History

Cricket is one of the oldest games in the world and it continues to thrive today. The game is said to have originated in the 16th century with international matches being played since 1844. There is really no official documentation as to when Cricket started or even where it started. Much of the information that has been piece together has state that Cricket was a game that was thought up in the Saxon or Norman times by children living in the Weal, this is a thick area of woos an clearings in the South East area of England that is across Kent an Sussex.

Cricket started out as a child's game but the adult version of the game was said to have started in the 17th century. Some speculate that Cricket is a takeoff of a games called Bowls or lawn bowling with the slight variation that a bat is use to keep the ball from reaching the target almost similar to baseball. The basic tools use to play Cricket were thought to be matte lump of sheep's wool to be used as the ball and a stick, crook or farm too was use as the bat.

The very first mention of the games was in a 1598 court case where ownership of a plot of land was being contested in Surrey. An older man has testified that he and his friends has played a game called creckett on the land over 50 years prior when they attended school there. In 1611, was the first time that an adult had mentioned playing the game rather than attending a church mass. Since then there has been many mentioned of the game in the English Civil War and then after the war ended a new Puritan Government had put a stop to more active sports like Cricket and Football.
Cricket began to grow after the Restoration of 1660 and this is when the game first attracted gamblers to the game. In 1664, the Gaming Act was passed and it put a limit on the stakes of a game to 100 pounds. By the end of the 17th century Cricket was a game that was betted on daily. In the 17th Century, North America was introduced to the game through the English Colonies. By the 18th century it had passed through other parts of the world.
Today, Cricket is still a major sport that still attracts players, spectators and even media interest as well. The ICC or the International Cricket Conference has over time expanded the development of the game and it hopes to produce more national teams that are capable of competing at the Test level. In June of 2001, the ICC has brought the Test Championship Table and in October 2002, the One Day International Championship Table was introduced.

The newest addition to Cricket is the Twenty20, this style of Cricket that was first seen in England for professional inter county teams and it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board. If you have never seen a game of Cricket, go see one; it really is very fun and exciting.

References : http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/239757.html 

Introduction

Cricket is known as Gentlemen’s game. Cricket is a bat and ball game played between two teams of 11 players on a roughly circular field, at the center of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. Each team takes it in turn to bat , in which they attempt to accumulate as many runs as possible, while the other team field, attempting to prevent the batting team scoring runs. Teams may bat once or twice each depending upon the format of the game. Cricket has two format test and limited over cricket. Each turn is known as an inning. The game progresses as one member of the fielding team known as the bowl delivers the ball to the batsman down the length of the pitch. The batsman then attempts to strike the ball with his bat so that the ball either reaches the boundary or travels far enough away from a fielder to enable him to run to the other end of the pitch and thus accumulate runs. Each batsman may continue batting until he is dismissed. Once ten batsmen from the batting side have been dismissed, the team is said to be all out and the two teams change roles. A person who plays cricket is called a cricketer.

Three format of cricket

Test cricket: Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the ICC. Currently there are 10 international teams who are playing test cricket with each other. These are England, South Africa, India, Australia, Sri-Lanka, Pakistan, West-Indies, Zimbabwe, New Zealand and Bangladesh. In test cricket there is four innings. Each team plays two innings. As compare to past years its popularity is decreasing day by day. As some people feel it is boring and too long. In test cricket every team wear white cloths.

Limited over cricket: Limited overs cricket, also known as one-day cricket, in which a match is generally completed in one day, whereas test matches can take up to five days to complete. The name reflects the rule that in the match each team bowls a set maximum number of overs, usually between 20 and 50, although shorter and longer forms of limited overs cricket have been played. Important one-day matches, international and domestic, often have two days set aside, the second day being a "reserve" day to allow more chance of the game being completed if a result is not possible on the first day (for instance if play is prevented or interrupted by rain). In this format every team wear coloured cloths.