Why did cricket become famous in all British colonized countries
04Dec
Cricket Blog

Why did cricket become famous in all British colonized countries

Cricket, the game of bat and ball is one of the most popular games in the world. More than 100 countries play cricket today. There are 12 countries that are fully associated members of the ICC (International Cricket Council), which can officially participate in the world cup, whereas 92 countries are not fully associated, which means that cricket is played there, but it's not that mainstream.

Cricket, as we all know it originated from England in the 17th century. Cricket is also the national game of England for this very reason. The spread of the game from Wales to the world took a long time. Today when we see some of the most dominating countries in world cricket i.e. India, Australia, West Indies, South Africa, etc. One thing that is common between all of these countries is the fact that they were all colonized by the British at some point of time in the past. In the 18th-century, cricket's success was driven by patronage and betting. As more and more people came in to watch the game cricket betting predictions, gambling started to gain popularity. As more money began to flow in the game, more people got interested in the game, and villages and towns began having their teams to compete against each other, which later became famous as county cricket in England.

Cricket was always labeled as a "Gentlemen's game" or a "Noble game". The colonizers would often play this game in front of the local people to show them how they are more powerful and noble. Often, the colonizers would play against local teams, and as they were more experienced and had more knowledge of the game, they would most of the time end up on the winning side.

In most countries, cricket was adapted because the colonizer would play against the local teams and the locals ended up learning the game, while in some countries like India, where the locals were not treated with a lot of respect, people would generally try to mimic the game that the Britishers played. 

Today, India is one of the major giants in cricket. India has adapted to this sport so well that it organizes one of the leading tournaments in cricket, the IPL (India Premier League). It can be said that cricket is an Indian game invented by the British.

While cricket has changed a lot in the years gone by. In the beginning, cricket was considered as a children's game. It gradually spread across villages and towns as more and more people started to travel. In 1728 the rules and regulations were officially drafted for the game. As surprising as it may sound, the first two countries to play an international match were the United States and Canada in 1844. Today, the US and Canada don't play cricket that much. The overarm bowling style was legalized in 1864. 

Today cricket is standardized into three formats Test, ODI, and T20. While the basic rules of the game remain the same across the countries, there are different legalities associated with cricket in different countries. For eg. BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) does not allow Indian players to play in leagues outside their country. There are also legalities associated with betting in many countries. Some countries like Australia and England have legalized betting, whereas countries like India do not see betting as a legal way to make money.

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