eastern counties, and spread westwards and northwards through the 17th century. It soon reached London itself, and also the neighbouring counties of Berkshire, Essex, Hampshire, and Middlesex.

There are several mentions of cricket in the records of 17th century legal cases. These mostly concern people being punished for playing "on the Sabbath".

There were also two fatal incidents.

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