124-461: Alan Melville (19 May 1910 – 18 April 1983) was a South African cricketer who played in 11 Test matches from 1938 to 1949. He was born in Carnarvon, Northern Cape , South Africa and died at Sabie , Transvaal . Melville was a right-handed middle-order batsman sometimes used as an opener and a right-arm leg-break and googly bowler who later switched to off-breaks. Educated at Michaelhouse , he
248-456: A public school education who had then gone to one of Cambridge or Oxford University . Society insisted that such people were "officers and gentlemen" whose destiny was to provide leadership. In a purely financial sense, the cricketing amateur would theoretically claim expenses for playing while his professional counterpart played under contract and was paid a wage or match fee; in practice, many amateurs claimed more than actual expenditure, and
372-442: A timeless Test that nevertheless had to be left as a draw after 10 days. England won the series by winning the third game, with all the others left drawn. Melville himself took a while to adapt to Test cricket. He was out without scoring in the only innings of the first game, one of five ducks in an innings of 390. For the second match, he demoted himself from No 3 in the batting order to No 9 and scored 23 in his only innings. For
496-565: A collared shirt with short or long sleeves; long trousers; woolen pullover (if needed); cricket cap (for fielding) or a safety helmet; and spiked shoes or boots to increase traction. The kit is traditionally all white, and this remains the case in Test and first-class cricket, but in limited overs cricket, team colours are now worn instead. i) A used white ball. White balls are mainly used in limited overs cricket , especially in matches played at night, under floodlights (left). The essence of
620-477: A compound fracture, retired hurt, and did not bat in the second innings. On regaining consciousness, Wyatt signalled for pencil and paper and, along with amending his team's batting order, made it clear that he attached no blame to Martindale. This particular incident was remembered in Jamaica for many years and was regarded as a defining moment of Martindale's career. In the series as a whole, Martindale topped
744-454: A fence, part of the stands, a rope, a painted line, or a combination of these; the boundary must if possible be marked along its entire length. In the approximate centre of the field is a rectangular pitch (see image, below) on which a wooden target called a wicket is sited at each end; the wickets are placed 22 yards (20 m) apart. The pitch is a flat surface 10 feet (3.0 m) wide, with very short grass that tends to be worn away as
868-530: A four-wicket victory; Hammond won the game by hitting Martindale for six. Martindale took eight wickets in the match, but lacked support to win the game as Constantine was absent. In the first Test, Martindale's fast bowling partner had been Leslie Hylton ; for the second Test in Trinidad , they were joined by Constantine. Wyatt's strange captaincy was a factor in England's defeat in this match – he again put
992-461: A fourth season and a fourth Blue and although he featured in fewer than half the University side's matches, he hit his highest Oxford score, an innings of 127 made in less than two-and-a-quarter hours against a very weak Surrey attack at The Oval . He played for Sussex again in the second half of the 1933 season and, as in the previous year, was not conspicuously successful – until, virtually at
1116-621: A highly popular format, putting the longer formats at risk. The new shorter format also introduced franchise cricket, with new tournaments like the Indian Premier League and the Australian Big Bash League . The ICC has selected the T20 format as cricket's growth format, and has introduced a T20 World Cup which is played every two years; T20 cricket has also been increasingly accepted into major events such as
1240-495: A long run up; although not tall for a bowler of his type he bowled at a fast pace. With Learie Constantine , Martindale was one of the earliest in the long succession of Test-playing West Indian fast bowlers. During the time he played, the West Indies bowling attack depended largely on his success. Critics believe that his record and performances stand comparison with bowlers of greater reputation and longer careers. Chosen for
1364-459: A record-breaking win, finishing at 423 for seven wickets: Melville dropped down the batting order in this game and scored 39 and 6. In the five Tests, Melville had scored 569 runs at an average of 63.22; this put him third in the batting averages behind Nourse and Mitchell, but the three of them all scored more than double the number of runs of any other South African batsman. Outside the Tests, there
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#17327942388271488-690: A return of five wickets for 73, against just one wicket for Constantine. In West Indies second innings, England also bowled Bodyline, but the match was drawn. The third and final Test of the summer was anti-climax for the West Indies team, with the match at The Oval lost by an innings after England had the better batting conditions on the Saturday and debutant Charles Marriott took 11 wickets in his only Test. Martindale, however, continued to thrive with five wickets for 93 runs in England's innings, although The Times report suggested that he bowled at times too short. The five wickets meant Martindale finished
1612-584: A row; Melville's (and Fingleton's) record of four has since been equalled only by Rahul Dravid . The rest of the Lord's Test was less successful, however, and the South Africans lost the match after being forced to follow on, with Melville making just 8 in the second innings. The match at Lord's set the pattern for the rest of the tour as South Africa's limited bowling and inconsistent batting were exposed by England's weight of runs from Compton and Edrich and
1736-484: A somewhat stodgy game in their efforts to finish at the top and they thus defeated their own ends," it said. "At times they would not risk anything." Wisden compared Melville's "strange disinclination to experiment" with the adventurous approach taken by Maurice Tate , the senior professional at the club, who captained the side when Melville missed a few games. As a batsman, Melville was highly successful, scoring 1504 runs at an average of 42.97 with three centuries, though in
1860-591: A total of 1904 runs at an average of 40.51. His side had a mixed season, falling to seventh in the County Championship. At the end of the 1935 season, Melville resigned the Sussex captaincy; he played only irregularly for Sussex in the 1936 season though he finished with a flourish, scoring 152, his highest first-class score to that point, in his last game for the county, the match against the Indians . When
1984-550: A victory target of 696, were forced to leave the match as a draw to catch their ship home. Melville served with the South African forces during the Second World War , but an injury in training brought about a recurrence of the back injury he had suffered as a teenager in 1929 and for almost a year he wore a steel jacket; Wisden wrote that "it was thought that he would never play cricket again". Discharged from
2108-416: A winner or tie.) The wicket-keeper (a specialised fielder behind the batter) and the batters wear protective gear because of the hardness of the ball, which can be delivered at speeds of more than 145 kilometres per hour (90 mph) and presents a major health and safety concern. Protective clothing includes pads (designed to protect the knees and shins), batting gloves or wicket-keeper's gloves for
2232-403: Is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field , at the centre of which is a 22-yard (20-metre; 66-foot) pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails (small sticks) balanced on three stumps . Two players from the batting team, the striker and nonstriker, stand in front of either wicket holding bats , while one player from the fielding team,
2356-539: Is aimed at a mark (the wicket) and driven away from it". It is generally believed that cricket originated as a children's game in the south-eastern counties of England, sometime during the medieval period . Although there are claims for prior dates, the earliest definite reference to cricket being played comes from evidence given at a court case in Guildford in January 1597 ( Old Style , equating to January 1598 in
2480-453: Is certain that cricket was being played c. 1550 by boys in Surrey . The view that it was originally a children's game is reinforced by Randle Cotgrave 's 1611 English- French dictionary in which he defined the noun " crosse " as "the crooked staff wherewith boys play at cricket", and the verb form " crosser " as "to play at cricket". One possible source for the sport's name
2604-423: Is drawn four feet in front of the bowling crease and parallel to it; although it is drawn as a 12 ft (3.7 m) line (six feet on either side of the wicket), it is, in fact, unlimited in length. The return creases are drawn at right angles to the popping crease so that they intersect the ends of the bowling crease; each return crease is drawn as an 8 ft (2.4 m) line, so that it extends four feet behind
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#17327942388272728-656: Is known, through numerous references found in the records of ecclesiastical court cases, to have been proscribed at times by the Puritans before and during the Commonwealth . The problem was nearly always the issue of Sunday play, as the Puritans considered cricket to be "profane" if played on the Sabbath , especially if large crowds or gambling were involved. According to the social historian Derek Birley , there
2852-570: Is the Old English word " cryce " (or " cricc " ) meaning a crutch or staff. In Samuel Johnson 's Dictionary , he derived cricket from " cryce , Saxon, a stick". In Old French , the word " criquet " seems to have meant a kind of club or stick. Given the strong medieval trade connections between south-east England and the County of Flanders when the latter belonged to the Duchy of Burgundy ,
2976-411: Is the earliest mention of adult participation in cricket and it was around the same time that the earliest known organised inter-parish or village match was played, at Chevening, Kent . In 1624, a player called Jasper Vinall died after he was accidentally struck on the head during a match between two parish teams in Sussex. Cricket remained a low-key local pursuit for much of the 17th century. It
3100-402: Is thought, a " wicket gate " through which sheep were herded), that the batter must defend. The cricket historian Harry Altham identified three "groups" of "club ball" games: the "hockey group", in which the ball is driven to and from between two targets (the goals); the "golf group", in which the ball is driven towards an undefended target (the hole); and the "cricket group", in which "the ball
3224-579: The Asian Games . The resultant growth has seen cricket's fanbase cross one billion people, with 90% of them in South Asia. T20's success has also spawned even shorter formats , such as 10-over cricket (T10) and 100-ball cricket , though not without controversy. Outside factors have also taken their toll on cricket. For example, the 2008 Mumbai attacks led India and Pakistan to suspend their bilateral series indefinitely. The 2009 attack on
3348-702: The British Empire had been instrumental in spreading the game overseas, and by the middle of the 19th century it had become well established in Australia , the Caribbean , British India (which includes present-day Pakistan and Bangladesh ), New Zealand , North America and South Africa . In 1862, an English team made the first tour of Australia. The first Australian team to travel overseas consisted of Aboriginal stockmen who toured England in 1868 . In 1876–77, an England team took part in what
3472-465: The Dukes of Richmond , exerted their honour code of noblesse oblige to claim rights of leadership in any sporting contests they took part in, especially as it was necessary for them to play alongside their "social inferiors" if they were to win their bets. In time, a perception took hold that the typical amateur who played in first-class cricket, until 1962 when amateurism was abolished, was someone with
3596-472: The West Indies . Women's cricket , which is organised and played separately, has also achieved international standard. The most successful side playing international cricket is Australia , which has won eight One Day International trophies, including six World Cups , more than any other country, and has been the top-rated Test side more than any other country. Cricket is one of many games in
3720-401: The "club ball" sphere that involve hitting a ball with a hand-held implement. Others include baseball (which shares many similarities with cricket, both belonging in the more specific bat-and-ball games category ), golf , hockey , tennis , squash , badminton and table tennis . In cricket's case, a key difference is the existence of a solid target structure, the wicket (originally, it
3844-414: The 1946–47 season and in the first match scored a new personal highest score with an innings of 153, putting on 299 for the seventh wicket with Bruce Mitchell which was a partnership record for that wicket in South African cricket. With his wife recovered and his own fitness not in doubt, he was picked as captain for the 1947 South African tour of England . The 1947 English cricket season was dominated by
Alan Melville - Misplaced Pages Continue
3968-708: The 19th century. The game's governing body is the International Cricket Council (ICC), which has over 100 members, twelve of which are full members who play Test matches. The game's rules, the Laws of Cricket , are maintained by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in London . The sport is followed primarily in South Asia , Australia , New Zealand , the United Kingdom , Southern Africa , and
4092-473: The 64 wickets to fall, according to Manley "a performance which anticipated the later preponderance of fast bowling in the West Indies." The bowling of these three was also cited by Wisden as the main reason why the Test series was eventually won. Manley further comments that Martindale's success came against some very good batsmen, but he "virtually destroyed England". Martindale played for Barbados until January 1936, when he played his last first-class game in
4216-977: The Caribbean, Martindale coached the Bermuda cricket team for a period before working for the Barbados Government Sports Department until shortly before his death in 1972. From the time he began to play league cricket, Martindale and his family lived in Burnley, Lancashire. He and his wife had five children, three girls and two boys; all but one of the family entered the teaching profession in England. Martindale and his wife returned to live in Barbados in 1964. "Like all fast bowlers, Martindale imparted menace", according to Michael Manley. Although not particularly tall, Martindale generated pace from his powerful shoulders and thighs and
4340-468: The Caribbean. In Martindale's career, the match is notable for an unusual reason: his batting. Barbados, chasing 409 to win the match against Trinidad , had subsided to 108 for seven wickets in their second innings when Martindale came in to bat at No 9, joining his fellow fast bowler Foffie Williams . The pair put on 255 for the eighth wicket which, 75 years on, remains the highest stand for this wicket in West Indies first-class cricket; Martindale made 134,
4464-589: The Freshman's trial match at Oxford and was thereafter a regular in the Oxford University side over the next four years, winning a Blue each year. He scored 78 in his first first-class innings for Oxford against Kent in May 1930. In the next game, he scored 118 against Yorkshire . He did not maintain that form, but finished with 591 runs at an average of 32.83, plus 19 rather expensive wickets, though he
4588-669: The Lancashire League. Martindale continued to play into his 54th year, playing two seasons for Great Harwood in the Ribblesdale League in 1962 and 1963. He returned to live in Barbados in December 1964 after 28 years playing league cricket in England. His obituary in the 1973 edition of Wisden reported that in League cricket "he earned much popularity and respect, both on and off the field". After his return to
4712-584: The Middle Dutch phrase for hockey, " met de (krik ket)sen " ("with the stick chase"). Gillmeister has suggested that not only the name but also the sport itself may be of Flemish origin. Although the main object of the game has always been to score the most runs , the early form of cricket differed from the modern game in certain key technical aspects; the North American variant of cricket known as wicket retained many of these aspects. The ball
4836-506: The South African innings in the fourth Test and he and van der Bijl – his collision partner from Oxford in 1932 – put on an opening partnership of 108 before Melville was out for 67. Rain had spoiled the possibility of a South African victory in the fourth game, but the fifth match was due to be played to a finish, South Africa attempted to win through sheer weight of runs: the first innings lasted two-and-a-half days and totalled 530. Van der Bijl and Melville improved on their first-wicket stand in
4960-575: The Sri Lankan team during their tour of Pakistan led to Pakistan being unable to host matches until 2019. In 2017, Afghanistan and Ireland became the 11th and 12th Test nations. In cricket, the rules of the game are codified in The Laws of Cricket (hereinafter called "the Laws"), which has a global remit. There are 42 Laws (always written with a capital "L"). The earliest known version of
5084-462: The West Indian total. The West Indies then declared their second innings setting England only 72 to win. Batting conditions remained very difficult throughout and Wyatt rearranged his batting order to keep his players away from Martindale in the hope batting would become easier. Martindale took five wickets for 22 runs in 8.3 overs from Martindale, but an innings of 29 from Hammond took England to
Alan Melville - Misplaced Pages Continue
5208-401: The West Indies bowling averages with 19 wickets at an average of 12.57; Constantine, in three matches, took 15 at 13.13 and Hylton 13 at 19.30. In his history of West Indies cricket, Michael Manley notes that by the time of this series, Martindale had increased his speed and improved his bowling through experience. The pace combination of Martindale, Constantine and Hylton, accounted for 47 of
5332-533: The West Indies on winning the toss, and, when England were set 325 to win, he reversed the England batting order, and a collapse to 75 for five wickets proved too much for the better batsmen to recover from. Martindale had a quiet game, taking only one wicket. The third Test in British Guiana was rain-affected and slow-scoring, and it petered out to a tame draw, with three wickets for Martindale in England's first innings. West Indies' series-winning victory in
5456-464: The West indies tour of England in 1933 despite having played little cricket and being an unknown quantity, he was a great success. He took over 100 first-class wickets and took over half of the West Indies' wickets in the three Tests played. He was the leading bowler when West Indies won their first Test series, against England in 1934–35, and had great success against the leading English batsmen. In
5580-454: The ball hits the striker's wicket and dislodges the bails, and by the fielding side either catching the ball after it is hit by the bat but before it hits the ground, or hitting a wicket with the ball before a batter can cross the crease line in front of the wicket. When ten batters have been dismissed, the innings (playing phase) ends and the teams swap roles. Forms of cricket range from traditional Test matches played over five days to
5704-767: The ball rose to head height; occasionally they bowled around the wicket . Many of the English batsmen were discomfited, and a short ball from Martindale struck Wally Hammond on the chin, forcing him to retire hurt . Martindale was the faster bowler but Constantine was also capable of bursts of great pace. Even so, the England captain Douglas Jardine , the man responsible for the Bodyline tactics used in Australia, batted for five hours to score his only Test century. Many critics praised Jardine's batting and bravery in
5828-488: The ball roughly on the line of leg stump . The deliveries were often short-pitched with four or five fielders close by on the leg side waiting to catch deflections off the bat. The tactics were difficult for batsmen to counter and were designed to be intimidatory. By the 1933 season, it had become a sensitive subject. In the game against Yorkshire, in which Martindale did not play, the West Indies captain Jackie Grant
5952-474: The ball, which is a hard, solid spheroid made of compressed leather with a slightly raised sewn seam enclosing a cork core layered with tightly wound string. The earliest known definite reference to cricket is to it being played in South East England in the mid-16th century. It spread globally with the expansion of the British Empire , with the first international matches in the second half of
6076-540: The batting order, sometimes opening the innings. In an early match for Burnley, against Church , he took nine wickets in an innings and spoiled his own record by catching the tenth batsman off a different bowler. In 1938 the English fast bowler Ken Farnes regarded Martindale as the world's fastest bowler. Like Constantine, who also played League Cricket, Martindale chose to suspend his contract with Burnley for 1939 to allow his selection for West Indies. The team toured England that season and Martindale resumed his place in
6200-449: The batting team are on the field at any given time. The order of batters is usually announced just before the match, but it can be varied. The main objective of each team is to score more runs than their opponents, but in some forms of cricket, it is also necessary to dismiss all but one of the opposition batters (making their team 'all out') in their final innings in order to win the match, which would otherwise be drawn (not ending with
6324-529: The bowler, bowls the ball toward the striker's wicket from the opposite end of the pitch. The striker's goal is to hit the bowled ball with the bat and then switch places with the nonstriker, with the batting team scoring one run for each of these exchanges. Runs are also scored when the ball reaches the boundary of the field or when the ball is bowled illegally . The fielding team tries to prevent runs from being scored by dismissing batters (so they are "out"). Means of dismissal include being bowled , when
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#17327942388276448-421: The bowling crease, but is also, in fact, unlimited in length. Before a match begins, the team captains (who are also players) toss a coin to decide which team will bat first and so take the first innings . "Innings" is the term used for each phase of play in the match. In each innings, one team bats, attempting to score runs , while the other team bowls and fields the ball , attempting to restrict
6572-451: The captaincy of George Mann toured South Africa. Melville, nominally retired, was persuaded to play in an early-season first class match for Transvaal against Natal after which, in the last of a long line of injuries, he fractured a wrist; he recovered in time to play for Transvaal in the game against the touring side just before the first Test and scored 92 with what Wisden said was, "next to Hutton " – who scored 174 – "the best batting of
6696-489: The code was drafted in 1744, and since 1788, it has been owned and maintained by its custodian, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in London . Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played on a cricket field (see image of cricket pitch and creases) between two teams of eleven players each. The field is usually circular or oval in shape, and the edge of the playing area is marked by a boundary , which may be
6820-550: The death of his father; Scott was unable to resume in 1934, and Melville took over the Sussex captaincy for the next two seasons. Sussex had finished second in the County Championship for each of the preceding two seasons and under Melville in 1934 they again finished second, but there was veiled criticism of changes to the county's style of play in the 1935 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack . "Sussex, renowned for their attractive and enterprising hitting, developed
6944-561: The derisive term "shamateur" was coined to describe the practice. The game underwent major development in the 18th century to become England's national sport . Its success was underwritten by the twin necessities of patronage and betting. Cricket was prominent in London as early as 1707 and, in the middle years of the century, large crowds flocked to matches on the Artillery Ground in Finsbury . The single wicket form of
7068-405: The earliest known contest that is generally considered a First Class match. The patrons and other players from the gentry began to classify themselves as " amateurs " to establish a clear distinction from the professionals, who were invariably members of the working class , even to the point of having separate changing and dining facilities. The gentry, including such high-ranking nobles as
7192-469: The end of the season, the West Indian touring team played Sussex. Facing a big West Indian total, Sussex, with Melville as stand-in captain, opened with Ted Bowley and John Langridge , and Manny Martindale and Herman Griffith were both bowling with aggressively and using leg theory , the tactic that had been used in the Bodyline controversy of the previous winter by England in Australia . Bowley
7316-463: The existence of players like him who were nominally amateur but, in terms of their financial gain, de facto professional. Grace himself was said to have been paid more money for playing cricket than any professional. The last two decades before the First World War have been called the " Golden Age of cricket ". It is a nostalgic name prompted by the collective sense of loss resulting from
7440-440: The feat of Constantine in taking 100 wickets in 1928, but unlike Constantine, Martindale had few other effective bowlers to support him. In its review of the West Indian tour in its 1934 edition, Wisden singled out Martindale and batsman George Headley as "indispensable" and the "giants" of the team. Like Headley with the bat, Martindale was under pressure to succeed as the success of the team depended on his performances. Headley
7564-554: The final game of the series, one of his deliveries broke the jaw of Bob Wyatt , the England captain. When he returned to tour England a second time in 1939, Martindale was less successful, but he had by then established himself in League Cricket in England. He moved there to play initially for Burnley Cricket Club , but remained in England for the next 28 years as a professional cricketer. Upon returning to live in Barbados in 1964, Martindale took up coaching. He died in 1972. In
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#17327942388277688-446: The first innings and then, when the South Africans went in wanting 227 to win the match in 140 minutes, he hit an unbeaten 104 in the second innings, though the match remained drawn. Melville's performance set several records: this was the first time a South African batsman had scored two separate hundreds in a Test match; his first innings of 189 was at the time the highest by a South African against England, though Mitchell equalled it and
7812-445: The first innings, scoring 131 before Melville was out for 78. After bowling England out for 316, Melville did not enforce the follow-on and the South Africans in their second innings scored 481; Melville himself had an injured thigh and this time came in at No 6 but scored 103, his first Test century. Despite the heavy scoring the match was left drawn after the 10th day when the England team, having scored 654 for five wickets in pursuit of
7936-646: The first limited overs Cricket World Cup in 1975 . Sri Lanka joined the ranks in 1982. Meanwhile, South Africa was banned by the ICC due to apartheid from 1970 until 1992. 1992 also brought about the introduction of the Zimbabwe team . The 21st century brought with it the Bangladesh Team , who made their Test debut in 2000. The game itself also grew, with a new format made up of 20-over innings being created. This format, called T20 cricket , quickly became
8060-546: The first victory over Cambridge since 1923. In 1932, Melville was the Oxford captain in his own right, but his season was disrupted by injury – though not to the same degree as Moore's had been in 1931 – when he broke his collarbone while batting in the match against the Free Foresters by colliding with his partner, Pieter van der Bijl . Melville had made an unbeaten century, 113 * before the collision. On his return to
8184-411: The forces in 1945, Melville undertook an intensive programme of rehabilitation and was able to resume his cricket career early in 1946. Almost immediately, he was forced to stand down again and it was feared that his back injury had returned; in fact, he was not injured, but his wife had contracted poliomyelitis and while she recovered he looked after their children. He returned to cricket at the start of
8308-463: The fourth and final Test in Jamaica was based on an unbeaten innings of 270 by the local hero Headley, but Martindale and Constantine, with 13 wickets between them, were the dominant bowlers. Wyatt, opening England's first innings, ducked into a fast delivery outside off stump from Martindale; the batsman expected the ball to lift sharply but it bounced normally and struck him on the jaw. He sustained
8432-450: The game at county level led to the creation of the county clubs , starting with Sussex in 1839. In December 1889, the eight leading county clubs formed the official County Championship , which began in 1890. The most famous player of the 19th century was W. G. Grace , who started his long and influential career in 1865. It was especially during the career of Grace that the distinction between amateurs and professionals became blurred by
8556-424: The game progresses (cricket can also be played on artificial surfaces, notably matting). Each wicket is made of three wooden stumps topped by two bails . As illustrated, the pitch is marked at each end with four white painted lines: a bowling crease , a popping crease and two return creases . The three stumps are aligned centrally on the bowling crease, which is eight feet eight inches long. The popping crease
8680-432: The game quickly grew from 500 tests in 84 years to 1000 within the next 23. Cricket entered a new era in 1963 when English counties introduced the limited overs variant. As it was sure to produce a result, limited overs cricket was lucrative, and the number of matches increased. The first Limited Overs International was played in 1971, and the governing International Cricket Council (ICC), seeing its potential, staged
8804-420: The game. The ball carried through slowly on another soft pitch, which reduced the effectiveness of the Bodyline tactics, but public disapproval expressed during and after the match was instrumental in turning English attitudes against Bodyline. Not all contemporary reports disapproved of the tactics; The Times report said there had been "plenty of fun" in the play. The bowling brought Martindale success, with
8928-421: The greatest Test batter of all time. To curb his dominance, England employed bodyline tactics during the 1932–33 Ashes series . These involved bowling at the body of the batter and setting a field, resulting in batters having to choose between being hit or risk getting out. This series moved cricket from a game to a matter of national importance , with diplomatic cables being passed between the two countries over
9052-529: The hands, a safety helmet for the head, and a box for male players inside the trousers (to protect the crotch area). Some batters wear additional padding inside their shirts and trousers such as thigh pads, arm pads, rib protectors and shoulder pads. The only fielders allowed to wear protective gear are those in positions very close to the batter (i.e., if they are alongside or in front of him), but they cannot wear gloves or external leg guards. Subject to certain variations, on-field clothing generally includes
9176-469: The heady world of Sussex batting at the time that still left him only fifth in the county's batting averages, behind Tommy Cook , John Langridge , Jim Parks, Sr. and Harry Parks . In the winter of 1934–35, Melville was operated on for appendicitis. He recovered in time to lead the team through the season, and though he again missed a few matches, he had a personally successful season, heading Sussex's Championship batting averages and scoring in all matches
9300-425: The home side's greater bowling variety and experience. Melville made 17 and 59 in the third Test, played at Manchester , which was also lost. The Leeds Test brought him scores of 0 and 30 in two weak South African batting performances, and a third Test defeat in succession. The fifth Test, played in what Wisden called "extreme heat", ended in a tense draw with the South Africans, seeking 451 for what would have been
9424-527: The host colony. Martindale made little impact in the two Barbados matches against the touring side, failing to take a wicket in either game. The second of these games was badly affected by rain and the bad weather spilled over into the Test match that followed, leading to events that were rated as unusual for the time: England captain Bob Wyatt won the toss but put the West Indies in on a wet pitch, and later he declared England 's innings closed 21 runs behind
9548-462: The incident. During this time, the number of Test nations continued to grow, with the West Indies , New Zealand and India being admitted as full Test members within a four-year period from 1928 to 1932. An enforced break during the Second World War stopped Test Cricket for a time, although the Partition of India caused Pakistan to gain Test status in 1952. As teams began to travel more,
9672-534: The last weekend of May 1933, he had taken 34 first-class wickets at an average of 14.20 runs per wicket, more than twice as many wickets as any of his teammates. Martindale was less effective in June when he also missed, or bowled less in, a couple of matches because of a "strain". He was fit, however, to open the bowling for the West Indies in the first Test at Lord's at the end of the month alongside Francis, recalled because Nelson CC would not release Constantine for
9796-435: The limited first-class cricket schedule played in the West Indies, Martindale had played in only four matches up to his arrival in England for the 1933 West Indies tour , and had taken only 14 wickets in them, including five in the trial match. He had played so little cricket that few people in the West Indies knew much about him, but his reputation grew very quickly during the tour. As such, his rise to prominence came after he
9920-430: The match". But Melville announced after the game that his wrist was not yet recovered enough for him to take part in the Test. He was finally fit in time for the third Test, a fortnight later, and this proved to be his last Test match, and also the only one in which he did not captain the South African side: used as an opening batsman, he scored 15 and 24 in a drawn match. He then played in a second game for Transvaal against
10044-440: The match; Martindale took four wickets for 85 runs, but England won easily by an innings. July brought a second eight-wicket innings for Martindale: the match against Nottinghamshire was cut short by rain, but Martindale's eight wickets for 66 runs included five batsmen clean bowled. During the previous winter, England had played Australia in the controversial Bodyline series in which the English bowlers were accused of bowling
10168-413: The modern calendar). The case concerned ownership of a certain plot of land, and the court heard the testimony of a 59-year-old coroner , John Derrick , who gave witness that: Being a scholler in the ffree schoole of Guldeford hee and diverse of his fellows did runne and play there at creckett and other plaies. Given Derrick's age, it was about half a century earlier when he was at school, and so it
10292-552: The name may have been derived from the Middle Dutch (in use in Flanders at the time) " krick " ( -e ), meaning a stick (crook). Another possible source is the Middle Dutch word " krickstoel " , meaning a long low stool used for kneeling in church that resembled the long low wicket with two stumps used in early cricket. According to Heiner Gillmeister, a European language expert of Bonn University , "cricket" derives from
10416-448: The newer Twenty20 format (also known as T20 ), in which each team bats for a single innings of 20 overs (each "over" being a set of 6 fair opportunities for the batting team to score) and the game generally lasts three to four hours. Traditionally, cricketers play in all-white kit , but in limited overs cricket , they wear club or team colours. In addition to the basic kit, some players wear protective gear to prevent injury caused by
10540-480: The only score of more than 50 in his career, and Williams was undefeated on 131 when Trinidad won the match by 36 runs. Thereafter, Martindale's main cricket was played in England as he followed Constantine's example by signing as a professional in the Lancashire League , playing for three seasons from 1936 with Burnley Cricket Club . Although primarily recruited for his bowling, he also batted high in
10664-430: The physical effect on him was significant, as Wisden noted: "The mental and physical exhaustion, indeed, took such toll of a never robust physique that on his return to South Africa Melville weighed 27 pounds less than when he set out." He announced his retirement from first-class cricket after a couple of matches for Transvaal in the winter that followed the tour. In the winter of 1948/49, an England cricket team under
10788-404: The previous winter, The Times reported of Martindale: "It is very pleasant indeed to see a fast bowler bowling in the old tradition, packing his slips and attacking the off-stump rather than the leg-side ... The Essex batsmen not only got out to him but were thoroughly beaten during the brief time they were in." Constantine was contracted to play Lancashire League cricket for Nelson and
10912-587: The proper cricket started, Martindale was immediately successful. In his second first-class match of the tour (and the third first-class game) against Essex he took eight first-innings wickets for just 32 runs and followed that with four for 73 in the second innings to finish with match figures of 12 for 105: these would remain the best innings and match figures of his career. With an eye on the Bodyline controversy which had featured in England 's tour of Australia
11036-414: The run-getting exploits of Denis Compton and Bill Edrich , and the South African side led by Melville suffered at the hands of both batsmen in a hot summer made for batting. In the first half of the season, however, Melville's own batting form was almost as good, despite breaking a bone in his little finger early on and also straining his thigh during the first Test. He made centuries in the second match of
11160-412: The scoring and dismiss the batters. When the first innings ends, the teams change roles; there can be two to four innings depending upon the type of match. A match with four scheduled innings is played over three to five days; a match with two scheduled innings is usually completed in a single day. During an innings, all eleven members of the fielding team take the field, but usually only two members of
11284-743: The season was over, he left England, moving back to South Africa where he took a job on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Back in South Africa, Melville became captain of the Johannesburg-based Wanderers Cricket Club and in December 1936 played his first game for Transvaal, though he did not appear in Transvaal's Currie Cup matches that season. The following year, however, he captained Transvaal in six of its seven Currie Cup matches as
11408-419: The season, as Martindale had done six years earlier. Martindale's own figures were disappointing: he took only 46 wickets in the season at the high average of 34.50 and only four wickets in the three-Test series. His one game of success was the match against Leicestershire when he took five wickets for 57 runs in the county's only innings. With war imminent, the final matches of the tour were left unplayed, and
11532-446: The series with 14 wickets at an average of 17.92; his bowling colleagues in the series took only 12 wickets and those were at a cost of 58.33 each. This was the best performance by a West Indian bowler in a Test series up until that point. Immediately after this final Test, the West Indian team went to Blackpool to play a first-class match against a team raised by Sir Lindsay Parkinson ; Martindale took eight wickets in an innings for
11656-620: The side in late June, he was successful with the ball, taking a hat-trick and nine wickets in the game against H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI, and he finished top of the University bowling averages. In the University Match, Melville was unable to repeat his leadership success of 1931, and the match was drawn. Following the end of the 1932 University cricket season, Melville made his debut for Sussex , playing in 11 matches and scoring consistent runs, if with no high scores. Unusually, though no longer captain, he returned to Oxford in 1933 for
11780-443: The sport attracted huge crowds and wagers to match, its popularity peaking in the 1748 season . Bowling underwent an evolution around 1760 when bowlers began to pitch (bounce) the ball instead of rolling or skimming it towards the batter. This caused a revolution in bat design because, to deal with the bouncing ball, it was necessary to introduce the modern straight bat in place of the old "hockey stick" shape. The Hambledon Club
11904-413: The sport is that a bowler delivers (i.e., bowls) the ball from their end of the pitch towards the batter who, armed with a bat , is "on strike" at the other end (see next sub-section: Basic gameplay ). The bat is made of wood, usually Salix alba (white willow), and has the shape of a blade topped by a cylindrical handle. The blade must not be more than 4.25 inches (10.8 cm) wide and
12028-433: The team alongside Constantine and Hylton as the spearhead of the West Indies' pace attack. Unlike his previous tour in 1933, he was not effective and Wisden reported that he "fell off in pace and accuracy". Despite his greater experience and his time in league cricket, Bridgette Lawrence notes that he had passed his peak. With Hylton also out of sorts, only Constantine of the pace attack was in form, and he took 103 wickets in
12152-518: The team shared the title with Natal; he had little success with the bat himself, scoring just 109 runs at an average of 15.57 and did not bowl at all. In fact, after his return to South Africa from England in 1936 he scarcely bowled at all. Despite this indifferent form, Melville was selected as the captain for the five Tests on the England tour of 1938–39 : the series was his own Test debut. The five matches suffered at times, Wisden wrote, from "slow-motion methods adopted by both sides" and culminated in
12276-553: The third Test at The Oval proved to be Martindale's last appearance in first-class cricket. Although Martindale's first-class career ended in 1939, he continued in high-standard cricket for many years afterwards. During the Second World War, he was based in Lancashire, and he appeared for a large number of the ad hoc teams that played one-off fixtures on many grounds in the north-west of England. From 1947 to 1951 he
12400-507: The third match, he went in at No 8 and scored 5 not out and 10. Respite for Melville from this series of mediocre personal performances with a match for a Combined Transvaal XI against the MCC touring team immediately after the third Test defeat. Though he scored only 1 in the first innings, he resorted to opening the batting in the second innings and scored 107 "cutting, driving and hooking with effortless ease", Wisden reported. That led him to open
12524-400: The third time in the season, this time for 39 runs. A further five-wicket haul in the last match of the season against H. D. G. Leveson-Gower 's XI took him past 100 wickets for the season. Martindale finished the 1933 season with 103 first-class wickets at an average of 20.98; Ellis Achong took 71 at an average of 36.14 and no other bowler on the tour took more than 50 wickets. He emulated
12648-399: The total length of the bat not more than 38 inches (97 cm). There is no standard for the weight, which is usually between 2 lb 7 oz and 3 lb (1.1 and 1.4 kg). Manny Martindale Emmanuel Alfred Martindale (25 November 1909 – 17 March 1972) was a West Indian cricketer who played in ten Test matches from 1933 to 1939. He was a right-arm fast bowler with
12772-402: The tour against Leicestershire and in the fourth match against Surrey . His form took a bit of a dip when he moved up to open the innings because Dennis Dyer , the expected opening partner for Bruce Mitchell, was badly out of form (and subsequently proved to have been ill for most of the season). The change proved successful in the first Test match, however: Melville scored a career-best 189 in
12896-552: The touring side, but failed to score in that, and ended his first-class cricket career. In retirement, Melville remained an influential figure in South African cricket and was a selector for the South African cricket team for many years. He died suddenly on a trip to the Kruger National Park in 1983. Cricket First-class cricket One Day International Limited overs (domestic) Twenty20 International Twenty20 (domestic) Other forms Cricket
13020-535: The war, but the period did produce some great players and memorable matches, especially as organised competition at county and Test level developed. In 1844, the first-ever international match took place between what were essentially club teams, from the United States and Canada , in Toronto ; Canada won. In 1859, a team of English players went to North America on the first overseas tour . Meanwhile,
13144-655: Was bowled underarm by the bowler and along the ground towards a batter armed with a bat that in shape resembled a hockey stick ; the batter defended a low, two-stump wicket ; and runs were called notches because the scorers recorded them by notching tally sticks. In 1611, the year Cotgrave 's dictionary was published, ecclesiastical court records at Sidlesham in Sussex state that two parishioners, Bartholomew Wyatt and Richard Latter, failed to attend church on Easter Sunday because they were playing cricket. They were fined 12 d each and ordered to do penance . This
13268-544: Was a "great upsurge of sport after the Restoration " in 1660. Several members of the court of King Charles II took a strong interest in cricket during that era. Gambling on sport became a problem significant enough for Parliament to pass the 1664 Gambling Act, limiting stakes to £ 100, which was, in any case, a colossal sum exceeding the annual income of 99% of the population. Along with horse racing , as well as prizefighting and other types of blood sport , cricket
13392-502: Was able to bowl for long periods. He had a long, smooth run-up and gathered himself shortly before delivery, which contrasted with the more explosive bowling of Constantine. After he bowled the ball, it seemed to bounce very quickly off the pitch. His Wisden obituary stated: "His pace was remarkable in view of the fact that he stood no higher than 5 ft. 8½ in." Manley compares his bowling style to that of Ray Lindwall , Harold Larwood and Malcolm Marshall , and notes Martindale's quality
13516-432: Was approached to discuss a place in the touring team for him, but it was decided that he would continue with his studies with the aim of going to Oxford University later in 1929. Before he went to Oxford, Melville was involved in a car accident in which he fractured three vertebrae; he appeared to have made a full recovery and was able to take his place at Oxford in the autumn of 1929. Melville made an unbeaten century in
13640-592: Was founded in the 1760s and, for the next twenty years until the formation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the opening of Lord's Old Ground in 1787, Hambledon was both the game's greatest club and its focal point. MCC quickly became the sport's premier club and the custodian of the Laws of Cricket . New Laws introduced in the latter part of the 18th century include the three-stump wicket and leg before wicket (lbw). The 19th century saw underarm bowling superseded by first roundarm and then overarm bowling . Both developments were controversial. Organisation of
13764-478: Was frustrated to discover that the home team had prepared a soft pitch which reduced the effectiveness of fast bowling and he ordered Constantine to bowl Bodyline. The tactics were not effective in that instance, but Grant and Constantine discussed the matter further and decided to use Bodyline during the second Test. West Indies scored 375 and when England replied, Martindale and Constantine bowled Bodyline. The pair bowled up to four short deliveries each over so that
13888-528: Was just one more century for Melville, against his old colleagues at Sussex, with an unbeaten 114 in a total of 555 for six wickets. On the tour as a whole, he scored 1547 runs at an average of 40.71. Though the tour was not successful in terms of the Tests, Melville won praise for his captaincy and for his own performances, and was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in the 1948 edition of the Almanack . However,
14012-408: Was not finished with record-setting, however. In the next Test at Lord's, with the South Africans facing a huge England total, he scored yet another century, 117, to equal the record of four consecutive Test centuries set by Jack Fingleton in the 1930s. The record of four hundreds in consecutive Test innings was beaten a year later by Everton Weekes of the West Indies who achieved five centuries in
14136-544: Was not out later in the same series; Melville's third-wicket partnership of 319 with vice-captain Dudley Nourse was a record in all Test cricket for that wicket, though beaten by Compton and Edrich for England later in the series, and South Africa's highest for any wicket; the South African total of 533 was the highest against England; and Melville's two centuries meant he had scored three Test centuries in succession, as his final innings in 1938–39 had been 103. Melville
14260-522: Was not successful with either bat or ball in the University Match against Cambridge University . Melville's record improved slightly in 1931, with 631 runs and an average of 35.05, though there were no centuries. Injury to the University team's designated captain, Denis Moore , meant that Melville led the side in the University Match where, with an unbeaten 238 from the Nawab of Pataudi which overshadowed 201 for Cambridge by Alan Ratcliffe , Oxford achieved
14384-490: Was perceived to be a gambling sport. Rich patrons made matches for high stakes, forming teams in which they engaged the first professional players. By the end of the century, cricket had developed into a major sport that was spreading throughout England and was already being taken abroad by English mariners and colonisers—the earliest reference to cricket overseas is dated 1676. A 1697 newspaper report survives of "a great cricket match" played in Sussex "for fifty guineas apiece",
14508-510: Was picked as one of its Cricketers of the Year , but Martindale was not. Martindale played for Barbados in the Inter-Colonial Tournament in both 1933–34 and 1934–35 and was personally successful, though his team did not win the tournament in either year. In the second season, MCC sent a team composed of a few established Test players and some new names to play four Test matches, each of them preceded by games against
14632-499: Was quickly hurt and retired; Melville came in and began hitting the bowling; Langridge was then also forced to retire hurt (he later returned to make 172), but Melville went on to 114 and a four-man first-wicket stand of 223. The reason Melville was captaining Sussex at the end of the 1933 season was that the regular captain Robert Scott , himself a stand-in for the permanently unwell K. S. Duleepsinhji , had stood down because of
14756-403: Was released for only five matches across the summer: in the first of these, he and Martindale took nine of the 10 MCC first-innings wickets. Martindale returned five for 70, but both bowlers were criticised in the press for bowling short at the MCC batsmen. In the following match, against Hampshire , Martindale took six second-innings wickets for 61, and in the first-class averages published at
14880-481: Was retrospectively recognised as the first-ever Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground against Australia . The rivalry between England and Australia gave birth to The Ashes in 1882, which remains Test cricket's most famous contest. Test cricket began to expand in 1888–89 when South Africa played England. The inter-war years were dominated by Australia 's Don Bradman , statistically
15004-407: Was selected for representative cricket rather than from his early performances for Barbados. In England, he was spotted very quickly as a potential success: The Times , reporting on the team's first practice the day after their arrival, wrote: "Within the limitations of net-practice (they) showed that in E. Martindale they have a bowler of pace worthy to succeed Constantine and Francis ." When
15128-402: Was still a schoolboy when he appeared first for Natal in 1928–29. In his first first-class game, he took five Transvaal wickets for 71 runs in the second innings. His second match was a trial for the 1929 South African tour to England and he scored 123, putting on 283 for the second Natal wicket with Jack Siedle ; he also took four more wickets in the game. After this performance, his father
15252-515: Was such that he would have fitted perfectly into the West Indian teams which dominated world cricket in the 1970s and 1980s through concentrating on pace bowling. Bridgette Lawrence notes that Martindale "quickly won recognition as West Indies' first great Test fast bowler" and that he "carried West Indies' pace attack in their early years of Test match status with the same skill and panache as Headley did their batting." Martindale's record may have been even better but for poor West Indian fielding during
15376-509: Was the professional at the Lancashire League club Lowerhouse and two of his sons, Alfred and Colin, also began playing for Lowerhouse, so that in at least one league match three Martindales appeared in the same team. In 1952 and 1953 he played for Norton in the North Staffs and District League winning the league title with them in 1953 and taking 80 wickets in the process. In 1955, he had a single season as professional for Bacup , also in
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