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The History of Cricket

Cricket history is particularly murky and vague as to the exact origins of the game,it is believed to have been born in England in the late middle ages.Edward III

 

banned a game similar to cricket in 1!", #pila baculorea# or #club ball# asit was known, as he saw it as being a distraction to his war e$ort.

%erek &irley in his wonderful book, #' (ocial )istory of English Cricket# suggests thegame came to England with the *rench during the time of the +orman Invasion, thattheir word #criuet# was the dialect name for a variation of club ball, the gameEdward the III had sought to eradicate.

 -here is record of the word #creag# as a derivative of the word creaget in 1""/100in the oyal 2ardrobe 'ccounts, for the then Prince Edward the II to play #creag# andother games.

 -here is no evidence that creag was the same as criuet, the links are too tenuousand games rarely appear in any records of this time unless the aristocracy wereplaying them or trying to have them eradicated as being morally degenerate.

Cricket is 3rst recorded as a game played by schoolboys in 4uildford in the

sixteenth century and is found recorded in an Italian /English dictionary in 15"6. -he game by 1!11 was being played by adults, it is recorded that two men wereprosecuted for playing cricket instead of attending church.7n a similar theme, in 1!6 ten men were 3ned for playing cricket rather thanattending church service, they also had to make a confession to the congregation asway of penance.'s the game continued to evolve amongst the working classes and the aristocracy,gambling became central to its growth.

 -he aristocracy in particular, had seen in it, a game with the obvious attributes tobet on its outcomes. -eams were assembled under the patronage of 'ristocrats andpurses were put up for #great matches#.

In 1!"!, # a great match at Cricket was played in (ussex, they were eleven of a side,and they played for 3fty guineas apiece#.

 -he game had been growing both within the english upper classes and as a genuinerecreational past time for rural workers in the southern counties of England.

 -he composite teams that were beginning to be assembled for #great matches#during this period of the early 1800#s, were crossing the class divides9 as the pursesplayed for encouraged the nobility that were patroni:ing the teams, to employ thebest players that could be found.

 -hus, rural workers who had become adept at the game were being employed toplay as #hands# for the aristocracy and were travelling for their employ.'t this time ;ondon, particularly +orth ;ondon, can lay claim to being the cradle of

the game as matches staged in Islington at 2hite Conduit *ield had a #3eld keeper#for cricket and the 'ngel Inn as part of its amenities.In 1816 a match at 2hite Conduit *ield brought cricket into the law courts after adispute between the two teams.

 -he other area to lay claim to the #Cradle of Cricket# was )ambledon in )ampshire,where the matches staged at the &road %own of )alfpenny were where cricketbegan to # assume that truly skilful and scienti3c character which it now possesses.#

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 -he men of )ambledon were immortalised in the writing of <ohn +yren, whocaptured the spirit of the club, its segregation between the classes and its rich andvaried club life.

 -he game continued to spread through England as the provincial towns grew with

industriali:ation, with the 3rst recorded game in =orkshire played in the 1850#s.

The Laws of the Game

&y 18>> the ;aws of Cricket had been codi3ed and in 1866 the laws were revised bythe ?arylebone Cricket Club, they covered the length of the pitch, the distancebetween creases, wicket si:e, and ball weight.'fter 18!0 the game saw the evolution of over arm bowling, replacing under armbowling as the main way to deliver the ball. -he game began to see the use ofvarious lengths utili:ed by bowlers and the development of the craft of batting, asbatters sought to respond to new bowling techniues.

 -he #(traight &at# was introduced as part of this counter to new bowling techniues,the old bent #hockey stick# style of bat went out of fashion.

Game Structure

 -est cricket is a game that spans over two innings. -his means that one team needsto bowl the other team out twice and score more runs then them to win the match.

'nother key di$erence between test cricket and other forms of cricket is the lengthof the innings. In test cricket there is no limit to the innings length.

2hereas in one day cricket @ -wenty0 cricket there are a certain amount of oversper innings.

 -he only limits in test cricket is a 5 day length.

&efore the game begins an oAcial will toss a coin. -he captain who guesses thecorrect side of the coin will then choose if they want to bat or 3eld 3rst.

7ne team will then bat while the other will bowl @ 3eld. -he aim of the batting teamis to score runs while the aim of the 3elding team is to bowl ten people out andclose the batting teamsB innings.'lthough there are eleven people in each team only ten people need to be bowledout as you cannot have one person batting alone. &atting is done in pairs.7nce the 3rst team has been bowled out the second team would then go into bat. 7nce the second team is then bowled out it would normally return to the 3rst teambatting again. )owever there is an exception to this in the cricket rules, it is calledthe follow/on.

 -he follow/on is when the 3rst team makes at least 00 runs more than the secondteam made in a 5 day test matchD.

 -his then gives the 3rst team the option to make the second team bat again. -his isparticularly useful if the game is progressing slowly or a$ected by bad weather andthere might not be enough time for both teams to play a full innings.(hould this be the case the batting teamBs captain also has the right to forfeit theirinnings at any time. -his is called a declaration.

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(ome may wonder why a captain would forfeit the opportunity for his team to bat.)owever if the game is coming close to a close and it looks like they will not be ableto bowl the other team out again this could be an option.If one team is not bowled out twice and a winner determined in the 3ve days of playthe game is declared a draw.

 -herefore it may be worth declaring an innings to create the possibility of a win

rather than a draw.

Ways to score runs

 -he aim of the batsmen is to score runs. 7ne of the main cricket rules is that forbatsmen to score runs they must run to each otherBs end of the pitch from one endto the otherD. In doing this one run is scored.Cricket rules state they may run multiple runs per shot. 's well as running they canalso score runs by hitting boundaries. ' boundary scores the batsmen either > or !

runs. ' four is scored by hitting the ball past the boundary after hitting the groundwhile a six is scored by hitting the ball past the boundary on the full before it hitsthe groundD. Cricket rules also state that once a > or ! has been scored any runs physically ranby the batsman are null @ void. -hey will only obtain the > or ! runs.7ther ways runs can be scored according to the cricket rules include no balls, wideballs, byes @ leg byes. Cricket rules state that all runs scored by these methods areawarded to the batting team but not the individual batters.' No Ball” can be declared for many reasonsF If the bowler bowls the ball from thewrong place, the ball is declared dangerous often happens when bowled at thebatsmenBs body on the fullD, bounces more than twice or rolls before reaching thebatsman or if 3elders are standing in illegal positions. -he batsman can hit a no ball

and score runs o$ it but cannot be out from a no ball except if they are ran out, hitthe ball twice, handle the ball or obstruct the 3eld. -he batsman gains any runsscored o$ the no ball for his shot while the team also gains one run for the no ballitself.' Wide BallG will be declared if the umpire thinks the batsman did not have areasonable opportunity to score o$ the delivery. )owever if the delivery is bowledover the batsmenBs head it will not be declared a wide but a no ball. Hmpires aremuch stricter on wide deliveries in the shorter format of the game while being muchmore relaxed in test cricket. ' wide delivery will add one run to the batting teamand any runs scored by the batsman. -he batsman is not able to get out o$ a widedelivery except if they are stumped, run out, handle the ball, hit their wicket orobstruct the 3eld.

' “ByeG is where a ball that isnBt a no ball or wide passes the striking batsman andruns are scored without the batsman hitting the ball.' “Leg ByeG is where runs are scored by hitting the batsman, but not the bat andthe ball is not a no ball or wide. )owever no runs can be scored if the strikingbatsman didnBt attempt to play a shot or if he was avoiding the ball.

ismissal

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 -here are eleven ways in which a batsman can be dismissed9 3ve relatively commonand six extremely rare. -he common forms of dismissal are bowled, caught, legbefore wicket lbwD, run out, and stumped. ;ess common methods are hitwicket, hit the ball twice, obstructed the 3eld, handled the ball and timedout J these are almost unknown in the professional game.&owledF the bowler has hit the wicket with the delivery and the wicket has broken

with at least one bail being dislodged note that if the ball hits the wicket withoutdislodging a bail it is not outD.CaughtF the batsman has hit the ball with his bat, or with his hand which washolding the bat, and the ball has been caught before it has touched the ground by amember of the 3elding side.;eg before wicket the ball has hit the batsman#s body including his clothing, padsetc. but not the bat, or a hand holding the batD when it would have gone on to hitthe stumps. -his rule exists mainly to prevent the batsman from guarding his wicketwith his legs instead of the bat. -o be given out lbw, the ball must not bounceoutside leg stump or strike the batsmen outside the line of leg/stump. It maybounce outside o$/stump. -he batsman may only be dismissed lbw by a ball strikinghim outside the line of o$/stump if he has not made a genuine attempt to play the

ball with his bat.un outF a member of the 3elding side has broken or put down the wicket with theball while the nearest batsman was out of his ground9 this usually occurs by meansof an accurate throw to the wicket while the batsmen are attempting a run,although a batsman can be given out un out even when he is not attempting arun9 he merely needs to be out of his ground.(tumped is similar except that it is done by the wicketkeeper after the batsman hasmissed the bowled ball and has stepped out of his ground, and is not attempting arun.)it wicket F a batsman is out hit wicket if he dislodges one or both bails with his bat,person, clothing or euipment in the act of receiving a ball, or in setting o$ for a runhaving Kust received a ball.

)it the ball twice is very unusual and was introduced as a safety measure to counterdangerous play and protect the 3elders. -he batsman may legally play the ball asecond time only to stop the ball hitting the wicket after he has already played it.)it does not necessarily refer to the batsman#s bat.7bstructing the 3eldF another unusual dismissal which tends to involve a batsmandeliberately getting in the way physically andLor verballyD of a 3elder.)andled the ballF a batsman must not deliberately  touch the ball with his hand, forexample to protect his wicket. +ote that the batsman#s hand or glove counts as partof the bat while the hand is holding the bat, so batsmen are freuently caught o$their gloves i.e. the ball hits, and is deMected by, the glove and can then be caughtD

 -imed out usually means that the next batsman was not ready to receive a deliverywithin three minutes of the previous one being dismissed.

Clothing and !rotecti"e wear

' !olo shirt which is worn by everyone in the match -/shirt with collarD. Long#slee"ed collared shirts are also widely used.Long trousers often white, but stained red in parts from polishing the ballD

 $um!er a woollen pullover, if necessaryD. -his is usually a vest.

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 <ockstra! into which a box is inserted and held in place.%&dominal guard or box or an ; 4uard for male batsmen and wicket/keepersoften referred to as a cup, box  or abdo guardD. It is usually constructed from highdensity plastic with a padded edge, shaped like a hollow half/pear, and inserted intothe Kockstrap style underwear of the batsmen and wicket/keeper. -his is used toprotect the genitals against impact from the ball.

Sun hats' cricket ca! or &ase&all ca!S!iked shoes to increase tractionHelmet often with a visorD, worn by batsmen and (elders close to the batsman onstrike to protect their heads.Leg !ads' worn by the two batsmen and the wicket/keeper, used to protectthe shin bone against impact from the ball. -he wicket/keeping pads are slightlydi$erent from the batsmen#s. *ielders that are 3elding in close to the batsmen maywear shin guards internalD as well.

 -high guard, arm guards, chest guard, and elbow guards to protect the body of thebatsmen.Glo"es for batsmen only, thickly padded above the 3ngers and on the thumb of thehand, to protect against impact from the ball as it is bowled

Wicket#kee!er)s glo"es for the wicket/keeper. Hsually includes webbing betweenthe thumb and index 3ngers.Safety glasses' for wicket/keepers, to prevent damage to the eyes from dislodgedbails impacting between the grill and peak of the helmet.

*+ui!ment&all J ' red, white or pink ball with a cork base, wrapped in twine covered withleather. -he ball should have a circumference of ".1 in centimetresD unless it is achildren#s si:e.&at J ' wooden bat is used. -he wood used is from the Nashmir orEnglish willow tree. -he bat cannot be more than 6 inches "!.5 cmD long and >.5inches 10.6 cmD wide. 'luminium bats are not allowed. -he bat has a long handle

and one side has a smooth face.(tumps J three upright wooden poles that, together with the bails, form the wicket.&ails J two crosspieces placed on top of the stumps.(ight screen J ' screen placed at the boundary known as the sight screen. -his isaligned exactly parallel to the width of the pitch and behind both pairs of wickets.&oundary J ' rope demarcating the perimeter of the 3eld known as the boundary.

The ,ield

' cricket 3eld is a roughly elliptical 3eld of Mat grass, ranging in si:e from about "0

to 150 metres 100/1!0 yardsD across, bounded by an obvious fence or other

marker. -here is no 3xed si:e or shape for the 3eld, although large deviations from a

low/eccentricity ellipse are discouraged. In the centre of the 3eld, and usually

aligned along the long axis of the ellipse, is the !itch , a carefully prepared

rectangle of closely mown and rolled grass over hard packed earth. It is marked with

white lines, called creases, like thisF

%e3nitionBowling # action of propelling the ball toward the wicket defended by a batsman.

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&owling the ball is distinguished from simply throwing the ball by a strictly speci3ed biomechanicalde3nition. Two kinds of &owling *ast bowlers, whose primary weapon is pace, through swing and seam bowlers who try to make theball deviate in its course through the air or when it bounces, to slow bowlers, who will attempt todeceive the batsmen with a variety of Might and spin. (pin bowler usually delivers the ball uite slowly and puts spin on the ball causing it to bounce at an

angle o$ the pitch.Batsman / ' player who is currently batting is denoted as a batsman, while the act of hitting the ballis called a shot or stroke.-m!ire / a person who has the authority to make Kudgements on the cricket 3eld, according tothe laws of cricket.nning/ a unit of play in which each team has a turn at bat, the turnof a team ending after ten players are put out or when the teamdeclares.Wickets/  -here are two wickets / wooden structures made up of a set of three stumps topped by apair of bailsStum!s/ -hree wooden posts, 5 millimetres 1 inchD in diameter and 61 millimetres inchesD high. -heyhave have spikes extending from their bottom end and are hammered into the ground in an evenlyspaced row, with the outside edges of the outermost stumps 6 millimetres " inchesD apart. -hismeans they are Kust close enough together that a cricket ball cannot pass between them. Bails/ -wo wooden crosspieces which sit in grooves atop the adKacent pairs of stumps.