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English Cricket in The 18th and 19th Centuries

The document discusses the evolution of cricket in England, highlighting the social dynamics of amateur and professional players until the abolition of amateurism in 1962. It details the game's development in the 18th and 19th centuries, including changes in bowling techniques and the establishment of key clubs like the Hambledon Club and Marylebone Cricket Club. The influence of W. G. Grace is noted, as he exemplified the blurred lines between amateurism and professionalism in cricket.

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25 views2 pages

English Cricket in The 18th and 19th Centuries

The document discusses the evolution of cricket in England, highlighting the social dynamics of amateur and professional players until the abolition of amateurism in 1962. It details the game's development in the 18th and 19th centuries, including changes in bowling techniques and the establishment of key clubs like the Hambledon Club and Marylebone Cricket Club. The influence of W. G. Grace is noted, as he exemplified the blurred lines between amateurism and professionalism in cricket.

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in.rekhapatil
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© © All Rights Reserved
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took part in, especially as it was necessary for them to play

alongside their "social inferiors" if they were to win their bets. [37] In
time, a perception took hold that the typical amateur who played
in first-class cricket, until 1962 when amateurism was abolished,
was someone with a public school education who had then gone
to one of Cambridge or Oxford University. Society insisted that
such people were "officers and gentlemen" whose destiny was to
provide leadership.[38] In a purely financial sense, the cricketing
amateur would theoretically claim expenses for playing while his
professional counterpart played under contract and was paid a
wage or match fee; in practice, many amateurs claimed more
than actual expenditure, and the derisive term "shamateur" was
coined to describe the practice.[39][40]
English cricket in the 18th and 19th centuries

Francis Cotes, The Young Cricketer, 1768


The game underwent major development in the 18th century to
become England's national sport.[41] Its success was underwritten
by the twin necessities of patronage and betting. [42] Cricket was
prominent in London as early as 1707 and, in the middle years of
the century, large crowds flocked to matches on the Artillery
Ground in Finsbury.[citation needed] The single wicket form of the sport
attracted huge crowds and wagers to match, its popularity
peaking in the 1748 season.[43] Bowling underwent an evolution
around 1760 when bowlers began to pitch (bounce) the
ball instead of rolling or skimming it towards the batter. This
caused a revolution in bat design because, to deal with the
bouncing ball, it was necessary to introduce the modern straight
bat in place of the old "hockey stick" shape.[44][citation needed]
The Hambledon Club was founded in the 1760s and, for the next
twenty years until the formation of Marylebone Cricket
Club (MCC) and the opening of Lord's Old Ground in 1787,
Hambledon was both the game's greatest club and its focal
point.[citation needed] MCC quickly became the sport's premier club and
the custodian of the Laws of Cricket. New Laws introduced in the
latter part of the 18th century include the three-stump wicket
and leg before wicket (lbw).[45]
The 19th century saw underarm bowling superseded by
first roundarm and then overarm bowling. Both developments
were controversial.[46] Organisation of the game at county level led
to the creation of the county clubs, starting with Sussex in
1839.[47] In December 1889, the eight leading county clubs formed
the official County Championship, which began in 1890. [48]

The first recorded photo of a cricket match


taken on 25 July 1857 by Roger Fenton
The most famous player of the 19th century was W. G. Grace,
who started his long and influential career in 1865. It was
especially during the career of Grace that the distinction between
amateurs and professionals became blurred by the existence of
players like him who were nominally amateur but, in terms of their
financial gain, de facto professional. Grace himself was said to
have been paid more money for playing cricket than any
professional.[citation needed]

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