Cricket is an action packed game that gives a thrill to viewers. During the world cup tournament, no one can afford to miss the action. It is for this reason that we keep on providing you with necessary information on world cup. World cup is one of the biggest tournaments that every one of you loves to catch up. As world cup tournament is an important event, cricket world cup history is also mandatory to know intricacies of the game. It is the cricket world cup history that Stickiewicket acquaints you with, so as to give you a basic understanding of cricket world cup.
The Origins and Facts about Cricket
They say you have to be born into cricket, me, I love it, an American friend once described it as “baseball on valium”.
The origins of the game of cricket are lost in the mists of time. There is a reference in the household accounts of King Edward I in 1300 of a game much like crick. The English game originated in the sheep-raising country of the South East, where the short grass of the pastures made it possible to bowl or roll a ball of rags or wool at a target. That target was usually the wicket-gate of the sheep paddock, which was defended with a bat in the form of a shepherd’s crooked staff.
In reality there was actually a large number of different games played under a variety of local rules. The idea of a single past time evolving seamlessly into the sport we know and love is appealing but not very likely. However, hitting a ball with a stick does seem to have been a popular past time. In fact, “bat” is an old English word meaning stick or club. The earliest types of bat were much like a hockey stick – long, heavy clubs curved outwards towards the bottom. The design of the bat reflected the type of bowling that was prevalent at the time – fast, underarm bowls rolled along the ground. By the eighteenth century, the bat had developed into a heavier, longer, curved version of our modern bat – the handle and blade were carved out of a single piece of wood.
The 1st recorded cricket match took place in Kent in 1646 and, by the late 1600s fines were actually handed out for those missed church to play. Cricket was popular and widely documented in England during the 1700s. In 1706 William Goldwyn published the 1st description of the game. He wrote that 2 teams were 1st seen carrying their curving bats to the venue, choosing a pitch and arguing over the rules. They pitched 2 sets of wickets, each with a “milk-white” bail perched on two stumps; tossed a coin for 1st knock, the umpire called “play” and the “leathern orb” was bowled. They had 4-ball overs, the umpires leant on their staves (which the batsmen had to touch to complete a run), and the scorers sat on a mound making notches.
The 1st written “Laws of Cricket” were established in 1744. They stated, “the principals shall choose from amongst the gentlemen present 2 umpires who shall absolutely decide all disputes. The stumps must be Twenty-two inches high and the bail across them six inches. The ball must be between 5 & 6 ounces, and the two sets of stumps Twenty-two yards apart”. There were no limits on the shape or size of the bat. It appears that 40 notches was 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.
During the 1760′s and 1770′s it became common to pitch the ball through the air, rather than roll it along the ground. This innovation gave bowlers the weapons of deception through the air, length, plus increased pace. It also opened new possibilities for spin and swerve. In response, batsmen had to masters shot selection and timing. One immediate consequence of this was the replacement of the curving bat with the straight one. All of this raised the premium on skill and lessened the influence of rough ground and brute force. It was in the 1770′s that the modern game began to take shape.
The weight of the ball was limited to between 5 and a 1/2 and five and 3/4 ounces, and the width of the bat to 4 inches. The latter ruling followed an innings by a batsman called “Shock” White, who appeared with a bat the width of the wicket. In 1774, the first leg before law was published. Also around this time, a third stump became commonplace
Before the first Cricket World Cup:
The first ever international cricket match was played between Canada and the United States, on the 24 and 25 September 1844. However, the first credited Test match was played in 1877 between Australia and England, and the two teams competed regularly for The Ashes in subsequent years. South Africa was admitted to Test status in 1889. Representative cricket teams were selected to tour each other, resulting in bilateral competition. Cricket was also included as an Olympic sport at the 1900 Paris Games, where Great Britain defeated France to win the gold medal. This was the only appearance of cricket at the Summer Olympics.
The first multilateral competition at international level was the 1912 Triangular Tournament, a Test cricket tournament played in England between all three Test-playing nations at the time: England, Australia and South Africa. The event was not a success: the summer was exceptionally wet, making play difficult on damp uncovered pitches, and attendances were poor, attributed to a "surfeit of cricket". In subsequent years, international Test cricket has been generally been organised as bilateral series: a multilateral Test tournament was not organised again until the quadrangular Asian Test Championship in 1999.