Cricket 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, 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.
A T20I is an international cricket match between two teams that have official Twenty20 International status, as determined by the International Cricket Council. It is played under the rules of Twenty20 cricket and is the shortest form of the game. Afghanistan played its first T20I match on 1 February 2010, against Ireland, losing the match by 5 wickets. Their first win came three days later in their second T20I match, which was against Canada, with Afghanistan winning by 5 wickets with one ball remaining.
This list comprises all members of the Afghanistan cricket team who have played at least one T20I match. It is initially arranged in the order in which each player won his first Twenty20 cap. Where more than one player won his first Twenty20 cap in the same match, their surnames are listed alphabetically. (Full article...)
In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five-for" or "fifer") refers to a bowler taking five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded as a notable achievement. The first bowler to take a five-wicket haul in a Test match at Chepauk was Amar Singh for India against England in 1934; he finished the innings with bowling figures of 7 wickets for 86 runs. Australia's Ashley Mallett became the first to take two five-wicket hauls in the same match at Chepauk, when he took 5 for 91 and 5 for 53 in the second and fourth innings of the fifth Test of Australia's 1969–70 tour of India. Narendra Hirwani is the most recent cricketer and the first Indian to take two five-wicket hauls on debut. He took 8 for 61 and 8 for 75 against the West Indies during the fourth Test of the 1987–88 series between the teams, which was held at this ground, and finished the match with bowling figures of 16 for 136. These are also the best match-figures by any bowler on Test debut. The best figures in Test cricket at Chepauk are 8 for 55, taken by India's Vinoo Mankad against England in 1952. Axar Patel took the most recent five-wicket haul at Chepauk, with figures of 5 for 60 against England in their 2020–21 tour of India. As of September 2024, 33 bowlers have taken 53 Test match five-wicket hauls at this ground. (Full article...)
Border made his Test debut against England in December 1978 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. His first century came three months later against Pakistan at the same venue. Border's 27 Test hundreds were scored at 14 different grounds; 14 hundreds were made at venues outside Australia. In Tests, he was most successful against England accumulating eight centuries. Border's highest score of 205 – one of his two double centuries – came against New Zealand at the Adelaide Oval in 1987. As of 2012, he is thirteenth overall in the list of most hundreds in Test cricket. (Full article...)
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The ICC Men's Cricket World Cup is an international cricket competition established in 1975. It is contested by the men's national teams of the members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), the sport's global governing body. The tournament generally takes place every four years. Most recently, the 2023 Cricket World Cup, hosted by India, was won by Australia, who beat India. The current trophy was instituted in 1999. It always remains with the ICC, and a replica is awarded to the winning team. For the 2019 and 2023 World Cups, the host nation and the seven other highest-ranked nations automatically qualify for the World Cup, while other nations including associate and affiliate ICC members play in a qualification tournament, the World Cup Qualifier. Though an associate member is yet to reach the final, Kenya did reach the semi-finals in 2003. Australia is the most successful team in the competition's history, winning six tournaments and finishing as runner-up twice. Twice, teams have won successive tournaments: the West Indies won the first two editions (1975 and 1979) and Australia won three in a row (1999, 2003, and 2007). Australia has played in the most finals (eight out of thirteen: 1975, 1987, 1996, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2015, and 2023). England has lost the most World Cup finals, ending as runner-up in all three final appearances before their "victory" in the 2019 tournament.
Of the twenty teams that have qualified for at least one Cricket World Cup, seven have contested a tournament final. Seven venues have hosted the final; only two of those – Lord's, in London, and the Melbourne Cricket Ground – have hosted multiple finals. India is the only country that has hosted a World Cup final at more than one venue, with Eden Gardens, Kolkata, hosting in 1987, Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium hosting in 2011 and Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad hosting in 2023. (Full article...)
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The ICC World ODI XI was a team chosen by the International Cricket Council (ICC), representing the most talented One Day Internationalcricketers playing international cricket at the time. A One Day International (ODI) is an international cricket match between two representative teams, each having ODI status, as determined by the ICC. An ODI differs from a Test match in that the number of overs per team is limited, and that each team has only one innings. The ICC World XI has played four matches, one for the 2005 World Cricket Tsunami Appeal (where the World XI was made up of the best non-Asian players), and three in the 2005 ICC Super Series (where the World XI was made up of the best non-Australian players). The list is arranged in the order in which each player won his first ODI cap. In cases in which more than one player won his first ODI cap in the same match, these players are listed alphabetically by surname. All these players have represented their respective national teams too, but only the records of their games for the ICC World XI are given.
The ODI between the World XI and Asian XI ended in a World XI victory by 112 runs. Ricky Ponting, captaining the side, scored 115 as the World XI batted first and scored 344/8, with Chris Cairns and Brian Lara both scoring half centuries. The Asian XI was unable to reach 345 for victory but did make 232 from their innings. For every run scored in the match, $1,000 was donated to the tsunami appeal. Over 70,000 people attended the match which was televised in 122 countries. The endeavour raised over A$14 million. A second fund-raising match between the two teams was cancelled due to unsuitable playing conditions. (Full article...)
The first Indian to take a five-wicket haul was Mohammad Nissar who took 5 wickets for 93 runs during India's first Test, in June 1932 against England. Vaman Kumar, a leg spinner, was the next to achieve this feat. His figures of 5 wickets for 64 runs took India close to winning a match against Pakistan during the latter's tour of India in 1960–61. In December 1967, Syed Abid Ali took 6 wickets for 55 runs against Australia. The figures remain the best by an Indian fast bowler on debut. Narendra Hirwani's 8 wickets for 61 runs against the West Indies, in January 1988, are the best bowling figures by an Indian on Test debut. His aggregate of 16 wickets for 136 runs in the match are a record for any bowler on debut. As of February 2021, he is the only Indian cricketer to take ten or more wickets in a Test match on debut. (Full article...)
The Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World is an annual cricket award selected by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. It was established in 2004, to select the best cricketer based upon their performances anywhere in the world in the previous calendar year. A notional list of previous winners, spanning from 1900 to 2002, was published in the 2007 edition of Wisden.
Since 1889, Wisden has published a list of Cricketers of the Year, typically selecting five cricketers that had the greatest impact during the previous English cricket season. However, in the 2000 edition, the editor Matthew Engel recognised that the best players in the world were typically no longer playing English domestic cricket, and opted to select the Cricketers of the Year based on their performances anywhere in the world. This criterion was applied for the following three years, but in 2004 it reverted to being based on the English season, and a Leading Cricketer in the World was also selected. The recipient of the award is selected by the editor of Wisden, with advice from cricket experts. An Australian, Ricky Ponting was chosen as the first winner of the award, for scoring 1,503 runs in international cricket, including eleven centuries during 2003. (Full article...)
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Sussex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 member clubs of the English County Championship, representing the historic county of Sussex. Although Sussex representative sides had been playing cricket since the mid-eighteenth century and had also played first-class cricket matches since 1815, the County Cricket Club was established on 1 March 1839. They have played first-class matches since 1839, List A matches since 1963, and Twenty20 matches since 2003.
Unlike most professional sports, in which a team usually has a single fixed home ground, county cricket clubs have traditionally used different grounds in various towns and cities within the county for home matches, although the use of minor "out grounds" away from the club's main headquarters has diminished since the 1980s. In total, Sussex have played first-class, List A and Twenty20 cricket at 17 different grounds across the county. (Full article...)
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The ICC Cricket Hall of Fame recognises "the achievements of the legends of the game from cricket's long and illustrious history". It was launched by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in Dubai on 2 January 2009, in association with the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA), as part of the ICC's centenary celebrations. The initial inductees were the 55 players included in the FICA Hall of Fame which ran from 1999 to 2003, but further members are added each year during the ICC Awards ceremony. The inaugural inductees ranged from W. G. Grace, who retired from Test cricket in 1899, to Graham Gooch, who played his last Test match in 1995. Living inductees receive a commemorative cap; Australian Rod Marsh was the first member of the initial inductees to receive his. Members of the Hall of Fame assist in the selection of future inductees.
South African Barry Richards played the fewest Test matches during his career with four, before South Africa were excluded from participating in international cricket in 1970. Indian Sachin Tendulkar, inducted in July 2019, played the most Tests with 200 in an international career spanning 24 years. Out of 112 inductees in the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame, 82 are from England, Australia and the West Indies, while the other 30 inductees are from the remaining Test playing nations, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. In 2024 it was reported that all three New Zealand inductees were listed as Australian on the ICC's official Hall of Fame website. (Full article...)
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Malcolm Marshall, a former right-arm fast bowler, represented the West Indies cricket team in 81 Tests between 1978 and 1992. In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") refers to a bowler taking five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded as a notable achievement, and as of October 2024[update], only 54 bowlers have taken 15 or more five-wicket hauls at international level in their cricketing careers. In Test cricket, Marshall took 376 wickets, including 22 five-wicket hauls. The cricket almanack Wisden described him as "one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time", and named him one of their Cricketers of the Year in 1983. He was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame as an inaugural member in January 2009. Mark Nicholas, a cricket commentator, once wrote that former Pakistancaptain, Imran Khan, "calls Malcolm the greatest of all fast bowlers".
Marshall made his Test debut in December 1978 against India at the Karnataka State Cricket Association Stadium, Bangalore. His first five-wicket haul came in March 1983 against the same team at the Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain; he took 5 wickets for 37 runs. In December 1984, against Australia at the Adelaide Oval, he took a five-wicket haul in both innings of a Test match for the first time. He repeated this feat once more in his career, against India at the Queen's Park Oval in April 1989. Marshall's career-best bowling figures for an innings were 7 wickets for 22 runs against England at Old Trafford, Manchester, in June 1988. He took 9 wickets for 41 runs in the match; West Indies won the match by an innings and 156 runs, and he was awarded man of the match for his performance. Marshall was most successful against Australia taking seven five-wicket hauls. He took ten or more wickets in a match on four occasions. (Full article...)
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Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, representing the historic county of Gloucestershire, is one of the 18 member clubs of the English County Championship. The club was established in 1846 following the merger of the Mangotsfield Cricket Club and West Gloucestershire Cricket Club and played under the latter name until 1867, after which it became the Gloucestershire County Cricket Club. It has played first-class cricket since 1870, List A cricket since 1963 and Twenty20 cricket since 2003.[A] Unlike most professional sports, in which a team usually has a single fixed home ground, county cricket clubs have traditionally used different grounds in various towns and cities within the county for home matches, although the use of minor "out grounds" away from the club's main headquarters has diminished since the 1980s. Gloucestershire have played home matches at eighteen different grounds.
The club's first home match in first-class cricket was played at Durdham Down in the Clifton district of Bristol. This was the only time the county used this venue for a match. The following year Gloucestershire began to play matches at the Clifton College Close Ground in the grounds of Clifton College in the same part of the city, and this remained a regular venue for the county until the 1930s, hosting nearly 100 first-class matches. In 1872 the county used a venue outside Bristol for the first time when they played at the College Ground in the grounds of Cheltenham College. This venue has continued to be used regularly for the county's annual "Cheltenham festival" event, which in the modern era incorporates additional charity events and off-field entertainment. In 1889 Gloucestershire began to play matches at the County Ground in Bristol, which has subsequently served as the club's main headquarters and hosted the majority of the county's matches. It was here that the club played its first List A match in 1963 against Middlesex, and its first Twenty20 match forty years later against Worcestershire. Bristol is not officially part of Gloucestershire and has been considered an independent county since 1373, though it was officially part of the county of Avon from 1974 until 1996. Somerset have played first-class matches at other venues in the city. (Full article...)
Arif Butt was the first Pakistani player to take a five-wicket haul on his Test debut, he took six wickets for 89 runs against Australia in 1964. Mohammad Nazir and Mohammad Zahid are the only bowlers to have taken seven wickets each. Butt and Tanvir Ahmed have taken six wickets each and six others have taken five wickets on debut. Zahid took seven wickets for 66 runs, the best bowling figures by a Pakistani bowler on debut, against New Zealand in 1996, at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. He accumulated 11 wickets for 130 runs in the match, the only Pakistani to take 10 or more wickets in a Test match on debut. Amongst the bowlers, Bilal Asif is the most economical, with 1.67 runs per over, and Zahid has the best strike rate. As of 2021, the most recent bowler to achieve the feat was Nauman Ali. He took five wickets for 35 runs against South Africa in 2021 at the National Stadium. (Full article...)
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The England cricket team represented England, Scotland and Wales in Test cricket. Between 1920 and 1939, when competitive cricket was interrupted by the Second World War, England played 120 Test matches, resulting in 41 victories, 49 draws and 30 defeats. During this period, England faced India, New Zealand and the West Indies for the first time in Test cricket, having previously only played against Australia and South Africa. The emergence of Don Bradman as an extraordinary batsman for Australia led to England employing Bodyline tactics during the 1932–33 Ashes tour of Australia. The tactic, which involved bowling fast deliveries aimed at the batsman, created antagonism between the two teams. The England team of the era featured some of the country's best batsmen; Jack Hobbs, Wally Hammond and Len Hutton were all included in the ESPNcricinfo "all-time England XI" in 2009.
England faced Australia most frequently during this period—playing 49 matches against them—followed by South Africa. England won more matches than they lost against every team except Australia, against whom they won 15 matches and lost 22. They did not lose any matches against newcomers India or New Zealand, while against the West Indies they won 8 matches and lost 3. England won 14 matches by an innings, with their largest victory being by an innings and 579 runs against Australia during the 1938 Ashes series, the largest margin of victory by any team in Test cricket. Their largest victory by runs alone during this period was in the 1928–29 Ashes series against Australia, when they won by 675 runs, which is also an all-time record for any team, while they won by ten wickets on two occasions. Conversely, England suffered their largest defeat by runs alone, losing to Australia by 562 runs during the 1934 Ashes series, which ranks behind England's 675 runs victory as the second highest margin of victory by runs. (Full article...)
Anniversaries...
On this day in cricket
England
1936 - Teddy Wynyard, the only Test cricketer to have scored a goal in the FA Cup Final, dies aged 75.
The following are images from various cricket-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1The boundary can be marked in several ways, such as with a rope. (from Laws of Cricket)
Image 2Afghan soldiers playing cricket. Afghan refugees in Pakistan brought the sport back to Afghanistan, and it is now one of the most popular sports in the country. (from History of cricket)
Image 4New articles of the game of cricket, 25 February 1774 (from Laws of Cricket)
Image 5A 1793 American depiction of "wicket" being played in front of Dartmouth College. Wicket likely came to North America in the late 17th century. (from History of cricket)
Image 6Photograph of Miss Lily Poulett-Harris, founding mother of women's cricket in Australia. (from History of women's cricket)
Image 8Broadhalfpenny Down, the location of the first First Class match in 1772 is still played on today (from History of cricket)
Image 9A Game of Cricket at The Royal Academy Club in Marylebone Fields, now Regent's Park, depiction by unknown artist, c. 1790–1799 (from History of cricket)
Image 11 First Grand Match of Cricket Played by Members of the Royal Amateur Society on Hampton Court Green, August 3rd, 1836 (from History of cricket)
Image 12In men's cricket the ball must weigh between 5.5 and 5.75 ounces (155.9 and 163 g) and measure between 8.81 and 9 in (22.4 and 22.9 cm) in circumference. (from Laws of Cricket)
Image 14A wicket can be put down by throwing the ball at it and thereby dislodging the bails. (from Laws of Cricket)
Image 15A wicket consists of three stumps, upright wooden poles that are hammered into the ground, topped with two wooden crosspieces, known as the bails. (from Laws of Cricket)
Image 16Plaquita, a Dominican street version of cricket. The Dominican Republic was first introduced to cricket through mid-18th century British contact, but switched to baseball after the 1916 American occupation. (from History of cricket)
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the international governing body of cricket, and produces team rankings for the various forms of cricket played internationally.
Test cricket is the longest form of cricket, played up to a maximum of five days with two innings per side.
Matches is the number of matches played in the 12–24 months since the May before last, plus half the number in the 24 months before that. See points calculations for more details.