BBC NEWS | Europe | Cricket 'was invented in Belgium'

BBC NEWS | Europe | Cricket 'was invented in Belgium': "New academic research claims cricket is not English, but was imported by immigrants from northern Belgium.

A poem thought to have been written in 1533 has been uncovered, which suggests the game originates from Flanders.

In the work attributed to John Skelton, Flemish weavers are labelled 'kings of crekettes', according to Paul Campbell of the Australian National University.

The discovery challenges the long established theory that the sport evolved from English children's games.

The first definitive references to the game appeared in England in the 1600s, when fines were handed out for those missing church to play."