The Growth of Cricket

Cricket is considered as a religion in many countries. However thinking about the history of cricket is a big fact and for it is played from time immemorial. The history goes back to the thirteenth century or even further. It is likely estimated that the game of cricket was first played by the children of the farmers and the metal workers in England near a small place referred to as Sussex and Kent. There was a variation in the name of cricket and this variation was discovered in a court case wherein the game was called as krekett which was being played at the English school. It was from this point of view that cricket began to grow as a game which became immensely popular. 

It was at that time that the game of cricket was being played in the form of tournaments like the so called “great cricket match” in the year 1697. During the eighteenth century the game of cricket was referred to as the official sport of England and it was one of the famous leisure activities of the elite class of people. In the late 1760’s one of the famous clubs of London known as the Hambledon club was one of center stage of the activities of cricket. It was one of the most visited places in London and there were many people who were extremely crazy about the game of cricket.

There were many cricket games which were played within the nation of England but until the year of 1859 the game of cricket was not played at the international level. It was played only when the English team traveled to North America for a match. It was only after eighteen years when the English team traveled to far Australia for playing the matches in the Melbourne and it was actually then the game gained immense popularity. The first Australian team consisted of the members from the Australian aborigines, which was considered to be a very groundbreaking event. This event was considered to be a spectacular event for both the Australian cricket community as well as the entire world’s cricket’s community.

The popularity of the game increased day by day because of the introduction of the famous one day international games introduced in the year of 1971. These days cricket has been one of the most widespread games played in the entire world. It is widely played in countries like England, Australia and even countries like Pakistan, Kenya, Sri Lanka and of course not to forget in the list India. However the game of cricket has never gained any popularity in United States of America and even does not have an official team for its country.   

However to be really very frank, in many countries the game is also played by the state as well as the national teams. However this is not considered as a very popular game for the children and the families to play as a backyard game in the different countries. Some of the different variations of the game are playing cricket with the usage of a net and the faster version of the game is played in the New Zealand which is referred to as Kiwi cricket.