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.
Arthur Edward Jeune Collins (18 August 1885 – 11 November 1914) was an English cricketer and soldier. He held, for 116 years, the record of highest score in cricket: as a 13-year-old schoolboy, he scored 628 not out over four afternoons in June 1899. Collins's record-making innings drew a large crowd and increasing media interest; spectators at the Old Cliftonian match being played nearby were drawn away to watch the junior school house cricket match in which Collins was playing. Despite this achievement, Collins never played first-class cricket. Collins's 628 not out stood as the record score until January 2016 when an Indian boy, Pranav Dhanawade, scored 1009 in a single innings.
Hildreth is Somerset's leading run-scorer in Twenty20 cricket, aggregating 3,906 runs. He is also one of only nine batsmen to have scored a century for Somerset in the format, along with Tom Abell, Babar Azam, Tom Banton, Chris Gayle, Johann Myburgh, Graeme Smith, Marcus Trescothick and Cameron White. Gayle's score of 151 not out, scored in 2015 against Kent is the highest score by a Somerset batsman, and Gayle also has the county's best batting average: 84.16. Among the bowlers, Lewis Gregory has taken more wickets than any other bowler, both claiming 150, 11 more than Max Waller. The best bowling average is Matt Henry's 13.25. Arul Suppiah has the best bowling figures in an innings: he claimed six wickets against Glamorgan in a 2011 match, while only conceding five runs. Suppiah's figures in that match were the best by any bowler in Twenty20 cricket at the time. Tom Banton has taken the most catches as wicket-keeper for Somerset, with 45, and Craig Kieswetter has made the highest number of stumpings: 14. Max Waller has claimed the highest number of catches among fielders, taking 86. (Full article...)
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A quadruple century (an individual score of 400 runs or more) has been scored eleven times in first-class cricket by nine different players. It was first achieved in 1895 by Archie MacLaren, playing for Lancashire against Somerset, while the most recent occurrence was by Sam Northeast. Brian Lara is the only player to have managed the feat in Test cricket. Lara holds the record for the highest score in first-class cricket, having made 501 not out in 1994. Bill Ponsford is the only other player to have scored two quadruple centuries, doing so in 1923 and 1927 for the Victoria cricket team. Ponsford's scores were both made at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, making it one of two venues to have hosted two quadruple centuries, along with the County Ground, Taunton. Two teams have conceded two quadruple centuries; Somerset and Queensland.
Don Bradman's score of 452 not out was made in the shortest time of all quadruple centuries; his innings lasted 415 minutes (6 hours and 55 minutes). Lara's Test quadruple was the longest, taking 778 minutes (12 hours and 58 minutes). Bradman's quadruple century was the only one to be scored in a team's second batting innings. Four quadruple centuries have been made in England, three in Australia, two in Pakistan, one in India and one in Antigua and Barbuda. (Full article...)
India played their first Women's One Day International cricket (WODI) match against England in the 1978 World Cup, which they hosted. They finished at the bottom of the table as they lost the remaining two games of the group stage. In the 1982 World Cup, they won their first ever WODI match when they beat the International XI by 79 runs at McLean Park, Napier. India's first overseas WODI series win came at the 1994–95 New Zealand Women's Centenary Tournament. They won the WODI series during their tour 1999 of England. They were the runner-up at the 2005 and the 2017World Cup tournaments. As of October 2022[update], they have played 301 WODIs against twelve different opponents, and have the fourth highest number of victories (164) for any team in the format; They have recorded 81 wins and have been the fifth most successful team in the T20 format. Since their first Women's Twenty20 International (WT20I) against England in August 2006, India have played 151 matches. They have been most successful against Bangladesh with eleven wins against them. They were among the semi-finalists in the 2009 and 2010ICC Women's World Twenty20 tournaments. (Full article...)
The first New Zealand player to take a five-wicket haul on Test debut was Fen Cresswell who took six wickets for 168 runs against England in 1949. Cresswell, Alex Moir and Colin de Grandhomme are the only bowlers to have taken six wickets each on debut. Six other players have taken five wickets on their Test debut. De Grandhomme took six wickets for 41 runs, the best bowling figures by a New Zealand bowler in an innings on Test debut, against Pakistan in 2016, at Hagley Oval. He accumulated seven wickets for 64 runs in the match, the best bowling figures by a New Zealander in a Test match on debut. De Grandhomme and Ajaz Patel are the only players to get the man of the match award on their Test debuts. Amongst the bowlers, Bruce Taylor is the only player "to achieve the all-round feat" on his Test debut against India in 1964–65 at Eden Gardens, Calcutta; he scored 105 runs and took 5 wickets for 86 runs. Paul Wiseman's five-wicket haul is the most economical, with 1.75 runs per over, and Tim Southee has the best strike rate. As of November 2018, the most recent Zealand cricketer to achieve this feat was Ajaz Patel. Moir, Wiseman and Patel are the only spin bowlers to achieve this feat, the others being fast bowlers. (Full article...)
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Dennis Lillee is a former Australiancricketer who took 24 five-wicket hauls during his career in international 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. A fast bowler who represented the Australian cricket team between 1971 and 1984, Lillee was described by one writer as "the heart of Australia['s] bowling attack for more than a decade" and was rated "the outstanding fast bowler of his generation" by the BBC. He was the first bowler to capture 350 Test wickets and held the record for almost two years before Ian Botham surpassed the feat. Lillee was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1973 and the South African Cricket (Annual) Cricketer of the Year three years later. The International Cricket Council (ICC) inducted him into its Cricket Hall of Fame in 2009.
Lillee made his Test debut during the sixth Test of the 1970–71 Ashes series where he claimed a five-wicket haul on debut. He was subsequently selected for the 1972 tour of England and took a pair of five-wicket hauls for the first time in a single match during the final Test of the same series. He ended the series with 31 wickets at an average of 17.67. He went on to claim five-wicket hauls in both innings of a Test match on three more occasions. Lillee's career-best figures for an innings were 7 wickets for 83 runs against the West Indies in 1981. He was most successful against England with eleven five-wicket hauls against them, and was most effective at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where he took seven of his twenty three five-wicket hauls. When Lillee retired from Test cricket in 1984, he had taken ten or more wickets in a match on seven occasions. (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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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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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. As of September 2024[update], 174 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.
Chanderpaul made his Test debut in March 1994, selected as an all-rounder who could bowl leg breaks, against England. He reached his first century three years later, scoring an unbeaten 137 against India at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown. During the initial phase of his career, Chanderpaul was criticised for his inability to convert half-centuries into centuries, but he proved his critics wrong during the 2001–02 series against India when he scored three centuries in five matches, thus earning the man of the series accolade. During that tournament, he batted for 1,513 minutes between dismissals, a record in Test cricket. Despite being well known for his patient batting, Chanderpaul scored a 69-ball century against Australia in 2003, which at the time was the third fastest century in terms of balls faced. His highest score in Test cricket is 203 not out, a total he achieved twice, first against South Africa in 2005, and then against Bangladesh in 2012. He has scored centuries against every Test playing nation with the exception of Sri Lanka, and has scored seven centuries against India, more than any other team. (Full article...)
Bell made his Test debut in 2004 in the fourth Test against the West Indies at The Oval, scoring 70 in a ten-wicket England victory. His first century came a year later against Bangladesh at the Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street. His highest Test score is 235 against India at The Oval. Bell has scored Test centuries at fifteen cricket grounds, including seven at venues outside England. He has scored his twenty-two Test centuries against eight different opponents; he is most successful against Australia, Pakistan and India, with four against each. England have never lost a test match in which Bell has scored a century. His dismissal for 199 against South Africa in July 2008 made him just the seventh batsman to lose his wicket on that score in Test cricket. As of November 2015, Bell is joint twenty-eighth among all-time Test century makers,[A] and joint third in the equivalent list for England. (Full article...)
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William Gilbert Grace, commonly known as W. G. Grace, is generally considered one of the greatest cricketers of all time. His first-class cricket career spanned 44 seasons, from 1865 until 1908, during which time he claimed over 2,800 wickets and over 800 catches. Despite this, he is best known for his batting ability: possessing a "high backlift and willingness to play off both front and back foot", he stood apart from other batsmen of the time. He scored over 50,000 first-class runs, a feat achieved by only six other cricketers, and was the first cricketer to score 100 or more centuries.
Disputes regarding the first-class status of a number of matches in which W. G. Grace played have resulted in him having varying career statistics published. Of his centuries, 124 were scored in matches universally accepted as being first-class, these are the figures which are published on both Cricinfo and CricketArchive. A number of further matches are considered to be first-class by some sources; in these matches he scored two centuries: for the "Gentlemen to Canada Touring Team" against the Marylebone Cricket Club in 1873, and for Gloucestershire against Somerset in 1879. Grace, in his 1899 reminiscences, records both of these centuries among his tally of first-class centuries. In Wisden Cricketers' Almanack's first-class records section, he is listed as having scored 126 centuries, the eleventh most hundreds scored during a career. He retains this position with the lower total of 124, also appearing eleventh on Cricinfo's list. (Full article...)
Since the team made its first WT20I appearance in 2006, 73 players—including five different captains—have represented India in the format. The list is arranged in the order in which each player won her first Twenty20 cap. Where more than one player won her first Twenty20 cap in the same match, those players are listed alphabetically by surname. (Full article...)
Pietersen made his Test debut against Australia in July 2005, when he was called into the team to replace Graham Thorpe for the first Test of the 2005 Ashes series. He made his first century during the fifth Test of the series at The Oval; his 158 in the third innings enabled England to draw the match and win the series 2–1. His career best score of 227 also came against Australia in the second Test of the 2010–11 Ashes series at the Adelaide Oval. Pietersen has scored centuries against all Test cricket playing nations, with the exception of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. He is most successful against India, against whom he has scored six centuries. He is joint twenty-third among all-time Test century makers,[A] and second in the equivalent list for England. (Full article...)
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Imran Khan, a retired Pakistanicricketer and former Prime Minister of Pakistan, took 24 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 October 2024[update], only 54 bowlers have taken 15 or more five-wicket hauls at international level in their cricketing careers. A right-armfast bowler who represented his country between 1971 and 1992, Khan was described by the BBC as "one of the finest fast bowlers cricket has ever seen", while ESPNcricinfo declared him as "the greatest cricketer to emerge from Pakistan, and arguably the world's second-best allrounder after Garry Sobers". In 1983 he was named as one of the five Cricketers of the Year by the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, and was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in January 2009.
Khan made his Test debut in 1971 against England at Edgbaston Cricket Ground. His first Test five-wicket haul came in 1977 against Australia in a match at Melbourne Cricket Ground which Pakistan lost. In the same year, he took his first pair of five-wicket hauls in a single match against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground. By the end of his career, he had claimed five-wickets hauls in both innings of a match on three occasions. His career-best figures for an innings were 8 wickets for 58 runs against Sri Lanka at Gaddafi Stadium, in March 1982. He took ten or more wickets in a match on six occasions. (Full article...)
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Test cricket is the longest form of cricket. The women's variant of the game includes four innings to be completed over four days of play with eleven players in each side. The first women's Test was played between England and Australia in 1934. However, India did not play Test cricket until 1973 when the Women's Cricket Association of India was formed. The Indian women's team played their first Test match in 1976, against the West Indies. The Women's Cricket Association of India was merged with the Board of Control for Cricket in India in 2006 as part of the International Cricket Council's initiative to develop women's cricket.
India have played 41 Tests, starting with their first Test in 1976. They first won a Test in Patna (1976), in front of over 25,000 spectators, against the West Indies but did not win again until 2002, when they won against South Africa. The team has remained unbeaten since 2006, over the course of three Test matches. (Full article...)
The following are images from various cricket-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1A 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 2The boundary can be marked in several ways, such as with a rope. (from Laws of Cricket)
Image 4Broadhalfpenny Down, the location of the first First Class match in 1772 is still played on today (from History of 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 6Photograph of Miss Lily Poulett-Harris, founding mother of women's cricket in Australia. (from History of women's cricket)
Image 7Plaquita, 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 8A 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 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 12A wicket can be put down by throwing the ball at it and thereby dislodging the bails. (from Laws of Cricket)
Image 13In 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 15 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 16New articles of the game of cricket, 25 February 1774 (from Laws 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.