NCERT Solutions Class 9 Social Science Chapter 7 History and Sport The Story of Cricket

1. Test  cricket is a unique game in many ways. Discuss  some  of the  ways in which it is different from other team games. How  are  the  peculiarities of Test  cricket shaped by its historical beginnings as a village game?

Answer:

(i)One  of peculiarities of Test cricket  is that  a match  can go on for five days and still  end in a draw, unlike  in other modern  team  sports.  For example, required time  for playing  a football  match  is approximately one-and-a-half hours, and for a baseball  less than half the time.

(ii)Another curious  characteristic of cricket  is that  the length  of the pitch  is specified  - 22 yards  - but the size or shape of the ground  is not.  On the contrary, other team  sports  (hockey and football) describe  the dimensions of the playing  area.

(iv)Some of cricket  rules reflect  the rhythms of village  life before  the IndustriaI Revelution in EngIa nd.

(v)For  example, cricket's vagueness about  the size of a cricket  ground  is a result  of its village  origins.  Cricket  was originally played  on the  open field land that  was public property.

(vi)The size of the commons varied  from  one village  to another, so there  were no designated boundaries or boundary hits in cricket  ground.

2. Describe one  way  in which in the  nineteenth century technology brought about a change in equipment and give  one  example where no change in equipment took  place.

Answer:

(i)In the matter of protective equipment, cricket  has been influenced by technological change.

(ii)The  invention of vulcanised rubber  led to the introduction of pads in 1848  and protective gloves; the modern  game  would  be unimaginable without helmets made out  of metal  and synthetic lightweight materials.

3. Explain why  cricket became popular in India and the  West Indies. Can you give  reasons why  it did not become popular in countries in South  America?

Answer:

(i) Cricket  took  root  only  in countries colonised  by the British. In these colonies, cricket  was established as a popular  sport  either  by white  settlers (as in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Australia, New Zealand, the West Indies  and Kenya)  or by local elites  who wanted  to copy the cultural habits  of their  colonial  masters, as in India.

(ii)Unlike other  international English games such as hockey  and football, cricket  remained a colonial  game, limited to countries ruled  by the British  Empire.

(iii)  ) It took  roots  only  in countries that  the British ruled. Moreover, the  pre-industrial peculiarity of cricket made  it a hard game  to export; that  is why it did not become popular  in countries in South  America.

4. Give brief explanations for the  following:

The  Parsis  were the  first  Indian community to set up a cricket club in India.

The  name of the ICC  was changed from the Imperial Cricket Conference to the International Cricket Conference.

The significance of the shift of the ICC headquarters from London to Dubai

Answer:

The  Parsis were the first Indian community to set  up a cricket club in India.

The Parsis had close business  contact  with  the  British, and they  were the first  Indian community to westernise. They founded  the first  Indian cricket  club, the Oriental Cricket  Club in Bambay in 1848, with  fund and sponsorship of Parsi businessmen like the Tatas and the Wadias.

Mahatma Gandhi condemned the Pentangular tournament.

Gymkhana  cricket led to first-class cricket  being organised on communal and racial lines. The teams  that played first-class cricket  tournament in India  represented religious communities. The tournament was initially called the Quadrangular, because  it was played  by four teams:  the Europeans, the  Parsis, the Hindus  and the Muslims.  It later  became the Pentangular when a fifth team  was added, namely, the  Rest, which comprised all the communities left  over, such as the Indian Christians. Mahatma  Gandhi condemned the  Pentangular as a communally divisive  competition that  was out of place in a time  when nationalism was trying to unite  India's diverse  population.

The  name of the  ICC  was  changed from the Imperial Cricket Conference to the  International Cricket Conference.

Even after  Indian independence, the regulation of international cricket remained the business  of the Imperial Cricket  Conference  ICC, under  the control  of the British. The ICC, renamed  the International Cricket Conference  as late as 1965, was dominated by its foundation members, England and Australia, which retained the right  of veto  over its proceedings. Not till 1989  was the privileged position of England and Australia scrapped  in favour  of equal  membership.

The  significance of the  shift of the  ICC headquarters from London  to Dubai

Since India  had the largest  viewership for the  game amongst the cricket-playing nations  and the  largest market in the cricketing world, the game's  centre  of gravity shifted  to South Asia. This shift  was symbolized by the shifting of the ICC headquarters from  London to tax-free Duba i.