The origins of cricket

Cricket’s origins are still a mystery today as researchers can’t confirm the exact year cricket began but they believe it could have been somewhere in the Dark Ages. The first recorded cricket games were played in the mid-1500s with evidence pointing to the sport initially being played in Surrey. The Cricket World Cup will be played this summer in England and Wales. Fans around the globe are debating which nation will win the event. With this in mind, supporters can visit promocodejackpot.com and wager on the tournament including their favourite.

Since the 1500s where schools and farming communities began playing cricket there has been significant changes as the sport evolved in many countries. Cricket has drawn millions of fans around the world as it’s the second most popular spectator sport.

The oldest cricket fixtures

Eton and Harrow play the oldest cricket fixture in the world. The two teams began competing against one another in 1805 with the matches are still going strong. At one time, the two cricket teams packed over 20,000 fans into Lord’s for their annual fixtures.

Those days are long gone, but plenty of cricket fans still turn out to see the teams play. Whether a fan of Eton, Harrow, or another cricket team, you can visit this page to wager on the biggest cricket matches of the year.

One of the players to feature in Harrow’s XI for that first game was Lord Byron. Historians have looked to Byron’s account of the fixture in a letter to friend Charles Gordon as the best evidence of the teams’ first encounter.

The first cricket international fixture

Although some have called England’s 1877 match against Australia in Melbourne the first ever international cricket fixture, there are some who claim otherwise. According to ESPN, the first ever cricket international fixture was played between the United States and Canada. Yes, that is right, the two countries better known for baseball actually played the first ever cricket match between two countries.

The game took place in 1844, 33-years before the much-cited England versus Australia fixture. The US played Canada in Manhattan during a time that cricket was a much-loved sport in the former English colonies. Fast-forward to the 1860s and the US would fall in love with baseball, a game inspired by rounders.

Cricket’s first superstar

WG Grace was cricket’s first true superstar as he played for 44 seasons wowing crowds around England. Born in 1848, Grace began playing cricket in 1865. Fifteen years later, he made his international test match debut for England against Australia.

The cricketer earned a reputation for his gamesmanship, competitiveness, and crowd-pleasing play. A doctor by trade, Grace only competed as an amateur during his illustrious career.

According to cricket historians, Grace made a lot of money under the table as an amateur. His play often earned him more than professional players of the era. Grace played until 1908 when he retired at the ripe old age of 60.