228:. There was, as such, no defensive technique other than the most rudimentary and instinctive attempt to stop a ball that had deceived him. The pitched delivery made the curved bat obsolete and the straight bat lent itself to the deployment of a defensive stroke. As the aim of the batsman with a curved bat was to hit the ball over the fielders, low scores were normal. If he did not time his shot correctly, the chances were high that he would miss the ball and be bowled or stumped; or else if he hit it poorly, he would not clear the fielder and be caught out. In addition, the pitches of the time were little more than rough tracks which were permanently exposed to the weather and so conditions were invariably to the bowler's advantage.
244:, "claim to have been the centre in which the game was first brought to a certain degree of perfection and was developed in several respects to its lasting advantage". In the first illustration of his book, Ashley-Cooper depicted a curved bat, labelling it: "The type of bat used in the earlier Hambledon matches". This indicates his belief that the straight bat was invented after Hambledon became a noted team. Ashley-Cooper believed that the club was founded in the early 1750s but it is possible that it was only a loose parish organisation at that time and that the club
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time; which was similar to an old-fashioned dinner knife, curved at the back and sweeping in the form of a volute at the front and end. With such a bat the system must have been all for hitting; it would be barely possible to block and when the practice of bowling length balls was introduced and which gave the bowler so great an advantage in the game it became necessary to change the form of the bat. It was therefore made strait in the pod (
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on the part of the County of Kent to play all
England; and it proved to be a well contested match as will appear from the manner in which the players kept the field. The hitting however could neither have been of a high character nor indeed safe, as may be gathered from the figure of the bat at that
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It seems, therefore, that the innovations of pitched delivery and straight bat were introduced just at the time when
Hambledon came to the fore and so perhaps, as Ashley-Cooper suggested, Hambledon qualifies as the "cradle" of a new code of cricket. It has been suggested, certainly in speculation,
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that John Small invented the straight bat, though it may be more accurate to suggest that he was the first to master its use. With the transition from the pioneering era of cricket, Hambledon saw in a new "pre-modern" phase defined by underarm pitching which lasted until the introduction of
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were highly controversial and were introduced in the face of fierce opposition, there is nothing in the historical records which precisely dates the introduction of pitching and nothing which indicates that it was controversial. The two eras are bridged by the career (1749 to 1774) of
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This is effectively all that can be found in early sources about the introduction of the "length ball" and the consequent development of the "strait" bat. The evolution occurred after 1744 and before 1770. Given the rise of
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but the introduction of a ball travelling through the air coupled with a bounce was a key point of evolution in the sport's history, especially as it was the catalyst for the invention of the straight
264:. It is not known who first bowled a pitched delivery, or when, or where, but it is likely that the style was developed primarily at Hambledon, although the leading bowler of the 1760s and 1770s,
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When the ball was bowled along the ground, the batsman used his curved bat to attack it and try to hit it away, usually with the intention of lofting it over the
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wear three-quarter length coats and tricorn hats. Apart from the shirts and stockings, none of the clothes are white and no one wears pads or gloves. The
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47:, which replaced the old "hockey stick" design. It was the first of three keypoint evolutions in bowling: the others were the introduction of the
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in which there was apparently a lull in top-class cricket, certainly in terms of known matches until after the war ended in early 1763.
96:). Some years after this the fashion of the bat having been changed to a strait form the system of stopping and blocking was adopted.
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in the early 1760s, there was an evolutionary transition from the sport's "pioneering phase" to its "pre-modern phase" when
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instead of rolling or skimming it along the ground as they had previously done. The essential bowling action was still
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played in their everyday clothes and had no protective equipment such as gloves or pads. A 1743 painting by
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dressed alike in white shirt, breeches, white knee-length stockings and shoes with buckles. The
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was not formally constituted until the 1760s. Certainly a team representing
Hambledon played
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is widely and erroneously called the "Cradle of
Cricket", it can at least, wrote
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from the mid-1760s, it is believed to have happened c.1760 during the
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221:, this shape being ideal for dealing with a ball on the ground.
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wears the same clothes with the addition of a waistcoat. An
252:, one of the country's most accomplished teams, in 1756.
522:Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development
146:at the beginning of his career and the likes of
459:Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826)
71:(1832), he wrote the following account of the
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213:. The batsman addresses the delivery with a
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317:"Cricket in the 17th and 18th centuries"
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439:Hambledon Cricket Chronicle: 1772–1796
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7:
461:. Kennington: Frederick Lillywhite.
573:English cricket in the 18th century
510:A Social History of English Cricket
363:, issue 531, 25 January 1900, p. 4.
87:It arose from a challenge given by
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134:, who played with pioneers like
130:, one of the game's first great
378:Cricket at the Artillery Ground
1:
483:. London: Robson Publishing.
201:, at varying speed towards a
169:of a game in progress at the
353:"At the Sign of the Wicket"
321:Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
260:in the years following the
589:
524:. Eyre & Spottiswoode.
173:depicts two batsmen and a
159:History of cricket to 1725
16:Type of bowling in cricket
546:The Glory Days of Cricket
481:The Cricketers of My Time
380:(1743). It hangs in the
217:that resembles a modern
197:along the ground, as in
113:Different styles of play
58:
51:style in the 1820s and
29:bowl pitched deliveries
232:Influence of Hambledon
98:
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59:John Nyren's evidence
435:Ashley-Cooper, F. S.
209:mounted by a single
568:Cricket terminology
357:F. S. Ashley-Cooper
295:, pp. 153–154.
242:F. S. Ashley-Cooper
89:Lord John Sackville
418:Ashley-Cooper 1924
406:Ashley-Cooper 1924
394:Ashley-Cooper 1924
205:consisting of two
563:Bowling (cricket)
490:978-18-61051-68-4
468:978-19-00592-23-9
420:, pp. 18–19.
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536:. HarperCollins.
534:More Than A Game
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455:Haygarth, Arthur
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258:roundarm bowling
171:Artillery Ground
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324:. Retrieved
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219:hockey stick
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154:at the end.
132:fast bowlers
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35:towards the
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530:Major, John
477:Nyren, John
441:. Jenkins.
557:Categories
447:B0008BXCH4
326:24 October
293:Nyren 1998
280:References
211:crosspiece
193:is bowled
163:cricketers
148:John Small
128:John Frame
65:John Nyren
548:. Robson.
479:(1998) .
384:pavilion.
103:Hambledon
83:in 1744:
69:Memoranda
27:began to
544:(1997).
532:(2007).
520:(1970).
512:. Aurum.
508:(1999).
457:(1862).
437:(1924).
315:(1965).
270:Chertsey
250:Dartford
226:fielders
195:underarm
161:, early
119:roundarm
117:Whereas
49:roundarm
41:underarm
361:Cricket
123:overarm
73:England
53:overarm
25:bowlers
21:cricket
487:
465:
445:
382:Lord's
274:Surrey
246:per se
207:stumps
203:wicket
187:scorer
183:umpire
175:bowler
37:wicket
199:bowls
485:ISBN
463:ISBN
443:ASIN
328:2022
272:and
191:ball
185:and
150:and
142:and
121:and
77:Kent
33:ball
376:'s
215:bat
94:sic
67:'s
63:In
45:bat
19:In
559::
359:,
355:,
319:.
300:^
276:.
138:,
75:v
493:.
471:.
449:.
330:.
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