Development of Cricket in England
* Cricket developed in rural England out of several stick and ball games.
* First laws of cricket were written in 1744.
* The Marylebone Cricket revised the cricket laws and published them in 1788.
* The cricketing equipment is still handmade using natural pre-industrial materials.
* The hierarchies of English society were evident in early cricket.
* Professionals or players played cricket for a living, while the amateurs or gentlemen played it for pleasure.
* Cricket was also introduced to young school boys to teach them discipline and importance of hierarchy.
* By the end of the 19th century, women began to play cricket, but they were still discouraged to participate in competitions.
The Spread of Cricket
* The British showed no interest in teaching cricket to the non-white natives.
* Cricket gained huge popularity amongst the common people in the Caribbean.
* The Pan-West Indies team represents many nations of the Caribbean region, which could never get unified politically.
* The Parsis formed a Cricket club in 1848 in Bombay and also buikt a gymkhana.
* The Hindus and the Muslims also established their separate cricket clubs.
* The Europeans, the Parsis, the Hindus and the Muslims played in a famous tournament called the Quadrangular.
* The Quadrangular was renamed the Pentangular when one more group joined it.
* During nineteen thirties and nineteen forties, the Pentangular tournament faced widespread criticism due to its communal foundations.
Modern Transformation of Cricket
* Mahatma Gandhi criticized colonial games like cricket and hockey.
* C.K. Nayudu was India’s first test captain.
* Decolonization led to a decline in the British control over sports, but Britain still influenced the organization of world cricket.
* The concept of equal membership in International Cricket Conference came in 1989.
* During the 1950s and 1960s, the colonial attitude was prevalent in racist countries such as South Africa.
* In 1970, a tour of South Africa to England was cancelled due to the efforts of Asian and African countries, and some liberals in Britain.
Commerce, Media and Cricket Today
* The first one-day international cricket match was played between England and Australia in Melbourne in 1971.
* The first cricket World Cup was organized in 1975.
* Australian television tycoon Kerry Packer signed up 51 leading cricketers and televised the matches under the name World Series Cricket.
* Televised cricket generated a lot of money for the cricket boards, the television channels, the advertisers and the players.
* Satellite television brought international cricket to small towns and villages.
* With the globalization of Cricket, the balance of power shifted from England and Australia to South Asia.
* In the recent years, innovations in cricket have mostly come from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.