cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

, overarm bowling refers to a delivery in which the bowler's hand is above shoulder height. When cricket originated all bowlers delivered the ball underarm, where the bowler's hand is below waist height. However, so the story goes, John Willes became the first bowler to use a "round-arm" technique after practising with his sister Christine Willes, who had used the technique, as she was unable to bowl underarm due to her wide and huge skirt impeding her delivery of the ball.http://www.cricketweb.net/resources/history/index.php John Willes and his sister invent overarm bowling{{fv, date=July 2022 A roundarm delivery is where the hand is between shoulder height and waist height; After roundarm was legalised in 1835 with the bowler allowed to deliver the ball at shoulder height, it was not long before some bowlers began to raise the hand above the shoulder. The

Laws of Cricket The ''Laws of Cricket'' is a code which specifies the rules of the game of cricket worldwide. The earliest known code was drafted in 1744 and, since 1788, it has been owned and maintained by its custodian, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in Lond ...

at that time directed that such a delivery be called a

no-ball In cricket, a no-ball is a type of illegal delivery to a batter (the other type being a wide). It is also a type of extra, being the run awarded to the batting team as a consequence of the illegal delivery. For most cricket games, especially a ...

. In 1845, the law was strengthened by removing the benefit of doubt from the bowler in height of hand questions, the umpire's view of the incident being final. Even so, it was only a matter of time before confrontation occurred. The problem was that many umpires were themselves bowlers and believed that the bowler should be allowed to bowl with a fully raised hand. The watershed was reached on 26 August 1862 at

The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

when Surrey hosted All-England. The England bowler

Edgar Willsher Edgar "Ned" Willsher (22 November 1828 – 7 October 1885) was an English cricketer known for being a catalyst in the shift from roundarm to overarm bowling. A left-handed bowler, and useful lower-order batsman, Willsher played first-class cri ...

deliberately bowled overarm and was no-balled six times in succession by umpire John Lillywhite, ironically the son of

William Lillywhite Frederick William Lillywhite (13 June 1792 – 21 August 1854) was an English first-class cricketer during the game's roundarm era. One of the main protagonists in the legalisation of roundarm, he was one of the most successful bowlers of his ...

, the famous bowler who had done so much to have roundarm legalised in 1835. In what was surely a pre-rehearsed demonstration, Willsher and the other eight professionals in the England team staged a walk-off, leaving their two amateur colleagues looking non-plussed in the middle. Play continued next day, but Lillywhite diplomatically withdrew and was replaced by another umpire. MCC responded to this "crisis" with rather more haste than they had to roundarm and changed the Laws of Cricket in time for the 1864 season. Law 10 was rewritten to allow the bowler to bring his arm through at any height providing he kept it straight and did not throw the ball. This completed the evolution of bowling and the overarm style has remained predominant ever since, though some conservatives (including

W G Grace William Gilbert Grace (18 July 1848 – 23 October 1915) was an English amateur cricketer who was important in the development of the sport and is widely considered one of its greatest players. He played first-class cricket for a record-equa ...

, no less) did continue to bowl roundarm till the end of their careers; and even underarm itself was still seen occasionally. An interesting historical development of the legalisation of overarm was that for many years, 1864 was deemed to mark the start of "first-class cricket" which suggested that earlier cricket was "second-class". The 1864 origin has been strongly challenged: ''see also''

First-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

References

External sources

Laws of cricket

References

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Further reading