When Canada Was On Top of The World
The sport of cricket (as it is played now) has a known history beginning in the late 16th century. Having originated in south-east England, it became the country's national sport in the 18th century. International matches have been played since 1844 and Test cricket, the longest and oldest current form of the game, began in 1877. The game has developed into the 19th and 20th into the sport that is viewed and played all around the globe.
Let's first take a look at the first ever international match.
Surprisingly, the two countries involved were Canada and the USA. British influence had left its mark on both the countries (and Canada was still occupied by them at the time) and it does beg the question, how did cricket disappear from the Americas? But that’s a story for another day. Let’s get back to the match. Whilst being the first official international cricket game, it was also the first official international match for ANY sport. The contest between the two national teams was billed as ‘The United States of America versus the British Empire's Canadian Province’.
The match was played at the grounds of the St George's Cricket Club in New York. The game was scheduled for two days, the Americans won the toss and decided to put the Canadians into bat first. The Canadians posted a score of 82, and by the end of the first day, the US were 61 for 9. Play on the second day was impossible due to bad weather (which is something that still continues to annoy us cricket fans today), so the match was extended to a third day. The Americans would eventually be bowled out 64. In their second innings, Canada scored 63, giving the Americans a target of 82 to win. However, the US would be bowled for just 58, giving Canada the win by 23 runs. Interestingly, US batsman George Wheatcroft arrived too late on the third day to play any part in the proceedings, so Alfred Marsh stepped in as substitute fielder, although he did not bat.
The teams had two rematches the next year and Canada won both easily. These defeats meant that, for a brief period, Canada was technically the best cricket team in the world. And it also explains why the Americans switched to baseball as their favourite bat & ball game soon after. But this isn’t far enough to say that we have looked at the history of cricket. Cricket was played for many, many years before the first international game, so we are going to delve deeper into murky waters to explore more of the game’s past.
The Origins
Some experts believe that cricket can trace its roots back to the 13th century. This is where cricket has an unusual link with sheep farming. A game like cricket was played on grass which was flattened due to sheep walking around. This was important as it allowed the ball (which is said to have been a stone in the very early days) to bounce.
The boring details:
It was a game in which country boys bowled at a tree stump or at the hurdle gate into a sheep pen. This gate consisted of two uprights and a crossbar resting on the slotted tops; the crossbar was called a bail and the entire gate a wicket. The fact the bail could be dislodged when the wicket was struck made this preferable to the stump, which name was later applied to the hurdle uprights. Early manuscripts differ about the size of the wicket, which acquired a third stump in the 1770s, but by 1706 the pitch was 22 yards long.
The boring details summarised:
It was a game like cricket and played on a sheep farm.
Ok, so now that we have looked at the beginning let's look at... well... basically everything else. Cricket was played as a child's game for many centuries after its conception. Then, in the 16th century, the rich and powerful of England had a brainwave:
'Why don't we take this game for kids, and make it into a sport where spend much of the time filling our stomachs and guzzling tea in multiple food and drink breaks. Oh, and we need to constantly add new and increasingly more complex rules to an already confusing game. And of course, it needs to be the poshest game in the world. The Gentleman's Game'
And, voila, the game we know and love was born. A sport that has somewhat improved over time and somehow managed to hook me, a Gen-Z member with an attention span the can stand 30 seconds of boredom, tops. But this weird, wacky and wild game has somehow dragged me in and I don't want to get out. Just like me, billions of people across the globe have been gripped by this game and I am sure it has put billions of smiles on faces as well. And do you know who we have to thank for that?
Sheep farmers.
Blog by The Cricket Badgers
Blog by The Cricket Badgers
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