Growth of Cricket
With the formation of county clubs and teams during the 19th century, cricket had established itself as a sport and even managed to spread to other parts of the globe through the English army. The International arena for cricket was set with the formation of the All England Eleven team by William Clarke and the development of railways meant that far away teams could meet easily to play matches. Hence, cricket matches were not just played between teams confined to a certain area which also increased the viewer-ship.
International Cricket
The earliest international cricket match was played in 1844 between USA and Canada at the St. George’s Cricket Club grounds in New York. The first overseas tour was recorded in 1859 when an English team toured North America. The English team once again toured Australia in 1862. In 1868, Australia made their first tour to England. In 1882 after a series of visits and matches against each other, Australia and England gave rise to the famous Ashes tour which later went on to become a biennially event.
National Cricket Championships
In 1890, the county teams in England entered the official County Championships. This initiative gave rise to national championships in other cricketing countries like the Currie Cup in South Africa, the Ranji Trophy in India and the Plunkett Shield. In 1892, the Sheffield Shield was organized in Australia. This period was also known as the Golden Age of Cricket and featured cricketing legends like Wilfred Rhodes, K.S. Ranjitsinhji and Victor Trumper.
From 1877 to 1883, the boat trip between England and Australia required 48 days to complete. Several cricketers and particularly amateurs, were reluctant to embark on such a long trip. Due to this, the teams did not represent their country in full strength. Consequently, the home teams were at an advantage. During the above mentioned time span, 13 Test matches were played and all of these were between England and Australia. Out of these 11 matches were played in Australia. 7 matches were won by Australia, 4 matches were won by England while 2 matches resulted in a draw.
The Ashes
The tradition of tours between Australia and England was created by 1883. In this year, the first Ashes series was played. In 1882, England lost for the first time at home. In the latter part of that year, a team was led by the Honorable Ivo Bligh to Australia to regain the Ashes. There was a three match series after which a group of ladies from Melbourne offered an urn containing ashes to Bligh. Since then, this has become an award for which Australia and England contest against each other. However, this is not the official trophy of the contest.
By 1883, several problems had emerged which tarnished the image of cricket. These were match-fixing, betting controversies, umpiring disputes and also a riot.