(i) Cricket grew out of the many stick and ball games played in England. The major equipment of cricket, the bat, is an old English word that simply means or stick.
(ii) While other English game like hockey and football became international games cricket remained limited to countries that once had been part of the British empire.
(iii) It took root only in countries that the British conquered and ruled.
(iv) In these colonies, cricket was established as a popular sport either by write settlers (e,g . Australia, South Africa, West Indies) or by the local; elites who wanted to copy the habits of their colonial masters(e.g., India)
(v) The British imperial officers brought the game to the colonies. They made little effort to spread the game in colonial territories where subjects of the empire were mainly non-Whites. Here playing cricket became a sign of superior social and racial status, e.g. West Indies, India. The colonial masters regarded 'the natives' as incapable of playing the game in its true spirit.

(i) Fair play and leadership qualities
(ii) Discipline
(iii) Skills
(vi) Sportsman spirit
(v) Importance of hierarchy
(vi) Codes of honour 

Traditionally, the captain of the cricket team was a batsman because:
(i) the rich and socially superior who played for leisure, known as amateurs were batsman.
(ii) In order to keep up the superiority of the 'Amateurs' also known as "Gentleman', the captain of the cricket team was a batsman.

Cricket's equipment despite changes has remained true to its village origin
(i) Most important tools of cricket are made of natural, pre-industrial materials. The bats, stumps and bails are all made of wild. The cricket ball is still made with leather, twine and cork
(ii) the cricket bat once cut out of a single piece of wood is still made of wood but now it consists of two pieces.
(iii) The blade is made from wood of the willow tree and the handle is made of cane. Unlike other sports, cricket has refused to make its tools with industrial and man-made materials 
(iv) Only the protective equipment, e.g, pads helmets, gloves are made of vulcanised rubber, metal or synthetic light weight materials

Cricket's protective equipment has been influenced by technological changes. Some of these changes are:
(i) Introduction on pads and later gloves with the invention of vulcanised rubber.
(ii) Use of helmets made of metal and synthetic light weight materials

Despite technological development, the cricket bat is still made of wood, and the ball with leather, twine and cork, all natural pre-industrial materials.

Cricket as a modern game grew of many stick and ball game played in England during the 14th and 15th century

Advances in technology especially television technology have affected the development of contemporary cricket in many ways:
(i) (a) Big industry: Kerry Packer's innovative ideas helped use television technology to develop the image of cricket as a televised sport, a marketable game, which could generate huge revenue. Cricket boards became rich by selling television rights to television companies.
(b) Cricket for cricketers became a lucrative occupation.
(c) Television channels are making money by selling television spots to companies who were happy to pay large sums of money to air commercials for their products to cricket's captive audience. Continuous television coverage has made cricketers celebrities. They earn enormous sums of money by making commercials for a wide range of products.
(ii) Expansion in the audience: Television expanded the audience and broadened the social base of the game by beaming cricket into small towns and villages.
(iii) The shift in the centre of gravity: Satellite television created a global market for cricket and helped shift the balance of power in cricket from Britain to South Asia. This shift was symbolized by the shift of ICC headquarters from London to Dubai.
(iv) Improvement in the game and innovations: With the shift in the centre of gravity and scrapping of veto powers of Britain and Australia in favour of equal membership many innovations in cricket technique have been pioneered by teams in countries like India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Television technology helped muster wide support and general acceptance of innovations in the game. Example: One Day International matches.
(v) World sport: Television along with satellite technology has helped transform cricket from a game played and viewed by limited countries and people, to a popular world sport.