2. THE BEGINNING
Cricket grew out of many stick-and-ball games played in
England 500 years ago, under a variety of different rules.
The word ‘bat’ is an old English word that simply means stick
or club.
By the seventeenth century, cricket had evolved enough to be
recognizable as a distinct game and it was very popular.
The game was expected to represent all that English valued-
fair play, discipline and gentlemanliness.
6. A BRIEF HISTORY
Earlier cricket used to thrive greatly as a gambling game.
People used to place huge amounts of bets in matches and thus
the game started to get recognition. Cricket was in fact a major
gambling sport towards the end of the 17th century .
By the 17th century the game was quite popular as a rough
rural pastime, but in the following century the leisure classes
took up the sport, particularly in Sussex, Kent, and London.
In the year 1787, the Marylebone Cricket Club also known
MCC was created. The MCC has since then gone on to become
one of the most prominent bodies in world cricket .
Late18th century was a very crucial phase for the development
of the game, both within and outside Britain. The game was
spread far and wide mainly due to England’s imperialism
7. INTRODUCTION OF LAWS
The first written Laws of Cricket were drawn up in
1744.They stated the following rules:-
1. The principals shall choose from amongst the gentleman
present two umpires who shall absolutely decide all
disputes.
2. The stumps must be 22 inches and the bail across them
six inches.
3. The ball must be between 5 and 6 ounces and the two
sets of stumps 22 yards apart.
4. But there were no limits on the shape or the size of the
bat. About 40 notches or runs were viewed as a very big
score, probably due to the bowlers bowling quickly at
shins unprotected by pads.
8. MARYLEBONE CRICKET CLUB
The world’s first cricket club was formed in Hambledon
The Marylebone cricket Club (MCC) was founded
in 1787. In 1788, the MCC published its first revision of
the laws and became the guardian of Cricket
regulations.
During the 1760 and 1770 it became common to pitch
the ball through the air, rather than roll it along the
ground.
This change gave bowlers the options of length,
deception through the air and increased the pace.
9. PECULIARITY
A test match can go on for five days and still end in a
draw. No other team sport takes even half as much time to
complete.
A curious characteristic of cricket is that the length of the
pitch is specified-22yards-but the size or shape of the
ground is not.
10. Cricket’s most important tools are all made of natural, pre-industrial
materials. The ball is made with leather, twine and cork. Even today
both bat and ball are handmade, not industrially manufactured. The
material of the bat changed slightly over time. Once it was cut out of
a single piece of wood. Now it consists of two pieces, the blade
which is made out of the wood of the willow tree and the handle
which is made out of cane.
Unlike golf and tennis, cricket has refused to remake its tools with
industrial or man-made materials: plastic, fiberglass and metal have
been firmly rejected.
The invention of vulcanized rubber led to the introduction of pads in
1848 and protective gloves soon afterwards, and the modern game
would be unimaginable without helmets made out of metal and
synthetic lightweight materials.
11. AMATEURS AND PROFESSIONALS
The organisation of cricket in England reflected the nature of the English society.
The rich who could played for pleasure were called Amateurs and those who played for
living were called professionals.
The rich were amateurs because they considered sport a kind of leisure. To play for the
pleasure of playing and not for money.
The wages of professionals paid in the form of patronage or subscription (gate money)
The game was seasonal and did not offer the employment in whole year so the
professionals they were worked in the mines especially in the winter and off seasons.
The social superiority of amateurs was built the customs in the cricket.
Amateurs were called Gentlemen and professionals were called players.
They were entered in the ground from different entrances.
The amateurs tended to be batsman and hardworking aspect of the game like fast bowling
did by the professionals.
So according to the law of cricket the doubts were favoured to the batsman and cricket
became the game of batsman or gentleman.
The captains of the team most of the time was batsman generally gentleman.
The captain of the club teams, national side- were always amateurs.
It continued till to 1930, Yorkshire batsman Len Hutton was the first captain from the
professional.
13. IRONY FOR THE ENGLISH
The West Indies won their first test series against England in
1950.It was very frustrating for the whites.The West
Indian team that won was captained by a white player.
The first time a black player led the West Indies test team
was in 1960 when Frank Worrell was named as captain.
The West Indies cricket team represented not one nation but
several dominions that later became independent
countries. The Pan west Indian team that represent the
Caribbean region in international Test cricket is the only
exception to a series of unsuccessful efforts to bring
about West Indian Unification.
14. ORIGIN OF INDAINCRICKET
The cricket was first played in India from 1721 by English
sailors in Cambay. The Calcutta Cricket Club (the first
Indian Club) was established in1792. The origin of Indian
cricket can be traced to Bombay. The first Indian
community to start playing the game was the Parsis.
The origins of Indian cricket, that is, cricket played by Indians
are to be found in Bombay and the first Indian community to
start playing the game was the small community of
Zoroastrians, the Parsis.
Brought into close contact with the British because of their
interest in trade and the first Indian community to westernise,
the Parsis founded the first Indian cricket club, the Oriental
Cricket Club in Bombay in 1848. Parsi clubs were funded and
sponsored by Parsi businessmen like the Tatas and the Wadias.
15. BOMBAY GYMKHANAAND PARSIS
The white cricket elite in India offered no help to the enthusiastic
Parsis. In fact, there was quarrel between the Bombay Gymkhana, a
whites only club, and Parsi cricketers over the use of public park.
The Parsis complained that the park was left unfit for cricket because
the polo ponies of the Bombay Gymkhana dug up the surface.
When it became clear that the colonial authorities were prejudiced in
favour of their white compatriots, the Parsis built there own
gymkhana to play cricket in. The rivalry between the Parsis and the
Bombay Gymkhana had a happy ending for these pioneers of Indian
cricket. A Parsi team beat the Bombay Gymkhana at cricket in 1889,
just 4 years after the foundation of the Indian National Congress in
1885,an organisation that was lucky to have amongst its early leaders
the great Parsi statesman and intellectual Dadabhai Naoroji.
16. CRICKET TODAY
Modern cricket is dominated by Tests and One-day internationals, played between
national teams. The players who become famous, who live on in the memories of
cricket’s public, are those who have played flawlessly for their country. Some names
which are still popular are
Kerry Packer, Australian television tycoon understood the money making potential of
cricket as televised sport and signed 55 one of the world’s leading cricketers against the
wishes of national cricket board and for about two years staged unofficial Test and One
day internationals under the name of the World Series Cricket.
After two years cricket became more attractive to televisions audience and changed the
nature of the gameColoured dress, protective helmets, field restrictions, cricket under
light became a standard part of the post packer game.
Cricket boards became rich by selling television rights to television
companies.Television channels made money by selling television spots to companies
they paid huge money for advertisement.Continuous television coverage made
cricketers celebrities and the cricket boards paid better payment.
The television changed the cricket and reached in to small towns and villages.The
technology of satellite television and world wide reach of multi national television
companies has created a global market for cricket.It is vastly popular today and as it is
running,it will contunie its legacy among us for years……..
