Cricket is a bat-and-ball game that is played between two teams of eleven players on a field, at the centre of which is a 22-yard (20-metre) pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. Two players from the batting team (the striker and nonstriker) stand in front of either wicket holding bats, with one player from the fielding team (the bowler) bowling the ball towards 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 exchange. Runs are also scored when the ball reaches or crosses the boundary of the field or when the ball is bowled illegally.
England easily won the initial three-match One Day International (ODI) series, retaining the Texaco Trophy and raising expectations for a successful summer in the five-match Test series to follow. However, the West Indies comfortably retained the Wisden Trophy by winning the Test series 4–0. The players of the Test series were Malcolm Marshall for West Indies for his 35 wickets and Graham Gooch for England, who scored 459 runs and ended the summer as captain.
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. A five-wicket haul on debut is regarded by the critics as a notable achievement. As of February 2024, 171 cricketers have taken a five-wicket haul on Test match debut, out of which twenty-five were from the South Africa national cricket team. The five-wicket hauls have come against six different opponents, and the South Africans have performed this feat fifteen times against England. Of the twenty-two matches where a South African debutant has taken a five-wicket haul, twelve have ended in defeat, six in victory and the other four in a draw. The five-wicket hauls were taken at eleven different venues, six of them being taken at the Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town.
Albert Rose-Innes was the first South African to take a five-wicket haul on Test cricket debut. He took 5 wickets for 43 runs against England in 1889. In the second Test of the series, Gobo Ashley took 7 wickets for 95 runs, in what turned out to be his only appearance in Test cricket. When the country was re-admitted to play competitive cricket in 1991, Lance Klusener became the first debutant to take a five-wicket haul. His 8 wickets for 64 runs against India in November 1996 remain the best bowling figures in an innings by a South African on debut. Sydney Burke and Alf Hall are the only South African debutants to collect 10 or more wickets in a match as of February 2015. Klusener's figures, along with George Bissett's 5 for 37 runs, were included among the "Top 100 Bowling performances of all time" by the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 2002. Neil Brand is the latest cricketer to achieve this feat; he took 6/119 against New Zealand in February 2024. (Full article...)
The first century at the ground was scored by the West IndianGarfield Sobers. He made 198 during the second Test of the 1958–59 West Indies tour of India. The first Indian to score a century at the ground was Polly Umrigar, who made 147 not out against England in December 1961. West Indian Faoud Bacchus' 250, against India in February 1979, is the highest individual score by a batsman at the ground. India's Gundappa Viswanath and Mohammed Azharuddin have scored the most centuries at the venue with three each. The latter also holds the record for the highest score by an Indian at the ground. As of February 2016, 32 Test centuries have been scored at the stadium. (Full article...)
Lara scored a Test century for the first time in his fifth Test match in 1993 against Australia. His score of 277 in that match is the fourth-highest maiden century in Test history. The 375 he made against England in 1994 was the highest individual Test score for nine years, until Matthew Hayden surpassed it in 2003. Lara regained the world record in 2004 when he made an unbeaten 400, once again against England. It is also the only quadruple century in Test cricket. The unbeaten 153 he scored against Australia in 1999 was rated as the second-best Test innings of all time by the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 2001. He has scored more than 200 runs on nine occasions, the highest after Donald Bradman and Kumar Sangakkara Alongside Sir Donald Bradman, Virender Sehwag and Chris Gayle, he is one of four batsmen who have scored triple centuries on two occasions. Lara scored 34 centuries during his Test career, the highest number by a West Indian player. He is ranked sixth for the highest number of centuries in a career along with Mahela Jayawardene, Sunil Gavaskar and Younis Khan, behind Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis, Ricky Ponting, Kumar Sangakkara and Rahul Dravid. (Full article...)
In total, South Africa women's team has played 242 WODIs. Mignon du Preez is the most capped player, having appeared in 154 ODIs and the leading run-scorer with 3,760 runs. Laura Wolvaardt's score of 184 not out against the Sri Lanka in 2024 is the highest score in women's ODI cricket by a South African. Shabnim Ismail has claimed more ODI wickets than any other South African woman, having taken 191 and also has the best return by a South African bowler, having claimed six wickets (6/10) in an innings in a Women's World Cup qualifying match against the Netherlands. (Full article...)
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The England cricket team represented England, Scotland and Wales in Test cricket. England played Australia in the first ever Test match, which took place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in March 1877. Although four touring parties of English players had visited Australia prior to 1877, the Australian team had not previously been considered strong enough to play on equal terms. The two matches between the English cricketers and the Australians were retrospectively granted Test status.
Between 1877 and 1914, when competitive cricket was interrupted by the First World War, England played 123 Test matches, resulting in 59 victories, 22 draws and 42 defeats. For much of this period, England and Australia were the only Test playing countries and played each other every year or two. In 1888–89, England toured South Africa and played two matches subsequently deemed to be Test matches. Subsequently, the sides played each other sporadically and from 1906 fixtures were played as frequently as the Ashes series. In 1912, the three sides competed in a Triangular Tournament, which was deemed a failure, partly due to a damp English summer and in part because of the perceived complexity of the tournament. (Full article...)
Williamson made his ODI debut against India in August 2010 and scored his first century two months later when he made 108 against Bangladesh; New Zealand lost the match by nine runs. His 69-ball 100 not out—made against Zimbabwe in October 2011—is the fourth fastest ODI century by a New Zealander. His highest score of 148 came against the West Indies in the 2019 World Cup. (Full article...)
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Wasim Akram, a former Pakistanicricketer, took 31 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, and as of 2014 only 41 bowlers have taken more than 15 five-wicket hauls at international level in their cricketing careers. A left-arm fast bowler who represented his country between 1984 and 2003, the BBC described Akram as "one of the greatest left-arm bowlers in the history of world cricket", while West Indian batsman Brian Lara said that Akram was "definitely the most outstanding bowler [I] ever faced".
Akram made his Test debut in January 1985, in an innings defeat by New Zealand in Auckland. The following Test, in a man-of-the-match performance, he took ten wickets over the two innings, securing his first two five-wicket hauls but still ended on the losing side. He took another pair of five-wicket hauls in a single match five years later, against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). His career-best figures for an innings were 7 wickets for 119 runs against New Zealand in Wellington, in February 1994. (Full article...)
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As of April 2024, 17 male players have played Test cricket for two nations, 16 have played One Day International (ODI) cricket for two teams, and 19 have played Twenty20 International (T20I) matches for two teams, and five have played for two teams in different international formats.
In the late-19th and early-20th centuries, players who had represented two international teams had been born in one country and moved to another with family. There were no clear rules on which nation one could represent, so switching was possible. More recently, citizenship has become the defining attribute as to whether a player can represent more than one international team. The eligibility policy set by the International Cricket Council (ICC) states that a cricketer who has played for a Full Member side must wait three years since their last match before playing for an Associate team. However, if a cricketer plays for an Associate team first, they can switch to a Full Member team the next day. (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 the Riverside Ground was Richard Johnson in 2003 who, making his Test debut for England against Zimbabwe, finished with bowling figures of 6 wickets for 33 runs. These remained the best Test bowling figures at the Riverside until 2013 when Australia's Ryan Harris took 7 wickets for 117 runs in the fourth Test against England. Stuart Broad is the only bowler to have taken two five-wicket hauls in Test matches at the ground, doing so in the same Test match, also making him the only bowler to have taken ten wickets in an international match at the Riverside. , nine bowlers have taken ten Test match five-wicket hauls at the ground; every Test match in which a five-wicket haul has been taken at the Riverside Ground has resulted in an England victory. (Full article...)
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Since their first match in 2006, 68 players have represented Ireland 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. Where more than one player won his first ODI cap in the same match, those players are listed alphabetically by surname.
Ireland have played 201 ODIs, resulting in 80 victories, 103 defeats, 3 ties and 15 no results. Ireland played their maiden ODI on 13 June 2006 against England. Ireland lost by 38 runs, although the match drew interest and was played in front a full capacity crowd at the Civil Service Cricket Club in Belfast. (Full article...)
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The Walter Lawrence Trophy is an annual award made to the player who has scored the fastest century in English domestic county cricket that season, in terms of balls received (not counting wides). Hundreds are considered by a panel of experts which, as of 2020, comprise Michael Atherton, David Gower, Simon Hughes and John Barclay. Those which are adjudged to have been made against declaration bowling are not eligible for the award, although this restriction was not always observed in former years. , the recipient of the Walter Lawrence Trophy is also presented with a cheque for £2,500.
The trophy was instituted in 1934 by Sir Walter Lawrence, a builder and cricket enthusiast from Hertfordshire, the first recipient being Frank Woolley. At this stage in its history, the criterion was the time taken to score a hundred rather than the number of balls faced. The award was made every season up to and including 1939 when Lawrence died. When first class cricket resumed in 1945 after the Second World War, Lawrence's son Guy left the presentation of the Trophy in abeyance. It was finally re-instated by Guy's son-in-law, Brian Thornton for the 1966 season. The recipient was then the player who had scored the fastest EnglandTest century in terms of balls faced, at home or away, in the calendar year. The 1970 award was made to Geoffrey Boycott for "the most meritorious innings of the England v The Rest of the World series", but in 1971 the original version of the award was restored. Since 1985, the trophy has been decided in terms of balls faced rather than minutes spent at the crease. (Full article...)
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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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 significant achievement. , 170 cricketers have taken a five-wicket haul on their debut in a Test match, with ten of them being taken by West Indian players. They have taken a five-wicket haul on debut against five different opponents: four times against England, twice against India and Australia, and once against Pakistan and Sri Lanka each. Of the ten occasions, the West Indies won the match four times, and drew once. The players have taken five-wicket hauls at four different venues, two in the West Indies and two overseas. The most common venue for a West Indies player to achieve the feat is Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica, where it has occurred five times. Of the overseas hauls, three occurred at Old Trafford in Manchester, England.
Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 member clubs of the English County Championship, representing the historic county of Warwickshire. The club was established on 8 April 1882 and has played first-class cricket since 1894, 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" has diminished since the 1980s. Warwickshire have played first class, List A, or Twenty20 matches at eleven different grounds. Six of these grounds are or were located in the cities of Birmingham and Coventry, which no longer lie within the county of Warwickshire due to changes in the county boundaries in England in 1974.
The county's debut home match in first-class cricket was played at Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham against Kent in 1894. At this time the ground stood on land owned by the Gough-Calthorpe family, who had developed the manor of Edgbaston into an exclusive Birmingham suburb during the 19th century, and believed that a cricket ground would enhance the image of the district. Warwickshire had previously considered locating their headquarters in Rugby or Leamington Spa, but secretary William Ansell considered Birmingham more suitable due to its large population and railway connections. Edgbaston has remained the club's primary ground, hosting the majority of the club's matches, and also played host to the club's first home fixtures in the other formats of the game; in List A cricket in 1964 against Hampshire; and in Twenty20 cricket against Glamorgan in 2003. Since 1902 the ground has also hosted matches played by the England cricket team. (Full article...)
The following are images from various cricket-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1Plaquita, 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)
Image 2A 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 4Photograph of Miss Lily Poulett-Harris, founding mother of women's cricket in Australia. (from History of women's cricket)
Image 5A 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 7In 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 8Broadhalfpenny Down, the location of the first First Class match in 1772 is still played on today (from History of cricket)
Image 10A 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 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 12New articles of the game of cricket, 25 February 1774 (from Laws of Cricket)
Image 13Afghan 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)
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.