Vive Le Cricket!

Tag: travel

  • Le Grand Test à Nantes

    Le Grand Test à Nantes

    Le Nantes Cricket Club accueillera le club anglais Bamburgh Castle Cricket Club ce week-end pour un match test spécial de deux jours, réunissant des joueurs français et anglais autour du cricket, de l’amitié et de la compétition internationale entre clubs.

    La rencontre se déroulera au Parc du Grand Blottereau, Nantes le samedi 3 et le dimanche 4 octobre, avec un jeu prévu de 11 h 00 à 18 h 00 chaque jour.

    Cette rencontre promet deux jours de cricket compétitif, l’équipe visiteuse de Bamburgh faisant le déplacement depuis le Royaume-Uni jusqu’à Nantes pour l’occasion.

    Pour le Nantes CC, ce match est une nouvelle occasion de promouvoir le cricket dans la région nantaise et de renforcer les liens entre clubs français et britanniques, ce qui rend ces rencontres si particulières.

    Le week-end sera également placé sous le signe de la convivialité, joueurs et supporters des deux clubs se retrouvant autour de leur passion commune pour le cricket.

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    Nantes Cricket Club will welcome English club Bamburgh Castle Cricket Club this weekend for a special two-day Test match, bringing together players from France and England for a weekend of cricket, friendship and international club competition.

    The match will take place on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 October, with play scheduled from 11:00 to 18:00 each day.

    The fixture promises two days of competitive cricket, with the visiting Bamburgh side making the journey from the UK to Nantes for the occasion.

    For Nantes CC, the match is another opportunity to showcase cricket in the Nantes area and to build the connections between French and British cricket clubs that make these fixtures particularly special.

    The weekend will also be a celebration of the social side of the game, with players and supporters from both clubs coming together around the cricket.

    Les équipes/teams

    Le Nantes CC: C. Chancé, A. German, D. Sekaran, J. Collister, P. Barua, E. Belleauvre, M. Safi, J. Willey, V. Chandler, M. Violeau, M. Starnes, P. Negerdt, C. Wood, M. Louvigny, M. Coffin.

    Bamburgh Castle CC: B. Wright, A. Allan, A. Wright, N. Newcombe, F. Allan, F. Baker Creswell, J. Crooks, H. Hildreth, A. Punton, L. Reeves, A. Sutherland, H. Sutherland, A. Tye, J. Wilson.

  • Cricket Festival in Liettres

    Cricket Festival in Liettres

    The cricket historians insist that cricket was invented by shepherds in the English county of Kent before booming in the mid-18th century in Hampshire, notably Halfpenny Down in Hambledon.

    But there is a rebellious school of thought which puts forward the idea that cricket may have its roots in France.

    The main reason for this is a letter which purports to be the first recorded mention of the game. Except it doesn’t mention ‘cricket’ but ‘le criquet’.

    The writer is a young man called Estiavannet and the reason we know that he sent it is because the letter, which was written to King Louis XI in October 1478, still exists in the French national archives.

    Estiavannet was in Liettres, close to Calais, when he came across a game which he didn’t much care for, people playing with their ‘boules’ and a ‘criquet’ – a wooden post. The suggestion is that the post was, in effect, the wickets. The shepherds in Kent would also defend a post with their crooks.

    Now we don’t know quite why it all went a bit wrong – perhaps Estaviennet didn’t much care for this new-fangled square cut – and made his opinion clear, much as they do in the Hollies Stand after a well-rinsed lunch.

    Whatever caused it, a punch-up ensued and such was the depth of feeling that at the end of it one man lay dead on the square. Hence the letter of complaint to King Louis.

    The theory that this was cricket has been played down by the Marylebone Cricket Club and also by the Wisden Almanack but given the history of the time it shouldn’t really be such a revolutionary thought.

    Liettres is just 50 kilometres from Calais which from 1347 to 1558 lay under English rule. It is quite possible that the influence of those Kentish shepherds – not to be confused with former Kent and West Indies cricketer John Shepherd – had been slipped across the Channel to Calais whence it wearied down country tracks to infect the Frankish locals.

    The letter to King Louis XI from 1478 which purports to provide the first recorded mention of cricket

    We will never know for certain, of course, unless other letters concerning ‘le criquet’ are hidden in the French archives.

    In the meantime, the village of Liettres is celebrating its curious standing with the cricket world by hosting a cricket festival across the weekend of October 3-4 at the chateau.

    Four teams are taking part, three of them from France, Viperes de Valenciennes, Lille and ASPTT Arras, and one from Belgium, 12 Stars Brussels.

    There will be a full medieval air to all of this with jugglers, firecrackers, pony rides and of course ‘Combats de Vikings’ – hopefully not a repeat of Estaviennet’s fatal punch-up.

    Saturday October 3

    1100 Viperes de Valenciennes v 12 Stars

    1500 Lille v ASPTT Arras

    Sunday October 4

    1100 3rd place play-off

    1430 Grand Final

    @vivelecricket 2026

    All information to be found here