Cricket originated in England in the 16th century and became an established sport there by the 18th century. It later spread globally with international matches beginning in the 19th century. Cricket involves two teams of 11 players using a bat and ball. The field is oval-shaped with a rectangular pitch in the middle. In India, cricket was introduced by the British in the 1700s and the first match was played in 1721. The Parsi community in Bombay formed the first Indian cricket club in 1848. India entered international Test cricket in 1932, before gaining independence. Modern cricket is dominated by Test matches and one-day internationals between national teams.
2. HISTORY OF CRICKET
The sport of cricket has a known history
beginning in the late 16th century. Having
originated in south-east England, it became an
established sport in the country in the 18th
century and developed globally in the 19th and
20th centuries. International matches have been
played since the 19th-century and formal Test
cricket matches are considered to date from
1877. Cricket is the world's second most
popular spectator sport after association
football
3. INFORMATION OF CRICKET
Cricket is played with a bat and ball and
involves two competing sides (teams) of
11 players. The field is oval with a
rectangular area in the middle, known as
the pitch, that is 22 yards (20.12 metres)
by 10 feet (3.04 metres) wide. Two sets of
three sticks, called wickets, are set in the
ground at each end of the pitch. Across
the top of each wicket lie horizontal pieces
called bails. The sides take turns
at batting and bowling (pitching); each
turn is called an “innings” (always plural).
Sides have one or two innings each,
depending on the prearranged duration of
the match, the object being to score the
most runs.
4. CRICKET FIELD
A cricket field is a large grass field on which the
game of cricket is played. Although generally
oval in shape, there is a wide variety within this:
some are almost perfect circles, some elongated
ovals and some entirely irregular shapes with
little or no symmetry – but they will have entirely
curved boundaries, almost without exception.
There are no fixed dimensions for the field but its
diameter usually varies between 450 feet (137 m)
and 500 feet (150 m) for men's cricket, and
between 360 feet (110 m) and 420 feet (130 m)
for women's cricket. Cricket is unusual among
major sports (along with golf, Australian rules
football and baseball) in that there is no official
rule for a fixed-shape ground for professional
games. On most grounds, a rope demarcates the
perimeter of the field and is known as
the boundry.
5. ABOUT CRICKET
The first ever international cricket game was played between the USA and Canada in 1844
at the St George's Cricket Club in New York and in 1859 a team of leading English
professionals visited North America on the first-ever overseas tour.
The world’s first Cricket Club was formed in Hambledon in the 1760s and the Marylebone
Cricket Club (MCC) was founded in 1787.
The Parsi team was also one of the well known olden teams.
During the 1760s and 1770s it became common to pitch the ball through the air rather than
roll it along the ground.
By 1780, three days had become the length of a major match and this year also saw the
creation of the first six-seam cricket ball.
6. THE ORIGINS OF INDIAN CRICKET
The origins of Indian cricket are to be found in
Bombay and the first Indian community to
start playing the game was the small
community of Zoroastrians, the Parsis.
Brought into close contact with the British
because of their interest in trade and the first
Indian community to westernise, the Parsis
founded the first Indian cricket club, the
Oriental Cricket Club, in Bombay in 1848.
Parsi clubs were funded and sponsored by
Parsi businessmen like the Tatas and the
Wadias. The white cricket elite in India
offered no help to the enthusiastic Parsis. In
fact, there was a quarrel between the
Bombay Gymkhana, a whites-only club, and
Parsi cricketers over the use of a public park.
The Parsis complained that the park was left
unfit for cricket because the polo ponies of
the Bombay
7. INDIAN CRICKET
Cricket in India was introduced by Britishers in 1700 and
the first match was played in 1721. In 1848 the Parsi
community in Bombay formed the Oriental Cricket Club-the first
cricket club established by Indians.
In the early 1900s some Indian went on to play for the England
cricket team, namely Ranjitsinhji and Duleepsinhji, later their
name was used for Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy and this
started the history of Cricket in India.
In 1911 India team went on the first official tour of the British Isles but
only played with English country teams and not with the England cricket
team.
8. INDIA IN THE WORLD OF TEST CRICKET
India entered the world of Test cricket in 1932,
a decade and a half before it became an
independent nation. This was possible because
Test cricket from its origins in 1877 was
organised as a contest between different parts
of the British empire, not sovereign nations.
1932 was the year when India entered the
world of Test cricket. This was a decade and a
half that is ten years and a half before it
became an independent nation. India was
allowed to participate in the Test matches as
the Test cricket, ever since it originated in
1877, was organised as a contest between
different parts or different colonies of the British
empire.
9.
10. MODERN CRICKET
Between 1800 and 1900, "modern"
cricket took its contemporary form in
England. The 2-stump wickets of the
1789 Laws gave way to 3, the over went
from 4 balls to 5 and then 6, fields were
enclosed, manicured and mowed...even
rolled smooth to provide more consistent
"bounces",so batters could develop
consistent strokeplay, and score more
runs !
This style of cricket spread through the
major territories of the British Empire.
In India, cricket was introduced as a
device for entertaining the princely
houses and encouraging their love of
things British.
Modern cricket is dominated by Tests and
one-day internationals, played between
national teams. The players who become
famous, who live on in the memories of
cricket’s public, are those who have
played for their country. The players
Indian fans remember even now are those
who were fortunate enough to play Test
cricket. C.K. Nayudu, an outstanding
Indian batsman of his time, lives on in the
popular imagination when some of his
great contemporaries like Palwankar
Vithal and Palwankar Baloo have been
forgotten. Even though Nayudu was past
his cricketing prime when he played for
India in its first Test matches against
England starting in 1932, his place in
India’s cricket history is assured because
he was the country’s first Test captain.