Cricket

About

Cricket is a sport that originated in England around the 1500s, steadily increasing in popularity around the world since. The game is played between two teams of 11 players each. The teams essentially take turns batting and bowling, with the batting team aiming to score as many "runs" or points as possible, while the bowling team attempts to prevent this. Runs are scored by hitting the ball across the field's boundary or by the two batters running back and forth between two "wickets." The team with the most runs wins a match. Over the years, cricket has accumulated billions of fans around the world and is often referenced in memes (such as Disappointed Cricket Fan) and other forms of internet culture.

History

Cricket began to gain popularity in England around the 19th century, but the earliest definite reference to the game was made in a court document from 1598. That year, the Guildford court heard John Derrick, a coroner, that 50 years earlier, "he and diverse of his fellows did run and play [on the common land] at cricket."^[1]

The game underwent significant development in the 18th century to eventually become England's national sport. Cricket games in the Artillery Ground of Finsbury, London drew wide crowds that bet on matches.^[2] Moreover, bowlers began to pitch and bounce the ball instead of rolling or skimming it toward the batter, marking the evolution of a straighter less hockey-shaped bat.^[3]

By the 19th and 20th centuries, cricket had spread to the vast majority of the British commonwealth, with the first-ever international match taking place in Toronto in 1844, between club teams from the United States and Canada, the latter of which won.^[4] The oldest and most famous rivalry in cricket is between England and Australia, which developed after both teams took part in the first-ever Test match between 1876 and 1877, as well as after the famous game of 1882 that birthed "The Ashes." The Ashes is a term that emerged from a satirical article in the form of an obituary after England's loss to Australia, which stated that English cricket had died and "the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia."^[5]

Test cricket continued to expand during the 20th century with the addition of the West Indies (1928), New Zealand (1930) and India (1932) before the Second World War and then Pakistan (1952), Sri Lanka (1982), Zimbabwe (1992), Bangladesh (2000), Ireland and Afghanistan (both 2018) in the post-war period. South Africa was banned from international cricket from 1970 to 1992 as part of the apartheid boycott.^[6]

Gameplay

The object of cricket is to score more runs than your opponent. There are three variations of the game (Test, One Day, and Twenty 20) and each gives a certain timescale in which the game must be completed. To score a run you need to hit the ball with a cricket bat. While one team bats, the other bowls and fields. The aim is to bowl the opposing team out for as few runs as possible or restrict them to as few runs in the allocated time. After a team has lost all their wickets or the allotted time has expired, then the teams will switch roles.

Pitch sizes vary greatly in cricket but are usually played on a circular grass field with a circumference of around 200m. Around the edge of the field is what’s known as the boundary edge and is basically the line between being in play and out of play. The wickets are in the center of the field. The wicket will have two sets of three stumps at either end and they must be 22 yards apart. The bowler will bowl the cricket ball from one end whilst the batsmen will try and hit the ball from the other end.

A run occurs when a batsman hits the ball with their bat and the two batsmen at the wicket manage to successfully run to the other end. The batsmen can run as many times as they like before being given out. If the ball crosses the boundary rope after it has bounced at least once from leaving the bat then four runs are given. If the ball goes over the boundary rope without bouncing then six runs are awarded to the batting team.

Online Presence

There are several internet discussion forums dedicated to the discussion of the "gentleman's game," including CricketWeb,^[7] Planet Cricket^[8] and Indian Cricket Fans,^[9] among others.

Related Memes

Disappointed Muhammad Sarim Akhtar

Disappointed Muhammad Sarim Akhtar, also known as Disappointed Cricket Fan and Angry Pakistani Fan, refers to a reaction image featuring the Pakistani cricket fan Muhammad Sarim Akhtar appearing annoyed and dismayed during a cricket match in mid-June 2019.

"Pak Bean" Zimbabwe vs. Pakistan Controversy

Pak Bean Zimbabwe vs. Pakistan Controversy refers to tensions between Zimbabwe and Pakistani cricket fans due to a character known as "Pak Bean," a Mr. Bean impersonator, who visited Zimbabwe during the 2016 Harare Agriculture Show and upset some who found his likeness unconvincing and were expecting the real actor, Rowan Atkinson. The Mr. Bean impersonator reentered internet discourse ahead of the Zimbabwe vs. Pakistan ICC cricket match in October 2022 after a disgruntled Zimbabwe cricket fan expressed his hatred for Pak Bean in the Twitter replies to a tweet by the Pakistani Cricket team. Pak Bean then became the subject of numerous memes and discussions online, particularly on Twitter.

Inshallah Boys Played Well

Inshallah Boys Played Well is a catchphrase used to refer to a cricket team's performance. The phrase originated from incorrect transcriptions of former Pakistani cricket player Inzamam-ul-Haq's post-match interviews and has since turned into a way of complimenting or mocking a team's performance in any given match. The phrase "Inshallah boys played well" grew to mainstream meme usage in 2017, with the Facebook page The Frustrated Engineer posting a meme mocking Pakistani cricketer Shahid Afridi's English on March 8th, 2017, alongside a caption that read, "Inshallah boys played well." The post gathered over 10,000 likes in over five years.

Search Interest

External References