The Historical Development of Cricket as a Game in England - Class 9

The social and economic history of England in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, cricket�s early years, shaped the game and gave cricket its unique nature. Cricket was the earliest modern team sport to be codified, which is another way of saying that cricket gave itself rules and regulations so that it could be played in a uniform and standardized way well before team games like soccer and hockey.

 

The first written �Laws of Cricket� were drawn up in 1744. They stated, �the principals shall choose from amongst the gentlemen present two umpires who shall absolutely decide all disputes. The stumps must be 22 inches high and the bail across them six inches. The ball must be between 5 and 6 ounces, and the two sets of stumps 22 yards apart�. There were no limits on the shape or size of the bat. It appears that 40 notches or runs were viewed as a very big score, probably due to the bowlers bowling quickly at shins unprotected by pads.

 

The world�s first cricket club was formed in Hambledon in the 1760s and 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�s regulations. The MCC�s revision of the laws brought in a series of changes in the game that occurred in the second half of the eighteenth century.

 

During the 1760s and 1770s, it became common to pitch the ball through the air, rather than roll it along the ground. This change gave bowlers the options of length, deception through the air, plus increased pace. It also opened new possibilities for spin and swing. In response, batsmen had to master timing and shot selection. One immediate result was the replacement of the curved bat with the straight one.

 

All of this raised the premium on skill and reduced the influence of rough ground and brute force. The weight of the ball was limited to between 5� to 5� ounces and the width of the bat to four inches.

 

The latter ruling followed an innings by a batsman who appeared with a bat as wide as the wicket! In 1774, the first leg-before law was published. Also around this time, a third stump became common. 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.

 

While many important changes occurred during the nineteenth century (the rule about wide balls was applied, the exact circumference of the ball was specified, protective equipment like pads and gloves became available, boundaries were introduced were previously all shots had to be run and, most importantly, overarm bowling became legal) cricket remained a pre-industrial sport that matured during the early phase of the Industrial Revolution, the late eighteenth century.

 

This history has made cricket a game with characteristics of both the past and the present day. Cricket�s connection with a rural past can be seen in the length of a Test match. Originally, cricket matches had no time limit. The game went on for as long as it took to bowl out a side twice. The rhythms of village life were slower and cricket�s rules were made before the Industrial Revolution.

 

Modern factory work meant that people were paid by the hour or the day or the week: games that were codified after the industrial revolution like football and hockey was strictly time-limited to fit the routines of industrial city life.

 

In the same way, cricket�s vagueness about the size of a cricket ground is a result of its village origins. Cricket was originally played on country commons, unfenced land that was public property. The size of the commons varied from one village to another, so there were no designated boundaries or boundary hits. When the ball went into the crowd, the crowd cleared away for the fieldsman to retrieve it.

 

Even after boundaries were written into the laws of cricket, their distance from the wicket was not specified. The laws simply lay down that �the umpire shall agree with both captains on the boundaries of the playing area�. If you look at the game�s equipment, you can see how cricket both changed with changing times and yet fundamentally remained true to its origins in rural England.

 

Cricket�s most important tools are all made of natural, pre-industrial materials. The bat is made of wood as are the stumps and the bails. The ball is made with leather, twine, and cork. Even today both bat and ball are handmade, not industrially manufactured. The material of the bat changed slightly over time. Once it was cut out of a single piece of wood.

 

Now it consists of two pieces, the blade which is made out of the wood of the willow tree, and the handle which is made out of cane that became available as European colonialists and trading companies established themselves in Asia. Unlike golf and tennis, cricket has refused to remake its tools with industrial or man-made materials: plastic, fiberglass, and metal have been firmly rejected.

 

Australian cricketer Dennis Lillee tried to play an innings with an aluminum bat, only to have it outlawed by the umpires. But in the matter of protective equipment, cricket has been influenced by technological change.

 

The invention of vulcanized rubber led to the introduction of pads in 1848 and protective gloves soon afterward, and the modern game would be unimaginable without helmets made out of metal and synthetic lightweight materials.

 

Read More: The Story Of Cricket - Decolonization - Class 9 History Notes