Cricket

Cricket was first recorded in 16th-century England, where it was played in grammar schools, farm communities and everywhere in between. Things really took off in cricket when 18th-century nobles realised that not only was it a great sport but also an excellent opportunity for betting. With sky-high stakes being wagered, it was deemed necessary to come up with agreed rules. The oldest surviving set of cricket laws date from 1744 – printed on a handkerchief. It’s now in the MCC Museum at Lord’s in London.

The oldest permanent fixture is the annual Eton v Harrow match, played since 1805. The first international match was in 1877 when Australia beat England in Melbourne. The match was dubbed a “Test”, since the gruelling nature of playing over five days was deemed the ultimate “test” for any side. But it was Australia’s first win on English soil – in 1882 at The Oval in London – that led to matches between the two nations being christened the Ashes. Following the defeat, newspapers published an obituary mourning “the death of English cricket”, adding that “the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia”

Cricket’s earliest star was WG Grace, who played 44 seasons from 1865 to 1908. Despite the game’s reputation as the epitome of fairness, Grace was as famous for his gamesmanship as his batting. He once ran three, then when the ball was flung in from the outfield, caught it, put it in his pocket and ran three more. The top batsman in history is India’s Sachin Tendulkar, who retired in 2013 after scoring 15,921 runs in 200 Tests and 18,426 in 463 one-day internationals. He is the only player to have made 100 international centuries, was the first batsman to score a double century in a one-day International, and is the only player to amass more than 30,000 international runs.

Adapted from an article on Telegraph.com