A childhood game of Saxon and Norman times, cricket was first mentioned as an adult leisure activity in 1611. It is unclear whether cricket was a unique bat and ball game, or if it started as a variation of some type of croquet game where a batsman tried stopping the ball from reaching its target by hitting it away. Later, “village cricket” became popular as local teams popped up, with the first game recorded in 1709, and the best players were hired as its first professional athletes. Around thirty years later, an official rule set was established (and amended several times), and the sport grew in popularity across London and southeastern counties of England.
Cricket began to take its current iteration with two major changes to the game: pitching instead of bowling, and the shape of the bat. Previously, the ball was “bowled” or rolled on the ground by bowlers, but now the ball was pitched, or thrown in the air. The “pitcher” would still be referred to as a bowler however. Previously, the bat resembled something closer to a hockey stick because that would better hit a ball rolling on the ground, but the straight bat would work better for balls flying through the air. With these new innovations to the game, the English brought cricket to all its major colonies, including: America, the West Indies and India, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. While still incredibly popular in many countries like India, Australia, and South Africa, it never took off in Canada, partly because of its association as an upper-class English sport, which many Canadians did not identify with. In America, it was very popular, but local bat-and-ball games, like townball, and eventually baseball, would overtake it.
Cricket Transforms into Wicket
The life of a soldier during the revolutionary war was strange. It was full of leisure time, which was an alien concept to many of these individuals. Working on a farm or some other industry usually left little to no time for individual pursuits, but because the jobs were so physically demanding, it kept them “in shape.” The fact that so many soldiers had “free time” meant they needed to fill their time doing something that amused them, and military officials, including George Washington, knew that these pursuits should also improve fitness as well. Washington not only encouraged games that promoted fitness, he would play them himself. It was noted that Washington would throw and catch with his colleagues for hours while discussing important matters, and in 1778, he played in a game of Wicket at the Valley Forge.
Using the official cricket rules, which were brought to America by Benjamin Franklin in 1754, Wicket was the American version of Cricket, with the biggest difference being the batting implement used to play. The bat was a long and shovel-shaped with one side being smooth and the other curved like a giant spoon. Other rules appeared to be pretty similar, with a bowler who “pitches” the ball trying to strike the wickets, and the batter tries to defend the wickets by blocking and striking the ball. A successful hit meant the runner would try to run to the base the batter threw from, and then back to their wicket base to score. It was unclear how many more players could play this game. This could have been a two-person practice game for cricket, or a full-fledged team game, but that remains unclear. It was also unclear whether the batter’s objective was to run to the opposite base and back as many times as possible, or just once.
Sports played in early America reflected the status of the people who were playing it. There was a high class, middle class, and lower class, which designated ones standing in military and society. This meant that there was not too much mingling between petty soldiers and higher-ranking officers. Sports in general were spontaneous, informal, and details of the games were not recorded. We assume it is because they did not care about who was on which team, how long they played or different rule sets they used. What is most interesting is they never mentioned which team won either. It seems like sport was played for the sake of the game, and not to brag over others or for one team to gloat. Soldiers really did play for the fun of it, and to stay in shape. “Since ‘sport represents a microcosm of society and its values,’ observations of Revolutionary sports reveal a less organized, less specialized, and more spontaneous society than modern America.” While most of the American games derived from English games and they admired English culture, the American revolutionary was fiercely independent politically.
Bibliography:
History of Cricket.(2010). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_cricket. Last retrieved 6/2/2021.
The History of Cricket. (2021) International Cricket Council. https://www.icc-cricket.com/about/cricket/history-of-cricket/early-cricket Last retrieved 6/2/2021.
Ledbetter, B. Sports and Games of the American Revolution. (1979). Journal of Sports History. Volume 6, Number 3.