INTRODUCTION
The British cricket team during the 1900 Olympics. This was the first and only time that cricket was played in the Olympics.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/news/5157174/England-faces-century-old-Olympic-cricket-challenge-from-former-enemy-France.html |
Cricket was probably first played in England in 1303. However, there is no recorded evidence of it. International cricket matches began in 1877. Over the years, cricket spread from England to the Commonwealth of Nations. It has also spread to certain nations that are not a part of the Commonwealth, such as Indonesia, Italy, Japan, and even the United States of America.
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game that is played by two teams. There are eleven players in each team. The team that is batting tries to score as many runs as possible by running between a pitch. The other team bowls as well as fields, while trying to dismiss batsmen from the opposite team. The teams then switch sides, and the winner is the team that scored the most number of runs. A traditional cricket match is called a Test cricket match, and is played for five days. However, cricket has now evolved where a typical match may be played for one entire day (One Day International cricket), or even just about three hours (T20 Cricket). This website explores the spread of the game of cricket to British colonies. It examines the reasons for this spread, the controversies it has caused and its implications. It showcases some interesting articles on the matter, along with fun cricket videos. This website has been created for Professor Vincent Ferraro's World Politics course at Mount Holyoke College in Fall 2012. |