Cricket
Along with prizefighting, horse racing and blood sports activities, cricket was perceived to be a playing sport. Rich patrons made matches for high stakes, forming teams by which they engaged the first professional gamers. By the tip of the century, cricket had developed into a major sport that was spreading all through England and was already being taken abroad by English mariners and colonisers – the earliest reference to cricket overseas is dated 1676. A 1697 newspaper report survives of "a great cricket match" performed in Sussex "for fifty guineas apiece" – that is the earliest identified contest that's typically thought of a First Class match. At the grassroots stage, native membership cricket is actually an newbie pastime for these involved but nonetheless often involves groups enjoying in competitions at weekends or in the evening. Schools cricket, first recognized in southern England within the 17th century, has an identical state of affairs and both