H.C.C.A.

History of Cricket

Cricket, by virtue of its ability to invoke a strong relationship to the classical past dating back to the pre-Victorian era has managed to have an aura and a status akin to the theater or the opera in the English society. While the other popular English sports like Rugby and Soccer have been associated with lawlessness and disorder, the “picture of cricketer as primal English swain” has stayed. The earliest reference about cricket comes from writings by a 12th Century cleric of Exeter but the history of cricket before the 17th century is largely unknown.

By 17th century cricket was already a highly organized sport but it wasn’t until the 18th century that cricket became England ’s favorite pastime. Cricket featured prominently in the betting business along with horse racing and cards. Late 18th century saw an even greater development of the game as powerful men like the Duke of Dorset, the Duke of Richmond, and Lord Frederick Beauclerk started making and even captaining cricket teams. At a time when gambling was rampant and a thuggish ruling class remained in power, cricket provided “opportunities for gambling” and “the impact of the very hard ball on flesh and bone gave the game a satisfactory element of danger and offered good opportunities for the display of callous manliness.” It is also important to note the differences between the aristocratic amateur and the professional proletariat. Professional cricketers were commodities. In fact, “the professional’s status was no higher than that of a laborer.” C.L.R. James best described the prevailing social dynamic: “Thus the cricket field was a stage on which selected individual played representative roles which were charged with social significance” (66). This divide would later be replicated wherever the British took the cricket as both a class and race divide.

The 19th century was a time of change – reform and progress were the key mantras that also encompassed cricket. The image of the Georgian squire was replaced with that of the Victorian ‘muscular Christian’. Cricket was now considered a noble sport and the Victorians took great pleasure in mastering the game. They felt as if it gave them an edge as far as their strength of character was concerned. It was seen as anIdeological State Apparatus to instill “self-discipline and the values of working together” in the children. As history has shown numerous times, brutal force is rarely enough to keep the power. As Althusser points out, “…requires not only a reproduction of its skills, but also, at the same time, a reproduction of its submission to rules of the established order, i.e. a reproduction of submission to the ruling ideology for the workers, and a reproduction of the ability to manipulate the ruling ideology correctly for the agents of exploitation and repression…” (132). Thus, it was this Victorian validation of moral excellence and character building that the game was supposed to teach in the colonies too.

In 1841, the Duke of Wellington ordered that every military establishment lay down a cricket pitch and in 1846, that colonels should encourage officers and men to play the game together. Later he stated that the battle of Waterloo has been won on the playing fields of Eaton. “In the new Victorian state, the center of the empire, the coming together of classes on the cricket pitch signified not only the new harmony that reigned after the turmoil of the last century but also the new bonds which cemented social relationships through a new set of values.” Cricket, thus, served as an important tool in the hands of the British ruling elite who found it handy to use it to control its populace and also establish a new Victorian popular culture. A cricket field became a microcosm of all that was proper and desirable in the Victorian society.

The cricket field also catered to the mass demand for entertainment since the Industrial revolution and cricket provided cheap leisure as well a false consciousness among the proletariat. To put it in James's words, "if the industrial revolution organized into a concerted whole the particular movements of the artisans who practiced a trade, cricket organized into a whole the elementary tensions and stresses of back-swording, wrestling, racing and the other games of the 'beast'"(166). Cricket became a “safety valve” to curb the excess energy of the youth as well as preoccupy the factory worker.



	History of Cricket Cricket, by virtue of its ability to invoke a strong relationship to the classical past dating back to the pre-Victorian era has managed to have an aura and a status akin to the theater or the opera in the English society. While the other popular English sports like Rugby and Soccer have been associated with lawlessness and disorder, the “picture of cricketer as primal English swain” has stayed. The earliest reference about cricket comes from writings by a 12th Century cleric of Exeter but the history of cricket before the 17th century is largely unknown. By 17th century cricket was already a highly organized sport but it wasn’t until the 18th century that cricket became England ’s favorite pastime. Cricket featured prominently in the betting business along with horse racing and cards. Late 18th century saw an even greater development of the game as powerful men like the Duke of Dorset, the Duke of Richmond, and Lord Frederick Beauclerk started making and even captaining cricket teams. At a time when gambling was rampant and a thuggish ruling class remained in power, cricket provided “opportunities for gambling” and “the impact of the very hard ball on flesh and bone gave the game a satisfactory element of danger and offered good opportunities for the display of callous manliness.” It is also important to note the differences between the aristocratic amateur and the professional proletariat. Professional cricketers were commodities. In fact, “the professional’s status was no higher than that of a laborer.” C.L.R. James best described the prevailing social dynamic: “Thus the cricket field was a stage on which selected individual played representative roles which were charged with social significance” (66). This divide would later be replicated wherever the British took the cricket as both a class and race divide. The 19th century was a time of change – reform and progress were the key mantras that also encompassed cricket. The image of the Georgian squire was replaced with that of the Victorian ‘muscular Christian’. Cricket was now considered a noble sport and the Victorians took great pleasure in mastering the game. They felt as if it gave them an edge as far as their strength of character was concerned. It was seen as anIdeological State Apparatus to instill “self-discipline and the values of working together” in the children. As history has shown numerous times, brutal force is rarely enough to keep the power. As Althusser points out, “…requires not only a reproduction of its skills, but also, at the same time, a reproduction of its submission to rules of the established order, i.e. a reproduction of submission to the ruling ideology for the workers, and a reproduction of the ability to manipulate the ruling ideology correctly for the agents of exploitation and repression…” (132). Thus, it was this Victorian validation of moral excellence and character building that the game was supposed to teach in the colonies too. In 1841, the Duke of Wellington ordered that every military establishment lay down a cricket pitch and in 1846, that colonels should encourage officers and men to play the game together. Later he stated that the battle of Waterloo has been won on the playing fields of Eaton. “In the new Victorian state, the center of the empire, the coming together of classes on the cricket pitch signified not only the new harmony that reigned after the turmoil of the last century but also the new bonds which cemented social relationships through a new set of values.” Cricket, thus, served as an important tool in the hands of the British ruling elite who found it handy to use it to control its populace and also establish a new Victorian popular culture. A cricket field became a microcosm of all that was proper and desirable in the Victorian society. The cricket field also catered to the mass demand for entertainment since the Industrial revolution and cricket provided cheap leisure as well a false consciousness among the proletariat. To put it in James's words, "if the industrial revolution organized into a concerted whole the particular movements of the artisans who practiced a trade, cricket organized into a whole the elementary tensions and stresses of back-swording, wrestling, racing and the other games of the 'beast'"(166). Cricket became a “safety valve” to curb the excess energy of the youth as well as preoccupy the factory worker.