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.
The riot was sparked by a controversial umpiring decision, when star Australian batsman Billy Murdoch was given out by George Coulthard, a Victorian employed by the Englishmen. The dismissal caused an uproar among the spectators, many of whom surged onto the pitch and assaulted Coulthard and some English players. It was alleged that illegal gamblers in the New South Wales pavilion, who had bet heavily on the home side, encouraged the riot because the tourists were in a dominant position and looked set to win. Another theory given to explain the anger was that of intercolonial rivalry, that the New South Wales crowd objected to what they perceived to be a slight from a Victorian umpire. (Full article...)
Curtly Ambrose has taken the most five-wicket hauls for the West Indies. Curtly Ambrose, a former West Indiancricketer, took 26 five-wicket hauls at international level. 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. Ambrose played 98 Tests and 176 One Day Internationals (ODIs), and took 405 and 225 wickets respectively. A right-arm fast bowler who represented the West Indies from 1988 to 2000, he took 22 five-wicket hauls in Tests and 4 in ODIs. The cricket almanack Wisden noted his "smooth, leggy run-up, fast arm action and accuracy", apart from "lethal yorker[s]" and "nasty bouncer[s]", and named him one of their Cricketers of the Year in 1992. Upon his induction into the International Cricket Council Cricket Hall of Fame in September 2011, ESPNcricinfo described Ambrose as "one of the finest bowlers of all time", and as of 2013 he is tenth overall among all-time combined five-wicket haul takers.
Ambrose made his Test debut in 1988 against Pakistan at the Bourda, Georgetown, a match the West Indies lost by 9 wickets. His first five-wicket haul came eight months later against Australia at the WACA Ground, Perth; West Indies won the match by 169 runs. His career-best bowling figures for an innings were 8 wickets for 45 runs against England at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, in April 1990 where his match-winning performance earned him a man of the match award. Ambrose took his solitary pair of five-wicket hauls in a Test match—5 wickets for 60 runs and 6 wickets for 24 runs—against the same opponents at the Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, in March 1994, his best bowling performance in a Test match. Ambrose achieved his 22 five-wicket hauls at 12 different grounds, including 11 at 9 different venues outside the West Indies. He was most successful against Australia and England taking eight five-wicket hauls each. He took ten or more wickets in a match on three occasions. (Full article...)
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Virender Sehwag scored 23 centuries in Test matches and 15 in One Day Internationals for India.
In Tests, Sehwag has scored centuries against all the Test-cricket playing nations except Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, and is fifth on the list of leading Test century makers for India. In 2001, he became the eleventh Indian player to score a century on Test debut, with 105 runs against South Africa. His centuries have been scored at fourteen cricket grounds, eight of which were outside India. He has made six scores of 200 runs or more, of which a record three have come against Pakistan. One such innings, the 254 in Lahore, had him involved in a 410-run partnership with Rahul Dravid, which came within 3 runs of breaking the record for the highest first-wicket partnership in Tests, set by Pankaj Roy and Vinoo Mankad. The innings took only 247 balls and was the highest score at faster than a run a ball. Sehwag is the first Indian to score a triple century (300 or more runs), and has done so twice—309 against Pakistan in Multan in 2004 and 319 against South Africa in Chennai in 2008. The latter is the fastest triple century in Test cricket, the 300 coming up off just 278 balls, and is also the highest score with a strike rate over 100. It was also rated as one of the top 10 Test innings of all time by the ICC rankings, and received special mention along with his 201* in Galle, in which he carried his bat as he was named the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World in 2008. He is one of the only four batsmen to score two triple centuries, alongside Sir Donald Bradman, Brian Lara and Chris Gayle. He scored 12 centuries that have been converted to scores of 150 or greater, a record for the most consecutive hundreds of over 150. He has been dismissed five times in the nineties. (Full article...)
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The Pakistan national cricket team against New Zealand during the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 at The Oval. The Pakistan national cricket team represents Pakistan in international cricket and is a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test and One Day International (ODI) status. Pakistan first competed in international cricket in 1952, when they played against India in a four-day Test match; India won the match by an innings and 70 runs at the Feroz Shah Kotla Ground, Delhi. In the same series, Pakistan recorded their first Test win, the second match by an innings and 43 runs at the University Ground, Lucknow. As of December 2024[update], Pakistan have played 462 Test matches; they have won 150 matches, lost 146 matches, and 166 matches have ended in a draw. They have also won the 1998–99 Asian Test Championship, defeating Sri Lanka in the final by an innings and 175 runs. Pakistan played their first ODI match against New Zealand in February 1973 at the Lancaster Park, Christchurch, but registered their first win against England at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, in August 1974. As of December 2024[update], Pakistan have played 979 ODI matches, winning 519 matches and losing 430; they also tied 9 matches, whilst 21 had no result. They also won the 1992 Cricket World Cup, the 2000 and 2012 Asia Cups, and the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy. Pakistan played their first Twenty20 International (T20I) match at the County Cricket Ground, Bristol, on 28 August 2006, against England, winning the match by five wickets. In 2009, they won the 2009 ICC World Twenty20, defeating Sri Lanka by eight wickets. As of December 2024[update], Pakistan have played 253 T20I matches and won 144 of them; 98 were lost and 4 were tied whilst 7 ended in no result. As of October 2024[update], Pakistan have faced ten teams in Test cricket, with their most frequent opponent being England, playing 92 matches against them. Pakistan have registered more wins against New Zealand than any other team, with 25. In ODI matches, Pakistan have played against 19 teams; they have played against Sri Lanka most frequently, with a winning percentage of 58.97 in 157 matches. Pakistan have defeated Sri Lanka on 93 occasions, which is their best record in ODIs. The team have competed against 20 different teams (including World XI) in T20Is, and have played 44 matches against New Zealand and 23 against Sri Lanka. Pakistan have defeated New Zealand on 23 occasions and Sri Lanka on 13 occasions in T20Is. They have lost to England 20 times in this format of the game. (Full article...)
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Bermuda recorded the largest margin of defeat in a World Cup match against India at Queen's Park Oval (pictured), losing by 257 runs in the 2007 World Cup. From their first match in 2006 to their final match in 2009, 37 players represented the Bermuda cricket team in One Day Internationals (ODIs). A One Day International is an international cricket match between two representative teams, each having ODI status, as determined by the International Cricket Council (ICC). An ODI differs from Test matches in that the number of overs per team is limited, and that each team has only one innings.
The Bermuda Cricket Board (BCB) was formed in 1948, when the Somers Isles Cricket League amalgamated with the Bermuda Cricket Club to form the BCB. They were admitted to the ICC as an associate member in 1969, and in the 2005 ICC Trophy they gained ODI status and qualified for the World Cup for the first time. Bermuda played its first ODI against Canada in May 2006. In the 2007 World Cup, Bermuda struggled against the Test playing nations in their group, and against India they recorded what was until March 2015 the largest margin of defeat in a World Cup match, losing by 257 runs at Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad. Bermuda lost all their matches in the World Cup, which began a decline in Bermudian cricket, culminating in them losing their ODI status during the 2009 World Cup Qualifier, having finished ninth. As of 2025, Bermuda have not managed to regain their ODI status. (Full article...)
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Denis Compton was one of England's top batsmen between 1940 and 1959, scoring over 5,000 runs. International cricket, which had been suspended since 1939 due to the Second World War, resumed in 1946. From then until the end of 1959, the England cricket team, which represented England, Scotland and Wales in Test cricket, played 115 Test matches, resulting in 45 victories, 39 draws and 31 defeats. During this period, England faced Pakistan for the first time, when they toured England in 1954. During that tour, they became the first team to win a Test match on their first visit to England. England were the dominant team in international cricket during the 1950s; they did not lose a Test series between March 1951 and December 1958, and featured an array of stars such as Colin Cowdrey, Denis Compton, Fred Trueman, Brian Statham and Jim Laker.
England faced Australia most frequently during this period—playing 35 matches against them—followed by South Africa. England won more matches than they lost against India, New Zealand and South Africa, but against Australia they won seven and lost seventeen Ashes matches, while against the West Indies they won six and lost seven. They faced newcomers Pakistan in just four matches, winning one, losing one and drawing the others. England won 16 matches by an innings, with their largest victory being by an innings and 248 runs against New Zealand in 1958. Their largest victory by runs alone during this period was in 1956–57 against South Africa, when they won by 312 runs, while they won by ten wickets on four occasions. Conversely, England suffered their largest ever defeat, losing to Australia by an innings and 332 runs during the 1946–47 Ashes series. (Full article...)
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Former West Indian captain, Courtney Walsh 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. Courtney Walsh, a former cricketer, who represented the West Indies cricket team from 1984 to 2001, took 23 five-wicket hauls in international cricket. He played 132 Tests and 205 One Day Internationals (ODIs), and took 519 and 227 wickets respectively. A right-arm fast bowler, Walsh took 22 five-wicket hauls in Tests and 1 in ODIs. In 1987, when he was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year, the cricket almanack Wisden noted his "three distinct speeds, all delivered with the same action", and his "sparing use of the bouncer, his shorter deliveries generally threatening the batsman's rib-cage, a tactic which, allied to change of pace, produced many catches in the short-leg area off splice or glove." He was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in October 2010.
Walsh made his Test debut in November 1984 against Australia at the WACA Ground, Perth, a match West Indies won by an innings and 112 runs. His first Test five-wicket haul came in 1987 against New Zealand at the Eden Park, Auckland; the match was won by West Indies by 10 wickets. His career-best bowling figures for an innings were 7 wickets for 37 runs against the same team at the Basin Reserve, Wellington, in February 1995. He took another 6 wickets in the next innings, accumulating 13 wickets for 55 runs in the match—his solitary pair of five-wicket hauls. West Indies won the match by an innings and 322 runs, and his performance earned him a man of the match award. Walsh took more five-wicket hauls against England than any other nation: five. He took ten or more wickets in a match on three occasions. (Full article...)
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The County Ground, Hove, which was first used in 1872, and has hosted the majority of Sussex's matches.
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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Former Pakistan captain, Waqar Younis Waqar Younis, a retired Pakistanicricketer, took 35 five-wicket hauls during his career in international cricket. 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, as of October 2024[update], only 54 bowlers have taken 15 or more five-wicket hauls at international level in their cricketing careers. A right-arm fast bowler who represented his country between 1989 and 2003, the BBC described Waqar as "one of the most feared fast bowlers in recent cricketing history", while former Pakistan captain Imran Khan said that Waqar was "a thinking cricketer and, at his peak, he was the most destructive bowler the game had seen". The cricket almanack Wisden noted his "pace and swing", and named him one of their Cricketers of the Year in 1992. Waqar was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame on 9 December 2013.
Waqar made his Test debut in 1989 against India in Karachi, where he took four wickets in the first innings. His first Test five-wicket haul came the following year against New Zealand in a match which Pakistan won at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. He took a pair of five-wicket hauls in a single match against Zimbabwe at the Defence Stadium, Karachi in December 1993. His career-best figures for an innings were 7 wickets for 76 runs against New Zealand at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad, in October 1990. He went on to take ten or more wickets per match on five occasions. (Full article...)
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Former captain Joe Root, pictured in 2017, holds several England Test cricket records. Test cricket is the oldest form of cricket played at international level. A Test match is scheduled to take place over a period of five days, and is played by teams representing full member nations of the International Cricket Council (ICC). England was a founding member of the ICC, having played the first Test match against Australia in March 1877 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. As of December 2024[update], they have played more Test matches than any other team, and of their 1083 games, have won 400, drawn 355 and lost 328. With 36.9 per cent of matches won, England are the third most successful team in the history of Test cricket, behind Australia on 47.8 per cent and South Africa on 38.9 per cent.
Middle-order batsman and former captainJoe Root holds several England Test cricket records. Making his Test debut in 2012, as of December 2024[update] he has scored 12,972 runs – making him the second England player to score 10,000 Test runs. He has made a record 65 half-centuries and 36 centuries, and was one half of the highest England Test partnership of 454. As a slip fielder, holds the England record for the most catches taken with 207. Captaining his side from 2016 until standing down in 2022, Root holds the record for the most matches played as English captain with 64. (Full article...)
Each team selected a squad of 15 players which was finalised by 24 January 2013, and any changes to that squad due to illness or injury had to be requested in writing, and approved by the ICC's Event Technical Committee. Once a player had been removed from the squad through this process, they could only return as an approved replacement for a different player suffering illness or injury. (Full article...)
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Australian opening batsman Bill Woodfull was the first cricketer to carry the bat two times in Test cricket.
In cricket, the phrase "carrying the bat" refers to a situation in which an opening batter remains not out at the end of an innings where all the 10 wickets have fallen; the other 10 players in the team have all been dismissed. It may also be used in situations where one or more of these players are unable to bat due to retiring out or causes like injury or illness, and the remaining players are dismissed. It is not used, however, in any other situation where the innings closes before all 10 wickets have fallen, such as when it is declared closed, or when the team successfully chases a set run target to win the match. A rare feat, this has happened only 72 times in international cricket spanning all three formats—Tests, One Day Internationals (ODIs) and Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is).
In Tests, South AfricanBernard Tancred was the first cricketer to carry the bat; he made 26 runs in his team's total of 47 against England in 1889. The following year, Jack Barrett of Australia became the first player to carry the bat on debut. In the 1892 tour of Australia, England's Bobby Abel scored 132 and became the first player to score a century while carrying the bat. In 1933, Bill Woodfull of Australia set a new record by becoming the first player to perform this feat twice in Tests; he scored 73 not out during the third test of England's 1933 tour. Apart from Woodfull, five other cricketers have performed this feat more than once in their Test careers—while Bill Lawry (Australia), Glenn Turner (New Zealand) and Len Hutton (England) have done it twice, Dean Elgar (South Africa) and Desmond Haynes (West Indies) have performed the feat on three occasions. As of January 2024[update], New Zealand's Tom Latham's 264, against Sri Lanka in December 2018, is the highest score in Test cricket by a player while carrying the bat. The Australian players have performed this feat more than any other, followed by England. In all, 49 players have carried their bats on 57 occasions in Test cricket. (Full article...)
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Shaun Pollock, top run scorer in the history of the Afro-Asia Cup A One Day International, or an ODI, is an international cricket match between two representative teams, each having ODI status, as determined by the International Cricket Council. An ODI differs from Test matches in that the number of overs per team is limited, and that each team has only one innings.
Designed as a fund-raiser for the African Cricket Association and the Asian Cricket Council, the Afro-Asia Cup debuted in 2005 and a second series was played in 2007. The list is arranged in the order in which each player won his first ODI cap for the African XI. Where more than one player won his first ODI cap in the same match, those players are listed alphabetically by surname. All the players have represented their respective member teams of the ICC at either Test or ODI level, but only the records of their games for the ACA African XI are listed. (Full article...)
The Afghanistan Cricket Federation was formed in 1995, but cricket was banned by the Taliban until 2000. When the ban was lifted, the team experienced a "meteoric rise through international cricket". They were admitted to the ICC as an affiliate member in 2001, and in 2006 played and beat the Marylebone Cricket Club in Mumbai. Later in 2006 they toured England, winning six out of seven matches against county second XI teams. They joined the World Cricket League in 2008, winning Divisions Five and Four in their inaugural years, and the following year won Division Three. In 2009, Afghanistan narrowly missed out on a place in the 2011 Cricket World Cup, finishing fifth in the 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier. Their final position earnt them ODI status, and the opportunity to take part in the four-day ICC Intercontinental Cup. Their first ODI was the fifth-place play-off of the 2009 World Cup Qualifier against Scotland, which they won by 89 runs. (Full article...)
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Sydney Barnes was a professionalcricketer who played for England in 27 Test matches between 1901 and 1914. He claimed 24 five-wicket hauls (five or more wickets in an innings) during his Test career. A five-wicket haul 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. Barnes had only played seven first-class matches when he was chosen by Archie MacLaren to tour Australia, and played only 47 County Championship matches throughout his entire career, opting to play Minor Counties and Lancashire League cricket instead. He based his decision upon two main criteria – playing club cricket was more financially rewarding, and he was worried about having to bowl too much in first-class county cricket, and suffering from burnout.
Barnes is generally regarded as one of the best bowlers to have played international cricket, and finished his Test career with 189 wickets at an average of 16.43; his average places him among the top-ten bowlers in Test cricket. At the start of his career, he was a fast bowler who endeavoured to swing the ball, which was the common style of bowling at the time. However, Barnes experimented with bowling a little slower and cutting the ball, and developed both an off cutter and a leg cutter that he concluded were far more effective than swinging the ball. Despite his bowling talent, Barnes did not play any Test cricket between July 1902 and December 1907, as he was considered a "prima donna" who would only put in the effort when he was in the right mood, and being suitably paid. After his recall to the England side, he played regularly until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, and was named by the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack as one of their Cricketers of the Year in 1910. (Full article...)
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Kumar Sangakkara was the captain of the Deccan Chargers during their last season.
The Hyderabad Deccan Chargers (often abbreviated as DC) was a franchise cricket team based in Hyderabad, Telangana, that competed in the Indian Premier League (IPL) from 2008 to 2012. The team was owned by Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited who won the bid for the Hyderabad franchise at US$107 million. VVS Laxman and Robin Singh were appointed as the captain and the coach for their first season in 2008. After finishing last in that season, the DC sacked their coach and removed their captain and replaced them with Darren Lehmann and Adam Gilchrist under whom they won their only IPL title in 2009, when they defeated the Royal Challengers Bangalore by six runs in the final. They reached the semi-finals again in 2010 but failed to reach past the group stages before the team was folded in 2012. They qualified for the Champions League Twenty20 only once, for the 2009 season, but failed to advance past the group stage. Lehmann remained as the coach for the DC but they were forced to replace Gilchrist with Kumar Sangakkara in 2011 after they lost former to the Kings XI Punjab in the 2011 auction. Sangakkara remained as the captain until the middle of the 2012 season before he was replaced by Cameron White following the poor performances. Sangakkara later returned as captain as the move did not yield the desired results for the Deccan Chargers.
On 15 September 2012, the Deccan Chargers' IPL contract was terminated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which was concerned about overdue payments to the players. The Hyderabad franchise was later acquired by the Sun TV Network for ₹85.05 crore (US$9.8 million) per year in a bid which also retained 20 players. (Full article...)
The following are images from various cricket-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1A 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 2The boundary can be marked in several ways, such as with a rope. (from Laws of Cricket)
Image 6A 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 8A wicket can be put down by throwing the ball at it and thereby dislodging the bails. (from Laws of Cricket)
Image 9Photograph of Miss Lily Poulett-Harris, founding mother of women's cricket in Australia. (from History of women's cricket)
Image 10In 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 11Afghan 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 12 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 13A 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 15New articles of the game of cricket, 25 February 1774 (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.