The most punctual unmistakable reference to cricket is dated Monday, 17 January 1597 (i.e., an "Old Style" Julian date which is 27 January 1598 by present day figuring under the Gregorian schedule). It is a statement in the records of a lawful case at Guildford, Surrey, with respect to the utilization of a package of land in around 1550 in which John Derrick, a coroner, affirmed that he had played cricket on the land when he was a kid. Derrick's declaration clarifies that the game was being played by the center of the sixteenth century, yet its actual cause is obscure. Everything that could possibly be said with a reasonable level of assurance is that its start was sooner than 1550, presumably some place in south-east England inside the provinces of Kent, Sussex and Surrey. Not at all like different games with batsmen, bowlers and defenders, for example, stoolball and rounders, cricket must be played on moderately short grass, particularly as the ball was conveyed along the ground until the 1760s. Woods clearings and land where sheep had touched would have been appropriate spots to play.
The most punctual unmistakable reference to cricket is dated Monday, 17 January 1597 (i.e., an "Old Style" Julian date which is 27 January 1598 by present day figuring under the Gregorian schedule). It is a statement in the records of a lawful case at Guildford, Surrey, with respect to the utilization of a package of land in around 1550 in which John Derrick, a coroner, affirmed that he had played cricket on the land when he was a kid. Derrick's declaration clarifies that the game was being played by the center of the sixteenth century, yet its actual cause is obscure. Everything that could possibly be said with a reasonable level of assurance is that its start was sooner than 1550, presumably some place in south-east England inside the provinces of Kent, Sussex and Surrey.