CBSE - History and Sport: The Story of Cricket

Test cricket is a unique game in many ways. It was the first modern team game to give itself rules and regulations. Unlike other team games, it can go on for five days and still end in a draw. No other modern team sport takes even half as much time to complete. While most team games (such as hockey and football) specify the dimensions of the playing area, the laws of cricket do not state the specific dimensions of the playing field.

The peculiarities of Test cricket are :
→ A match can go on for five days and still end in a draw. No other modern day team sport takes even half as much time to complete. Baseball completes nine innings in less than half the time that it takes to play a limited overs match.
→ The length of the pitch is specified (22 yards) but the size or shape of the ground is not. No dimensions of the playing area are mentioned for cricket.

With the changing times technology brought about a change in Cricket equipment but it remained true to its origins:
→ Introduction of pads and protective gloves. These protective equipments came forth as a result of the invention of vulcanised rubber.
→ Cricketing most important tools are made from natural and pre-industrial materials. The bats, even today, are made of wood. Also, they are not factory manufactured, but made by hand.

Cricket became popular in India and the West Indies because of its colonial background. British imperial officials used it as a symbol of racial and social superiority. They did not popularise the game for the masses. For the colonised, playing cricket implied being the racial equals of the British. Success at cricket came to imply a measure of racial equality and political progress. On the other hand, the game was not so popular in countries like those of South America since they were not dominated by imperial England.

(i) The Parsis were the first Indian community to set up a cricket club in India.
(ii) Mahatma Gandhi condemned the Pentangular tournament.
(iii) The name of the ICC was changed from the Imperial Cricket Conference to theInternational Cricket Conference.
(iv) The shift of the ICC headquarters from London to Dubai.

Answer

(i) The Parsis were a small trading community in close contact with the British, and hence, they were the first ones to westernise. During this process of westernisation, they founded the first Indian cricket club, in Bombay, in 1848, called the Oriental Cricket Club.
(ii) Mahatma Gandhi condemned the Pentangular tournament as he felt that it was a divisive competition that went against the need of the hour. At a time when the nationalists were trying to unite India’s diverse population, the Pentangular tournament divided them on communal lines and the colonial government encouraged these divisions.

(iii) The name was changed because of decolonisation. This was a process by which the British influence in many areas, one of them sports, declined. Cricket was no longer the monopoly of the imperial powers. Cricket was becoming international. In time, it came to be accepted that the laws of cricket could not continue to be framed for British or Australian conditions of play and they became part of the technique of all bowlers, everywhere in the world.

(iv) The shift of the ICC headquarters from London to Dubai happened on account of India's location in South Asia. Since India has the largest viewership and market for cricket, the balance of power in cricket has shifted from the colonial domain to the decolonised domain. The shifting of headquarters symbolised and formally marked the end of English or imperialist domination over the game.

Advances in technology, especially television technology, have affected the development of contemporary cricket by making it marketable game:→ Cricket boards sold television rights to television companies and reaped profits.
→ Television channels sold television spots to companies. They aired their commercials and advertised their commodities to a large number of audience. They made huge profits.
→ Continuous television coverage made cricketers celebrities.They became rich. They were paid by cricket boards and also by companies whose commercials they endorsed.
→ Cricket audience expanded. Cricket was taken to the smaller towns. People could watch and learn by imitating their heroes.
→ Coloured uniforms, protective equipments, field regulations, and day-night, limited-overs matches have all helped this pre-industrial, rural game to adapt to the changing modern world.
→ Balance of power shifted to South Asia as most viewership was from here. ICC headquarters shifted from London to tax-free Dubai.

1. Cricket matches are organised:

(a) News of cricket hits newspaper headlines

(b) Cricketers are seen as ambassadors

(c) Game represents the unity of India

(d) To establish friendship between nations

2. Game of cricket was invented in:

(a) England

(b) India

(c) Australia

(d) Pakistan

3. Cricket was said to represent

(а) English values of fair play and discipline

(б) English racial superiority

(c) English sense of enterprise

(d) English sportsmen spirit

4. Cricket in 19th century India was linked to

(a) politics of colonialism

(b) politics of nationalism

(c) Civilising mission of the British

(d) colonialism and nationalism

5. Cricket grew out of

(a) hockey

(b) volleyball

(c) stick and ball games

(d) baseball

6. Early cricket bats were shaped like

(a) hockey sticks

(b) flat sticks

(c) rackets

(d) curved outwards

7. First written laws of cricket were in

(a) 1474

(b) 1447

(c) 1774

(d) 1744

8. Where and when was the world's first cricket club formed?

(a) Hambledon 1760s

(b) Marylebone 1760s

(c) London 1670s

(d) Melbourne 1760s

9. Change in game rules in the 1760s led to immediate change in

(а) weight of ball got limited to 5-1/2 to 5-1/4 ounces

(б) third stump became common

(c) opened possibilities for spin and swing

(d) curved bat was replaced by a straight one

10. Cricket is a

(a) post industrial sport

(b) 19th century sport

(c) pre industrial sport

(d) 20th century sport

11. Rural origins of cricket are not visible in

(a) bat and stumps

(b) ball and bats

(c) field size

(d) protective equipment

12. Post industrial influence in cricket

(a) pads

(b) bat

(c) ball

(d) stumps

13. Who were 'Amateurs'?

(a) Those who did not know how to play the game well

(b) Those proficient at the game

(c) The rich who played for pleasure

(d) Those who played for the money

14. Professionals were described as

(a) Gentlemen

(b) batsmen

(c) Players

(d) spinners

15. Amateurs were generally

(a) Bowlers

(b) Aristocrats

(c) Fast bowlers

(d) Miners

Answers:

16. The first professional to lead the English team

(a) Vijay Hazare

(b) Thomas Hughes

(c) Len Hutton

(d) Garry Sobers

17. The first among Indian communities to set up a cricket club

(a) Parsis

(b) Hindus

(c) Muslims

(d) Christians

18. Spread of the game cricket was confined to

(a) British colonies

(b) Australia and New Zealand

(c) Africa and West Indies

(d) Third World

19. Elites of colonies viewed playing cricket as symbolising

(a) progress

(b) equality

(c) superior, social and racial status

(d) English values

20. West Indies won its first Test series against England in

(a) 1930

(b) 1949

(c) 1950

(d) 1960

21. Cricket in colonial India was organised on the principle of

(a) national loyalties

(b) religion

(c) region

(d) race and religion

22. The game of cricket was brought to India by

(a) East India Company

(b) Governor Generals

(c) The Portuguese

(d) British Imperial Officers

23. Mulattos were

(a) Afro Caribbeans

(b) Blacks

(c) Tribals

(d) Afro Europeans

24. Where did Cricket in India originate?

(a) Bombay

(c) Madras

(b) Calcutta

(d) Pondicherry

25. Dalit Captain of Hindu Gymkhana:

(a) Palwankar Baloo

(b) Vijay Hazare

(c) S.A. Brelvi

(d) Palwankar Vithal

26. In Ranji Trophy teams represent

(a) regions

(b) communities

(c) races

(d) religions

27. Who among the following was not critical of the Pentangular Tournament?

(a) M.K. Gandhi

(b) Dada Bhai Naoroji

(c) AFS Talyarkhan

(d) S.A. Brelvi

28. Which of the following constituted the 5th team in the Pentangular Tournament?

(a) The Europeans

(b) The Christians

(c) The Rest

(d) The Muslims

29. First Test Captain of India

(a) Palwankar Baloo

(b) Palwankar Vithal

(c) Vijay Hazare

(d) C.K. Nayudu

30. India entered World Test Cricket in

(a) 1932

(b) 1950

(c) 1877

(d) 1847

31. Test Cricket celebrated 100 years in the year

(a) 1877

(b) 1977

(c) 1875

(d) 1774

32. Who among the following introduced the world to One-Day Internationals?

(a) Kerry Packer

(b) Len Hutton

(c) Frank Worrell

(d) Thomas Hughes

33. Pakistan's contribution to advancing the cricket is

(a) No ball

(b) Run-out

(c) Reverse swing

(d) Leg before wicket

Answers:

16. (c) 17. (a) 18. (a) 19. (c) 20. (c) 21. (d) 22. (d) 23. (d)  24. (a)

25. (d)  26. (a) 27. (b) 28. (c) 29. (d) 30. (a) 31. (b) 32. (a) 33. (c).

Parsis

National Cricket Championship Trophy 

C.K. Nayudu 

1932 

1. Huge audience and popularity of the game in a larger area of the world made it a marketable.

2.  Satellite television technology helped the live transmission of the game. Television channels had business opportunities by buying television rights for live transmission.

3. The channels had sponsors in form of companies who were happy to pay large sums of money to air commercials for their products to cricket’s captive audience 
 

 Pakistan has pioneered the great advances in the bowling

1. The ‘doosra’ was invented in response to aggressive batsmen with heavy modern bats,

2. The reverse swing was invented to move the ball in on dusty unresponsive wickets under clear skies.

3. Both these inventions were greeted suspiciously by England and Australia 

1. The technology of satellite-television and the reach of multinational television companies all over the world created a global market for cricket.

2. India has the largest viewership of cricket.

3. Television channels made money by selling televisions sports to air commercials.

4. Continuous television coverage made cricketers celebrities. 

1. In the place of five-day matches one-day internationals became very popular these days.

2. Television encourages changes in the nature of cricket. It increases the number of spectators.

3. Coloured dress, protective helmets and field restrictions became a standard part of the Post-Packer game.

4. In twentieth century, cricket is played under lights. 

1. South Asian countries have largest viewership for the game.

2. South Asian countries have largest market in the cricketing world.

3. The ICC headquarters was shifted from London to tax-free Dubai.

4.  Innovations in cricket team mainly come from sub-continental countries. 

1. Decolonization led to the decline of British influence in trade and commerce, military affairs and also on the cricket.  

2.  After the decline of British Empire, ICC was renamed as International Cricket Conference.

3. By 1989 the privileges position of England and Australia scrapped in favour of equal membership.

4. Newly independent countries of Asia and African continent gained a prominent position the fields of cricket. 

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

2. This gave the bowler the option to length, deception through the air and increased pace.

3. It also opened new possibilities for spin and swing.

4. In response, batsmen had to master timing and shot selection. One immediate result was the replacement of carved bat with the straight one.

5. The weight of the ball was limited between 5½ to 5¾ ounces, and the width of the bat to four inches.

6.    In 1774, the first leg before wicket law was introduced. 

1.  The establishment of Parsi Gymkhana led to the establishment of other Indian clubs based on religious lines.

2. The team that played colonial India’s Greatest and most famous first class cricket tournaments represented religious communities.

3. The tournament was initially called the Quadrangular as it was played by four teamsthe Europeans, The Parsis, The Hindu and The Muslims.

4. It later became Pentangular when a fifth team was added namely, ‘The Rest’. It comprised of all the remaining communities.

5. Journalists, Cricketers and leaders criticized the racial and communal foundations of the Pentangular Tournaments. 

1975 

It is situated in Dubai 

1928 

1. Polo was a game invented colonial officials in India and soon gained great popularity.

2. Unlike cricket which came to India from Britain, other games like polo were exported from the colonies to Britain, Changing the nature of sport in that country.

3. Polo was greatly favoured as a game suitable for military and athletic young men.  
 

A.F.S. Talyarkhan was the famous radio commentator. Due to the following reasons he condemns the pentangular Tournament.

1. The Pentangular Tournament was organized on communal and racial lines.

2. According to him such type of tournaments was communally divisive competition that was out of place in a time when nationalists were trying to unite India’s diverse population 

1. The Parsis were considered the first Indian community to play cricket in India.  

2. They were brought into close contact with the British due to their interest in Trade.

3. They were the first Indian community to westernize themselves.

1. The quarrel between the Parsis and the Bombay Gymkhana began over the use of a park.

2. The Parsis complained that the park was spoiled and left unfit for playing cricket by the polo ponies of the British.

3. The Parsis built their own Gymkhana and the matter ended. 

1. Kerry Packer, an Australian television tycoon who saw the money-making potential of cricket as a television sport.

2. He signed up fifty-one of the world’s leading cricketers against the wishes of the international cricket board. 

3. About two years staged unofficial Tests and one day international matches under the name of World Cricket Series.

4. While packer’s circus as it was then described folded up after two years 

1. Television coverage changed cricket.

2. It expanded the audience for the game by beaming cricket into small towns and villages.

3. It also broadened cricket’s social base.

 4. Children who had never previously had the chance to watch international cricket because they lived outside the big cities, where top-level cricket was played, could now watch and learn by imitating their heroes. 
 
 

Following are the different by which we can say that Test cricket is a unique game.

1. A test match could go on for five days and still end in draw.

2. The length of the pitch was specified 22 yards but the size of or shape of the ground was not specified.

3. There were no limits on the shape or size of the bat.

4. Cricket was the earliest modern team sport to be codified.

5. 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. 

1.  The victory of West- Indies over England in the first test series 1950 was celebrated as a way of National Movement in West Indies.

2. It was a way of demonstration that the West Indies were the equal of white Englishmen.  

3. There were two ironies to this great victory. First the West Indies was captained by a white player. That is the West Indian team was captained by a white man.

4. Secondly, the West Indian cricket team represented not one nation but several dominations that later became independent countries.

5. The pan-West Indian team represented the entire Caribbean region in International Test Cricket.