What is Cricket sport🏏
Technical develop-
mentUntil early in the 19th century all bowling was underhand, and most bowlers favoured the high-tossed lob. Next came "the round-arm revolution," in which many bowlers began raising the point at which they released the ball. Controversy raged furiously, and in 1835 the MCC rephrased the law to allow the hand to be raised as high as the shoulder. The new style gave a great increase in pace, or bowling speed. Gradually bowlers raised the hand higher and higher in defiance of the law. Matters came to a head in 1862 when an England team playing against Surrey left the field at London's Kennington Oval in protest over a "no ball" call---that is an umpire's decision that the bowler has thrown an illegal pitch. The argument centred on whether it was lawful for a bowler to raise his arm above the shoulder. As a direct consequence of that controversy, the bowler was officially granted the right in 1864 to bowl overhand but not to cock and straighten the arm. This greatly changed the game, making it even more impossible for a batsman to judge the ball. Already a bowler was entitled to take a running start from any direction and for any distance. Once the bowler was allowed to release overhand, the ball could then reach speeds above 90 mph. While this is not as fast as the pitching in baseball, cricket has an added twist in that the ball is usually delivered such that it bounces on the pitch before the batsman can hit it. That means the ball may curve to the right or left, bounce low or high, and spin toward or away from the batsman.
Protection came in the form of pads and batting gloves, and a cane handle made the bat a little more resilient, but only the very best batsmen could cope with fast bowling: poor condition of most pitches made it that much harder for a batsman to predict the motion of the ball. As the grounds improved, however, batsmen grew accustomed to the new bowling style and went on the offensive. Other new bowling styles were also discovered, causing batsmen to adjust their technique further.
W.G. Grace
W.G. Grace (right), batting in an 1890s cricket match.
Early in the 20th century, so many runs were being scored that debate ensued on reforming the "leg-before-wicket" law. This law was introduced in the 1774 laws to prevent a batsman from using his body to prevent the ball from hitting his wicket. Actually, heavy scores were due to several outstanding batsmen like W.G. Grace, Sir John Berry Hobbs, and K.S. Ranjisinhhji (later the maharaja of Nawanagar). It was the golden age of cricket.
In the 20th century there was a series of attempts to aid the bowler and quicken the tempo of the game. Nevertheless, the game by the mid-20th century was characterized not by overwhelming offense but by defensive play on both sides and by a slow pace. When the popularity of the game showed signs of declining, one-day cricket, or limited-overs cricket, was invented. One-day cricket had initially been played internationally when, following a Test match being rained out for the first days, on the last scheduled day for play, a limited-overs match was held to give fans some game to watch. The response was enthusiastic, and one-day cricket came into being. This version of cricket is played with a limited number of overs for each side—usually 50—and it results in a faster-paced though much-altered game. In one-day cricket, there are some restrictions on the placement of fielders. This gave way to new batting styles, such as the paddle shot—whereby the ball is hit behind the wicket, as there are usually no fielders there—and the lofted shot, whereby the batsman tries to hit the ball past the fielders and over their heads. T20 is a style of one-day cricket—twenty overs per side—which debuted in 2003 and went on to become an international sensation within a very short period. The first Twenty20 world championship was held in 2007, and one-day cricket, especially Twenty20, took precedence in most countries over Test matches. New bowling techniques were adopted dramatically accelerating the pace of a game since the late 20th century.
the T20 World Cup in 2009.
South Africa
South Africa played its first Test, against England in Port Elizabeth, as early as in 1889. Cricket has been at the heart of the country's sporting culture ever since. When South Africa was banned from the ICC from 1970 to 1991 because of its apartheid policies, cricket administrators worked quietly to integrate nonwhite players into the system, which was based largely on traditional all-white schools and state teams. By the time apartheid was abolished, cricket was much better equipped to handle the social and political changes than rugby union was. Makhaya Ntini was an inspired fast bowler and probably one of the best in the world who made his international debut for South Africa in 1998 and has played more than 100 Tests—a role model to this new generation of Black cricketers. On the other hand, in 2000, Hansie Cronje, captain of South Africa, was banned for match-fixing in a scandal marring the integrity of South African Cricket. It was until in 2003 that country's cricketing reputation complete its rehabilitation by hosting a successful World Cup. South Africa has always been a great exporter of cricketers, mainly to England. Allan Lamb and Robin Smith were two vital ingredients in the England team of the 1980s and '90s, while Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott were two important contributors to the Ashes-winning team in 2010.
Sri Lanka
Well before Test status was accorded to Sri Lanka in 1981, this island nation had been a haunt almost reserved for visiting teams, more so for the English teams on their way to Australia by sea. With the disadvantages of its relatively small population and of the civil war that since 1983 has disrupted life on the island, Sri Lanka developed swiftly into a major cricketing country. In 1996 it won the World Cup, beating Australia in the final by playing aggressive, innovative cricket under the inspired leadership of Arjuna Ranatunga. It was a victory that instilled belief in a new generation of players, which included Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene—an elegant, aggressive batsman—and Muttiah Muralitharan, who in 2010 became the first bowler to take 800 Test wickets. In 2004 the Indian Ocean tsunami devastated the cricket-playing regions of southern Sri Lanka—among them the Test match ground at Galle—and took the lives of so many fine young players with the world at their feet. However, Sri Lanka recovered to once again go on and make it into the World Cup final in 2007. In 2009, calamity struck again as the Sri Lankan team's bus was attacked by terrorists while they were on the way to the ground for the second Test against Pakistan in Lahore.
West Indies
Cricket united the Caribbean after the West Indies team became the fourth Test-playing side in 1928. Other sports have generally been played by the individual islands, but British colonial influence helped the formation of a united regional team—the West Indies cricket team. For a while during the 1970s and '80s, when that West Indian team had a quartet of fast bowlers led by Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall, Andy Roberts, and Joel Garner, and batsmen of the destructive capacity of Sir Viv Richards and Clive Lloyd, they were almost unbeatable. With a great abundance of talented players, metrical pitches, and an unorthodox flourish, Caribbean cricket has been played most clearly through the batsmanship of Sir Garfield Sobers, Richards, and Brian Lara.
The game became less popular in the West Indies during the 21st century because of a lack of strong administrative leadership and the ever-increasing appeal of sports potentially more lucrative, like athletics, football, and basketball. After contesting the finals of the first three World Cups (in 1975, 1979, and 1983) and winning the first two, the West Indian team subsequently failed—with the exception of 1996—to reach even the knockout stage of subsequent World Cups, including in 2007, as the host of the event.
Zimbabwe
Until Test status was granted to Zimbabwe in 1992, the country's best cricketers, including Colin Bland, played for South Africa. Indeed, the cricket history of the two countries has been intertwined. Well before the newly independent and renamed Zimbabwe became an ICC associate member in 1980, teams representing its Rhodesian forerunner states had appeared in the Currie Cup, the South African domestic first-class tournament—first in 1904–05, then in the early 1930s, and again after World War II. It made its debut in the World Cup as far back as 1983 - and shocked the world by defeating Australia - but arguably the country's best batsman, Graeme Hick, emigrated to England shortly afterwards to play for them.
Political interference and chaotic administration have dogged Zimbabwean cricket in the early 21st century. 2004 saw Heath Streak being axed as captain of the national team, and this was the catalyst for a crisis from which Zimbabwe took years to recover, including exile from Test cricket, starting in 2006 and lasting until 2011. Much to do with this was the political volatility of the country. For example, during the 2003 World Cup, England refused to play their match in Zimbabwe due to security concerns. At the same event, two Zimbabwe cricketers, Andy Flower and Henry Olonga, wore black armbands to "mourn the death of democracy" in their country.

good web site
ReplyDelete