- A30, N40, N82 -

Home Cradle of Cricket News Brigands Charity Fixtures Shop Friends Contact More THE CRADLE OF CRICKET Home of the legendary 18th Century Hambledon Club Broadhalfpenny Down pronounced brawdHAYPnee is a beautiful cricket ground in Hampshire opposite the Bat Ball Inn. Cricket was played here from around 1750 and over the next three decades the players and patrons of Hambledon were responsible for the development of new techniques and the laws of cricket from the addition of a third stump to the size of the bat. Their adaptations and codification of these laws transformed cricket from an occasional country pastime to a national sport which became an international sport in the following century. 250 years of First Class cricket It was market day in Hambledon on 24th June 1772 when a cricket match began pitting the finest players in Hampshire against an All England XI consisting of players from Surrey and Kent for a 500 Guinea prize.