Cricket seems to have first been played among shepherds in Kent in some misty medieval yesteryear. Short of something to do on slow afternoons, they devised a game in which a missile was thrown towards a target by one man while his friend used his crook to deflect it. From there, it developed into a team game, but it was not until the 18th century that a full code of rules was drawn up.

The game's appeal lies in its unwavering commitment to gentlemanly conduct (other than perhaps in the infamous bodyline England tour to Australia in the 1930s), its unhurried pace, and the absence even now of the kind of star system that afflicts other sports.

Evening matches played under floodlights may be a recent innovation, but for many, the indelible image of the game is still the thwock of leather on willow on an English village green in an eternal summer's afternoon.