What were they thinking?

[Red]

Serious thread, serious question.

What were the forefathers of cricket thinking when they decided to manufacture a game that goes over multiple days?

And why do FC matches have 2 innings? Why did that become a thing? Why wasn't one enough? It makes enough sense to only have one, doesn't it?

 

[StephenZA]

Serious thread, serious question.

What were the forefathers of cricket thinking when they decided to manufacture a game that goes over multiple days?

And why do FC matches have 2 innings? Why did that become a thing? Why wasn't one enough? It makes enough sense to only have one, doesn't it?

They had a lot of time on their hands? And why do something once when you can do it twice?

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

I think the guy who invented was seriously bad at his game. Thats why he wanted two chances to shine and the rest is history

 

[fredfertang]

Serious thread, serious question.

What were the forefathers of cricket thinking when they decided to manufacture a game that goes over multiple days?

And why do FC matches have 2 innings? Why did that become a thing? Why wasn't one enough? It makes enough sense to only have one, doesn't it?

I think you meant to log in as Loko for this one

 

[Red]

Ha. I have no motivation to turn cricket into baseball!

 

[Adders]

Ha. I have no motivation to turn cricket into baseball!

Clearly you want to change the very fabric of the game we all love and has managed to survive for 140 years though!!

 

[fredfertang]

Ha. I have no motivation to turn cricket into baseball!

I don't Belize you

 

[Red]

Actually genuinely curious, historically.

Were the first recorded organised matched played over multiple days? And who decided that a test/FC game should be played over multiple days?

 

[StephenZA]

Historians not even certain where cricket came from are they? Some suspicions with regards to something called stoolball (and then later stoball!), being its ancestor... but otherwise just a slow progress into the game we have today.

Also was it not originally played by the upper class? Who really had nothing better to do so may have just played it over many days? (Just making this stuff up!)

 

[fredfertang]

The earliest 'professional' games were played by and for the idle rich assisted by the best paid players on the one hand, as Stephen says, and on the other so money could be made from taking bets and providing refreshment for spectators. Given that wickets were so poor in those days that runs were hard to come by single innings matches could have been over very quickly I can see why two innings matches developed at the higher levels of the game

 

[GRAB]

Golf has four "innings" over four days, when you COULD just have one...

 

[The Battlers Prince]

Absolutely, golf, baseball, tennis, volleyball. Probably many others all with innings or sets that allow things to be reset and start again. I think it's just people love to have more than one attempt at a sport or game they love.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

They were explorers. On the journey in search of the Lost City of El Dorado, they stumbled upon an orchestra of crickets randomly spaced apart from each other.

So a brilliant chap aboard the ship tried to make sense of the randomness. He noticed that one of the crickets was rolling a sphere shaped spitball. In the end, he concluded that one inning wasn't enough to last the voyage; they needed multiple innings. Luckily, the journey last only 4 innings.

The ship next to them, that journey lasted for 9 innings

 

[Engle]

It originates before the explorers to the time of the Stone Age.

Stone Age Man 1 with nothing better to do, picked up a stone and clubbed it far with his stick.
Stone Age Man 2 saw this and decided he could hit it farther, which he did.

' Wait, wait ' said Stone Age Man 1. ' I can beat that '. So, he picked up another stone and hit it even farther.
From thence on, the 2nd innings was born.

 

[Victor Ian]

Two innings, or a second go, is a fairly common thing when creating sports. It comes about when the inventor 'loses' the first ever game.
'Now it's my second turn to bat. Yeah, you get another shot as well.'
Or, for what was probably meant to be a quick 40 minute game, 'OK. That's the first half!'

 

[Line and Length]

I believe 2 innings were made the norm in an attempt to balance the advantage of winning the toss and batting or bowling in ideal conditions.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

More importantly who decided to describe a completed team innings as “all out” when they’re not.