Cricket originated in England in the 16th century and developed into an international sport played professionally in many Commonwealth nations by the late 19th century. While some English team sports spread globally, cricket remained primarily a colonial game played in British Empire territories. In India, cricket was originally organized along racial and religious lines and played almost exclusively among British men until the 18th century. Modern cricket has embraced technology and media to broadcast matches to a growing global audience.

1. The Gentleman’s Game…
Cricket

2. Index
• About Cricket
• History
• Spread of Cricket
• Cricket, Race and Religion
• Modernization of Cricket
• Facts!

3. About Cricket
The game of cricket has a known history spanning from
the 16th century to the present day, with international
matches played since 1844, although the official history
of international Test cricket began in 1877. During this
time, the game developed from its origins
in England into a game which is now played
professionally in most of theCommonwealth of Nations

4. History
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 it became popular as a district game.
Till the eighteenth century, bats were roughly the shape of an
hockey stick, curving outwards at the bottom. There was a
simple reason of this: the bowl was bowled underarm, along the
ground and the curve at the end of the bat gave the batsman the
best chance in making a contact.

5. Spread Of Cricket
While some English team games like hockey and football
became international games, played all over the world,
cricket remained a colonial game, limited to countries that
have once been a part of pat of British empire. The pre-
industrial oddness of cricket made it a hard game to export.
While the British official brought the game to colonies, they
made little effort to spread the game, especially in colonial
territories where the subjects of the empire were mainly
non-white, such as India and the west indies.

6. Cricket, Race And
ReligionCricket in colonial India was organized on the principle of race
and religion. The record we have of cricket being played in
India is from1721, an account of recreational cricket played
by English sailors in Camay. The first Indian club, the
Calcutta Cricket Club, was established in 1792. through the
eighteenth century, cricket in India was almost a wholly sport
played by British military men and civil men in all-white clubs
and gymkhanas. Playing cricket in privacy of these cricket
clubs was more than just fun: it was also escape from
strangeness, discomfort and danger of their stay in India.

7. Modernization Of Cricket
In recent times, technology powerhouse YouTube, partnered with the
Indian Premier League to live stream the 2010 IPL series via
YouTube. While the IPL series was predominantly broadcast via
television, the live stream footage reached 50 million views globally
across 200 plus countries. The biggest viewer population was
unsurprisingly India. However the United States were surprisingly
the second largest audience, a country not known to give much
attention to cricket. With the advance of technology, the media have
also changed how the game is televised, introducing new ways for
the viewer to see the game including video replays, Stump Cam,
HawkEye, video umpire and also infrared HotSpot to see where the
ball hit the bat.

8. Continued…
The International Cricket Hall of Fame is presently installing
a Stump Cam in the Kids Backyard. Check back soon for
an update. At any major cricket match today, you’ll find a
wide array of media and their production teams
broadcasting, interviewing and providing ongoing news
and commentary to the cricket masses.

9. Facts!• Cricket is the second most popular sport in the
world and is played in over 130 countries.
• Pakistani magician spinner, Saeed Ajmal
surprisingly has never won a single award for the
‘Man of the Match’ in ODIs.
• Neither Mahendra Singh Dhoni nor Suresh Raina
has ever scored an ODI century outside Asia.
• In all of 400 years history of Cricket, the fastest
speed for a cricket ball bowled by any bowler,
ever, is precisely 161.3 km/h (100.23 mph) by
Shoaib Akhtar of Pakistan Ishant Sharma is
responsible for all the three highest scores made
by a batsman against India in the 21st century.
• In a World Cup Match, chasing 335, Sunil
Gavaskar scored an unbeaten 36 off 174 balls.
• The player with the most number of not outs in
Test cricket is not Rahul Dravid, but Courtney
Walsh.