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: may 2003
Added 27/04/03
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Reproduced from the May 2003 issue of the Glenside
News
" As expected and, I suspect,
as predicted, Australia came out on top in the One Day Cricket
Cup. This must make them the most powerful team in the world
at both sides of the game - both one-day and five-day matches.
Do you think there is something significant in the fact that
they do not play 6 or 7 days a week as we do in this country?
Is there a lesson for our money grabbing administrators? Do
players get sick of the sight of the cricket pitch? I yearn
for the good old days when we had one touring team in the
summer and just one in the winter. Nowadays there are at least
two in each season, as well as the 'pyjama' attired so-called
games of cricket. No wonder our players look stale and jaded.
The basic needs of cricket are few - pitch, bat, ball and
players mainly. A bat was first mentioned in 1611 in "A
Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues" by Randle
Cotgrave published by Adam Islip. The French word 'crosse'
is defined as a "Cricket Staffe - or the crooked staffe
wherewith 'boyes' play at cricket"
The term 'Cricket Bat' first occurred in the Easter Bills
of Presentment of Boxgrove Sussex when, on 5th May 1622, -
" A little child had like to have her braynes beaten
out with a cricket bat".
The first limitation on the width of a bat came when it was
imposed in 1771 as 4 1/4 inches. This was caused by a Thomas
White who came to the wicket with a bat as wide as the stumps.
How interesting that this rule still applies today.
Holding a bat in the early days was a sometimes jarring and
uncomfortable experience. A Salisbury cutler, W Beach, invented
a spring handled bat in 1840 and it was regularly used by
Somerton Club when it was found to be capable of driving a
ball much farther than the old rigid type with very little
exertion. It was also found to be, rather pleasantly, free
from the jarring effect. It was a 'steel bar' set into the
handle. E & W Page of Kennington produced the first commercial
spring handled bats in 1845, using a 'whale-bone' insert.
The first rubber sprung handles appeared around 1884.
Our season is just around the corner, starting on May 3rd
with a home league match against Claypole. This years matches
will all start at 2pm (30 minutes earlier than last year)
and then after August 14th, at 1.30pm. This, I believe, will
only apply to League games. Friendlies, I believe, will commence
2.30pm as usual.
We still need new blood. A few names have been suggested as
being interested but no real contact has yet been made.
Here's hoping for good weather, good luck and a good season.
"
Peter Kiely
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