Rubbish........I was somewhat nonplussed when I came across this poster.
Early years
One of the many theories about the origin of cricket is that France could be a possible birthplace of the game. A mention of a bat and ball game called "criquet" in a village of the Pas-de-Calais occurs in a French manuscript of 1478, and the word "criquet" is an old French word meaning "post" or "wicket"[3]. However, it is equally possible that this could be an early variant of croquet. It must be remembered that most of France during the 14th and 15th centuries was under English occupation in the Hundred Years War and so any cricket references in France at this time are probably due to the game having been introduced to France by the English occupiers [4].
Horace Walpole, son of former British Prime Minister Robert Walpole mentioned seeing cricket in Paris in 1766.[3]
The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) were due to make the first ever international cricket tour of France, in 1789, however this was cancelled due to theFrench Revolution. This match was finally played in 1989, as part of the bicentennial celebrations of the revolution, with France beating the MCC by 7 wickets. [5]
The first documented match took place in the Bois de Boulogne between Paris Cricket Club and Warwickshire Knickerbockers in 1864. Paris Cricket Club published a book explaining the game the following year [3].
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