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.

How is a cricket bat different from a hockey stick?

Write True or False against each of the following sentences.

A ‘professional’ cricket player is one who makes a living by playing cricket. Find the opposite of ‘professional’ in the last paragraph.

In “the triumph of the one-day game”, ‘triumph’ means the one-day games

(i) Superiority to Test cricket.

(ii) Inferiority to Test cricket.

(iii) Achievement and success over Test cricket.

(iv) Popularity among viewers.

“…the men for whom the world is a stage”.

(i) It refers to the famous cricket fields in the world.

(ii) It means that there are many cricket playing countries in the world.

(iii) 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.

Name some stick-and-ball games that you have witnessed or heard of.

The Parsis were the first Indian community to take to cricket. Why?

The rivalry between the Parsis and the Bombay Gymkhana had a happy ending for the former. What does ‘a happy ending’ refer to?

Do you think cricket owes its present popularity to television? Justify your answer.

Why has cricket a large viewership in India, not in China or Russia?