Honeycomb Chapter 10 The Story Of Cricket

Cricket is originally a British game.

Two words/phrases that mean the same as oddities are ‘peculiarities’ and ‘curious characteristic’.

Till the middle of the eighteenth century, bats were roughly the same shape as hockey sticks, curving outwards at the bottom. However, later the curved bat was replaced with the straight one. A hockey stick is thin and curves at the bottom while a cricket bat is thicker, wider, and straight. Earlier it was cut out of a single piece of wood. Now it consists of two pieces − the blade and the handle.

The opposite of ‘professional’ is ‘amateur’.

Here, ‘triumph’ means the one-day game’s popularity among viewers.

It implies that cricketers are like actors and every cricket ground is like a stage on which the drama of cricket is enacted the world over.

Cricket, hockey, baseball, and polo are a few stick-and-ball games.

The Parsis were brought into close contact with the British because of their interest in trade. Also, they were the first Indian community to westernise. Hence, they were the first Indian community to take to cricket.

The ‘happy ending’ refers to the victory of a Parsi team over the Bombay Gymkhana in a game of cricket in 1889, just four years after the foundation of the Indian National Congress in 1885.

Yes, cricket owes its present popularity to television. Television expanded the audience for the game by bringing cricket into small towns and villages. It also broadened cricket’s social base. Children, who had never previously had the chance to watch international cricket because they lived outside the big cities, could watch and learn by imitating their heroes. Matches in Sydney could be watched live in Surat. Cricket, as a result, became available to everyone and thus, gained a lot of popularity.

Cricket is not a popular team sport in many countries, e.g., China, Russia. Due to the lack of popularity, its viewership in these countries is also very little. It is the same case with games like rugby and baseball, which do not enjoy a large viewership in India. However, games like cricket, soccer and hockey are different. These games are hugely popular in India because they are played at the grass root level. The greater part of the Indian population has grown up playing these games, and therefore, has a good amount of knowledge about them.

The game’s ‘equipment’ refers to the tools used in cricket such as the bat, ball, stumps, gloves, pads, etc. The bat consists of two pieces, the blade which is made out of the wood of the willow tree and the handle which is made out of cane. Cricket had refused to remake its tools with industrial or man-made materials such as plastic, fiberglass and metal. But in the matter of protective equipment, cricket has been influenced by technological change. The invention of vulcanised rubber led to the introduction of pads in 1848 and protective gloves soon afterwards. Now, cricket is unimaginable without helmets made out of metal and synthetic lightweight materials.

Test cricket is a unique game as it can go on for five days and still end in a draw. No other modern team sport takes even half as much time to complete.

Cricket is different from other team games as one form of it, i.e., Test cricket takes five days to complete and can still end in a draw. No other modern team game takes even half as much time to complete. A football match is generally over in one and a half hours. Even baseball completes nine innings in less than half the time that it takes to play a limited-over’s match. Also, the length of the pitch is specified as 22 yards, but the size or shape of the ground is not. Most other team sports such as hockey and football lay down the dimensions of the playing area whereas cricket does not. Grounds can be oval like the Adelaide Oval or nearly circular like Chepauk in Chennai. A six at the Melbourne Cricket Ground needs to clear much more ground than it does at Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi. Also, unlike golf or tennis, some of the cricket’s equipments such as bat and ball are still made of natural materials, and not from industrial or man-made materials.

The advances in technology have affected the game of cricket in the matter of protective equipment. The invention of vulcanised rubber led to the introduction of pads in 1848 and protective gloves soon afterwards. The modern game would be unimaginable without helmets made out of metal and synthetic lightweight materials.

In terms of the rules of the game, cricket has undergone lots of changes with changing times. From hockey-like bats to the straight bats that we know today; from bowling underarm to bowling through the air; from being an elite sport to becoming a game of the masses, cricket has changed a lot. Yet, in many ways it has also remained unchanged. This can be clearly seen by looking at cricketing equipment. Cricket’s most important tools are still made of natural, pre-industrial materials. The bat is made with leather, twine and cork. Even today, both bat and ball are handmade, not industrially manufactured. Unlike golf and tennis, cricket has refused to remake its tools with industrial or man-made materials such as plastic, fiberglass and metal. However, in the matter of protective equipment, cricket has been influenced by technological change. The invention of vulcanised rubber led to the introduction of pads in 1848 and protective gloves soon afterwards. The modern game is unimaginable without helmets made out of metal and synthetic lightweight materials.

(i) It is obvious that the work has not been done properly.

(ii) He made the statement firmly.

(iii) The job can be completed within a week easily.

(iv) You did not play seriously, or else you would have won the match.

(v) She recited the poem cheerfully.

(i) Actually, I didn’t intend to come to your place. I reached here by accident.

(ii) Sunil, there’s a letter for you in today’s post. There’s one for me as well.

(iii) Everybody thought I had composed the poem. As a matter of fact, my younger sister did it.

(iv) The doctor told the patient to see to it that he took his pills on time.

(v) We had better plan our trip before setting out.