Introduction:
ICC
has been concerning about the popularity of the game and trying to diversifying
through introducing Cricket in many other countries which are not participating
yet. Ehsan Mani (President of ICC) says, “We live in a fast-changing world and
we must ensure that our sport remains relevant. We will not achieve this by
standing still, on or off the field.” What I get from this statement is that
the market for Cricket is still in developing mode and if there is no strategy
moves than there would be no relevancy of the sport in the market.
In
this report we will have a great look upon the cricket history, its changes
over the years and the strategic movement. We have to keep in mind that the
entertainers are more into less time consuming games and full of excitements.
There are many other factors besides the sports excitement itself such as
ethical standards, game fixing, and many more. As Malcolm Speed says, “We can
be proud of what we have achieved in the last five years but it will mean
nothing if we do not build on these foundations.”1Here Malcolm Speed speaking
about the strong foundation of the sport which is inclusive with code of
conducts, ethical standards, and many other factors. We will be more focused
upon the Cricket industry and its strategic movements upon global market.
There
are currently 104 countries’ cricket team registered in ICC (Governing body of
World Cricket). Cricket was initially started as Royal Sport where members of
Royal Family used to play for their enjoyment or entertainment. As time passed
by, Cricket starts becoming more of a sport rather than a Royal Game. As per
Wikipedia, Cricket initiated in early 13th century at Newenden, Kent in 1301 by
Prince Edward but did not called as cricket. 3
The
name was given in 1550; the name derived from the old English creckett, where
it’s being played at Royal Grammar School, Guildford (Wikipedia). Eventually
the game starts spreading out within the England and build their first official
English touring team in 17th century and initiate the county cricket club which
is now consider a local league championship. Here is the antic photo for the
first official English team.
The
development increased drastically in 18th century and changed the name from
Creckett to Cricket and it became a national sport for Britain. In later 18th
century, there were three official teams, England, Australia, and South Africa.
We can see how Australian was one of the first official in cricket because as
we know per history that the people in Australia are basically Britain who
deported from England.
Abe
Bailey (President of South African Cricket Board) suggested for Imperial
Cricket Board in 1907 (ICC official website). The creation of the board was based
on setting up the official rules and regulations to preside over the
international games. It was settled in 1909 when first Triangular Series held
between South African, Australia, and England. This series consist of Test
matches where each match/game goes on for 5 days (ICC website). Later in
century the game became so advanced and popular where more teams introduced
into the International Board of Cricket such as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka,
West Indies and couple more. One thing I pointed out that these countries were
ruled under Britain more than 100 years which means there shouldn’t be
surprises if these teams were introduced. By all mean that the Royal Sport
influenced other countries where it has been played unofficially by Britain and
the aboriginal people trained themselves by watching it from the boundaries.
The great example for this event is the bollywood movie called “Lagaan” which
was released in 2001 and nominated for Oscar as a Best Foreign Film.
Briefly,
ICC established with annual basis championship in the middle of the 19th
century and Pakistan’s team introduced in 1952 right after 5 years of
independence. There are two era of ICC conference, 1964 – 1988 and 1988 –
present.
1964 - 1988 - International Cricket Conference
In
1973, ICC announced its first World Cup in the conference and approved for it
to play in 1975 in England (ICC Website). ICC started its new genera of Cricket
called “One Day Cricket” in 1960s which helps ICC to grasp people attention
towards the sport. ICC did that because it is hard for new comers to watch the
game for 5 days and as result, the entertainer replaces their choice to some
other sports. This One Day Cricket allowed ICC to bring back the entertainer to
interest of Cricket and announced World Cup Series to boost the excitement.
1989 - Present - International Cricket Council
There
are significant changes over the year after 1989 until present and more changes
are going to be seen in future. The ICC had been settled in England and all the
conferences were corresponded in England but in 1991, the first time ICC agreed
to established new centre for discussion In Melbourne, Australia where mostly
new code of conduct been settled and more ethical issues arises which has been
resolving g until now to make the rules and regulations more strict in order to
produce more advanced and clean games. Here some of the main issues are match
fixing and steroids which are consider unethical in every kind of sports
weather it is Soccer, Hockey, Cricket and any other.
ICC
main center shifted at Dubai, UAE in 1991 (ICC Website). It is foreseeable that
the Dubai is a tax-free country where ICC can boost their financial positions
which would help them to invest into development of Cricket. There are many
campaigns are running now days into those countries who cannot afford to build
their own team financially and skill wise (Annual Report 2006). In addition,
there is investment over ethical issues investigations where recently many
cases came in front of ICC such as, Ball tempering (Allows bowler to take
advantage for more Swing), Bowling Action, rules of Batsman Dismissal and many
others.
Objective:
The
basic rules of Crickets start as a game between 2 teams consists of eleven
players. They play in the verdant circular shape field where they have pitch
(Centre yellowish part) in the center. The outer edge of the field is covered
by a rope which is called as “Boundary”. This boundary is just like a baseball
game where hitter crosses it and able to make home run but in the case of
cricket there are 2 conditions. First if ball bounce before crossing the
boundary is four runs and without bounce gives six runs also called as “Sixer”.
In addition there is one wicket at the each end of pitch (altogether 2
wickets), each wicket consist of three stump (sticks) with two bails on top. A
team makes scores through 2 batsmen by running between the wickets and that
score called as “Runs”.
The
game goes on with objective is to who makes the highest runs at the end of the
game. In more precise the purpose of each team is to make runs as highest as
possible if they bat first and dismiss the other team as soon as possible with
lowest runs if they field first. What I am saying here is when a team bat first
they try to make runs at the highest level so the other team cannot achieve it
and if the team field first than they try to dismiss other team with the lowest
runs so it can be achieve when they bat. At the end of the game if the team is
not able to achieve the target they lose and vice versa.
There
are so many fine details about the field and game rules which cannot be
explained in this report due to crossing out the prospective of strategic
management. Although, it is important to provide basic knowledge about the
sport so it can be differentiate from the other sports and also to provide the
scope of this sport in the market. Here are some of the main essences of the
sport taking from Wikipedia.
Bat
and Ball are the instruments of the sport just like base ball. The spirit of
the sport is that a bowler delivers a ball from one end of the pitch and
batsman strike the ball with the bat from the other end. Batsman hit the ball
and run between the wickets to make scores. Besides ball and bat, there other
safeguards for batsmen such as Pad for Legs, gloves, Helmet and etc... Also for
the wicket keep (a fielder right behind the wicket who catches a deliver ball
as it missed or edge by batsman).
Umpire
is the referee of the game and scorer are the one who counts runs. There three
umpires altogether, two of them stand on the field and third-umpire make
decisions upon request of those two umpire through watching replays.
There
are 2 innings in one day game and 4 innings in Test Matches. An inning is the
time period when one team performs batting and make runs. Each team play one
inning in One Day game and two in Test game (5 days game)
Over
is a set of 6 consecutive deliveries from same bowlers. There are 50 overs
limit per inning in One day games but no limit in 5 Days game (Test Match).
Each
team consist of special eleven players depending on their primary skills. Each
player has categorise into three factors weather the player is a good batsman,
bowler, and wicket keeper (usually one player specializes in Keeping).
There
are many other essence such as , how to bowl, kind of bowling, field positions,
field strategies, Extras (run given as a punishment for bad deliveries),
dismissal (strike out), Innings end, and Results. All the essence presented
above referred to Wikipedia and personal experience. There many sites available
over internet with detail information about cricket essence.
