The History of Cricket by Pavan

8/13/2019 The History of Cricket by Pavan

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No one knows when or where cricket began

but there is a body of evidence, that strongly

suggests the game was devised during Saxon

or Norman times by children living in the

Weald, an area of dense woodlands and

clearings in south-east England that lies across

Kent and Sussex. In medieval times, the Weald

was populated by small farming and metal-working communities. It is generally believed

that cricket survived as a children's game for

many centuries before it was increasingly

taken up by adults around the beginning of

the 17th century.


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The first definite reference to the game is found in a 1598 court case concerning

dispute over a school's ownership of a plot of land. A 59-year old coroner, John

Derrick, testified that he and his school friends had played crecketton the site fifty

years earlier. The school was the Royal Grammar school Guildford, and Mr.

Derrick's account proves beyond reasonable doubt that the game was being played

in Surrey c.1550


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A number of words are thought

to be possible sources for the

term "cricket". In the earliest

known reference to the sport in

1598 it is called creckett. The

name may have been derivedfrom the Middle Dutch rick

meaning a stick; or the Old

English criccor crycemeaning a

crutch or staff.


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Cricket was introduced to

North America via the

English colonies in the 17th

century, probably before it

had even reached the north

of England. In the 18th

century it arrived in other

parts of the globe. It wasintroduced to the West

Indies by colonists and to

India by British East India

Company mariners in the

first half of the century. Itarrived in Australia almost

as soon as colonization

began in 1788. New

Zealand and South Africa

followed in the early yearsof the 19th century.


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The basic rules of cricket such as bat and

ball, the wicket, pitch dimensions, over's,how out, etc. have existed since time

immemorial. In 1728, the Duke of Richmond

and Alan Brodick drew up "Articles of

Agreement" to determine the code of

practice in a particular game and this

became a common feature, especially

around payment of stake money and

distributing the winnings given the

importance of gambling.


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The game continued to spread throughout

England and, in 1751, Yorkshire is first

mentioned as a venue. The original form

of bowling (i.e., rolling the ball along theground as in bowls) was superseded

sometime after 1760 when bowlers began

to pitch the ball and study variations in

line, length and pace. Scorecards began to

be kept on a regular basis from 1772 and

since then an increasingly clear picture

has emerged of the sport's development
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Historical_cricket_bat_art.jpg


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Cricket faced its first real crisis during the

18th century when major matchesvirtually ceased during the Seven Years

war. This was largely due to shortage of

players and lack of investment. But the

game survived and the "Hambledon Era"

proper began in the mid-1760s.

Cricket faced another major crisis at the

beginning of the 19th century when a

cessation of major matches occurred

during the culminating period of the

Napoleonic wars. Again, the causes were

shortage of players and lack ofinvestment. But, as in the 1760s, the

game survived and a slow recovery began

in 1815.


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The game also underwent a fundamental change of organisation with the formation

for the first time of county clubs. All the modern county clubs, starting with Sussex in

1839, were founded during the 19th century.

No sooner had the first county clubs established themselves than they faced what

amounted to "player action" as William Clarke created the travelling All-England

Eleven in 1846. Though a commercial venture, this team did much to popularise the

game in districts which had never previously been visited by high-class cricketers.Other similar teams were created and this vogue lasted for about thirty years
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Darnall_cricket_ground.jpg


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The First ever International cricket game was between the

USA and Canada in 1844. The match was played at the

grounds of the St Georges Cricket club in New York

In 1859, a team of leading English professionals set off to

North America on the first-ever overseas tour and, in

1862, the first English team toured Australia.

Image of

the 1878

Australian

cricket team

from the

State Library

of NSW

Between May and

October 1868, a team

of Australian

Aborigines toured

England in what was

the first Australian

cricket team to travel

overseas.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b4/1878AusTeamNiagraFalls.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b4/1878AusTeamNiagraFalls.jpg


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A major watershed occurred in 1890 when the official

County Championships was constituted in England. This

organisational initiative has been repeated in othercountries. Australia established the Sheffield Shield in

189293. Other national competitions to be established

were the Currie Cup in South Africa, the Plunkett Shield

in New Zealand and the Ranji Trophy in India.

The period from 1890 to the outbreak of the

First World War has become an object of

nostalgia, ostensibly because the teams played

cricket according to "the spirit of the game",but more realistically because it was a

peacetime period that was shattered by the

First World War. The era has been called The

Golden Age of cricket and it featured

numerous great names such as Grace, Wilfred

Rhodes, C B Fry, K S RanjitsinhiiK and victorTrumper.

W

.

G

.

G

R

A

C

E


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In 1889 the immemorial four ball over was

replaced by a five ball over and then this was

changed to the current six balls an over in

1900. Subsequently, some countries

experimented with eight balls an over. In

1922, the number of balls per over was

changed from six to eight in Australia only. In

1924 the eight ball over was extended to New

Zealand and in 1937 to South Africa. In

England, the eight ball over was adopted

experimentally for the 1939 season; theintention was to continue the experiment in

1940, but first-class cricket was suspended for

the Second World War and when it resumed,

English cricket reverted to the six ball over.

The 1947 Laws of Cricket allowed six or eightballs depending on the conditions of play.

Since the 1979/80 Australian and New

Zealand seasons, the six ball over has been

used worldwide and the most recent version

of the Laws in 2000 only permits six ball overs.


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The greatest crisis to hit international cricket was brought

about by apartheid, the South African policy of racialsegregation. The situation began to crystallise after 1961 when

South Africa left the Commonwealth of Nations and so, under

the rules of the day, its cricket board had to leave the

International Cricket Conference (ICC). Cricket's opposition to

apartheid intensified in 1968 with the cancellation of England'stour to South Africa by the South African authorities, due to

the inclusion of "coloured" cricketer Basil DOliveira in the

England team. In 1970, the ICC members voted to suspend

South Africa indefinitely from international cricket

competition. Ironically, the South African team at that timewas probably the strongest in the world.

Basil DOliveira


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In the 1960s, English county teams began

playing a version of cricket with games of

only one innings each and a maximum

number of overs per innings. Starting in

1963 as a knockout competition only,

limited overs grew in popularity and in

1969 a national league was created which

consequently caused a reduction in the

number of matches in the CountyChampionship.

Although many "traditional" cricket fans

objected to the shorter form of the game,limited overs cricket did have the

advantage of delivering a result to

spectators within a single day; it did

improve cricket's appeal to younger or

busier people; and it did provecommercially successful.


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Limited overs cricket increased television

ratings for cricket coverage. Innovative

techniques that were originally introduced

for coverage of LOI matches was soon

adopted for Test coverage. The innovations

included presentation of in-depth statistics

and graphical analysis, placing miniature

cameras in the stumps, multiple usage of

cameras to provide shots from severallocations around the ground, high speed

photography and computer graphics

technology enabling television viewers to

study the course of a delivery and help

them understand an umpire's decision.

In 1992, the use of a third umpire to

adjudicate run out appeals with television

replays was introduced in the Test seriesbetween South Africa and India. The third

umpire's duties have subsequently

expanded to include decisions on other

aspects of play such as stumpings, catches

and boundaries. As yet, the third umpireis not called upon to adjudicate lbw

appeals, although there is a virtual reality

tracking technology (i.e., Hawk-eye) that

is approaching perfection in predicting the

course of a delivery.


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Cricket remains a major world sport in

terms of participants, spectators and

media interest.

The ICC has expanded its development program

with the goal of producing more national teams

capable of competing at Test level. Developmentefforts are focused on African and Asian nations;

and on the United States. In 2004, the ICC

Intercontinental Cup brought first-class cricket to

12 nations, mostly for the first time

In June 2001, the ICC introduced

a "Test Championship Table"

and, in October 2002, a "One-

day International Championship

Table". Australia has consistentlytopped both these tables in the

2000s.

Cricket's newest innovation is

Twenty20, essentially an evening

entertainment. It has so far

enjoyed enormous popularity and

has attracted large attendances at

matches as well as good TV

audience ratings. The inaugural ICCTwenty 20 World Cup tournament

was held in 2007 with a follow-up

event in 2009. The formation of

Twenty20 leagues in Indiathe

unofficial Indian Cricket League,which started in 2007, and the

official Indian Premier League,

starting in 2008raised much

speculation in the cricketing press

about their effect on the future of

cricket.


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Player Team Score Against Venue Date

Brian Lara West Indies 400 England St John's Apr 10, 2004

M.Hayden Australia 380 Zimbabwe Perts Oct 09, 2003

Brian Lara West Indies 375 England St John's Apr 16, 1994

Jayawardene Sri Lanka 374 South Africa Colombo 27 Jul 2006

Gary Sobers West Indies 365 Pakistan Kingston Feb 26, 1958

Len Hutton England 364 Australia The Oval Aug 20, 1938

Sanath Jayasuriya Sri Lanka 340 India Khettarama Aug 02, 1997

Hanif Mohammad Pakistan 337 West Indies Bridgetown Jan 17, 1958

Wally Hammond England 336 New Zealand Auckland Mar 31,

1933

MA Taylor Australia 334* Pakistan Peshawar 15 Oct 1998


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Full Name:Brian Charles Lara

Born:2 May 1969, Cantaro, Santa Cruz, Trinidad

Major Teams: Trinidad & Tobago, Warwickshire, Northern

Transvaal, ICC World XI, West Indies

Batting Style:Left Hand BatBowling Style: Leg Break Test Debut:Pakistan Vs West Indies at

Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, 3rd Test, 1990/91

ODI Debut:Pakistan Vs West Indies at National Stadium, Karachi,

1st ODI, 1990/91

Twenty20 Intl Debut: Hasn't played any T20Is

Competition Test ODI FC LA

Matches 131 299 261 429

Runs Scored 11,953 10,405 22,156 14,602

Batting Averages 52.88 40.48 51.88 39.67

100s/50s 34/48 19/63 65/88 27/86

Top Score 400* 169 501* 169

Balls bowled 60 49 514 130

Wickets - 4 4 5

Bowling averages - 15.25 104.00 29.80

5 wickets in innings0 0 0 0 0

10 wickets in match 0 n/a 0 n/a

Best bowling - 2/5 1/1 2/5

Catches/stumpings 164/- 120/- 320/- 177/-


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Competition Tests FC

Matches 52 234

Runs Scored 6,996 28,067

Batting average 99.94 95.14

100s/50s 29/13 117/69

Top score 334 452*

Balls Bowled 160 2114

Wickets 2 36

Bowling average 36.00 37.97

5 wicket innings 0 0

10 Wicket in a match 0 0

Best bowling 1/8 3/35

Catches/stumpings 32/- 131-

Stats


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Competition Test ODI FC LA

Matches 93 1 383 95

Runs Scored 8032 0 28314 2721

Batting average 57.78 0.00 54.87 38.32

100s/50s 26/30 0/0 86/121 1/18

Top Score 365* 0 356* 116*

Balls Bowled 21599 63 70789 4387

Wickets 235 1 1043 109

34.03 31.00 27.74 21.95

5 Wickets in

innings

6 - 36 1

10 Wickets in

innings

0 n/a 1 n/a

Best Bowling 6/73 1/31 9/49 5/43

Catches/Stumpings 109/- 1/- 407/- 41/-

Documents

The History of Cricket by Pavan