Cricket is one of the most innovative sports in the world and its format seems to change on a regular basis. Some of the most recent innovations have been the IPL and the Twenty20 format of the game, but the foundations of cricket were laid down hundreds of years ago.
Cricket was born in the South East of England during the sixteenth century. It was a game played by children and peasants in the fields. Later it was taken up by the elite classes and there are references to the game being played by Oliver Cromwell in the sixteen hundreds; in those days it was permissible to hit the ball twice, though by 1744 when cricket rules were formalised this was deemed as illegal and any batsman doing so would be out.
Sports betting became a popular activity amongst the social elite during the mid seventeenth century, and this was the motivation behind the establishment of teams of skilled players under the patronage of these gentry with the objective of beating opposing teams and winning cash for the patrons.
The members of the upper classes who played the game were known as amateurs and the working class players were known as players or even professionals. The game took two forms which were single wicket cricket in which two players competed against each other and the fielders were unchanged between innings; and normal cricket which was played in a similar format to that seen today. Just about every game would involve betting.
One big difference between the early form of cricket and cricket today is the delivery of the ball. Originally it was rolled or skimmed along the ground, and not until the late seventeen hundreds was pitched bowling introduced. Initially this was round-arm bowling with the arm extended perpendicularly from the body and this was officially changed to over arm bowling in 1864.
Although sports betting on cricket has always been important, it was not until the internet that its popularity became so wide spread with sites like Bwin.com. Nowadays there are many different ways to bet on the sport apart from just betting on the winning team.
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