This is a list of the earliest known English cricketers whose careers began prior to the first matches which are now considered to hold first-class status in 1772.
Patronage and popular support enabled it to outgrow its roots as a village pastime and develop into a major sport.
For example, in a court case held at Guildford in 1598, John Derrick recalled playing cricket on a particular parcel of land when he was a pupil at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford fifty years earlier,[1] whilst in 1611 Bartholomew Wyatt and Richard Latter of Sidlesham in Sussex were both prosecuted for "breaking the Sabbath" by playing cricket on a Sunday.
[2] The earliest known reference to cricket in London in 1617 concerns Oliver Cromwell, the future Lord Protector, who played the game there whilst training at the Inns of Court.
[3] A 1624 case records that Jasper Vinall of West Hoathly in Sussex died as the result of an injury during a game, caused by a blow on the head from Edward Tye's bat.