Sporting, Cricket, The Australian Cricket Team, Australian First Eleven, Illustrated London News, England 1882

Large Postcard Size

Illustrated London News

Before the match against England at Lords in London

Date: c1882

Print Size: 240 x 170mm

Condition: Good

Technique: Printed from a hand coloured wood engraving 

Price: $10

Description: Printed from a hand coloured wood engraving 

Provenance

Australian cricketers

S.P. Jones, A.C. Bannerman, George John Bonner, ("a most excellent specimen of the Great Briton")  Frederick Robert ("Demon Bowler") Spofforth, J. McCarthy Blackham, W.L. Murdoch, G. Eugene Palmer, G. Giffen, H. F. Boyle, T.W.Garrett, H.H. Massie, Percy S. McDonnell, and T Horan.

The English have always been 'addicted to sport', whether jousting, long-bow contests, fisticuffs, or early forms of football. King Henry VIII was very fond of both jousting and tennis before he grew rather stout, full of gout and could no longer play.

The games that people played often depended on their status in life, but by the mid-1800's, this distinction began to blur a bit.

The history of cricket dates back to England in 1550, where there is evidence of the game being played in Guildford, Surrey.

The word cricket is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word cricc which means a shepherd's staff. It is thought that the first players were English shepherds who used their criccs as bats. There is also evidence that shows that it was played in several parts of Kent and Sussex in the 1600s. The oldest surviving set of cricket laws date back to 1744 in which they were printed on a handkerchief, but the rules were formalized by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in 1797. It was in 1805 that the first permanent fixture was played between Eton and Harrow, and has been played annually ever since.

Cricket then spread and became popular in other countries that were occupied by the British like Australia, New Zealand, West Indies, South Africa, India, and Pakistan. 

 To learn more about The History of English Sport click here