The origins of cricket are somewhere in the Middle Ages - probably after the Roman Empire, almost certainly before the Normans invaded England, and almost certainly somewhere in Northern Europe. All research recognizes that the game derives from an ancient, widespread and easy pastime by which one player serves an object, either a small piece of wood or a ball, and another hit him with a stick properly trained.
How and when this club-ball game became one where the hitter defended a target against the pitcher is simply not known. Nor is there any evidence as to when points were awarded depends on how far the hitter was able to send the missile, nor when helpers joined the two-player contest, thus beginning the evolution toward a team game, or when the concept that defines the placement wickets at each end of the court was adopted.
Etymological various grants has put the game in the Celtic, Scandinavian, Anglo-Dutch and Franco-Norman traditions, sociological historians attribute this development other owners medieval country of high birth, emigrated Flemish cloth-workers, pastors in the first Lower level of southeast England trimmed and closed communities of iron and glass work deep in the Weald of Kent. Most of these theories have a solid academic foundation, but is not backed with evidence sufficient to establish a watertight case. The investigation continues.
What is agreed is that by Tudor times cricket had evolved far enough from the club-ball to be recognizable as the game played today, which was well established in many parts of Kent, Sussex and Surrey, in a few years had become a function of leisure time in a significant number of schools, and - a sure sign of the widespread acceptance of any game - which had become quite popular among young men to earn the disapproval of local magistrates.
The dates in the history of cricket
1550 (approx) Evidence of cricket is played in Guildford, Surrey.
1598 Cricket mentioned in Florio Italian-English dictionary.
1610 The word "cricket" between the Weald and Upland near Chevening, Kent. French-English Dictionary 1611 Randle Cotgrave translates the French word "crosse" as cricket staff.
Two youths fined for playing cricket at Sidlesham, Sussex.
1624 Jasper Vinall becomes first man known to be killed playing cricket: beaten by a bat while trying to catch the ball - to Horsted Green, Sussex.
1676 First reference to cricket is played abroad, by British residents in Aleppo, Syria.
1694 Two shillings and sixpence paid for a Rabbi "(bet) on a cricket match at Lewes.
1697 First reference to "a great game with 11 players a side for fifty guineas, in Sussex.
1700 Cricket match announced on Clapham Common.
1709 First recorded game between counties: Kent v Surrey.
1710 First reference to cricket at the University of Cambridge.
1727 Articles of Agreement written governing the conduct of the matches between teams of the Duke of Richmond and Mr Brodrick of Peperharow, Surrey.
1729 Date of earliest surviving bat, belonging to John Chitty, now in the pavilion of La Blanca.
1730 First recorded game in Field Artillery, off City Road, central London, the home of cricket of the Honourable Artillery Company.
1744 Kent beat All England by one wicket in the land of Artillery.
First version of the known laws of cricket, issued by the London Club, the formalization of the court 22 meters long.
1767 (approx) from the Foundation of the Hambledon Club in Hampshire, the leading club in England for the next 30 years.
1769 First Century of receipt, by John Minshull for Duke of Dorset XI v Wrotham.
1771 Width of bat limited to 4 1 / 4 inches, where it has remained ever since.
1774 LBW law devised.
1776 First known scorecards in the Vineyard Club, Sevenoaks, Kent.
1780 The first six cricket ball seam, manufactured by Dukes of Penshurst, Kent.
1787 First match in the first plea Thomas Lord, Dorset Square, Marylebone - White through Club v Middlesex.
Formation of Marylebone Cricket Club by members of the Club White duct.
1788 First revision of the Laws of Cricket by MCC.
1794 First recorded between schools match: Charterhouse v Westminster.
1795 First recorded case of dismissal "of the leg before wicket."
1806 First Gentlemen v Players match at Lord's.
1807 First mention of "straight-armed" (ie round-arm) bowling: by John Willes of Kent.
1809 Thomas Lord opened the second plea in the North Bank, St John's Wood.
First registered 1811 County Women's Match: Surrey v Hampshire at Ball Pond, London.
1814 Lord's third ground opened in its present location, also in St John's Wood.
1827 First Oxford v Cambridge match, in the Lord. A tie.
1828 MCC allow the bowler to raise his hand level with his elbow.
Tutor John Nyrén 1833 published his classic Young Cricketer and The Cricketers of my time.
1836 First North v South match, for many years considered as the main accessory of the season.
1836 (approx) Batting pads invented.
1841 General Lord Hill, commander of the British Army, orders that a cricket ground be attached to all military barracks.
1844 Official First international match: Canada v USA.
1845 First match played at The Oval.
The 1846 All England start-XI, organized by William Clarke, playing games, often against the odds, throughout the country.
1849 First Yorkshire v Lancashire match.
1850 wicket keeping gloves first used.
1850 John Wisden bowls all ten batsmen v shifts to North and South.
1853 First mention of a champion county: Nottinghamshire.
1858 first recorded instance of a hat given to a bowler taking three wickets with consecutive balls.
1859 First touring team to leave England, captained by George Parr, draws enthusiastic crowds in the U.S. and Canada.
1864 by the top bowling authorized by MCC.
John Wisden Cricketer's Almanac first publication.
Australian Tour 1868 Aboriginal Team England.
1873 WG Grace becomes the first player to record 1000 runs and 100 wickets in a season.
First regulations restricting county qualifications, often regarded as the official start of the County Championship.
1877 First Test match: Australia beat England by 45 runs in Melbourne.
1880 First test in England: a five-wicket victory over Australia in the oval.
1882 After the first defeat of England by Australia in England, a notice of "Obituary" in English cricket in the Sporting Times carried the tradition of the ashes.
first game of 1889 South African test.
First authorized statements, but only the third day, or at a party one day.
1890 County Championship officially constituted.
Present flag Lord opened.
1895 WG Grace scores 1000 runs in May, and reaches his 100th hundred.
1899 AEJ 628 Collins results are not conducted in a junior house match at Clifton College, the highest individual score in each game.
Selectors choose England team for the proofs of origin, instead of host club issuing invitations.
1900 Six ball becomes the norm, rather than five.
1909 Imperial Cricket Conference (ICC - now the International Cricket Council) set up, with England, Australia and South Africa, the original members.
1910 Six runs given for any hit on the border, instead of just one hit the ground.
1912 First and only triangular Test series played in England, with the participation of England, Australia and South Africa.
1915 WG Grace dies, 67.
1926 score 1107 Victoria v New South Wales in Melbourne, the record for total first-class tickets.
1928 first game of the West Indies' Test.
AP "Tich" Freeman of Kent and England becomes the only player to have more than 300 points of first class in a season: 304.
first game of 1930 New Zealand test.
the Donald Bradman's first tour of England scoring 974 runs in the five Ashes tests, remains a record for a series of tests.
1931 Stumps increase the height (28 inches not 27) and wider (nine inches not eight - this was optional until 1947).
first match of India 1932 test.
Hedley Verity of Yorkshire has ten wickets for ten runs v Nottinghamshire, the best tickets in the analysis of first-class cricket.
The 1932-33 Bodyline tour of Australia in which England batters in a bowl with bodies packed leg side field to neutralize the Bradman score.
1934 Jack Hobbs retires with 197 centuries and 61,237 runs, both records. Proof of the first women: Australia v England at Brisbane.
MCC 1935 condemning and prohibiting Bodyline.
1947 Denis Compton of Middlesex and England scores a record 3816 runs in a season of English.
1948 First evidence for five days in England.
Bradman finished your test with a second ball duck in the Oval and a batting average of 99.94 - four runs short of 100.
1952 Pakistan's first test match.
1953 England regain the Ashes after a gap of 19 years, the longest in history.
1956 Jim Laker of England has 19 wickets for 90 v Australia at Manchester, the best match analysis of first-class cricket.
1957 Declarations authorized at any time.
1960 First tied Test, Australia v West Indies in Brisbane.
1963 Distinction between amateur players and professional cricketers abolished in English cricket.
The first major one-day tournament begins in England: the Gillette Cup.
1969 Limited-over Sunday league inaugurated for first-class counties.
Project 1970 South African tour of England canceled: South Africa excluded from international cricket because of apartheid policies of his government.
1971 First one-day international: England v Australia in Melbourne.
1975 First World Cup: West Indies beat Australia in the final Lord.
1976 the first women match at Lord's, England v Australia.
1977 Centenary Test in Melbourne, with a result identical to the first match: Australia beat England by 45 runs.
Australian media mogul Kerry Packer, signs 51 players in the world in defiance of the authorities of cricket.
1978 Graham Yallop of Australia takes a helmet to bat in a Test match, the first player to do so.
1979 Packer and official cricket agree peace deal.
1980 Eight-ball over abolished in Australia, making the ball over six universal.
1981 England beat Australia in the Leeds Test, after following with bookmakers which offers courses of 500 to 1 against them winning.
first game of 1982 in Sri Lanka test.
1991 South Africa's return, with an international day of India.
first game of 1992 in Zimbabwe test.
Durham became the first county since Glamorgan in 1921 to achieve first class status.
1993 The International Criminal Court is no longer administered by MCC, becoming an independent organization with its own chief executive.
Warwickshire 1994 Brian Lara becomes the only player to pass 500 in a first class ticket: 501 v Durham not.
The captain of South Africa 2000 Cricket Hansi Cronje banned for life after admitting receiving bribes from bookmakers in fixing scandal.
first test match in Bangladesh.
County Championship was split into two divisions with promotion and relegation.
The Laws of Cricket revised and rewritten.
2001 Sir Donald Bradman dies aged 92.
2003 Twenty20 Cup, a tournament of the night 20-for-a-side, opened in England.
2004 Lara becomes the first man to score 400 in a test innings against England.
2005 The ICC introduced and Supersubs Powerplays in ODIs, and hosts the inaugural Superset.
2006 Pakistan tested one lost in the Oval after being accused of ball tampering.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
