The first team from India to visit England

79 years since the first Test series between the two on the subcontinent. That 1933-34 visit by Douglas Jardine's side followed on from India's first foray into Test cricket, which had taken place in England the previous year. But the first trip by a side from India to England had taken place much earlier, in 1886, when a team made up entirely of players from one small community - the Parsees - had toured.

The Parsees are an ethnic group that in India in the 1880s numbered around 80,000, almost entirely located in or around Bombay. They enthusiastically embraced all things English and were the first of the indigenous population to take up cricket. In 1848 the Parsees founded the first cricket club - Oriental CC - and two years later the Young Zoroastrian Club, which still exists, was formed.

The first plans for a Parsees side to tour abroad were floated in 1877 by AB Patel but were scuppered when Patel became involved in a legal case in Bombay. Undeterred, he persevered and in 1886 the scheme came to fruition. A far from representative group of players was picked for the trip; the team was formed exclusively from those who could afford to fund their own passage. Patel managed to get the influential Charles Alcock to act as the team's agent in England, thus ensuring some strong fixtures. Alcock was secretary of Surrey and the man credited with organising the first Test in England, six years earlier.

To help prepare the Parsees, a Surrey professional, Robert Henderson, was recruited to coach them, but he was only given three weeks before they departed for England. It was soon apparent there was too little time available to bring them up to speed.

A squad of 15 Parsees - 12 from Bombay, three from Karrache (as it was spelt then) - left on April 17. At a dinner on the eve of their departure from Bombay, Sir Pherozeshah Mehta, a noted political leader, said: "As artists go to Italy to do homage to the great masters, as pilgrims go to Jerusalem to worship at a shrine, so now the Parsees are going to England to do homage to the English cricketers, to learn something of that noble and manly pastime in the very country which is its chosen home."

The Parsees arrived in England in mid May, and their opening match was at Sheffield Park, followed by a prestigious game against the MCC at Lord's.

The tour started with a first-day washout against Lord Sheffield's XI, but that proved fortuitous as, in unfamiliar and damp conditions, the Parsees batsmen were bowled out for 46 and, following on, closed at 54 for 4. It could have been worse but Alfred Shaw declined to bowl "out of politeness". This set the tone for the rest of the trip, although the Times did note the visitors' "fielding was excellent and bowling fair".
At Lord's, WG Grace led a strong MCC side of amateurs and showed little compassion, scoring 65 and taking 7 for 18 and 4 for 26 as the Parsees were bowled out for 23 and 66, losing by an innings and 224 runs. There was some solace for them as the MCC hosted a dinner in their honour at the end of the first day's play.

The tour continued in the same one-sided way. At Portsmouth, United Services amassed 577 and then forced the Parsees to follow on more than 350 in arrears, Another defeat seemed inevitable when MP Banaji was given out leg-before, much to the anger of the small crowd, who disrupted the game. It began to rain soon after and the visitors escaped with a draw.

There were high points as well. Their final game was against Prince Christian Victor's XI at Cumberland Lodge in Windsor Great Park. The match was arranged at the request of Queen Victoria and on arrival the tourists were greeted by HRH Prince Christian, the Queen's grandson. The Prince made 24 and his brother, Prince Albert, an unbeaten 11 in a score of 90, and then the Parsees were dismissed for 33. A garden party hosted by the Prince concluded the day.

The consensus was that while they had been outplayed throughout, the side had proved extremely popular, and that the captain, Dr Dhunjishaw Patel, had led them well. Some players returned home with reputations enhanced. Muncherjee Framjee, who bowled overarm, took 79 wickets at 26.71, and Shapurjee Bhedwar 59 at 19.57. The best bowling came against MCC, when Ardeshir Major took 9 for 119, and that game also provided a rare batting highlight when Jal Morenas, the only tourist to pass 500 runs, hit Grace for three fours. Only four fifties were scored all trip.

The team departed for home on August 24 with a record of one win and 19 defeats in their 28 matches. Dr Patel sent an open letter to the London newspapers thanking people for "the many kindnesses and friendly encouragement" the players had received. "We have never aspired to pass as good cricketers here. All our defeats were expected. We have had many difficulties, mainly owning to our ignorance and inexperience of the country… [but] we are leaving with strong feelings of affection for the country and its people.

"The visit of the team of native Indian cricketers to England is an event of no small significance, not only from the standpoint of cricket but also from the political point of view," said an imperialist-flavoured review in Cricket Chat. "The Parsee fraternity is the most intelligent as well as the most loyal of the races scattered over our possessions.

"For some years past the Parsees have given substantial proof of their affection for our national game and striven hard, in spite of climactic disadvantages, to acquit themselves with great credit on the cricket field. It is no exaggeration to say the visit of a Parsee team will stand out conspicuously as one of the most pleasant memories of English cricketers of the present generation."

Source-cricinfo

When players became cricketers

In November 1962 one of cricket's lingering anachronisms was finally abolished when the distinction between amateurs and professionals was officially scrapped. While of significance until World War Two - until the growth of Test cricket, outside an Ashes summer the highlight were the Gentlemen v Players matches - it all but fell apart in the social upheaval that followed.

The splitting of players into two distinct groups was a fundamental part of the game. In its simplest form, professionals were paid, amateurs (widely known as gentlemen) were not. Within that the British class system was prevalent. Almost all amateurs were public school or at least middle-class; the professionals were generally working-class. Even then there were professionals who made a living from the game and those who were professional because they could not afford to me amateurs.

Professionals were often treated much as servants would be and were expected to be as deferential to amateurs and committeemen as a butler would be to the master of the house. They had separate hotels when they travelled, separate changing rooms and food at the grounds, referred to by their surnames only, and at most counties could never aspire to captaincy. Even scorecards made a small but marked distinction - amateurs were given full initials, professionals surname only.

Perhaps the way captaincy was handled was the most ridiculous aspect of it all. Professionals were deemed unable to take on such a role and so often found themselves playing under amateur captains who were barely of club standard. Counties often scratched round to find someone - anyone - willing to take charge. Some were so poor that they did little more than stand on the field while the senior professionals ran the show.

The lines between the two were always murky - WG Grace, technically an amateur, earned more from the game than even the top professionals - and caused deep resentment. After World War One fewer people had the time or money to play for the fun of it and so the lines became ever more blurred. Some were often found work by counties and given under-the-counter payments to allow them to remain amateur - or shamateurs as they were widely known - making the distinction even more meaningless.

In 1938 Wally Hammond had to switch from being a professional to a "gentleman" to allow him to become England captain. He was the same man, the same cricketer, but overnight he became acceptable in the eyes of the establishment. Even when Len Hutton became England's first professional captain in 1952 it was only after he refused to go down the same route as Hammond.
The mood of the country after World War Two was one of change and in 1946 Glamorgan proposed the abolition of the amateur but they found little support.

By the late 1950s the distinction had long lost any credibility and amateurs were all but extinct. One by one the distinctions - dressing rooms, initials on scorecards, accommodation - were chipped away but the old guard refused to go down without a fight. Several committees reported it was time to treat everyone as simply "cricketers" but it was not until May 1962 the Advisory County Committee put forward a proposal to scrap amateur status.

"To distinguish between them is often humbug," reported the Times. That did not stop the same newspaper still refusing to print initials for anyone other than the so-called amateurs in the first matches on the 1962-63 MCC tour of Australia. At the start of the MCC tour of Australia the captain, Ted Dexter, nominally still an amateur, admitted he earned considerably more from cricket than his various business ventures.

The debate rumbled on all summer but even those who fought the change seemed to realise they were railing against the dying of the light. The curtain came down at Scarborough when fittingly the Players beat the Gentlemen in the final match of the summer. It was the 274th meeting of the teams in a contest dating back to 1806.
On November 26 the 17 first-class counties met at Lord's and after a six-hour meeting voted - although not unanimously - to end the distinction. The formal and official scrapping of amateur status came on January 31, 1963 when the MCC confirmed without dissent the earlier decision.

"It's a sad day and signals the end of an era," said Sir Jack Hobbs, the first professional to be knighted for services to the game. "They were a great asset because they could freely whereas many professionals felt they couldn't take chances."

In the Daily Telegraph EW Swanton lamented the change and questioned "the moral authority" of those making the decision.

Those views were in a minority. in the same paper Michael Melford countered all that had been abolished was a "form of legalised deceit". And Herbert Sutcliffe, who as a professional had turned down an at-the-time remarkable approach to captain the ultra-conservative Yorkshire in 1927, said he was "in full agreement". Stuart Surridge, who as an amateur had led Surrey to seven successive Championships in the 1950s, said "it's a good thing … we are all cricketers at heart".

Vic Wilson, who led Yorkshire to the Championship in 1962, said: "A team is one body of men … it is commonsense to out all players on one footing."

In a lead editorial the Daily Mirror congratulated "the lawmakers … this silly social distinction needed hitting for six" and could not resist a swipe at the Times into the bargain. "Perhaps now this olde-world journal will print the initials of all MCC players … or is that expecting too much?"
As with many such long-debated changes there was actually little fallout. The Gentlemen v Players game disappeared off the fixture list but was largely unmourned. Several counties who had steadfastly refused to pick a professional captain were freed to choose the best man with a clear conscience.

On February 14 Surrey picked their first non-amateur captain in Micky Stewart, ten years at the club but until then ineligible for the role. He said: "It was a farce that an amateur could receive money for putting his name to sports equipment and writing articles without it affecting his status."

Ken Grieves, who took charge at Lancashire that same summer, was even blunter. "This cuts out the snobbery," he said. "In the past a lot of things have been pushed aside for the old school tie."

What happened next?

    Former England spinner Phil Edmonds asked to play as an amateur in 1988 as his business ventures meant he couldn't afford the time to commit to full-time cricket. "You decide which games you want me to play, and I'll play, for nothing," he said according to the Daily Telegraph and he even began signing autographs 'Mr P H Edmonds'. His offer was refused by the committee and he retired
    In 2010 a match between Gentlemen and Players was staged at Wormsley, with the Gentlemen recording their first win since 1953. As a sign of the time, it was a Twenty20 match.

source-cricinfo

Limited-overs cricket

In the 1960s, English county teams began playing a version of cricket with games of only one innings each and a maximum number of overs per innings. Starting in 1963 as a knockout competition only, limited overs grew in popularity and in 1969 a national league was created which consequently caused a reduction in the number of matches in the County Championship.

Although many "traditional" cricket fans objected to the shorter form of the game, limited overs cricket did have the advantage of delivering a result to spectators within a single day; it did improve cricket's appeal to younger or busier people; and it did prove commercially successful.

The first limited overs international match took place at Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1971 as a time-filler after a Test match had been abandoned because of heavy rain on the opening days. It was tried simply as an experiment and to give the players some exercise, but turned out to be immensely popular. Limited overs internationals (LOIs or ODIs, after one-day Internationals) have since grown to become a massively popular form of the game, especially for busy people who want to be able to see a whole match. The International Cricket Council reacted to this development by organising the first Cricket World Cup in England in 1975, with all the Test playing nations taking part.

International Cricket

The first ever international cricket game was between the USA and Canada in 1844. The match was played at the grounds of the St George's Cricket Club in New York.The English team 1859 on their way to the USA

In 1859, a team of leading English professionals set off to North America on the first-ever overseas tour and, in 1862, the first English team toured Australia.

Between May and October 1868, a team of Australian Aborigines toured England in what was the first Australian cricket team to travel overseas.
The first Australian touring team (1878) pictured at Niagara Falls

In 1877, an England touring team in Australia played two matches against full Australian XIs that are now regarded as the inaugural Test matches. The following year, the Australians toured England for the first time and were a spectacular success. No Tests were played on that tour but more soon followed and, at The Oval in 1882, arguably the most famous match of all time gave rise to The Ashes. South Africa became the third Test nation in 1889.

Origin of the game

No one knows when or where cricket began but there is a body of evidence, much of it circumstantial, that strongly suggests the game was devised during Saxon or Norman times by children living in the Weald, an area of dense woodlands and clearings in south-east England that lies across Kent and Sussex. In medieval times, the Weald was populated by small farming and metal-working communities. It is generally believed that cricket survived as a children's game for many centuries before it was increasingly taken up by adults around the beginning of the 17th century.

It is quite likely that cricket was devised by children and survived for many generations as essentially a children’s game. Adult participation is unknown before the early 17th century. Possibly cricket was derived from bowls, assuming bowls is the older sport, by the intervention of a batsman trying to stop the ball from reaching its target by hitting it away. Playing on sheep-grazed land or in clearings, the original implements may have been a matted lump of sheep’s wool (or even a stone or a small lump of wood) as the ball; a stick or a crook or another farm tool as the bat; and a stool or a tree stump or a gate as the wicket.

source-wiki