Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players. The first records of cricket being played go back to 1597, in England. Today, cricket is one of the most popular and broadcasted sports in the world. And with the Cricket World Cup being played from 30 May until 14 July in England and Wales there is no doubt that 2019 is going to be the year for Cricket.
History of Cricket
Cricket first originated as a boys’ children game in the 16th century mainly being played in schoolyards. The first record of someone mentioning the game dates back to a court case in 1597 when then 59-year-old John Derrick gave a testimony in which he mentions that someone was playing “creckett”. It is generally believed that cricket was being played at least around 50 years before that.
In the 17th century, adults started playing the game and competing, and a century later, it became England’s national sport. Because of its popularity, some English colonies like India are among the best cricket nations to this day. Competitive matches between countries started being played in the 1840s. The biggest rivalry in cricket is the one between England and Australia, which started after the first recorder Test-match played between these countries.
Cricket Now
Over the years, cricket changed a lot and now it is extremely popular around the world. Despite being one of the most popular sports in the world, cricket isn’t as heavily commercialized as sports like soccer and basketball. Professional clubs typically have the name of the county or region that they represent.
The highest order of professional cricket includes national and domestic teams who are called “first-class” and they compete with each other either domestically or internationally. There are also a number of amateur teams, especially in England, which compete in different events and tournaments.
The 2019 international cricket season starts from May 2019 to September 2019. 11 Test matches, 91 One-day internationals and 67 Twenty20 Internationals are scheduled to be played within this period.
Countries from each continent compete against each other in the Cricket World Cup which takes place every four years, including this year’s World Cup in England and Wales. The Cricket World Cups are one of the most popular sporting events, being televised in more than 200 countries with over 2 billion viewers. After the first week of games, India and England seem to be the heavy favorites for winning the cup. Following the World Cup, the inaugural 2019-21 ICC World Test Championship is set to start, while the 71st Ashes series will be played next season.
In Woman’s Cricket, this season will mark the end of the qualification round for the 2020 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. Zimbabwe qualified from the Africa group, Papua New Guinea qualified from the EAP group, while the United States qualified from the Americas group. The final team is set to come from the Europe group, which is scheduled to be played later in the season.
