There will probably be some varying opinions over this question but the origins of cricket are traced back to a game called stoolball. Stoolball is still played regularly today, especially in West Sussex, and very closely resembles the rules of cricket.


Stoolball, is the game that Henderson defines as the common ancestor to both baseball and cricket. The common lore is that milk maids used their milking stools as both wicket (ie a target to throw at) and bat (with the legs removed). The first reference to the game by name is in 1450, but Henderson thinks it could date from at least 1330. In its earliest incarnation, the game was played by two people; one would throw a ball at a stool and the other would stand in front of it and try to hit the ball away from it with their open palm. The winner would be the one that hit the stool the most times.

Other sources contadict this opinion such as, some historians believe that the name that the name cricket is derived from "croquet" which was popular in France before the "birth" of cricket. Indeed, there is a French word "criquet" which strengthens some historians' belief about the game's French ancestry. However, cricket was not known in France in the 12th or 13th century when it was said to have began to gain popularity in England. In any case, the exact date or year of origin of cricket is not known but it was around the 12th or 13th century.

There is further evidence that Cricket started in the south of England. Although the origins of the game of cricket are lost in the mists of time, there is a reference in the household accounts of Edward I in 1300 of a game like cricket being played in Kent.

It seems clear that the English game originated in the sheep-rearing country of the South East, where the short grass of the downland pastures made it possible to bowl a ball of wool or rags at a target. That target was usually the wicket-gate of the sheep pasture, which was defended with a bat in the form of a shepherd's crooked staff.

By the 17th century the game was quite popular as a rough rural pastime, but in the following century the leisure classes took up the sport, particularly in Sussex, Kent, and London. We know that an organized match was held at the Artillery Grounds, Finsbury, London, in 1730. By the middle of the 18th century cricket was being played at every level of society, from village greens to wealthy estates. However, the game lacked a coherent set of rules.

The first and most influential cricket club in the land was formed at Hambledon, Hampshire, in the 1760's. The club was sponsored by wealthy patrons, but the players were local tradesmen and farmers. The Hambledon club established techniques of batting and bowling which still hold today, and Hambledon claims a page in history books as the "Birthplace of Cricket".

The centre of power in the game soon shifted to London, most notably with the establishment of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), which had its headquarters at Lord's ground. In 1835 the MCC gave cricket its first formal laws, which still stand largely intact today.

It would appear that the reference to stool ball may be relevant and confirms South East England as the home of cricket.

The French claim of being akin to Croquet does not appear credible, no bat, no wicket, no fielders, no contest.