Believe it or not, Cricket is a ` foreign import to England`
March 25, 2009
Today, cricket is among the most widely played sports in the world and considered the quintessential English pastime. However according to researchers, the ‘gentleman’s game’ is actually a foreign import to Britain. They have stumbled upon new evidence that cricket was imported to the country by northern Europe immigrants who settled in the country sometime in the 14th century. It faced resistance from the local population.
The Daily Telegraph reported: “This claim by the researches from England’s traditional cricketing rival Australia clearly challenges the traditional theory that cricket evolved from children’s games played in Britain since Anglo-Saxon times.”
The researchers’ findings were based on an analysis of a 1553 poem. There’s reference to the sport made in a 1553 poem attributed to Johan Skelton who links it to immigrants from Flanders, in modern day Belgium, France and Holland. Skeleton writes:
“O lorde of Ipocrites/ Nowe shut vpp your wickets/ And clape to your clickettes!/ A! Farewell. King’s of crekettes…”
Paul Campbell of Australian National University added:
“The discovery of this poem is very intriguing. It could be the earliest known reference to the game we know as cricket.”
Studies revealed weavers from Flanders first settled in rural areas around Kent and Surrey and it was here that English game of cricket we know today originated.
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