Cricket (sport)
According to the former British Prime Minister John Major in his book entitled More Than A Game, cricket is "a club striking a ball (like) the ancient games of club-ball, stool-ball, trap-ball, stob-ball". As he says, each of these have at times been described as "early cricket".
Cricket has an immemorial existence. It was "invented" and developed in England, but ultimately has spread to more than 100 countries. It is generally believed that it began as a children's game and, despite some possibly spurious earlier references, it was first definitely mentioned in 1597 as a game played by boys at the Royal Grammar School in Guildford, Surrey around 1550. It is the world's oldest professional team sport. Having been a boy's game in 1550, it became an adult game in the early 17th century and then, almost certainly, a professional sport in or soon after 1660 in the wake of the Restoration.
Bibliography
- More Than A Game by John Major