When it comes to popularity Cricket stands in second position after football game. For every 4 years world cup is held by ICC (International Cricket Council) and Australia national cricket team is so successful that it won world cup for 5 times. But sometimes we may think that who might have invented this beautiful game ?
History of cricket :
There are some rumors that king Edward 2 from the roman empire had played cricket in his time but there is no strong evidence. Cricket has evolved slowly by bowls game, bowls game is played by rolling the ball on the ground. In this game we don’t use BAT.
In early days, people used stick as a bat and sheep’s wool as a ball. Sometimes even they used stones as a ball and for wickets they used gates,trees or stool.
There was no correct evidence to say when cricket was started for the first time and who played it ? but some incident happened in the 16th century, by which we can guess the approximate date.
In the 16th century there was a land dispute in England which was claimed by a 59 year old man, john derrick. He testified that he played cricket in 1550. So by this incident it was decided that 1550 was the earliest reference to the cricket.
In the 17th century 2 adults were prosecuted for playing cricket instead of not attending the church. This was another incident where it was proved that even adults had played cricket in the year 1611. In this same year cricket word was added to the dictionary.
Cricket Rules:
If we talk about cricket rules, at the beginning of 18th century, these were some of the rules of cricket. two teams used to come on the ground with their bats.in those days bats were not the same as what we have today. Wickets would be placed on both sides of the pitch and coin was used to for toss.
The team who won the toss would go for batting. The bowling was also different in those days the ball was rolled on the ground. One over was made up of 4 balls. Umpires would stand near the wickets and would note the runs by making marks on a small mound. In those days there were only 4 balls in an over and score was marked on mound in the form of lines.
Modern Cricket :
In the year 1889 made changes in an over and made it from 4 balls to 5 balls. In 1922, in some other countries the no of balls in an over was increased to 8 but after the second world war from 1947, 6 balls per over became a rule.
In those times,the highest score was 40 as ball was thrown on the ground and it was not possible to make runs.Also safety pads were not used so there were many cases of injuries.
In 1770, the practice of pitching the ball and throwing it started. It became easier for batsmen to play shots and for bowlers to try new techniques like spinning the ball. If we speak of bowling style, initially bowlers use underarm bowling. After that came roundarm bowling. Initially bowlers use underarm bowling. After that came round arm bowling. In 1880’s overarm bowling started being used most.
Cricket became popular in the 19th century. Slowly changes took place in rules. Many changes were made in the bat. In 1174, leg before law and third stump rule was brought. There were improvements in size of ball,pad and gloves. Rule of boundaries began in 1870’s for the first time. Prior to boundary rule batsmen had to run each time he hit the ball.
Cricket Clubs :
The First cricket club was formed in 1760. Then Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Was formed. This club makes rules for cricket and handles related activities. Today International Cricket Council (ICC) handles most functions of MCC.
After England, cricket reached North America.Till the 18th century cricket had slowly spread many countries. In this way, after many changes, cricket is what we see it today.