Wicket Game: The (Re-)Introduction of Cricket in the Netherlands, 1724–1883

Abstract

Whereas earlier research has shown that (traditional) cricket was invented in Flanders (i.e. the Southern Low Countries), this article focuses on the introduction of modern cricket in the Netherlands (i.e. the Northern Low Countries). The result is a broad textual study, based on large-scale digital analysis. We show that the integration of this sport textually took place in three phases: first in small groups via billingual translation dictionaries (starting in 1724), translated literature and ego documents, then through educational leisure books and manuals, and finally by means of articles in periodicals and news papers (with information about cricket matches). With regard to the practice and propagation of cricket, pupils and former pupils of Noorthey, a Protestant-Christian boarding school for boys, played a very important role. Clubs were founded all over the Netherlands, and in 1883 the Dutch cricket federation was established. In the end, however, cricket did not become a popular national sport in the Netherlands.