Cricket The most popular game in the world

The game of cricket is the second most popular game in the world, surpassed only by soccer. Cricket seems to have an eventful and colorful history, although the exact origin of the game is unknown. As far back as 1300's, a mention of the game "Creag" is found. But it is unclear whether this is the beginning of the modern cricket. The name "cricket" may have come from the word "Cric. Cric the word stood for the hooked staffs carried by Sheppard's. These may have been the first cricket bats. Cricket in its infancy in England was considered a child's game, not to be played by serious adults .

In 1598 there was a written record of a game called "creckett" or "crickett". This may be the first item in the game played today. By 1611 cricket had become an adult game. Considered illegal and immoral, two men were arrested for playing the game instead of going to church. More and more arrests were made as the game grew in popularity. 

By the end of the English Civil War in 1648, ensured the new government down on recreational cricket is played on Sundays. In those days cricket was played mostly by the working class and Sunday was their only opportunity to play. Interest in the sport seemed to diminish. As the years progressed, cricket once again regained popularity as a betting game. In year 1688 the Puritan government of England was gone, and the monarchy was in power again. Cricket was favored by the government and regained some respectability. There were still major problems in the world of cricket, however. Betting and disorder marred the game. Around the year 1784 a London magistrate found cricket to be "respectable" even though there were still problems to be done.

Finally, in the year 1788 on the "Laws of Cricket" were born. The law was written by the Marylebone Cricket Club. Apart from some minor changes, these laws are still respected today cricket. A notable change was in 1864 when over arm bowling was first used legally. Cricket is the only sport in those days, that there are laws instead of rules. To get even more respectability in the late 1700s, cricket was played by a "gentleman". The Laws of Cricket were used to play in England and the Eastern United States. These laws covered the length of the track, the distance from the runway crease to the bowling crease, weed size, and ball weight.

The cricket fields were leveled and manicured in the 1800s. Until this time the fields were rough and uneven. South Africa and Australia started to play cricket seriously during this time. In year 1844 the first international game of cricket was played in New York State in the USA. This match was played between the U.S. and Canada. Later, in 1877, England traveled to Australia for the first international test match. The match was played in Melbourne Australia. The Australians won the match by 45 runs.

A few years later in 1882, Australia again beat England. It was a close match with Australia winning by 8 runs. It was an English writer to publish an obituary for English cricket. The obituary pronounced it "dead". It continued to say that the body would be cremated and the ashes were scattered across Australia. The next summer England played another series against Australia. This was dubbed by the press as an English quest to "regain the ashes". A small trophy filled with ashes was made and given to the British captain. To this day, every international match between England and Australia are said to have played "to ashes".

In year 1900 cricket made its first and only appearance in the Olympics. The fight was between France and Britain. Most of the French players came from the British Embassy in France, so mostly British players played the game. England won the match and the gold medal. Today is a renewed interest in cricket be an Olympic games.

The ICC was formed in 1909. The Imperial Cricket Conference was formed to regulate the laws of cricket. ICC is known today as the International Cricket Conference. The founding countries of the ICC were England, South Africa and Australia. 

The years 1932 and 1933 as the laws of cricket being tightened. English players threw short throw balls at the Australian Batters in an attempt at intimidation. England won that series, but ill feelings still exist between Australian and English players because of this series.

In the 1960s some English teams play a shortened version of cricket, which allowed a struggle to be completed in just one day. Until then, the average cricket match could last up to five days. Some fans and players felt this abbreviated form of cricket to be an insult to the game, so it was not widely accepted by traditional cricket fans. The first one-day international match was played in Melbourne, Australia in 1971. This battle was the ICC to organize the "Cricket World Cup" to be played every four years. These games are clearly one-day matches.

In 1981 the ICC banned weapons bowling as a result of a match between New Zealand and Australia. Australian captain Greg Chappell ordered his brother Trevor to use weapons bowling technique to stop New Zealand from winning a battle. Greg's actions angered many in the cricketing community to ask the change.

Today cricket remains a well loved sports. Some young men in Australia and England grow up hoping One Day "play the ashes". It is a sport steeped in tradition and its fans are loyal. Although the history of cricket has been rocky at times, it is a solid sports that will be around in the coming years.