History
For more details on this topic, see History of the England Cricket Team pre 1939 and History of the England Cricket Team since 1945.The first recorded incidence of a team with a claim to represent England comes from 9 July 1739 when an "All-England" team, which consisted of eleven gentlemen from any part of England exclusive of Kent, played against "the Unconquerable County" of Kent and lost by a "very few notches". Such matches were repeated on numerous occasions for the best part of a century.
In 1846 William Clarke formed the All-England Eleven. This team would eventually compete against a United All-England Eleven with annual matches occurring between 1857 to 1866. These matches were arguably the most important contest of the English season, if judged by the quality of the players.
Read more about this topic: England Cricket Team
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“As History stands, it is a sort of Chinese Play, without end and without lesson.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)
“One classic American landscape haunts all of American literature. It is a picture of Eden, perceived at the instant of history when corruption has just begun to set in. The serpent has shown his scaly head in the undergrowth. The apple gleams on the tree. The old drama of the Fall is ready to start all over again.”
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)