Cricket was once just a humble pastime for rural peoples of England, but now it has become one of the world’s most celebrated sports across the globe. England is the actual origin of this sport, which has become popular in major countries like India, Pakistan, Australia, the West Indies, South Africa, and many more. The fan following of this sport is really big across continents.
Matches are played between two teams of eleven players in each team. It’s a sport where players need great skills, strategies, and endurance to be able to succeed on the field, the game is played on an oval-shaped field with a 22-yard-long pitch in the center of the field where bowlers strive to dismiss batsmen and batsmen aims to score runs by taking single, smashing boundaries for four runs, hitting the ball in the air to score a six by sending it out of the boundary line. In this article, we go through the evolution and history of cricket along with some amazing photographs from the history of cricket.
Origins and Early History of Cricket
The earliest forms of cricket are believed to have emerged in England during Saxon or Norman times, based on historical records, which indicate that it was played by children in the Weald region of southeast England during the very initial days. The game had gained enough prominence to get mentioned officially in some documents by the year 1611, and organized matches between adult teams were being played during the late 17th century.
One of the earliest known matches that were played with formal names of teams occurred in the year 1709, which also made the beginning of the international competition where countries started to play the game against each other.
Before the year 1744, there were no official rules and laws in cricket, but in 1744, for the very first time, laws were introduced in this game, and in the year 1774, some amendments were made to existing laws like LBW (Leg Before Wicket), the introduction of the third stump (as till 1774 there used to be only two stumps behind the batsmen), and also introduced a standardized bat width.
By the year 1774, it has started getting attention from spectators and players, leading to a sort of competition between teams. In 1787, The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) was founded at Lord’s Cricket Ground, which then became the custodian of the game’s laws and still upholds this power today in the year 2025.
The Rise of Competitive Cricket
In the history of cricket, during the 18th and 19th centuries, cricket started to spread across England as professional players started gaining recognition. The Hambledon Club in Hampshire used to be a dominant club in this game before the MCC took over as cricket’s governing body. Then, by the mid-19th century, international matches also started gaining popularity, and England’s top players started touring internationally to play against other countries professionally. In 1859, for the very first time in the history of cricket, an English team went for the first overseas tour to North America and made the official beginning of cricket’s global reach. Star players like George Parr and John Wisden were part of England’s squad.
Matches during this tour were played in the United States and Canada, but one different rule during that tour was that the home team or the hosting country could have more than 11 players in their playing squad. A significant shift in bowling techniques also changed the game during those initial days, as underarm deliveries were a standard way to bowl, which was way too much easier to play for batsmen, and bowlers had nearly no advantages as batsmen used to hit balls so easily and ruthlessly.
However, during the late 18th century, round-arm bowling was introduced, and then overarm bowling was introduced in 1864. These two changes in the bowling style gave bowlers a big relief. Because of these two changes, batsmen needed to have good skills and techniques to play spinning deliveries and fast deliveries, making it tougher to score in comparison to earlier underarm bowling style.
Due to these changes in bowling action, batting pads, gloves, and cane-handled bats became essential for batsmen to wear to protect themselves.
Global Expansion and the Birth of Test Cricket
Cricket was expanded internationally during the British colonial era. By the early 19th century, countries like Australia, India, South Africa, New Zealand, and the West Indies has joined international cricket. The first officially recognized Test Cricket match took place in 1877 between England and Australia, and the Ashes series began in 1882 after Australia beat England at The Oval in London, after which the historical Ashes series also got introduced between these two countries, England and Australia. Till now, in the year 2025, the Ashes series is one of the most intense tours for both countries.
With the formation of the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 (later renamed the International Cricket Council), the game gained an administrative body to oversee its development. By the mid-20th century, several nations, including India, Pakistan, West Indies, and New Zealand, had started playing the test match and made some amazing achievements in this toughest red ball format of the game.
The Introduction of Limited-Overs Cricket
Test cricket is the toughest and purest format in the game. Initially, its five-day-long format faced challenges in attracting and sustaining its spectators, as the main source of income during those days was the spectators who were coming to see live matches on the ground.
To address this issue, the limited overs format of the game was introduced in 1971 as ODI (One Day Internationals). The ODI format revolutionized the game by encouraging aggressive batting, strategic field placements, and dynamic bowling variations, which then started to attract more and more spectators along with time.
The first-ever ODI match was played between England and Australia on January 05, 1971, as England toured Australia for this series. Australia won the first ODI match in the history of cricket by beating England by 5 wickets with 42 balls remaining in that game. John Edrich of England was the POM (Player of the Match) in that match, scoring 82 runs by facing 119 balls.
Australia and England at MCC
Four years after the introduction of ODI format, the first-ever ODI Cricket World Cup was introduced and organized by England in June 1975. West Indies and Australia were the finalists in this World Cup, which was played at Lord’s Cricket Ground, where West Indies won the match against Australia by 17 runs. The player of the match was Clive Lloyd from West Indies, who scored 102 (85) and took one wicket. However, two years before the introduction of the Men’s Cricket World Cup, the Women’s World Cup had already been introduced and played separately.
#OnThisDay in 1975, West Indies beat Australia to become the inaugural men's @cricketworldcup champions! 🏆
— ICC (@ICC) June 21, 2020
Clive Lloyd 1️⃣0️⃣2️⃣ 🏏
Keith Boyce 4️⃣/5️⃣0️⃣ ☝️
Viv Richards 3️⃣ run-outs 🔥 pic.twitter.com/eZoSeHHifd
The inaugural Cricket World Cup in 1975, in which Australia and West Indies reached the finals and West Indies won that final match of first-ever ODI world cup, further made the ODI format more competitive and popular with time. Over the decades, the ODI format evolved with the introduction of powerplays, fielding restrictions, and colored clothing, making matches more engaging for millions of fans across the world.
The Rise of T20 Cricket and Commercial Expansion
first-ever ICC T20 World Cup Title.
This is the most thrilling and dramatic transformation came in the 21st century with the birth of Twenty20 Cricket (T20). This format was first introduced in England’s domestic cricket in 2003. The first ever T20 International match was played between New Zealand and Australia on 17th February 2005, at Auckland, during Australia’s tour of New Zealand.
T20 cricket quickly gained popularity among other countries and fans due to its fast-paced game format and entertainment-driven nature, where anything can happen till the last ball is bowled. The first ever ICC Men’s T20 World Cup was introduced and played in 2007, in which India won the title of first T20 World Champions under the captaincy of M.S. Dhoni, along with some young players in the Indian squad for that tournament.
This T20I World Cup attracted millions of viewers, which had never happened before, and noticing this craze of fans led to the launch of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008. Rajasthan Royals won the inaugural edition of IPL in 2008 by defeating Chennai Super Kings in the finals.
The IPL introduced a franchise-based model, merging the game with entertainment and commercial opportunities. The league’s success inspired similar T20 tournaments worldwide, including the Big Bash League (BBL) in Australia and the Pakistan Super League (PSL), making cricket a year-round spectacle with global viewership.
Technological Innovations in Cricket
The 21st century has also seen the integration of cutting-edge technology in gameplay to enhance the gameplay and the decision-making process for umpires to make the most accurate decision. The following technologies are introduced.
Ball Tracking System:
The Hawk-Eye or the ball-tracking system uses computer vision along with artificial intelligence to track the ball’s speed, trajectory, and direction to check if the batsmen can get dismissed by LBW (Leg Before Wickets) or not.
The Hot Spot system:
This system uses infrared edge detection technology where infrared cameras are used to detect the heat that is generated when a ball passes or hits a batsman’s bat, pads, gloves, or the batsmen’s body. This system especially helps umpires to know if the ball has any contact with the bat and gloves or not, which helps in making decisions for caught behind. Also, it helps during LBW appeals from bowlers to know if the ball hit the pad directly or if the ball had any contact with the bat before hitting the pads. Also, high-speed cameras have improved umpiring accuracy because, without these high-speed cameras, these technologies won’t be able to give the most appropriate conclusion.
Decision Review System (DRS):
This system was introduced in 2008; the main reason behind the introduction of this system is to avoid wrong decisions made by umpires during a match and promote fairness in a game by reducing human errors. This system allows teams to challenge the on-field decision of an umpire by asking for a review within seconds from the third umpire, who uses technologies like ball tracking and replays from infrared cameras from different angles to determine if a batsman is actually out or not out.
Other Technologies:
Other technologies like flashing stumps and bails for run-out decisions and advancements in the game also included the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method for rain-affected matches.
It’s a mathematical formula that is used in matches that can’t be completed on time due to rain. This method uses a mathematical formula to calculate a target score depending on the current score and overs bowled. This method is only used in shorter formats of the game, like ODIs and T20Is.
Women’s Cricket and Global Inclusivity
The first-ever Women’s international cricket match was introduced in 1934, which was played between England and Australia in Brisbane.
After 39 years, the ODI format was introduced in women’s cricket in 1973. the first-ever Women’s ODI match was a part of the Women’s World Cup held in England, even before the introduction of the ODI Cricket World Cup in men’s cricket. The first-ever Women’s T20 Internationals was introduced in 2005, where the first match was played between England and New Zealand women’s teams. The first women’s Twenty20 World Cup was held in 2009. Women’s cricket has experienced significant growth with increased investment, professional leagues, and rising viewership with time. The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup and the Women’s Premier League (WPL) have given female cricketers a global platform to showcase their talent like other male professional cricketers. As sponsorship and media coverage expanded with time, women’s cricket continued to gain viewership and proved to be an equally compelling game played by women.
Note: Though the history of cricket is very vast, it is not ideal to provide the entire history of cricket in one place. Providing the entire history in one place will take days to read for readers, so here it has tried to cover important historical events and dates from cricketing history that a cricket fan needs to know. Images of such events are attached along with paragraphs to make it visibly clear for readers to understand things properly.
Article by MD Imran (Former Cricketer and Editor at Cricket Zon)
