Having spanned from the 16th century with international games played since 1844, the official international Test cricket started in 1877. During this time, the game developed from its original version in England into a game now competently played in most of the Commonwealth of the nation.
The game faced its first real calamity in the 18th century during the Seven Years War, mostly due to the shortage of players and venture. However, the game survives and the Hambledon Era properly started in the mid-1760s.
At the beginning of the 19th century, cricket faced another chief disaster when the termination of chief matches happened during the Napoleonic Wars. The reasons were also the lack of players and investment. As in the 1760s, the game survives once again and a slow revival started in 1815.
A Treacherous Game
The first fatal accident related to cricket, a treacherous game, was in 1624 at Hosted Green in Sussex. Unluckily, Jasper Venal died after being struck by a bat while he was trying to catch the ball. It was unclear whether this was an accident or the batsman put too high a price on his wicket.
Cricket games between village teams are documented to take place before the English Civil War (1642-1651). The game developed steadily after that along with the development of town and city teams.
The history of cricket also includes how it first attracted gambling for money in the 18th century. This caused the establishment of the first Laws of Cricket in 1744.
The first famous cricket club was Hambledon in Hampshire, the headquarters of the game for three decades until the appearance of Lords and the MCC in 1787. Since then, the MCC has been the custodian of the Laws of Cricket.
English colonialism brought cricket to North America in the 17th century, to the West Indies and Australia in the 18th century, and to South Africa and New Zealand in the 19th century.
The game of cricket developed into nowadays’ club, county, and international structure during the 20th century. While the MCC remains the custodian of the rules, the International Cricket Conference (ICC) has become the global governing body of the sport.
