TyndaleBiscoe & Mallinson Society

TERM-II ASSIGNMENT - 2016

CLASS IX
SUBJECTS HISTORY & URDU GRAMMAR
Note: Any query that arises may be noted down. It will be clarified once school reopens.

Lesson: History and Sport (TERM II)

Dear Students,
In this section we shall look at the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
A I.

The evolution of Cricket as a game in England

The relationship between British imperialism and Cricket
The history of the adoption of Cricket in India
The modern transformation of the game.

THE ORIGIN OF CRICKET:

The origin of the game of Cricket is lost in the mist of time. However, there is a consensus of
expert opinion that the first cricket club came into existence at Hambleton in the 1760s.
Evidence suggests that it was played in England during the 12th and 13th centuries. It was by
the middle of the 18th century that the aristocracy adopted the game. In 1744, the London
Cricket Club formed what were recognizably the rules of modern cricket. The Marylebone
Cricket Club, established in 1787, is one of the oldest cricket organisations in England.

A II.

THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS OF CRICKET AS A GAME IN ENGLAND:

The first written Laws of Cricket came into existence in 1744
The principles (rules) shall choose from amongst the gentlemen (rich batsmen) present,
two Umpires who shall absolutely decide all disputes
The stumps must be 22 inches in height and the bails across them, 6 inches wide.
The ball must be between 5 and 6 ounces and the two set of stumps, 22 yards apart.
There was no limit to the shape and size of the bat.

THE MCCS REVISION OF THE LAWS IN THE 18TH CENTURY:

The MCC brought in a series of changes in the game of cricket in the second half of the 18th
century:

It became common to pitch the ball through the air rather than roll it along the ground

The curved bat was replaced by a straight one

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3

The weight of the ball was limited to 5 2 to 5 4 ounces and the width of a bat to 4 inches.

In 1744, the first Leg Before laws was published

A third stump became common

The first six-seam cricket ball was introduced

A III. CHANGES THAT OCCURRED IN THE 19TH CENTURY

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Rules about Wide Balls was applied

The exact circumference of the ball was specified
Protective equipment like Pads and Gloves became available
Boundaries were introduced
Over-arm bowling became legal
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A IV. Cricket, a sport of the pre-industrial period, matured during the early phase of the Industrial
Revolution in the late 19th century. It is therefore a game with characteristics of both the past as
well as the present times. In fact, the peculiarities of Test cricket were shaped by its
connections with a rural past.
CONNECTION OF CRICKET WITH THE RURAL PAST
PECULARITIES

THE CAUSES

The length of a Test

Match

The rhythm of rural life was slow and crickets

rules were made before the Industrial Revolution

Vagueness about the

size of a cricket
ground

Cricket was commonly played on country

commons and the size of the commons varied
from one village to another. So there were no
designated boundaries before the Industrial
Revolution.

The equipment for the

game of Cricket

Crickets most important tools were all made of

natural pre-industrial material. The bats, stumps
and bails were all made of wood and the ball of
leather, twine and cork.

A V.

INFLUENCE OF TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE ON CRICKET:

Although cricket changed with the 19th century technology yet it remained true to its origins in
rural England. If we look at the games equipment, we can see that crickets most important
tools were all made of natural, pre-industrial materials. The bat was made of wood as were the
stumps and the bails. The ball was made of leather. However, as far as the protective
equipment was concerned, it was influenced by technological change. The protective
equipment like pads, gloves and helmets are all made of industrial material.
A VI. CRICKET AND VICTORIAN ENGLAND:

It is more than a game, this cricket, it somehow holds a mirror up to the English
society Sir Neville.
Based on the rigid class of the Victorian society, crickets social formation during this
time mirrored the hierarchies.

Cricket that was played by the poor:

Cricket that was played by the rich:

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They played for pleasure and not

for money
They played for leisure
They were called gentlemen
They concentrated on batting as it
was less strenuous
The benefit of the doubt always
went in favour of the rich
The rules favoured them
The Captain was always an
Amateur.

Cricket was
played by
both the rich
as well as
the poor in
England

The poor played cricket for money that

they got from the patrons or gate money
They were not employed for the entire
year as the game was a seasonal one
They were called players
They were made to bowl as it required a
lot of hard work
The rules of the game did not favour
them
A professional was not allowed to lead a
team
It was only in 1930 that the English team
was led by Len Hutton, a professional

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The game of cricket became a symbol of Victorian aristocracy. It was viewed as a platform to
inculcate the superior values of the British youth. In the beginning of the 19th century, men like
Thomas Arnold, saw a team sport like cricket, not just as an outdoor play but an organised way
of teaching English boys:
Discipline
Importance of status (hierarchy)
Skill
Honour
Leadership
Victorian empire builders justified their conquests of other countries as an act of unselfish
social service and cricket helped to confirm the self image of the English elite by glorifying the
amateur ideal, where cricket was played not for profit but its own sake, in the spirit of fair play.
The above given description helps us to understand as to why it is often said that the battle of
Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton. This means that Britains military success
was based on the values taught to the school boys in public schools.
SPREAD OF CRICKET
Cricket, a colonial game, was played and followed in the countries that were once ruled by
non-white natives in the West Indies and India. It was only towards the end of the 19th century
that the first non-white cricket club emerged in the West Indies. Even the members of this club
were light-skinned people of mixed European and African descent called the Mulatoos.
Despite the exclusiveness of the white cricket elite in the West Indies, the game gained a
huge popularity among the common people of the Caribbean. Winning cricket matches became
a way of gaining social equality and political progress. Many political leaders of the region saw
in the game a chance for self-respect and international standing. When the West Indies won the
first Test Match against England in 1950, it was celebrated as a national victory.

THE TWO IRONIES OF THE GREAT VICTORY:

The West Indies team represented the Caribbean region which could never unite
politically.

The West Indian team that won had to face a complaint by a white player
THE SPREAD OF CRICKET IN INDIA:
The entire history of cricket in India and the sub-continent as a whole, is based on the existence
and development of the British rule.
The first definite reference to cricket being played anywhere in India is a report by the
English sailors of the East India Company written in 1937.It refers to cricket being
played at Cambay near Baroda in 1721.
The first Indian club, the Calcutta Cricket Club, was established in 1792.
In 1799, another club was formed at Seringapatnam in South India after the successful
British siege and the defeat of Tipu Sultan.
The first Indian ventures into cricket were by a small community of Zoroastrians, the
Parsis, as they were brought into close contact with the British because of their interests
in trade and the first Indian community to be westernized. The Parsis formed the first
Indian cricket club, the Oriental Cricket Club in Bombay in 1948. Parsi clubs were
funded and sponsored by businessman like the Tatas and the Wadias.
The white cricket elite in India offered no help to the enthusiastic Parsis. However, this rivalry
between the Parsis and the racists, led to a happy ending for these pioneers of Indian cricket. A
Parsi team beat the Bombay Gymkhana in 1889. The Parsi cricket team toured England twice
in the 1880s.
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The establishment of the Parsi Gymkhana became a precedent for other Indians
who in turn established clubs based on the ideas of religious community. By the
1890s, the Hindus and Muslims were busy in gathering funds and support for a
Hindu and an Islam Gymkhana respectively. The British encouraged this and were
quick to recognize communal Institutions. Applications that used the communal
categories favoured by the colonial state were more likely to be approved.

The history of Gymkhana cricket led to First Class Cricket organised on communal
and social lines.

The team that played colonial Indias greatest first-class cricket, tournament
represented religious communities.

The Quadrangular Tournaments ware played between the Europeans, the Parsis, the
Hindus and the Muslims.

This tournament became a Pentangular tournament with the addition of a fifth team
the Rest.
The Pentangular Tournament was a colonialist tournament and it died with the end of the
British rule.
By the late 1930s, many people began to criticize the communal foundation of the
Pentangular tournament. Mahatma Gandhi condemned it as a communally divisive
competition. He saw it as a big hurdle in the nationalists efforts to unify the diverse
population of India.
DECOLONISATION AND SPORT:
DECOLONISATION

The decline of British influence in sporting

matters
Imperial Cricket Conference

It was renamed the International Cricket

Conference in favour of equal membership
COMMERCIALISATION OF CRICKET:
1970s A decade when cricket underwent major transformation

1971 A landmark year for the game of cricket.

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The first One Day International was played between England and Australia at Melbourne in
Australia. The enormous popularity of this shortened version of the game led to the first World
Cup being staged in 1975.
1977 Cricket 100 years of Test Matches.
KERRY PACKER:

Packer drove home the lesson that cricket was a marketable game which could generate huge
revenue. His efforts made cricket more attractive to television audiences and changed the
nature of the game forever.

RESULTS

Cricket Boards became rich by selling broadcasting rights to Television Companies.

Television Companies made money by selling television spots to companies who were
willing to pay large sums of money to air commercials of their products to crickets captive
audiences.
Cricketers became celebrities
Television coverage expanded the audience for the game
It broadened crickets social base
Originally, Lords was the home of cricket as well as its governing body, the International
Cricket Council (ICC) till 1993. In 1994, a part of the ICC which was mainly dealing with
commercial activities moved to Monaco. The problem that arose was that they had been
separated from the Think Tank at Lords. Further, in the 1990s, the ICC had begun to expand
into a number of member countries. This expansion led to the expansion of the commercial
activities wing now based at Monaco.
The members wanted to stay in England but didnt want to pay the UK Corporation Tax. This
scuffle made the members to reconsider the location of the Headquarters. After a voting result
of 11-1 in Dubais favour, it was decided that the Headquarters of the ICC be shifted to Dubai.
Around 2000 onwards, India predominately became the richest Board in South Asia and it was
therefore imperative that the games centre of gravity, that is India, be close to it.
EFFECTS OF TELEVISION COVERAGE ON CRICKET:
Television coverage changed cricket. It expanded the audience of the game by beaming cricket
matches into small villages and towns. It broadened crickets social base. Children who had
never previously had the chance to watch international cricket as they lived outside the big
cities where top-level cricket was played, could not watch and learn the game by imitating their
heroes.
The technology of satellite television and the worldwide reach of multi-national television
companies created a global market for cricket.
The large viewership of the game amongst the cricket playing nations and the largest market in
the cricketing world, were reasons for the shifting of the games centre of gravity to South
Asia. This shift was symbolized by
1. The shift of the ICC Headquarters from London to tax-free Dubai
2. The innovations in cricket techniques in the recent years have mainly come from the
practice of sub-continental teams like Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India. Pakistan has pioneered
the two great advances in bowling, the Doosra and the reverse swing.

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URDU

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