The origin of cricket has somehow always been a mystery. It is hard to say where the game originated from, though there are two relatively prevalent theories are:
It originated in south-east England, among the shepherds, as early as the 10th century. They probably used a club and a stone or woolen ball to play. The […]
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The origin of cricket has somehow always been a mystery. It is hard to say where the game originated from, though there are two relatively prevalent theories are:
It originated in south-east England, among the shepherds, as early as the 10th century. They probably used a club and a stone or woolen ball to play. The word ‘wicket’ might have come from the ‘wicket-gates’ that were used as a target for the person throwing the stone or the ball. One thing can safely be said that the game has a rustic background.
The second theory suggests that the game was imported into England from the Punjab region of South Asia, where bat and ball games were being played since the 8th century. Games like Gilli-Danda and Polo, played in that region, might have the same ancestral background.
Both these theories suggest that the game which is promoted as a ‘gentlemen’s game’ was not one when it started. As a matter of fact, it was predominantly a children’s game for a long time until it was taken up by adults around the start 17th century.
The first definite mention of the game in the English Language comes from a statement by a 59 year old coroner, John Derrick, in 1559, where he testified that he used to play ‘kreckett’ with his friends on a disputed plot of land in Guildford, some fifty years ago (around 1550) .
In 1611, two men were prosecuted in Sussex for playing cricket instead of going to the church, which suggests that around that time the game was becoming popular with adults as well.
The game got a big boast during the 18th century due to the money it attracted through gambling and patronage and limits were set by law to keep the betting in check.
The first official set of rules for the game was ratified in 1744. These rules specified that:
The pitch length would be 22 yards.
The distance between the popping crease and bowling crease would be 46 inches.
The height of the wicket would be 22 inches and width 6 inches.
The ball would weigh between 5-6 ounces.
In 1771, Stock White took advantage of the fact that there was no standard for the bat size and used a bat of the exact width of the stumps, this prompted a declaration that the bat size be made standard at four and a quarter inches and was readily adopted by all the clubs.
The original form of bowling, in which the bowler rolled the ball on the ground, was changed around 1760 when pitching the ball was allowed and variations in line, length and pace started to get noted. Regular score cards became a part of the game from 1772 and after that the picture of the development the game starts getting clearer.
The rules were revamped in 1774 with the addition of a third stump, also the rule regarding ‘LBW’ was introduced. In 1778, The Marylebone Cricket Club published the first complete set of rules for cricket which had the dimensions of the pitch and standards about the equipment. Other clubs adopted the MCC’s Laws and the game became standardized.
Since then the laws have been updated in 1947, 1980 and 2000. Various changes and standardizations have been made over the passage of time as the need arose.
The distance of 46 inches was changed to 48 inches between the bowling and popping crease in 1821.
In 1838, the size of the cricket ball was standardized for the first time. It was to have a circumference between 9 and 9 ¼ inches.
By 1853, the evolution of the cricket bat had almost completed into its modern form. It was carved out of a piece of willow and attached to a cane handle.
In 1858, for the first time, an incident was recorded where a bowler took 3 wickets on three consecutive balls and was awarded a hat, thus the term ‘hat-trick’.
Until 1864, only underarm bowling was considered legal. Since then, over-arm bowling has become a part of the game and now is the only legal style of bowling.
Creases were painted with whitewash for the first time in 1865. Prior to that the crease was a ditch cut into the turf measuring an inch in width and depth.
In 1889 teams were allowed to declare their innings for the first time. At around the same time it was made legal for a bowler to change his bowling end as many times in an innings as he pleased. Earlier he could only change his end once or twice.
The number of balls per over has been a feature that has seen a lot of changes over the year. In the earliest rules 4 balls an over was the standard which was changed to five in 1889 and was again changed to 6 balls in 1900. Since then many countries have tried eight balls over but that was after 1980 and the recent code of 2000 permits only 6 balls over.
The first ever international cricket match was, ironically, played by two non-cricketing nations of that time, America and Canada. It was played in 1844 in Hoboken, New Jersey.
At around the same time County Cricket was becoming popular in England and in 1877 James Lilywhite, in an attempt to establish cricketing relationship with other British Colonies, put together a team and toured Australia. There they played the first International Test Match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on March 15, 1877. Surprisingly, Australia won the match by 45 runs. In March 1977 both these sides played a Test Match to mark 100 years of Test Match cricket at the same venue. Interestingly, Australia again won the match with exactly the same margin of 45 runs.
Cricket and Olympics
Cricket was planned to make Olympic Debut in 1896 but was later on cancelled due to an insufficient number of competing teams. In 1900, Great Britain and France played a match as part of the Olympic Games. Britain got the gold and France the silver medal. Since then cricket has never been a part of the Olympics games.
Formation of the ICC
In 1909, representatives from the three cricketing nations of the time, England, Australia and South Africa met at the Lords Cricket ground and founded the ‘Imperial Cricket Conference’. Members were to be the British Colonies that played Cricket.
In 1912 first Triangular test Series was played in England between the three countries but proved to be bit of a disaster and was not repeated again. Later on the name of ICC was changed from ‘Imperial’ to ‘International Cricket Council’ to allow countries outside the British Empire to be a part of it.
Expansion of the Cricketing World
Three new nations gained Test Status from 1928-1930
West Indies in 1928
New Zealand in 1930
India in 1932.
Cricket was suspended during the WWII years at International level.
In 1952, after gaining independence from the British rule, Pakistan also gained test status as a separate team from India.
In 1982 Sri Lanka played its first test match.
Zimbabwe gained Test Status in 1992 and Bangladesh in 2000.
One Day Cricket
During the 1960’s, a new version of cricket was played between the counties in England with some modified rules. Instead of two innings each for a team, this new version had one innings for each team with a set maximum number of overs to be bowled, after which the innings would be over. This shorter version of the game could be completed in a single day. This increased game’s appeal for spectators with its result oriented and fast nature. Even though some purists regard this change as a corruption, it can not be denied that with the changing times this probably was the best innovation that the game could have gone through.
This format was tried out internationally, for the first time, in 1971 when a test match between Australia and England had to be abandoned due to heavy rains and the players decided to get some exercise on the fifth day. The turn out for the match surprised everyone and since then One-day game has become an equally important part of the cricketing seasons around the world.
Cricket World Cup
One-day Internationals became popular so quickly that ICC decided to hold a Cricket World Cup in 1975, in which all the test playing nations were to play in one-day series against each other. The honor of World Champions was taken by West Indies in that series and since then it has been played after every four years. It is the only major International cricket contest between all cricketing teams.
In 2001-02, ICC introduced a Test championship table and a One-day championship table. In these the countries are awarded rankings according to their performances, in the international matches played at both Test and One-day level. Australia has been at the top of both tables since they were published other than a brief period of 5 months in 2003 when South Africa topped the table.
ICC is now trying to make the game popular world wide and is extending its membership to other countries like Holland, Canada, America and U.A.E.
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