List of English cricketers (1598–1787)

This is a list of people who are known to have been involved in the historical development of cricket from its earliest known mention in 1598 to the opening of the original Lord's and the formation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in 1787. The list is by season, this being the season in which the person's name first appears in surviving sources. The first name is John Derrick, who made a legal deposition in January 1598 (New Style, 1597 Old Style) which includes the earliest mention of cricket on record. The last name, and the only one in 1787, is Thomas Lord whose new ground was opened at the beginning of that season; MCC was founded soon afterwards.

In the 17th century, the names are those of people who may or may not have been regular players. Many are referenced only in court cases, or are people who witnessed the sport. The town or village given is where their involvement occurred. In the 18th century, more information is available in the sources so it is easier to identify the active players and the clubs or county teams with which they are most usually associated. Although some people like the Dukes of Richmond are remembered primarily as patrons, they were invariably players too and generally captained their own teams. Cricket underwent radical changes during the 18th century. Patronage and popular support enabled it to outgrow its roots as a village pastime and develop into a major sport in southeast England which had begun its spread through the rest of the country by 1787. The ''Laws of Cricket'' were first written in 1744 and revised in 1774. In the early 1760s, pitched delivery bowling was introduced and this necessitated the invention of the straight bat: an evolution in bowling and batting techniques.

Much of our knowledge about 18th century players has come from match scorecards. The earliest known scorecards date from 1744 but only a handful exist from then until 1772 when they began to be completed and, more importantly, preserved on a regular basis. As such, the sport's statistical record begins in 1772 but scorecards until the Lord's Pavilion fire in July 1825 are often incomplete and, for many matches, are lost. However, the term only came into common use around 1864, when overarm bowling was legalised. It was formally defined as a standard by a meeting at Lord's, in May 1894, of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the county clubs which were then competing in the County Championship. The ruling was effective from the beginning of the 1895 season, but pre-1895 matches of the same standard have no ''official'' definition of status because the ruling is not retrospective. Matches of a similar standard since the beginning of the 1864 season have an ''unofficial'' first-class status. Pre-1864 matches which are included in the ACS' "Important Match Guide" may generally be regarded as important or, at least, historically significant. For further information, see First-class cricket.}}

The key historical sources are the works of Arthur Haygarth, F. S. Ashley-Cooper, H. T. Waghorn, G. B. Buckley, Rowland Bowen, and Ian Maun, among others.

::Note #1: ''Online databases are excluded from this work (except in footnotes) as the scope is historical, and NOT statistical''. ::Note #2: ''Unless specified as single wicket, a "match" is eleven-a-side, and also important''. Provided by Wikipedia