Many websites dedicated to cricket have been formed previously. These websites proved to be extremely popular with cricket fans around the world on which to post their opinions on the latest happenings in the sport. Most of these websites provided cricket news, live scores, expert opinions and debates. Even player profiles and career statistics were featured, following each run scored, each ball bowled, and each wicket taken in real time. These sites also made way for interaction between different members on a social network. It can be argued that the cricket social network came into being long before the ‘real’ social networks, only the term wasn’t used back then. Social networks supplied a forum for many cricket fans around the world.

When today’s popular social networking sites made their appearance, social media became a worldwide trend. Cricket fans have found yet another platform on which to express their thoughts about the sport. Exclusive fan pages were created on these sites, where fans of a well-known cricketer could come together. Fan pages were also formed created to promote specific cricketing events like the Cricket World Cup or the Ashes. Along with the fan sites came hate pages. Such pages fielded people who disliked a particular player and provided the means by which they could form a group.

There are the blogs, which cater to individuals who wish to share a thought with the world. Instead of being a forum for multiple users, this was a platform on which the posts reflected the views of an individual rather than that of a multitude of users. This provided an opportunity for cricketers and experts to express their views on the latest cricket news. No longer did they have to send essays to newspapers or magazines in the hope of getting them published. On the blogs, one’s work is published for the entire world to see.

From local groups talking about the latest cricket matches to online forums and blogs, social networking has come a long way. Of course there is no doubt that online cricket forums have landed cricket discussion on an international platform and have provided fans a medium through which they can meet others with similar interests, and widen their social sphere by building new relations.

John Casson is a contributing writer for the Imagine Sports Network which provides baseball, tennis, and cricket news. He has written about multiple sports and has followed cricket matches for many years and he has posted on cricket blogs as well as cricket forums.

The first documented reference to the game in the history of cricket is to be discovered in the account of a 1598 court case concerning a disagreement over a school’s ownership of a piece of land. A 59-year old coroner, John Derrick, testified that he and his school friends had played ‘creckett’ on the site fifty years beforehand.

The school was the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, and Mr Derrick’s account demonstrates beyond reasonable doubt that the game was being played in Surrey about 1550.

The first mention of it being played as an adult sport was in 1611, when two men in Sussex were prosecuted for playing cricket on Sunday instead of going to church. This was in the same year that a dictionary defined cricket as a boys’ game and this implies that adult participation was a recent development.

With all the recent press coverage of the pressure of gambling upon the outcome of cricket matches, it is astonishing that historically, gambling played a very substantial part in the development of the game in England. Cricket had definitely become a major gambling sport by the end of the 17th century.

There is a newspaper account of a “great match” played in Sussex in 1697 which was 11-a-side and played for the lofty stakes of 50 guineas a side. 50 guineas would be the equivalent of GBP5,000 to GBP 6,000 in today?s terms.

The present day system of County teams came about as a result of well-off gamblers forming their own teams in order to fortify their bets and began to employ local experts from village cricket as the first professionals. It is believed that the first ?County? game took place in 1697 between Sussex and another county.

Cricket was introduced to North America via the British colonies in the 17th century, and in the 18th century it spread to other parts of the British dominated world. It was introduced to the West Indies by colonists and to India by the British East India Company in the first half of the century.

The early colonists took it to Australia soon after 1788 followed by New Zealand and South Africa in the early years of the 19th century.

It might come as a shock to lots of people that the very first International cricket game took place between the United States and Canada in 1844 (Canada won by 23 runs) and the very first overseas tour was by a party of leading English professionals who toured North America in 1857.

The earliest English tour of Australia was in 1862, with the first Australian tour of England being by a team of Australian Aborigine players in 1868.

In 1877, an England touring team in Australia played two games against full Australian XIs that are now thought of as the very first Test matches. The next year, the Australians toured England for the first time and were a spectacular success.

No Tests were played on that tour but more soon followed. At The Oval in 1882, there was played what was to become the most famous match of all time which gave rise to The Ashes.

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It was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire published between 1841 and 1992. It was started in July 1841 by Henry Mayhew who, with Mark Lemon, was accountable for the editing, and engraver Ebenezer Landells who took care of the illustrations.

Its original sub-title was The London Charivari, after a French satirical humour magazine known as Le Charivari. Reflecting their satiric and humorous intent, the two editors took the name of the anarchic glove puppet, Mr. Punch, of Punch and Judy renown as the title of the new periodical.

On the other hand the name is also a play on words regarding the name of the co-editor Mark Lemon, in that “punch is nothing without lemon”. Mayhew did not stick with the publication for long. He ceased being joint editor in 1842 and became “suggestor in chief” until he departed in 1845.

Punch was responsible for the word “cartoon” in the sense of a comic drawing. In fact one of its most famous cartoons, drawn by George Du Maurier, the grandfather of the novelist Dame Daphne Du Maurier , gave birth to the phrase ?it is good in parts, like the curate?s egg?. The phrase derives from a cartoon entitled “True Humility”.

It pictured a timid-looking curate taking breakfast in his bishop’s house.The bishop says, “I’m afraid you’ve got a bad egg, Mr Jones.” The curate replies, “Oh, no, my Lord, I assure you that parts of it are excellent!”

Yet perhaps its most famous cartoon is entitled ? Dropping the Pilot? . This was a political cartoon by Sir John Tenniel, first published in March 1890. It depicts the German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, as a shipping pilot, stepping off a ship watched by the German Emperor Wilhelm II. Bismarck had recently resigned as Chancellor at Wilhelm’s insistence.

After a very difficult start with much financial trouble and lack of market success, Punch became a necessity for British middle class drawing rooms because it not only displayed a sophisticated sense of humour and but lacked the rude material so ubiquitous in much of the alternative satirical press of the time.

The Times utilized small parts from Punch as column fillers, giving the magazine free publicity and indirectly granting a degree of respectability, However respectability was truly achieved when it was learned that Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were to be found amongst it readership.

The circulation of Punch peaked during the 1940s at 175,000 but thereafter fell into decline, until in 1992 ,after 150 years the magazine was forced to close.

In 1996, the Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed became tired of the numerous criticisms he had to endure from the publication Private Eye and bought the rights to the Punch name with a view to using it to combat his antagonist. He relaunched it later that year, but it never achieved any degree of circulation or profitability and in May 2002 it was declared that Punch would at long last close for good

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In 1774 a player named Shock White decided to try something different. He used a bat that was as wide as the stump. The cricket community was forced to look more closely at the rules after this. It was decided that a bat could be no wider than 4 1/4 inches.

An early bat could easily be shattered or broken. This is because they were were all made from single lengths of wood. Then, in 1830, a separate handle was added to the bat, making it sturdier and stronger. After four years, a new regulation was developed. This limited the length of the bat to thirty-eight inches.

In the beginning no particular wood was used to make the instruments. This was until English Willow Wood was found to be the best wood for the task. It was strong, but light enough to enable use. These instruments weighed five pounds.

Another alteration changed the use from heartwood to sapwood. This decreased the weight by more than half. Then, in 1920, something a little heavier was desired again, as it was discovered that they lasted longer and could produce more power than lighter ones.

Modern advancements have changed some cricket bats even more. Some have heavier blades, but retain a lighter feel. They can produce a lot of power, but rarely last longer than a thousand runs. Bat-makers have also found ways to create core power portions on a bat. When a ball is hit on that spot correctly, it can greatly increase the power produced. This allows for very powerful hits when done properly.

If you want to know more about Cricket Bats and their history, or see some modern examples, visit your local Cricket Shop.

Similarities in form is not the only indicator to how evenly the sides are matched, players themselves are also upon an even keel. The Indian batting line up has the experience of Tendulkar and Sehwag, combined with the youthful exuberance of Riana. England’s blend of experience and youth in the batting line-up echos that from the Indians, with the likes of Strauss, Pietersen and Cook to name a few. In the bowling department, the fast bowling of Sharma for the Indians and also the in-form Tremlett for England will likely be great to see. However, the most intriguing contest between the bowlers is going to be how the ‘Turbinator’ Harbajan Singh compares to the present Number 1 ranked spin bowler in the world, Graeme Swann.

Another interesting aspect for the contest between the teams is that this will, most likely, be Sachin Tendulkar’s last tour of England, and no doubt he will want to make it one for the Indian fans to remember. With a test batting average of over 56, he will surely be the man the Indians are looking to to be able to dominate the English bowling. All things considered he isn’t called the ‘Little Master ‘ for nothing.The 4 test match series commences at the end of July in the home of cricket, Lords. A venue where cricketers from all around the globe desire to succeed at, to obtain their names engraved on the wall of fame for both their batting and bowling feats.

Following Lords, the teams proceed to Trentbridge in Nottingham almost immediately. The third test will be played at Edgbaston in Birmingham, a venue where India historically have a lot of support. The atmosphere there, in particular ought to be electric!

The last test match is going to be played, as it is tradition, at the Oval during August. Given that these teams are so evenly matched, this will undoubtedly function as the deciding and cracking climax for the series.

This will be a test series to not forget, of this there is no doubt. But which team may ultimately end up being the champions of the world in the end of it? Could it be decided through the batting mastery of Sachin Tendulkar? Or by the magical finger spin of Graeme Swann?…..Only time will tell.

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Dilshan produced nice beginning to his reign by winning the toss and putting England into bat first This seemed to be an excellent decision as the England captain, Cook was removed early on. He was quickly followed by Trott as England reached 53-2 in the eighth over. This brought Pietersen to the crease and along with Kieswetter, England made sharp progress to go past 100 in 16 overs. England must hope that Kieswetter’s excellent knock of 61 may be the catalyst to the young Somerset wicket keeper to kick on, as the position of Wicket Keeper continues to be a spot of weakness in the England team for quite a while now.

The middle to late order, and in particular Morgan and Bresnan, added more useful runs to push England to a formidable score of 229. Morgan looking every aspect the total 1 day batsman, by incorporating exquisite stroke play. As seems the case more often than not these days, Malinga was the pick of the Sri Lankan bowlers, with his fantastic execution of the Yorker delivery really has batsmen around the globe troubled. He finished with figures of 3-40 in 7 overs, with all the other notable bowling contributions coming from Lakmal with figures of 2-52 within his seven over spell.

Jimmy Anderson returned to the England attack with a point to prove after being left out of the team when they were beaten by Sri Lanka in the World Cup Quarter Final in Colombo. It didn’t take him long in making his point in no uncertain terms, taking out the top quality triumvirate of Dilshan, Jayawardene and Sangakkara with the Sri Lankans having under 20 runs posted on the scoreboard. Not merely did Anderson excel with the ball , he also took a sensational catch to remove Mathews through the bowling of Dernbach.

From here on the match, for a contest, was as good as over, and only a slight wagging from the Sri Lankan tail ( Malinga 26, Randiv 24 ) prevented total humiliation for the visitors. Eventually they were all out for 121, leaving England convincing winners by 110 runs, with Swann and Dernbach backing up Anderson taking 2 and 3 wickets respectively.

Anderson acquired the Man on the Match award afterwards, and sent out a definite message that he is quite definitely still a force in one day cricket. The win resulted in Alistair Cooks reign as the England ODI captain got off and away to the perfect start, and set England 1 up within the better of 5 series. The teams will now proceed to Leeds on Friday for the second game, no doubt hoping for better weather along with a full day’s cricket this time.

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Sri Lanka won the toss and put England into bat in favourable bowling conditions. This decision was justified in early stages with the cheap wickets of Lumb and Kieswetter who fell in the opening overs. This brought to the crease the partnership of Pietersen and Morgan, easily England’s two best players in this format of the game. This was England’s most promising spell by far, and both batsmen eased into their forties with some excellent stroke play.

Once Morgan went for 41, Pietersen following soon after, the England innings reached a grinding halt. Patel, Bopara then Wright all looked completely outside of their depth in the England cricket shirt at times in this format of the game, as England limped to a paltry total of 136 in their allocated 20 overs.

The pick of the Sri-Lankan bowlers was Malinga whose slingey action continues to have 1 day batsmen around the globe baffled, the Sri-Lankans must wish he still had the desire to play test cricket. He was backed up by Jayasuriya, who at the age of 41 and in his last game before retirement, showed he’d lost none of his skills with the ball.

The Sri Lankan opening two of Jayasuriya and Jayawardene put on 40 within the first four overs putting England under immediate pressure. The fall of one of the great one day players of history in Jayasuriya, only brought to the wicket one of the great one day players of the present, Sangakkara. He proceeded to rip the England bowling attack apart along with Jayawardene. They put the ball to all parts of the ground within a second wicket stand of 97, hitting 83 runs in only under 9 overs. The young England attack of Woakes, Broad and Dernbach had a very difficult day of it with only Dernabach having a mark in the wickets column.

The performance for England was not like that of the group that won the T-20 World Cup while in the Caribbean just over a year ago. Perhaps the oddest thing concerning the choice of the team was that their most fluent run scorer of recent months, Ian Bell was inexplicably left out for a nervy looking Samit Patel, who didn’t do anything to warrant the selectors persisting with him after he was associated with a clumsy run out.

There are certainly a lot of inquiries to be answered by England and their fledgling captain. Broad is under pressure straight away to get things transferring the proper direction. He must be looking towards the imminent arrival of the super star ridden Indian team later this summer with both anticipation, and I dare say just a little dread.

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Whatever the exact date, it doesn’t change the fact that today’s bat is the result of research and experimentation over these centuries. All kinds of weights, sizes and grips have been tried to find out the best choice that allows a player to swing hard and rotate the wrists easily. But the material used and the manufacturing process hasn’t changed a lot, with the same English Willow wood (Salix alba caerulea) and linseed oil still in use.

As for the process, the amount of trail and research that can be done is again limited by the “Laws of Cricket”. These rules state the bat has to be made from wood. It also specifies the maximum size allowed for the bat size (38 inches from toe to handle top) and the blade width (4.25 inches).

The modifications and trails are therefore mostly limited to the weight of the bat and the relative lengths of handle and blade. The type of grip and how the bat is made (by hand or machine) also makes a difference. Players prefer different weights, sizes and grips based on their batting style and physique.

Some companies have recently manufactured bats with light-weight carbon handles. One company has even created a double-sided bat. The traditional bat is flat on the front with a ridge on the back where the weight is concentrated along the middle of the bat’s length.

Some players are testing a bat supported by special carbon-polymer. Another one that is now being used by attacking players has a short, thick blade with a long handle. Just like the game itself, cricket bats too are evolving slowly with time and as per changes to the game’s format and rules.

If you want to know more about Cricket Bats, speak to a salesman at your nearest Cricket Shop or club.

This type of bat is similar to both an American Baseball bat and a hockey stick. However, it is a straight block of willow wood that is flat on one side (the striking face) but has a ridge on it in the middle of the back that concentrates the wood to help where the ball is usually hit. The business end of the bat is connected to a handle which is cylindrical in shape. It is connected with a splice, much like how a tennis racket is made. The end opposite the handle is called the “toe” of the bat. The edges closest to the handle are called the “shoulders”.

This bat is made with raw linseed oil after being made. The oil serves as a protective barrier to the wood. Willow as chosen because of how shock-resistant it is.

Willow is also a very tough wood. It resists dents and splintering that can be caused when the bat hits the ball. However, they are also quite light. The portion of the bat at the location of the handle meeting the blade is spliced like a traditional tennis racket. This splice forms a type of spring that allows for greater performance.

The handle splice design used today was invented in the 1880’s. It was invented by Charles Richardson. He was an engineer, who, with his invention, has permanently cemented himself into cricketing lore.

The design of this bat is something of a science today. However, it is a very old sport that is still enjoyed. Though they vary some, with all the rules for making them, cricket bats are all quite similar.

If you need more information on Cricket Bats speak to someone at your local Cricket Shop for more advice.

Bowlers were allowed to loop the ball when bowling. They were also allowed to add a curve while pitching. To compensate for these bowling methods, a much wider, flattened bat was required. This is the type of formation that we now see in today’s bat.

There are formal guidelines that must be adhered to, for the length and thickness of a bat. The bat must not exceed 38 inches in length and be three tenths of one inch thick. The width must not exceed 4.25 inches and the length of a handle cannot be more than 52% of the total bat length.

Bats can be made out of various types of wood and then treated with linseed oil, for protection. The most common are made from either Kashmir Willow or English Willow. The professionals use the ones made from English Willow, as it is the best quality wood.

It is necessary for a bat to be able to withstand hard balls hitting them at high speeds. A Willow bat is very lightweight, tough and shock resistant. They are resistant to chipping, splintering and denting, and the linseed oil will add friction to the surface to allow for better control over the ball.

The Laws of the game indicate that wood is the only allowable material for the construction of a bat. If batters wish to maintain the integrity of the blade they can cover it, but the cover can only be a maximum of one sixteenth of an inch. The development of cricket bats has allowed the sport to evolve into the exciting game that it is today.

If you want to know more about Cricket Bats and what is best for you, speak to a salesman at your local Cricket Shop.