The History of Cricket

The first 200 words of this essay...

THE HISTORY OF CRICKET

The origins of cricket are obscured, unrecorded, and the source of much speculation. There are several theories concerning the origination of cricket.

One theory is that shepherds used to play it. A shepherd would stand in front of the wicket gate to the sheepfold and another would bowl a stone or something at him. He would then have to hit or defend it with his crook, which was known as 'cricce'.

There are other references that a similar game to cricket was played early as the 13th century. This was called 'club-ball', or 'handyn or handoute'. It is certain that the game was played with a ball and a brandy, or a crooked stick. The point of the game was to place a ball in a hole dug in the ground; this was the same as striking the bails off the wickets.

There is also a reference that a game called 'cat and dog', was played in Scotland in the 17th century. The game appears to have been a double wicket game, this was known as an early form of cricket.

The earliest bats were clubs and sticks. These gave