History and Sports The Story of Cricket

Textbook Exercises

1.Test cricket is a unique game in many ways. Discuss some of the ways in which it is different from other team games. How are the peculiarities of Test cricket shaped by its historical Beginnings as a village game?

ans:Test cricket is a unique game in many ways. It is different from other games. Some of the differences are

• It is played for many days, three days earlier and five days later; the other games are played for a couple of hours; It is .time consuming
• The cricket pitch has a length of 22 yards, though the ground of the game is fairly big; it does not lay down the dimension of the playing areas whereas other games such as hockey and football do
• The cricket ground is either oval or circular; the ground for other game is usually rectangular

The peculiarities of the test cricket have been shaped by its historical beginning. The rural/village game of cricket was played on village commons with no time limit, then it came to be three days game; and thereafter, the test cricket, for five days. A match meant bowling put a team twice. As the village life was slower, the cricket rules were made to conform to these situations. As the cricket was played at village commons, there was no limit of the size of the ground, and the boundaries were not specified distance-wise. Again, the cricket equipments, such as bat, stamps, bails have a rural element. All these are made up of wood, unlike the tools of the other games (golf and tennis etc.) which are industrially manufactured.

2.Describe one way in which in the nineteenth century, technology brought about a change in equipment and give one example where no change in equipment took place?

ans:The 19th-century technology has brought about changes m the cricket equipment though, in numerous other ways, there has been no changes

One change in cricket equipment relates to protective equipment such as pads, gloves, and helmet: these are the results of the 19th-century technology. There is no change in the equipment: bats, stump, bails, balls, remain as they were, though there are changes in their shapes and manufacturing.

3.Explain why cricket became popular in India and the West Indies. Can you give -reasons why it did not become popular in countries in South America?

ans:Cricket became popular in India because the local elites such as Parsis and the settled Europeans encouraged it. It became popular in the West Indies because the white settlers and the people of the Indian origin made it popular

Cricket is played in Britain and in countries which had the British colonies, i.e. in commonwealth countries. That is why it did not become popular in South America.

4.Give brief explanations for the following?

• (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 the International Cricket Conference
• (iv) The significance of the shift of the ICC headquarters from London to Dubai

• The Parsis were the people who came into close contact with the British because of their interest in trade and the first to westernise themselves, they were the first to set up a cricket club, i.e. the Oriental Cricket Club in Bombay
• Mahatma Gandhi condemned the Pentangular tournament because it had the communally divisive element
• The name was changed from the Imperial Cricket Conference to International Cricket Conference so to scrap the England- Australia influence on the conference
• The shift symbolized the game centre of gravity to a place which is tax-free (Dubai)

5.How have advances in technology, especially television technology, affected the development of contemporary cricket?

ans:The advances in technology especially television technology has affected the development of contemporary cricket. Television coverage changed cricket. It expanded the audience for the game by bringing cricket into small towns and villages. It also broadened cricket social base. Children who had never previously had the chance to watch international cricket could now watch and learn by imitating their heroes. The satellite technology created a global market for cricket. People in Jaipur can see the one-day being played at Dubai