Jasper Vinall

Jasper Vinall

Personal information
Full name	Jasper Vinall
Born	1590 England
Died	28 August 1624 (aged 33–34) Horsted Keynes, East Sussex, England
Role	Village cricket player
Domestic team information
Years	Team
c.1620 to 1624	West Hoathly
Career statistics
Source: T J McCann, 20 June 2008

Jasper Vinall (c.1590 – 28 August 1624, Horsted Keynes, East Sussex) was the first cricketer known to have been killed while playing the game.

Incident

The fatality occurred when Vinall, a fielder, was struck on the head by the batsman who was trying to hit the ball a second time to avoid being caught. Vinall is thus the earliest recorded cricketing fatality. The matter was recorded in a coroner’s court, which returned a verdict of misadventure.

An interesting point arising from the court record is that both Jasper Vinall and the batsman Edward Tye came from West Hoathly, another village, which indicates that games involving teams from different parishes were already being played at this early time in the sport's history.

The tragedy was repeated in 1647 when Henry Brand was killed at Selsey, West Sussex.

Laws of cricket changed

When the first known Laws of cricket were coded in the 1744 season, it was illegal to hit the ball twice, but it is not known when the measure was introduced.

Bibliography

• McCann, Tim (2004). Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century. Sussex Record Society.

Additional reading

• Major, John (2007). More Than A Game. HarperCollins.

External links

• "The official laws of cricket". Marylebone Cricket Club. 2010.