85-456: Alan Melville (19 May 1910 – 18 April 1983) was a South African cricketer who played in 11 Test matches from 1938 to 1949. He was born in Carnarvon, Northern Cape , South Africa and died at Sabie , Transvaal . Melville was a right-handed middle-order batsman sometimes used as an opener and a right-arm leg-break and googly bowler who later switched to off-breaks. Educated at Michaelhouse , he
170-456: A public school education who had then gone to one of Cambridge or Oxford University . Society insisted that such people were "officers and gentlemen" whose destiny was to provide leadership. In a purely financial sense, the cricketing amateur would theoretically claim expenses for playing while his professional counterpart played under contract and was paid a wage or match fee; in practice, many amateurs claimed more than actual expenditure, and
255-442: A timeless Test that nevertheless had to be left as a draw after 10 days. England won the series by winning the third game, with all the others left drawn. Melville himself took a while to adapt to Test cricket. He was out without scoring in the only innings of the first game, one of five ducks in an innings of 390. For the second match, he demoted himself from No 3 in the batting order to No 9 and scored 23 in his only innings. For
340-561: A collared shirt with short or long sleeves; long trousers; woolen pullover (if needed); cricket cap (for fielding) or a safety helmet; and spiked shoes or boots to increase traction. The kit is traditionally all white, and this remains the case in Test and first-class cricket, but in limited overs cricket, team colours are now worn instead. i) A used white ball. White balls are mainly used in limited overs cricket , especially in matches played at night, under floodlights (left). The essence of
425-454: A fence, part of the stands, a rope, a painted line, or a combination of these; the boundary must if possible be marked along its entire length. In the approximate centre of the field is a rectangular pitch (see image, below) on which a wooden target called a wicket is sited at each end; the wickets are placed 22 yards (20 m) apart. The pitch is a flat surface 10 feet (3.0 m) wide, with very short grass that tends to be worn away as
510-455: A fourth season and a fourth Blue and although he featured in fewer than half the University side's matches, he hit his highest Oxford score, an innings of 127 made in less than two-and-a-quarter hours against a very weak Surrey attack at The Oval . He played for Sussex again in the second half of the 1933 season and, as in the previous year, was not conspicuously successful – until, virtually at
595-598: A highly popular format, putting the longer formats at risk. The new shorter format also introduced franchise cricket, with new tournaments like the Indian Premier League and the Australian Big Bash League . The ICC has selected the T20 format as cricket's growth format, and has introduced a T20 World Cup which is played every two years; T20 cricket has also been increasingly accepted into major events such as
680-455: A record-breaking win, finishing at 423 for seven wickets: Melville dropped down the batting order in this game and scored 39 and 6. In the five Tests, Melville had scored 569 runs at an average of 63.22; this put him third in the batting averages behind Nourse and Mitchell, but the three of them all scored more than double the number of runs of any other South African batsman. Outside the Tests, there
765-573: A row; Melville's (and Fingleton's) record of four has since been equalled only by Rahul Dravid . The rest of the Lord's Test was less successful, however, and the South Africans lost the match after being forced to follow on, with Melville making just 8 in the second innings. The match at Lord's set the pattern for the rest of the tour as South Africa's limited bowling and inconsistent batting were exposed by England's weight of runs from Compton and Edrich and
850-484: A somewhat stodgy game in their efforts to finish at the top and they thus defeated their own ends," it said. "At times they would not risk anything." Wisden compared Melville's "strange disinclination to experiment" with the adventurous approach taken by Maurice Tate , the senior professional at the club, who captained the side when Melville missed a few games. As a batsman, Melville was highly successful, scoring 1504 runs at an average of 42.97 with three centuries, though in
935-573: A total of 1904 runs at an average of 40.51. His side had a mixed season, falling to seventh in the County Championship. At the end of the 1935 season, Melville resigned the Sussex captaincy; he played only irregularly for Sussex in the 1936 season though he finished with a flourish, scoring 152, his highest first-class score to that point, in his last game for the county, the match against the Indians . When
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#17328589654671020-535: A victory target of 696, were forced to leave the match as a draw to catch their ship home. Melville served with the South African forces during the Second World War , but an injury in training brought about a recurrence of the back injury he had suffered as a teenager in 1929 and for almost a year he wore a steel jacket; Wisden wrote that "it was thought that he would never play cricket again". Discharged from
1105-416: A winner or tie.) The wicket-keeper (a specialised fielder behind the batter) and the batters wear protective gear because of the hardness of the ball, which can be delivered at speeds of more than 145 kilometres per hour (90 mph) and presents a major health and safety concern. Protective clothing includes pads (designed to protect the knees and shins), batting gloves or wicket-keeper's gloves for
1190-403: Is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field , at the centre of which is a 22-yard (20-metre; 66-foot) pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails (small sticks) balanced on three stumps . Two players from the batting team, the striker and nonstriker, stand in front of either wicket holding bats , while one player from the fielding team,
1275-529: Is aimed at a mark (the wicket) and driven away from it". It is generally believed that cricket originated as a children's game in the south-eastern counties of England, sometime during the medieval period . Although there are claims for prior dates, the earliest definite reference to cricket being played comes from evidence given at a court case in Guildford in January 1597 ( Old Style , equating to January 1598 in
1360-449: Is certain that cricket was being played c. 1550 by boys in Surrey . The view that it was originally a children's game is reinforced by Randle Cotgrave 's 1611 English- French dictionary in which he defined the noun " crosse " as "the crooked staff wherewith boys play at cricket", and the verb form " crosser " as "to play at cricket". One possible source for the sport's name
1445-423: Is drawn four feet in front of the bowling crease and parallel to it; although it is drawn as a 12 ft (3.7 m) line (six feet on either side of the wicket), it is, in fact, unlimited in length. The return creases are drawn at right angles to the popping crease so that they intersect the ends of the bowling crease; each return crease is drawn as an 8 ft (2.4 m) line, so that it extends four feet behind
1530-635: Is known, through numerous references found in the records of ecclesiastical court cases, to have been proscribed at times by the Puritans before and during the Commonwealth . The problem was nearly always the issue of Sunday play, as the Puritans considered cricket to be "profane" if played on the Sabbath , especially if large crowds or gambling were involved. According to the social historian Derek Birley , there
1615-556: Is the Old English word " cryce " (or " cricc " ) meaning a crutch or staff. In Samuel Johnson 's Dictionary , he derived cricket from " cryce , Saxon, a stick". In Old French , the word " criquet " seems to have meant a kind of club or stick. Given the strong medieval trade connections between south-east England and the County of Flanders when the latter belonged to the Duchy of Burgundy ,
1700-411: Is the earliest mention of adult participation in cricket and it was around the same time that the earliest known organised inter-parish or village match was played, at Chevening, Kent . In 1624, a player called Jasper Vinall died after he was accidentally struck on the head during a match between two parish teams in Sussex. Cricket remained a low-key local pursuit for much of the 17th century. It
1785-402: Is thought, a " wicket gate " through which sheep were herded), that the batter must defend. The cricket historian Harry Altham identified three "groups" of "club ball" games: the "hockey group", in which the ball is driven to and from between two targets (the goals); the "golf group", in which the ball is driven towards an undefended target (the hole); and the "cricket group", in which "the ball
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#17328589654671870-567: The Asian Games . The resultant growth has seen cricket's fanbase cross one billion people, with 90% of them in South Asia. T20's success has also spawned even shorter formats , such as 10-over cricket (T10) and 100-ball cricket , though not without controversy. Outside factors have also taken their toll on cricket. For example, the 2008 Mumbai attacks led India and Pakistan to suspend their bilateral series indefinitely. The 2009 attack on
1955-685: The British Empire had been instrumental in spreading the game overseas, and by the middle of the 19th century it had become well established in Australia , the Caribbean , British India (which includes present-day Pakistan and Bangladesh ), New Zealand , North America and South Africa . In 1862, an English team made the first tour of Australia. The first Australian team to travel overseas consisted of Aboriginal stockmen who toured England in 1868 . In 1876–77, an England team took part in what
2040-461: The Dukes of Richmond , exerted their honour code of noblesse oblige to claim rights of leadership in any sporting contests they took part in, especially as it was necessary for them to play alongside their "social inferiors" if they were to win their bets. In time, a perception took hold that the typical amateur who played in first-class cricket, until 1962 when amateurism was abolished, was someone with
2125-466: The West Indies . Women's cricket , which is organised and played separately, has also achieved international standard. The most successful side playing international cricket is Australia , which has won eight One Day International trophies, including six World Cups , more than any other country, and has been the top-rated Test side more than any other country. Cricket is one of many games in
2210-401: The "club ball" sphere that involve hitting a ball with a hand-held implement. Others include baseball (which shares many similarities with cricket, both belonging in the more specific bat-and-ball games category ), golf , hockey , tennis , squash , badminton and table tennis . In cricket's case, a key difference is the existence of a solid target structure, the wicket (originally, it
2295-414: The 1946–47 season and in the first match scored a new personal highest score with an innings of 153, putting on 299 for the seventh wicket with Bruce Mitchell which was a partnership record for that wicket in South African cricket. With his wife recovered and his own fitness not in doubt, he was picked as captain for the 1947 South African tour of England . The 1947 English cricket season was dominated by
2380-675: The 19th century. The game's governing body is the International Cricket Council (ICC), which has over 100 members, twelve of which are full members who play Test matches. The game's rules, the Laws of Cricket , are maintained by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in London . The sport is followed primarily in South Asia , Australia , New Zealand , the United Kingdom , Southern Africa , and
2465-573: The Freshman's trial match at Oxford and was thereafter a regular in the Oxford University side over the next four years, winning a Blue each year. He scored 78 in his first first-class innings for Oxford against Kent in May 1930. In the next game, he scored 118 against Yorkshire . He did not maintain that form, but finished with 591 runs at an average of 32.83, plus 19 rather expensive wickets, though he
2550-571: The Middle Dutch phrase for hockey, " met de (krik ket)sen " ("with the stick chase"). Gillmeister has suggested that not only the name but also the sport itself may be of Flemish origin. Although the main object of the game has always been to score the most runs , the early form of cricket differed from the modern game in certain key technical aspects; the North American variant of cricket known as wicket retained many of these aspects. The ball
2635-506: The South African innings in the fourth Test and he and van der Bijl – his collision partner from Oxford in 1932 – put on an opening partnership of 108 before Melville was out for 67. Rain had spoiled the possibility of a South African victory in the fourth game, but the fifth match was due to be played to a finish, South Africa attempted to win through sheer weight of runs: the first innings lasted two-and-a-half days and totalled 530. Van der Bijl and Melville improved on their first-wicket stand in
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2720-560: The Sri Lankan team during their tour of Pakistan led to Pakistan being unable to host matches until 2019. In 2017, Afghanistan and Ireland became the 11th and 12th Test nations. In cricket, the rules of the game are codified in The Laws of Cricket (hereinafter called "the Laws"), which has a global remit. There are 42 Laws (always written with a capital "L"). The earliest known version of
2805-454: The ball hits the striker's wicket and dislodges the bails, and by the fielding side either catching the ball after it is hit by the bat but before it hits the ground, or hitting a wicket with the ball before a batter can cross the crease line in front of the wicket. When ten batters have been dismissed, the innings (playing phase) ends and the teams swap roles. Forms of cricket range from traditional Test matches played over five days to
2890-466: The ball, which is a hard, solid spheroid made of compressed leather with a slightly raised sewn seam enclosing a cork core layered with tightly wound string. The earliest known definite reference to cricket is to it being played in South East England in the mid-16th century. It spread globally with the expansion of the British Empire , with the first international matches in the second half of
2975-449: The batting team are on the field at any given time. The order of batters is usually announced just before the match, but it can be varied. The main objective of each team is to score more runs than their opponents, but in some forms of cricket, it is also necessary to dismiss all but one of the opposition batters (making their team 'all out') in their final innings in order to win the match, which would otherwise be drawn (not ending with
3060-529: The bowler, bowls the ball toward the striker's wicket from the opposite end of the pitch. The striker's goal is to hit the bowled ball with the bat and then switch places with the nonstriker, with the batting team scoring one run for each of these exchanges. Runs are also scored when the ball reaches the boundary of the field or when the ball is bowled illegally . The fielding team tries to prevent runs from being scored by dismissing batters (so they are "out"). Means of dismissal include being bowled , when
3145-421: The bowling crease, but is also, in fact, unlimited in length. Before a match begins, the team captains (who are also players) toss a coin to decide which team will bat first and so take the first innings . "Innings" is the term used for each phase of play in the match. In each innings, one team bats, attempting to score runs , while the other team bowls and fields the ball , attempting to restrict
3230-451: The captaincy of George Mann toured South Africa. Melville, nominally retired, was persuaded to play in an early-season first class match for Transvaal against Natal after which, in the last of a long line of injuries, he fractured a wrist; he recovered in time to play for Transvaal in the game against the touring side just before the first Test and scored 92 with what Wisden said was, "next to Hutton " – who scored 174 – "the best batting of
3315-479: The code was drafted in 1744, and since 1788, it has been owned and maintained by its custodian, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in London . Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played on a cricket field (see image of cricket pitch and creases) between two teams of eleven players each. The field is usually circular or oval in shape, and the edge of the playing area is marked by a boundary , which may be
3400-541: The death of his father; Scott was unable to resume in 1934, and Melville took over the Sussex captaincy for the next two seasons. Sussex had finished second in the County Championship for each of the preceding two seasons and under Melville in 1934 they again finished second, but there was veiled criticism of changes to the county's style of play in the 1935 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack . "Sussex, renowned for their attractive and enterprising hitting, developed
3485-548: The derisive term "shamateur" was coined to describe the practice. The game underwent major development in the 18th century to become England's national sport . Its success was underwritten by the twin necessities of patronage and betting. Cricket was prominent in London as early as 1707 and, in the middle years of the century, large crowds flocked to matches on the Artillery Ground in Finsbury . The single wicket form of
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3570-405: The earliest known contest that is generally considered a First Class match. The patrons and other players from the gentry began to classify themselves as " amateurs " to establish a clear distinction from the professionals, who were invariably members of the working class , even to the point of having separate changing and dining facilities. The gentry, including such high-ranking nobles as
3655-566: The end of the season, the West Indian touring team played Sussex. Facing a big West Indian total, Sussex, with Melville as stand-in captain, opened with Ted Bowley and John Langridge , and Manny Martindale and Herman Griffith were both bowling with aggressively and using leg theory , the tactic that had been used in the Bodyline controversy of the previous winter by England in Australia . Bowley
3740-456: The existence of players like him who were nominally amateur but, in terms of their financial gain, de facto professional. Grace himself was said to have been paid more money for playing cricket than any professional. The last two decades before the First World War have been called the " Golden Age of cricket ". It is a nostalgic name prompted by the collective sense of loss resulting from
3825-446: The first innings and then, when the South Africans went in wanting 227 to win the match in 140 minutes, he hit an unbeaten 104 in the second innings, though the match remained drawn. Melville's performance set several records: this was the first time a South African batsman had scored two separate hundreds in a Test match; his first innings of 189 was at the time the highest by a South African against England, though Mitchell equalled it and
3910-495: The first innings, scoring 131 before Melville was out for 78. After bowling England out for 316, Melville did not enforce the follow-on and the South Africans in their second innings scored 481; Melville himself had an injured thigh and this time came in at No 6 but scored 103, his first Test century. Despite the heavy scoring the match was left drawn after the 10th day when the England team, having scored 654 for five wickets in pursuit of
3995-631: The first limited overs Cricket World Cup in 1975 . Sri Lanka joined the ranks in 1982. Meanwhile, South Africa was banned by the ICC due to apartheid from 1970 until 1992. 1992 also brought about the introduction of the Zimbabwe team . The 21st century brought with it the Bangladesh Team , who made their Test debut in 2000. The game itself also grew, with a new format made up of 20-over innings being created. This format, called T20 cricket , quickly became
4080-535: The first victory over Cambridge since 1923. In 1932, Melville was the Oxford captain in his own right, but his season was disrupted by injury – though not to the same degree as Moore's had been in 1931 – when he broke his collarbone while batting in the match against the Free Foresters by colliding with his partner, Pieter van der Bijl . Melville had made an unbeaten century, 113 * before the collision. On his return to
4165-411: The forces in 1945, Melville undertook an intensive programme of rehabilitation and was able to resume his cricket career early in 1946. Almost immediately, he was forced to stand down again and it was feared that his back injury had returned; in fact, he was not injured, but his wife had contracted poliomyelitis and while she recovered he looked after their children. He returned to cricket at the start of
4250-450: The game at county level led to the creation of the county clubs , starting with Sussex in 1839. In December 1889, the eight leading county clubs formed the official County Championship , which began in 1890. The most famous player of the 19th century was W. G. Grace , who started his long and influential career in 1865. It was especially during the career of Grace that the distinction between amateurs and professionals became blurred by
4335-424: The game progresses (cricket can also be played on artificial surfaces, notably matting). Each wicket is made of three wooden stumps topped by two bails . As illustrated, the pitch is marked at each end with four white painted lines: a bowling crease , a popping crease and two return creases . The three stumps are aligned centrally on the bowling crease, which is eight feet eight inches long. The popping crease
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#17328589654674420-432: The game quickly grew from 500 tests in 84 years to 1000 within the next 23. Cricket entered a new era in 1963 when English counties introduced the limited overs variant. As it was sure to produce a result, limited overs cricket was lucrative, and the number of matches increased. The first Limited Overs International was played in 1971, and the governing International Cricket Council (ICC), seeing its potential, staged
4505-421: The greatest Test batter of all time. To curb his dominance, England employed bodyline tactics during the 1932–33 Ashes series . These involved bowling at the body of the batter and setting a field, resulting in batters having to choose between being hit or risk getting out. This series moved cricket from a game to a matter of national importance , with diplomatic cables being passed between the two countries over
4590-529: The hands, a safety helmet for the head, and a box for male players inside the trousers (to protect the crotch area). Some batters wear additional padding inside their shirts and trousers such as thigh pads, arm pads, rib protectors and shoulder pads. The only fielders allowed to wear protective gear are those in positions very close to the batter (i.e., if they are alongside or in front of him), but they cannot wear gloves or external leg guards. Subject to certain variations, on-field clothing generally includes
4675-469: The heady world of Sussex batting at the time that still left him only fifth in the county's batting averages, behind Tommy Cook , John Langridge , Jim Parks, Sr. and Harry Parks . In the winter of 1934–35, Melville was operated on for appendicitis. He recovered in time to lead the team through the season, and though he again missed a few matches, he had a personally successful season, heading Sussex's Championship batting averages and scoring in all matches
4760-425: The home side's greater bowling variety and experience. Melville made 17 and 59 in the third Test, played at Manchester , which was also lost. The Leeds Test brought him scores of 0 and 30 in two weak South African batting performances, and a third Test defeat in succession. The fifth Test, played in what Wisden called "extreme heat", ended in a tense draw with the South Africans, seeking 451 for what would have been
4845-457: The incident. During this time, the number of Test nations continued to grow, with the West Indies , New Zealand and India being admitted as full Test members within a four-year period from 1928 to 1932. An enforced break during the Second World War stopped Test Cricket for a time, although the Partition of India caused Pakistan to gain Test status in 1952. As teams began to travel more,
4930-430: The match". But Melville announced after the game that his wrist was not yet recovered enough for him to take part in the Test. He was finally fit in time for the third Test, a fortnight later, and this proved to be his last Test match, and also the only one in which he did not captain the South African side: used as an opening batsman, he scored 15 and 24 in a drawn match. He then played in a second game for Transvaal against
5015-413: The modern calendar). The case concerned ownership of a certain plot of land, and the court heard the testimony of a 59-year-old coroner , John Derrick , who gave witness that: Being a scholler in the ffree schoole of Guldeford hee and diverse of his fellows did runne and play there at creckett and other plaies. Given Derrick's age, it was about half a century earlier when he was at school, and so it
5100-541: The name may have been derived from the Middle Dutch (in use in Flanders at the time) " krick " ( -e ), meaning a stick (crook). Another possible source is the Middle Dutch word " krickstoel " , meaning a long low stool used for kneeling in church that resembled the long low wicket with two stumps used in early cricket. According to Heiner Gillmeister, a European language expert of Bonn University , "cricket" derives from
5185-448: The newer Twenty20 format (also known as T20 ), in which each team bats for a single innings of 20 overs (each "over" being a set of 6 fair opportunities for the batting team to score) and the game generally lasts three to four hours. Traditionally, cricketers play in all-white kit , but in limited overs cricket , they wear club or team colours. In addition to the basic kit, some players wear protective gear to prevent injury caused by
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#17328589654675270-430: The physical effect on him was significant, as Wisden noted: "The mental and physical exhaustion, indeed, took such toll of a never robust physique that on his return to South Africa Melville weighed 27 pounds less than when he set out." He announced his retirement from first-class cricket after a couple of matches for Transvaal in the winter that followed the tour. In the winter of 1948/49, an England cricket team under
5355-414: The run-getting exploits of Denis Compton and Bill Edrich , and the South African side led by Melville suffered at the hands of both batsmen in a hot summer made for batting. In the first half of the season, however, Melville's own batting form was almost as good, despite breaking a bone in his little finger early on and also straining his thigh during the first Test. He made centuries in the second match of
5440-412: The scoring and dismiss the batters. When the first innings ends, the teams change roles; there can be two to four innings depending upon the type of match. A match with four scheduled innings is played over three to five days; a match with two scheduled innings is usually completed in a single day. During an innings, all eleven members of the fielding team take the field, but usually only two members of
5525-756: The season was over, he left England, moving back to South Africa where he took a job on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Back in South Africa, Melville became captain of the Johannesburg-based Wanderers Cricket Club and in December 1936 played his first game for Transvaal, though he did not appear in Transvaal's Currie Cup matches that season. The following year, however, he captained Transvaal in six of its seven Currie Cup matches as
5610-612: The side in late June, he was successful with the ball, taking a hat-trick and nine wickets in the game against H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI, and he finished top of the University bowling averages. In the University Match, Melville was unable to repeat his leadership success of 1931, and the match was drawn. Following the end of the 1932 University cricket season, Melville made his debut for Sussex , playing in 11 matches and scoring consistent runs, if with no high scores. Unusually, though no longer captain, he returned to Oxford in 1933 for
5695-443: The sport attracted huge crowds and wagers to match, its popularity peaking in the 1748 season . Bowling underwent an evolution around 1760 when bowlers began to pitch (bounce) the ball instead of rolling or skimming it towards the batter. This caused a revolution in bat design because, to deal with the bouncing ball, it was necessary to introduce the modern straight bat in place of the old "hockey stick" shape. The Hambledon Club
5780-413: The sport is that a bowler delivers (i.e., bowls) the ball from their end of the pitch towards the batter who, armed with a bat , is "on strike" at the other end (see next sub-section: Basic gameplay ). The bat is made of wood, usually Salix alba (white willow), and has the shape of a blade topped by a cylindrical handle. The blade must not be more than 4.25 inches (10.8 cm) wide and
5865-567: The team shared the title with Natal; he had little success with the bat himself, scoring just 109 runs at an average of 15.57 and did not bowl at all. In fact, after his return to South Africa from England in 1936 he scarcely bowled at all. Despite this indifferent form, Melville was selected as the captain for the five Tests on the England tour of 1938–39 : the series was his own Test debut. The five matches suffered at times, Wisden wrote, from "slow-motion methods adopted by both sides" and culminated in
5950-504: The third match, he went in at No 8 and scored 5 not out and 10. Respite for Melville from this series of mediocre personal performances with a match for a Combined Transvaal XI against the MCC touring team immediately after the third Test defeat. Though he scored only 1 in the first innings, he resorted to opening the batting in the second innings and scored 107 "cutting, driving and hooking with effortless ease", Wisden reported. That led him to open
6035-402: The tour against Leicestershire and in the fourth match against Surrey . His form took a bit of a dip when he moved up to open the innings because Dennis Dyer , the expected opening partner for Bruce Mitchell, was badly out of form (and subsequently proved to have been ill for most of the season). The change proved successful in the first Test match, however: Melville scored a career-best 189 in
6120-543: The touring side, but failed to score in that, and ended his first-class cricket career. In retirement, Melville remained an influential figure in South African cricket and was a selector for the South African cricket team for many years. He died suddenly on a trip to the Kruger National Park in 1983. Cricket First-class cricket One Day International Limited overs (domestic) Twenty20 International Twenty20 (domestic) Other forms Cricket
6205-523: The war, but the period did produce some great players and memorable matches, especially as organised competition at county and Test level developed. In 1844, the first-ever international match took place between what were essentially club teams, from the United States and Canada , in Toronto ; Canada won. In 1859, a team of English players went to North America on the first overseas tour . Meanwhile,
6290-651: Was bowled underarm by the bowler and along the ground towards a batter armed with a bat that in shape resembled a hockey stick ; the batter defended a low, two-stump wicket ; and runs were called notches because the scorers recorded them by notching tally sticks. In 1611, the year Cotgrave 's dictionary was published, ecclesiastical court records at Sidlesham in Sussex state that two parishioners, Bartholomew Wyatt and Richard Latter, failed to attend church on Easter Sunday because they were playing cricket. They were fined 12 d each and ordered to do penance . This
6375-538: Was a "great upsurge of sport after the Restoration " in 1660. Several members of the court of King Charles II took a strong interest in cricket during that era. Gambling on sport became a problem significant enough for Parliament to pass the 1664 Gambling Act, limiting stakes to £ 100, which was, in any case, a colossal sum exceeding the annual income of 99% of the population. Along with horse racing , as well as prizefighting and other types of blood sport , cricket
6460-432: Was approached to discuss a place in the touring team for him, but it was decided that he would continue with his studies with the aim of going to Oxford University later in 1929. Before he went to Oxford, Melville was involved in a car accident in which he fractured three vertebrae; he appeared to have made a full recovery and was able to take his place at Oxford in the autumn of 1929. Melville made an unbeaten century in
6545-592: Was founded in the 1760s and, for the next twenty years until the formation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the opening of Lord's Old Ground in 1787, Hambledon was both the game's greatest club and its focal point. MCC quickly became the sport's premier club and the custodian of the Laws of Cricket . New Laws introduced in the latter part of the 18th century include the three-stump wicket and leg before wicket (lbw). The 19th century saw underarm bowling superseded by first roundarm and then overarm bowling . Both developments were controversial. Organisation of
6630-519: Was just one more century for Melville, against his old colleagues at Sussex, with an unbeaten 114 in a total of 555 for six wickets. On the tour as a whole, he scored 1547 runs at an average of 40.71. Though the tour was not successful in terms of the Tests, Melville won praise for his captaincy and for his own performances, and was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in the 1948 edition of the Almanack . However,
6715-408: Was not finished with record-setting, however. In the next Test at Lord's, with the South Africans facing a huge England total, he scored yet another century, 117, to equal the record of four consecutive Test centuries set by Jack Fingleton in the 1930s. The record of four hundreds in consecutive Test innings was beaten a year later by Everton Weekes of the West Indies who achieved five centuries in
6800-537: Was not out later in the same series; Melville's third-wicket partnership of 319 with vice-captain Dudley Nourse was a record in all Test cricket for that wicket, though beaten by Compton and Edrich for England later in the series, and South Africa's highest for any wicket; the South African total of 533 was the highest against England; and Melville's two centuries meant he had scored three Test centuries in succession, as his final innings in 1938–39 had been 103. Melville
6885-518: Was not successful with either bat or ball in the University Match against Cambridge University . Melville's record improved slightly in 1931, with 631 runs and an average of 35.05, though there were no centuries. Injury to the University team's designated captain, Denis Moore , meant that Melville led the side in the University Match where, with an unbeaten 238 from the Nawab of Pataudi which overshadowed 201 for Cambridge by Alan Ratcliffe , Oxford achieved
6970-490: Was perceived to be a gambling sport. Rich patrons made matches for high stakes, forming teams in which they engaged the first professional players. By the end of the century, cricket had developed into a major sport that was spreading throughout England and was already being taken abroad by English mariners and colonisers—the earliest reference to cricket overseas is dated 1676. A 1697 newspaper report survives of "a great cricket match" played in Sussex "for fifty guineas apiece",
7055-493: Was quickly hurt and retired; Melville came in and began hitting the bowling; Langridge was then also forced to retire hurt (he later returned to make 172), but Melville went on to 114 and a four-man first-wicket stand of 223. The reason Melville was captaining Sussex at the end of the 1933 season was that the regular captain Robert Scott , himself a stand-in for the permanently unwell K. S. Duleepsinhji , had stood down because of
7140-471: Was retrospectively recognised as the first-ever Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground against Australia . The rivalry between England and Australia gave birth to The Ashes in 1882, which remains Test cricket's most famous contest. Test cricket began to expand in 1888–89 when South Africa played England. The inter-war years were dominated by Australia 's Don Bradman , statistically
7225-402: Was still a schoolboy when he appeared first for Natal in 1928–29. In his first first-class game, he took five Transvaal wickets for 71 runs in the second innings. His second match was a trial for the 1929 South African tour to England and he scored 123, putting on 283 for the second Natal wicket with Jack Siedle ; he also took four more wickets in the game. After this performance, his father
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