A recently unearthed manuscript from the National Archive has sparked a re-evaluation of cricket's origins. The document, dating back to 1624, details the tragic death of Jasper Vinall during a cricket match in Horsted Keynes, West Sussex.
The Latin manuscript suggests that cricket was a well-established game among farmers and villagers long before the Hambledon Cricket Club formalised the Laws in the 18th century.
The manuscript provides intriguing details about early cricket practices. It mentions that players paid a half-penny for their bats, indicating the game was already a commercial venture. The cricket ball that caused Vinall's death was described as being about the size of a clenched fist.
This discovery has reignited the debate about the true origins of the "gentleman's game" and has drawn renewed attention to Broadhalfpenny Down, the historic cricket ground where many of the earliest matches were played and which played a pivotal role in codifying the early Laws of Cricket.
In the 16th Century, during a legal case in Guildford in 1597, a man named John Derrick, aged 59, testified that he had played cricket as a boy on common land in the town. There are references to cricket as an adult sport around 1611, and of a recorded cricket match that took place in Kent in 1646.
Records show that Merton Cricket Club was formed in 1685, that a delivery of brandy was received by the Goodwood Cricket Club in 1702, and that Slindon played cricket against Portsmouth in 1741.
But it was not until 1744, on the hallowed grounds of Broadhalfpenny Down, that the first written "Laws of Cricket" were established. Elgan Alderman described, in The Times, "how a brewer, a farmer, and a builder" helped Broadhalfpenny Down host the first-ever first-class cricket match in 1772, and it was at this same ground that John Small made history by scoring the first-ever first-class century, cementing the location's place in cricket lore.
Today, Broadhalfpenny Down is home to the Third and Fourth XIs of Hambledon Cricket Club, and the Brigands who play friendly time cricket on Sundays from Easter to mid-September. We hope to host a match against Horsted Keynes CC at Broadhalfpenny Down in the 2025 season.
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