Cricket’s earliest definite record is a court case in Guildford in 1598, and 428 years later India beat New Zealand by 96 runs in Ahmedabad to win their third T20 World Cup.
The earliest definite reference to cricket is a court case in Guildford in 1598 that mentions “creckett”, according to Wikipedia’s history of the sport. In that case John Derrick testified that he had played the game around 1550 as a schoolboy. The Laws of Cricket were codified for the first time in 1744 and amended in 1774, and the Marylebone Cricket Club was established at Lord’s in 1787 and became the custodian of the Laws.
International cricket began earlier than most people expect. The first international match was played in 1844 between the United States and Canada, according to the history. The first Test matches were played in 1877 between England and Australia, and the Ashes contest followed in 1882.
The sport got a governing body in the 20th century. The Imperial Cricket Conference, now the International Cricket Council, was founded in 1909. Limited-overs cricket emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, and the first Cricket World Cup was held in 1975. World Series Cricket, played from 1977 to 1979, changed the way players were paid, according to the history.
The 21st century brought shorter formats. Twenty20 cricket was launched in 2003, and the first T20 World Cup was held in 2007. The Indian Premier League began in 2008 and set up the modern franchise model, according to the same history, and shorter formats such as T10 and the 100-ball game have followed.
The gap between the first Test in 1877 and the first T20 World Cup in 2007 is 130 years, a calculation by Delima News from the two dates, and a Twenty20 match is far shorter than a Test match, which is played over several days.
The most recent chapter is the 2026 men’s T20 World Cup. India won the final against New Zealand on 8 March 2026 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, scoring 255 for 5, and New Zealand were bowled out for 159, so India won by 96 runs, according to the tournament pages and ICC coverage.
The win was a record in several ways. India retained the title they had won at the previous tournament, became the first team to win three T20 World Cups, and were the first host nation to win the tournament, according to the sources. Delima News could not open the ICC’s page of records, so the claims are taken from a search summary.
The distance from a schoolboy in Guildford to a final in Ahmedabad is 428 years from the 1598 case to 2026, a count by Delima News. The sources reviewed do not give crowd or viewing figures for the final, so they are not reported.
The history also shows what stayed the same. The MCC became the custodian of the Laws in 1787, and the sources reviewed do not describe how the Laws have changed since then.
Image: The pavilion at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London (file photo). Photo: Yorkspotter / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
