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Cricket
(770 words)

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game, in which the batsman attempts to score by using a bat to strike a ball bowled at him by the bowler. Various bat-and-ball games are attested across Europe dating back to the Middle Ages. They probably originated in the variant of soule de la crosse that was played in France [7. 58–60]. In Britain there were local variants including trapball, clubball, stoolball, and cat and dog, some of which have been identified as precursors of cricket [6. 9–11].

The first reference to cricket is found in a 1598 record of a court case at Guildford (Surrey), …

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Schattner, Angela, “Cricket”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_SIM_030997>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20170206



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