Cricket has been a prevalent sport in the subcontinent for a long time. It is something that the locals relate with to a great extent. Be it bowling, or batting, or fielding for a match. Interestingly, Cricket was introduced in this region from the British when they acted as colonizers. The locals picked up the sport and adopted it as if it were their own sport, thereby developing a strong conviction to it.

Experts agree that youngsters living in the Weald, a region of thick forests and clearings in south-east England, during the Saxon or Norman eras may have originated cricket. In 1611, the first time that cricket was mentioned as an adult activity, a dictionary also referred to the game as a boy’s game. There is also the theory that cricket may have evolved from bowls as a result of a batsman’s attempt to deflect the ball away from its intended aim.

Getty Images/ AFP/ Ishara S. Kodikara

By the middle of the 17th century, village cricket had advanced, and in the second half of the century, “local specialists” from village cricket helped construct the first English “county teams.” After 1760, when bowlers started pitching the ball, rolling the ball down the ground became obsolete. In response, the straight bat replaced the previous “hockey-stick” form of bat. Up to the founding of MCC and the inauguration of Lord’s Cricket Ground in 1787, the game was centered on the Hampshire-based Hambledon Club.

Cricket was first brought to North America through the English colonies in the 17th century, and it spread to other areas of the world in the 18th century. Colonialists brought it to the West Indies, and British East India Company sailors brought it to India. It came to Australia nearly immediately after the start of colonization in 1788, and the sort reached South Africa and New Zealand in the 19th century. Cricket became a popular sport in London and the south-eastern regions of England in the first part of the 18th century. Travel restrictions prevented it from being widely popular outside of England, but Women’s Cricket has been around since 1745, when the first game was played in Surrey.