International Sporting or Leisure Activity Analysis

Activity: Cricket

Report by Name: Tijo Paul Student No.: 2731758 Subject: Leisure Management

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Contents
Contents................................................................................................................ 2 Executive Summary...............................................................................................2 Aims and Objectives..............................................................................................3 Research Methodology..........................................................................................3 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 3 Main Body.............................................................................................................. 4 The Laws of Cricket............................................................................................5 Corruption in Cricket...........................................................................................8 Conclusion............................................................................................................. 9 References............................................................................................................. 9

Executive Summary
Cricket was seen to have a higher standard of sportsmanship and was an expression of moral growth in the then British Empire (Williams, 2001). This is still the case in many countries around the world where the sport has been seen as more than a game. With its roots in England, the sport has become a worldwide sensation after spreading through the then British
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Empire and now been played by over 30 countries. Leading teams in the sport have been Australia, England, India, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. With a rocky history attached to it, the game still seems to gather crowds into stadiums when matches are played. Some of the most heard names of the sport include Australian Don Bradman, Indian player Sachin Tendulkar and Sri Lankan bowler Muttiah Muralidharan.

Aims and Objectives

The leisure activity chosen for the report is Cricket which is often called The Gentlemans Game in its country of origin England. This report aims at shining light on the way the game was found and evolved over time from the age it was founded till the present day popularity of the game. The game, which was esteemed as an expression of a distinctively English sense of morale (Williams, 1999) became an official recreational sport after the English Civil War in 1648. From then on till date the game of cricket has been celebrated as more than a game in countries like India, Australia, West Indies, Pakistan, New Zealand and many other countries. The basic rules and regulations of the game and the equipments required for a game of cricket will be another discussion in the report. Like many other sports records have been set in this sport and along with that crime and corruption has also crept up into the sport. Ireland as a nation also came into the world of cricket by upsetting some big nations in cricketing world in the previous two world cups and the social impacts of cricket will be a topic of discussion here.

Research Methodology
Secondary research has been the main research methodology here whereby books and internet articles have been used to compile the report.

Introduction
Cricket, said to have evolved from a 1300 AD game creag or known as creckett in the 1600s is a popular game that has had an eventful and colourful past ever since the day the English patrons made it an official adult sport . Cricket was seen to have a higher standard of sportsmanship and was an expression of moral growth in the then British Empire (Williams, 2001). The sport became an official recreational sport for after the end of the English Civil War and as the monarchy took power over Britain who favoured the game which had now gained more respectability. By the early 18th century the game of cricket had been firmly
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established in the south-east England and its popularity was spreading through the empire of Britain. With the first laws of Cricket being formed and set down in 1788 by the Marylebone Cricket Club in London, the sport was seen embody the ideals of fair play, gentlemanly behaviour and general sportsmanship (Fraser. 2005). These laws covered all areas regarding the pitch, its measurements, bat and ball, batting and bowling laws and umpiring techniques and decision making. As the years passed, the game became popular in other colonies of the Empire including Australia, India and South Africa where British soldiers and diplomats played cricket as a recreational and leisure activity. The sportsmanship of cricket and the nature of cricket as a sport of the Empire helped persuade the white English that they could be trusted to exercise authority over the races in a reasonable and selfless manner (Williams, 2001). However, towards the end of the reign of the British Empire, the International Cricket Council or ICC was formed in 1909 and is still the governing body of the sport. Soon changes began appearing around the world as more countries started playing the sport and laid foundation for one day international matches, test matches and the recently started T20 matches. Starting as a game played by middle class and upper class English noblemen, Cricket has become a sport with a loyal fan-base around the world and an unofficial religion in India but there has been dirt in its history too

Main Body
Cricket is a game played with a bat and ball and its origins date back to 1300 AD where the game called creag used to be played whereby one person threw a small object while the other hit it using a club or a wooden object. The game developed in the country of England over the years and soon the game got a status of moral growth and respect attached to the game. The monarchy saw the game as a gentlemans game which resulted in the formation of the Laws of Cricket in 1788 by the Marylebone Cricket Club in London. Thomas Lord, a bowler was who organized the first match between two counties Middlesex and Essex on the Dorset fields in Marylebone which is now the prestigious Lords cricket ground. After the match the Code of Laws or the present Laws of Cricket were compiled and the club still remains the custodian of laws relating to cricket.

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The Laws of Cricket

The cricket match is played between two teams of eleven players on each side, on a ground which is usually made of grass with a small rectangle patch in the middle of the ground. The teams have 11 players each who have a mixture of abilities, including balling, batting, fielding and one last but very important player who acts as 'wicket-keeper'. In the centre of the ground is a rectangular are of grass or earth, which is 22 yards in length called the wicket. At each end of the wicket are three sticks pitched into the ground adjacent to each other in an upright position and are known as stumps. The stumps are separated by a gap not greater than the diameter of a cricket ball and on top of the stumps rest two smaller sticks known as bails.

(Source: www.abcofcricket.com)

A chalk outline is drawn in front of each set of stumps called a 'crease'. The crease has the lines within which the batsman is meant to always keep contact with the ground with some part of their body or the bat. The game is refereed by two umpires, one who stands at the bowling side and one a few meters away adjacent to the batsman.

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(Source: www.abcofcricket.com)

The length of games can vary in duration of time, and number of balls bowled. The shortest version of the game known Twenty-Twenty is the shorter form of a One- Day International match and finally there are Tests that lasts 5 days. One side will 'bat' first with an aim of scoring runs while the other side will bowl to them with the aim of getting them out. Batsmen play in pairs, each equipped with a bat at both creases. The aim for the bowling side is to dismiss the batsmen in various different ways as possible. Once the number of overs has been reached or the bowling side has successfully taken 10 wickets of the batting side, the roles are reversed. The bowling side now gets to bat and overtake the score the batting side had made. This reversal may happen only the once typically in one-day internationals or limited overs cricket or twice, as in county or international test match cricket. Runs can be scored in a number of ways: Each time that the batsmen are able to run between the wickets after a ball has been bowled, a run is scored keeping in mind that that the bowling side doesnt get them out. If the ball is hit hard enough and crosses the boundary line without touching the ground it is 6 runs. If the ball does touch the ground on its way out, 4 runs are scored. Runs can be gotten through the failure of the bowler to correctly deliver the ball too. A wide ball is one where the ball swings too far away as it reaches the batsmen, while a no-ball is one bowled over the batsmans head or if the bowler crosses the chalk outline in the crease at the bowling side. Either way, an extra run is awarded to the batting side and the bowling side has to bowl an extra delivery.

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The highest run-taker in both one-day international and test matches has been an Indian player, Sachin Tendulkar whose cricketing abilities has gathered a lot of support amongst the cricket fans in the world. According to an article by Abhay Burande, If cricket is the religion, Sachin is God has become a popular saying. Sachin Tendulkar, regarded as a living legend, is worshiped by almost every cricket fan. Even International players never go unrecognized in the malls and streets of India. A batsman can be dismissed in various ways too: The batsman facing the ball can be bowled out, whereby the ball will hit the stumps and the bails come off. If the batsman hits the ball with the bat and it is caught by any of the fielders within the boundary line, prior to the ball touching the ground it is given out. A batsman can also be stumped by the wicket-keeper who removes the bails off with the ball in hand. This is deemed out only if the batsman at the batting side of the wicket is outside the chalk outlines crease or if no part of his body or bat stays within the crease A batsman can also be out 'leg before wicket' or 'lbw': this is one of the harder methods of getting out whereby the ball strikes the batsmans leg-pads. The only way the batsman can be given out is if the leg pad was in the trajectory of the ball and was obstructing the ball from hitting the wicket. Either player can be run-out if the stumps at the area of the crease they are at are uprooted while the batsmen arent at their crease.

Twenty-Twenty Matches
The new twenty-twenty matches gained popularity after its introduction into the world of cricket. In a fast paced world, the audience cannot wait casually and thus the introduction of the minimum over matches has had a great influence on the sport. According to Abhay Burande, this new form of Cricket has created a huge impact on the game. The T20s (twenty over matches) demanded more power, more aggressive performances from the teams owing to the limited overs. Batsmen who were known to be unable to score well in ODIs shone like shining stars at the T20 matches. Bowlers gave in their best, attacking with fierce deliveries to make sure the opponents are washed off the game. Shorter version of the game has proved to have a great impact on the society too. The fans of cricket can now see their favorite
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players work harder to do their best in the 20 overs they play. These matches that last 3 hours maximum is perfect for the working class and the school children who can go for the matches and get entertained I a shorter period of time than the normal one day matches or 5 day test matches. Another positive aspect of the shorter version of the game is that it brings together players from various nationalities into one team in the Indian version of the T20 known as Indian Premier League. Each team comprises of 11 players with 4 players from India and the rest from any other country in the world. The T20 matches also bring into spotlight celebrities who arrive at the stadiums to support the teams they sponsor and as a result the fan-bases of these celebrities are drawn into the world of cricket.

Corruption in Cricket
Hansie Cronje was the former captain of the South African cricket team and by far the most successful captain who has captained his team to 27 test match victories and 99 one day international victories. His fall of stardom came in 2000, during South Africas tour of India where Cronje had been revealed to have taken part in match-fixing since 1996. According to an article by Abhay Burande, along with Cronje, other South African players Herschelle Gibbs, Nicky Boje and Pieter Strydom also were caught in the scandal. Though the United Cricket Board of South Africa refused to accept these allegations, Cronje was immediately sacked from captaincy after he admitted of having accepted around $10,000 to $15,000 from a bookie for forecasting results and not match-fixing in particular at the time of the ODI series in India. Cronje also met an extreme death in 2002, where his flight crashed and there have been allegations that it was not an accident. Another act of corruption happened recently in the cricketing world where 3 Pakistani players were sentenced to jail term for match-fixing during Pakistans tour of England in 2010. Three key players of the team including the captain Salman Butt plotted to bowl no-balls to let the England side win the series. The act of corruption gained world-wide publicity and loss of respect for the game as 150,000 pounds was the price for bowling the no-balls according to an article by the Dailymail newspaper in UK. On March 17, 2007 Ireland played against Pakistan in the Cricket World Cup that showcased one of the worst defeats by a new team in the history of Cricket. Pakistan was knocked out of the series by Ireland. 24 hours later, the then coach of Pakistan Bob Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room and shocked the whole world. However Ireland has grown in popularity in
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the cricketing world with their thrilling win over Pakistan in the 2007 World Cup. This win overtaken by Ireland in the 2011 World Cup where Ireland beat their neighbors England with opening batsman Kevin OBrien hitting the fastest 100 runs in World Cup to seal an astounding win.

Conclusion
Cricket, said to have evolved from a 1300 AD game creag or known as creckett in the 1600s is a popular game that has had an eventful and colourful past ever since the day the English patrons made it an official adult sport. The game, which was esteemed as an expression of a distinctively English sense of morale (Williams, 1999) became an official recreational sport after the English Civil War in 1648. From then on the game has enjoyed a colourful path of glory with many countries embracing the sport and playing it with passion since the introduction of the World Cup and the twenty-twenty matches. However, the sport has had the bad luck of corruption creeping up into it, with the widely publicised cases of the Hansie Cronje match-fixing scandal and the Pakistani match-fixing scandal from last year. Through all this, the teams still are able to keep the crowds entertained with new records and entertaining performances in bowling, batting and fielding.

References

Fraser, D., 2005. Cricket and the law: the man in white is always right, Routledge. Williams, J., 2001. Cricket and race, Berg.

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Williams, J., 1999. Cricket and England: a cultural and social history of the interwar years, Routledge. Knight, J., 2006. Cricket for Dummies, John Wiley & Sons. Burande. A., Struggling to Survive: ODI vs Twenty-Twenty - A Cricket Article. Available at: http://www.sportspundit.com/cricket/articles/3879-struggling-tosurvive-odi-vs-twenty-twenty [Accessed November 16, 2011].

Burande, A., History of the ICC - A Cricket Article. Available at: http://www.sportspundit.com/cricket/articles/3683-history-of-the-icc [Accessed November 18, 2011].

20th century cricket - A Cricket Article. Available at: http://www.sportspundit.com/cricket/articles/1315-20th-century-cricket [Accessed November 16, 2011].

Burande, A., The Story Behind Hansie Cronje - A Cricket Article. Available at: http://www.sportspundit.com/cricket/articles/3679-the-story-behind-hansie-cronje [Accessed November 16, 2011].

Burande, A , Cricket is religion in India A Cricket Article. Available at: http://www.sportspundit.com/cricket/articles/5500-cricket-is-a-religion-in-india [Accessed November 16, 2011].

Bob Woolmers death stuns cricket world | Cricket News | World Cup 2006/07 | ESPN Cricinfo. Available at: http://www.espncricinfo.com/wc2007/content/story/285953.html [Accessed November 16, 2011].

Greenwood, C. , Pakistan match-fixing trial: Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif found guilty | Mail Online. Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article2056098/Pakistan-match-fixing-trial-Salman-Butt-Mohammad-Asif-guilty.html [Accessed November 18, 2011].

Cricket: Ireland beat England, Independent.ie , Available at: http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/cricket-ireland-beat-england2563356.html

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