Cricket History

Cricket which is a major sport in the world today got recognized in 16th century and eventually got fame with international matches played since 1844. The official history of International Test cricket began in 1877. There are many speculations about the derivation of the world cricket. In the 16th century it was called as “creckeff” which may have been derived from the Middle Dutch crick (-e), meaning a stick. Word “krickstoel” which means a long low stool which is used for kneeling in church was also considered for the derivation of word cricket.

In the early 17th century cricket became a status symbol for rich families of England however with the passage of time it also became popular among the middle and lower classes of Britain’s. After the Civil war ended in the mid of 17th century cricket also took place in the extra curricular activities performed in the institute and eventually grabbed the attention of students and teacher communities in these schools. Gamblers were also in the race of people who got attracted towards the bating, and they started making large bets on this game. Cricket was first time reported in a news paper in 1696.

Gamblers took cricket a little more seriously in their professional lives. They for the first time started building teams, they thought making teams of their own choice and pattern will help them for their bets. Men like Sir William Gage, Alan Brodrick and Edward Stead who were notable business men of that time also arranged their time for cricket. At that time press was also taking keen interest in cricket and its activities and for the first time press mentioned individual players like Thomas Waymark.

Alan Brodrick was the first person who made “articles of agreement” to determine the code of practice in a particular game. Later on, in 1744 the law of cricket was coded for the first time. In the mean time cricket also moved out of England towards the America, West Indies and India by British East India Company and keep on spreading all over the World during the 18th century.

The first ever international cricket game was between the Canada and USA which was played in 1844 in St George’s Cricket Club in New York. Some of the other countries like Australia and America also collaborated on this valuable game and traveling of the players was being started. In 1877, Australia and England had first Test match ever between their teams. In the late 19th century the official County Championship was constituted in England and the process was followed by several other countries. This period has been known as “The Golden Age of Cricket” until the First World War shattered its glory. Great names like Wilfred Rhodes, K S Ranjitsinhji and Victor Trumper rose to the undeniable fame.

Initially four balls over was introduced which was later replaced by five balls and current six balls over. Many states also experienced eight balls over and hence in 1947 Laws of Cricket allowed six or eight balls over depending on the conditions of play which was later limited to the only six balls over in 2000’s Laws.

19th century was the era of the growth of Test cricket. Countries like India, West Indies, New Zealand and Pakistan became test nations before and afterwards the Second World War. Cricket’s newest invention is Twenty20 which led to the formation of Indian Premier League both of the events have developed good TV audience ratings.