Cricket’s Revolution: Its Sudden Leap into Modernity

Martin Chandler | 9:26am GMT 02 March 2025

Published: 2025
Pages: 110
Author: Midwinter, Eric
Publisher: ACS
Rating: 3.5 stars

My admiration for Eric Midwinter knows few bounds. To still be writing books at 93 is remarkable enough, but to continue to have fresh ideas in doing so must surely be unique.

All told Midwinter is now past his half century in terms of the extent of his bibliography. He has written widely on many subjects, the majority of his titles not being cricketing ones, but a number of his books nonetheless add greatly to our knowledge of the game and those who play it.

Amongst the Midwinter oeuvre there are biographies of WG Grace and Lancashire wicketkeeper George Duckworth, a history of county cricket, one of the Oval and the story of the summer of 1947. And then there are several books which combine Midwinter’s love of cricket with his expertise as a social historian and analyst and, as the title of this one suggests, it comes from that combination.

The premise is simple enough – the game of cricket has been around for centuries, at least since the sixteenth. For generations there were no formal laws of the game and no standardised playing conditions. That all changed in the space of about thirty years in the early nineteenth century, and it is that transition from pastime into a fully organised sport that is the revolution that Midwinter describes. 

The book is not a long one, but various aspects of the game’s development are looked at, all with a view to emphasising the speed of progress. Realistically it is unsurprising that the growth spurt largely coincided with the coming of the industrial revolution which brought with it vastly improved travel and communications. No longer did people spend their whole lives in their immediate environs and cricket became a national sport.

Progress demanded a coherent and defined set of laws, and a means of organising the game. Cricket also became a source of entertainment that employed professional players. Cricket clubs sprang up everywhere and changed the way in which the game was played. In time there were First Class and Test matches, although Midwinter bemoans, for reasons that he eloquently explains, why record keeping and the statistics they produce, that continue to be relevant to this day, in many ways disappoint.

So all in all there is much on which to reflect on in this well written concise narrative. It is recommended reading to anyone with a wish to put the history of the game in its proper context.