History of Cricket
Cricket is a global passion, played everywhere from Test match arenas to village greens, tropical beaches and dusty back lots. Just look at the varied cricket events sponsored by Royal London: star-studded internationals for men and women; Britain’s club championship pairing 256 community teams, county cups for teens. It has a great history too.
Early days
Cricket was first recorded in 16th-century England, and it was played in grammar schools, farm communities and everywhere in between. But things really took off when 18th-century nobles realised that not only was it a great sport but also an excellent opportunity for betting.
With sky-high stakes being wagered, it was deemed necessary to come up with agreed rules. The oldest surviving set of cricket laws date from 1744 – printed on a handkerchief, naturally. It's now in the MCC Museum at Lord’s in London.
The first international match was in 1877 when Australia beat England in Melbourne. The match was dubbed a “Test”, since the gruelling nature of playing over five days was deemed the ultimate “test” for any side.
But it was Australia’s first win on English soil – in 1882 at The Oval in London – that led to matches between the two nations being christened the Ashes. Following the defeat, newspapers published an obituary mourning “the death of English cricket”, adding that “the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia”.
History of Basketball
Basketball was invented by James Naismith in Springfield, Massachusetts. The year was 1891, and as the story goes, Naismith was asked to come up with an indoor game that offered fewer injuries than classic American gridiron football. He came up with a 9-on-9 game that involved shooting a ball into a peach basket.
The game of basketball grew very rapidly, with college teams forming leagues within the first decade of the game’s invention. Naismith himself would become a college coach for the game, joining the University of Kansas in 1898. He would amass a win/loss record of 55-60. This means James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, is also the only coach in Kansas history to have a losing record.
History of Table Tennis
Table tennis is an indoor ball game and is ranked the sixth most popular with an estimated 850millon fans in the world. Two or four players play the game of table tennis. The Equipment required includes a celluloid plastic ball, a table tennis table; and laminated wooden rackets. Standing opposite each other at a table that is separated by a net; the players hit the ball back and forth. I’ve already covered the Basic rule of table tennis, Now in this article, I will be covering table tennis history. Table Tennis just like other sports has a history. The history of table tennis has been a subject of research for centuries.
History of Handball
Handball, any of a family of games played in walled courts or against a single wall, with a small rubber ball that is struck with hand or fist against the wall. The object is to cause the ball to rebound with variations of power or speed and at such an angle that the opposition cannot return it. There are three versions of handball: four-wall, three-wall, and one-wall. Each may be played by two (singles) or four (doubles).
History of Hockey
The first hockey club in India came up in Calcutta in 1885-86 and soon Bombay and Punjab followed suit. Making its Olympic debut at the 1928 Amsterdam Games, Indian hockey team cruised home to its first Olympic gold, without conceding a single goal. The hallmark of this ruthless domination was the wizardry of Indian hockey legend - Dhyan Chand. From 1928 to 1956, the Indian hockey juggernaut won six straight Olympic gold medals, while winning 24 consecutive matches. During this time, India scored 178 goals conceding only 7 in the process.
This was the golden era of Indian hockey, when India loomed large in world hockey and produced some of the finest players the game has ever seen. During this dominance, one name that clearly comes to mind is Balbir Singh. For almost three decades, Indian team had about five players with the same name. The first Balbir Singh played with the great Indian teams of 1948, 1952 and 1956. He reached the pinnacle of success at Helsinki in 1952 when he scored five goals in a 6-1 gold medal victory over the Netherlands. The four later Balbir Singhs played with the later Indian champions.
The Indian stranglehold over the Olympic hockey gold came to an end, when Pakistan defeated India in the final of the 1960 Rome Olympics. However, the record created by India is likely to stand strong through ages, as no other country has ever managed to come close to it, leave about beating it. Talking about some of the legendary and outstanding players of Indian hockey, Dhyan Chand, K.D. Singh, Dhanraj Pillay and Dilip Tirkey are some names that come to mind instantly.
History of Archery
Archery is a sport that dates back years and years before the modern day version that we have today with all sorts of high-tech equipment and different techniques of shooting and competing with other archers. To give you an idea of just how old archery really is, in approx. 2800 BC, the first composite bow was produced by the Egyptians. It was made from wood, tipped with animal horn and held together with animal sinew and glue. Unstrung, it resembled a "C" shape and would have required 2 people to string it. The bowstring was made from "catgut" (sheep intestines). The arrows used were extremely light, could be shot 400 yards using the composite bow and would easily penetrate the armor of that time period. The Egyptians used archers on the back of light chariots who were highly trained and skilled and could easily outflank an enemy army with devastating effect.
History of Badminton
The origins of the game of badminton date back at least 2,000 years to the game of battledore and shuttlecock played in ancient Greece, China, and India. ... Badminton took its name from Badminton House in Gloucestershire, the ancestral home of the Duke of Beaufort, where the sport was played in the last century.
