2. Major Aspects
Evolution of Cricket in England
Historical Development of Cricket
Cricket Laws
Initial Matches
Cricket in England Society
Sport for girls
3. Spreading of Cricket
How it reached in India
Cricket- Race and Religion
cricket and Caste
New Transformation in Cricket
Commerce and Media and Cricket today
4. What were the first written laws of Cricket
The first written Laws of Cricket were drawn up in 1744
AD. 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.
5. Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC)
The world’s first cricket club was formed in
Hambledon in the 1760. 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.
1. During the 1760 and 1770 it became common to
pitch the ball through the air, rather than roll it
along the ground.
2. This change gave bowlers the options of length,
deception through the air and increased the pace.
6. 3. It also opened new possibilities for spin and swing.
4. The batsman had to master timing and short selection
5. The curved bat was replaced with a straight one.
6. The weight of the ball was limited to between 5.5 to
5.75 ounces and the width of the bat to four inches.
7. Changes in the 18th century
1. The world’s first cricket club was formed in
Hambledon in the 1760. 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.
2. During the 1760 and 1770 it became common to
pitch the ball through the air, rather than roll it
along the ground.
3. This change gave bowlers the options of length,
deception through the air and increased the pace.
8. 4. It also opened new possibilities for spin and swing.
5. The batsman had to master timing and short selection
6. The curved bat was replaced with a straight one.
7. The weight of the ball was limited to between 5.5 to
5.75 ounces and the width of the bat to four inches.
8. First leg before law- 1774
9. The length of the match fixed only three days- 1780
10. 1780- first seam cricket ball introduced.
9. Changes occurred in the 19th century
1. The rule about the wide ball introduced.
2. The exact circumference of the ball was specified.
3. Protective equipments like pads began to used
4. Boundaries were introduced where previously all
shot had to be run.
5. Over arm bowling became legal
10. How the industrialization changed the
nature of the Cricket
Originally cricket matches had no time limit. The game
went on for as long as it look to bowl out a side twice.
The nature of the village life were slower and cricket
rules were made before industrial revolution.
Modern factory works paid the salary on the hour base or
day or week.
So after the industrial revolution games laws that were
codified.
The sports items like football, hockey and cricket fit the
routines of the industrial city life.
11. The size and shape of the cricket ground is
not a specified one why?
The size of the cricket ground is also related with the
village origins.
The length of the pitch is specified only 22 yards but
the shape and size of the ground is not specified.
The cricket originally played in unfenced land in
public property.
The size of the commons varied from one village to
another and there is no designated boundaries or
boundary hits. When the ball went to the crowd they
would retrieve to the fieldsman.
12. After boundaries were written in to the laws the
distance from wicket not specified.
The law simply lay down the umpire shall agree with
both captains on the boundaries of the playing area.
Eg: Adelaide Oval or nearly circular like Chepauk in
Chennai
A six at Melbourne ground to compare with Feroz
Shah Kotla in Delhi have much more distance.
13. The cricket laws were changed but the
cricket equipments remained true to
origin in rural England- Why?
Most of the cricket tools were made of natural, pre
industrial material.
The bat is made of wood as are the stumps and bails.
The ball is made leather, twine and cork.
Both bat and ball they are handmade not industrially
manufactured.
The material of the bat changed slightly- once it was
cut of single piece of wood. Now it consists of two
pieces the blade which made of the wood of the willow
tree and handle made of cane.
14. Unlike the golf and tennis the cricket has refused to
remake its tools with industrial or man made
materials; plastic, fibre glass and metal have been
firmly rejected.
But the introduction of the vulcanised rubber led to
the introduction of pads and glove in 1848 and the
helmets were made of metal and synthetic
lightweight materials.
Eg: Dennis Lillee (Australia) tried to play with
aluminium bat, only to have it outlawed by the
umpires
15. What is the difference between Amateurs
and Professionals
Most of the cricket laws are favour to the
batsman Why?
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 of two reasons.
1. They considered sport a kind of leisure. To play for
the pleasure of playing and not for money.
16. 2. There was not enough money in the game for the rich to
be interested.
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.
17. 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.
18. ‘The battle of Waterloo was won on the
playing fields of Eton’- what does this mean
This implies the military success of Britain in the
battle of Waterloo over the Napoleon was based on
the values taught to school boys in Britain’s best
public school.
Eton was the most famous of these schools.
The English boarding school trained the English boys
for their carrier in military, civil service and Church
the three great institution of Imperial England
Thomas Arnold, the headmaster of famous Rugby
school and the founder of the modern public school
system in 19th century considered the sports like
Cricket and Rugby as an organised way of teaching.
19. The boys they learned the discipline, importance of
hierarchy, the skills and the leadership qualities that
helped them to build and run the British empire.
Victorian empire builders justified the conquest of
other countries as an act of unselfish social service by
which backward people were introduced to the
civilising influence of British law and knowledge.
Cricket helped them to confirm this self image of the
English elite by glorifying the amateur ideal.
The cricket they played not for victory or profit but its
own sake of the spirit of the fair play
20. Sports items for the girls in 19th century
Till the last part of the 19th century, sports and
vigorous exercise for girls was not a part of their
education. The boys they got this exercise from
cricket.
In 1890, the schools began to began to acquiring the
playgrounds and allowed the girls to play some of the
games earlier preserved only for the males. But the
competition was still discouraged.
21. What were the two ironies attached to
the win of West Indies First Test Series
against England in 1950
1. 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.
2. 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
22. Cricket in Colonial India was organised on
the principle of race and religion- Discuss
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 Parsis founded the first Indian Cricket Club, the
Oriental Cricket Club in Bombay in 1848. Parsi
Cricket club were funded and sponsored by Parsi
businessman like the Tatas and the Wadias. The
parsis built their own gymkhana to play cricket in
23. The establishment of Parsi Gymkhana became an
example for other Indians who in turn established
the clubs based on the idea of religious community.
By the 1890, Hindus and Muslims were busy
gathering funds and support for a Hindu Gymkhana
and Muslim Gymkhana.
The British did not colonial India as a nation. They
saw it as a collection of castes, races and religious
communities and gave themselves the credit for
unifying the sub continent
24. The team that played colonial India’s greatest and
most famous first class cricket tournament but not on
the base of the regions but on the base of religion and
caste.
The tournament was initially called the
‘Quadrangular’ because it was played by four teams.;
the Europeans, the Parsis, the Hindus and the
Muslims. It later became the Pentangular when the
fifth team was added, namely Rest, which comprised
all the communities left over, such as Indian Christian
25. What was the reason India, Pakistan and West
Indies refused to play against Southa Africa
During the period of 1950- 1960South Arica followed
a racist policy of racial segregation. They were not
allowed the majority of Non whites to play the
cricket. But the common wealth countries like
England, Australia and New Zealand, they were
ready to play the cricket. But the countries like India,
Pakistan and West Indies they refused to play
cricket. They have the necessary power in the ICC to
debar the country from Test Cricket.
26. How the medias revolutionized the Cricket
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 game
Coloured dress, protective helmets, field restrictions,
cricket under light became a standard part of the post
packer game
27. 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 children they saw the international cricket
matches and they started to imitate their heroes.
The technology of satellite television and world wide
reach of multi national television companies created a
global market for cricket
28. India had the largest viewership for the game amongst
the cricket playing nations and the largest market in the
cricketing world, the game centre of gravity shifted to
south Asia.
This shift led to the shifting of ICC headquarters from
London to tax- free Dubai
The centre of gravity in cricket has shifted from old Anglo
Australian axis to sub continental teams in countries like
India, Pakistan and Srilanka.
Pakistan has pioneered two great advance in bowling;
doosra and reverse swing
These skills were developed on the base of the sub
continental conditions.
29. The doosra to counter aggressive batsman with heavy
modern bats who were making threatening to make finger
spin obsolete (No longer in use)
The reverse swing to move the ball in on dusty,
unresponsive wickets under skies.
Initially the Britain and Australia they greeted this
innovation with suspicion.
The first Indian Cricketers, the parsis has the struggle to
find an open space in the team
These transformation brought small changes.
The replacement of gentlemanly amateur by the paid
professionals
To compare with Test matches the One day internationals
gained much more popularity
30. Hockey, India’s National Game
Modern hockey evolved from the game from traditional
game in Britain.
Among its sports ancestors, hockey can count the scottish
game called Shinty, the English game called bandy and Irish
hurling.
Like cricket the hockey was introduced by British military in
India
The first hockey club in India was started in Calcutta in
1885-86
India was represented in the hockey competition of the
Olympic games for the first time in 1928 and India reached
the finals defeating Austria, Belgium, denmark and
Switzerland.
In the final India defeated Holland by three goals to nil
31. The players like the great Dhyan Chand brought
India a string of Olympic gold medals
Between 1928 and 1956, India won the gold medals
in six consecutive Olympic games.
During this golden age of Indian dominance, India
played 24 Olympic matches and won them all, scored
178 goals and conceded only seven goals.
The two other gold medals for India came in the
1964 Tokyo Olympics and the 1980 Moscow
Olympics
