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, 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 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.
He captained his county club, Durham County Cricket Club, for the final six seasons of his career. A batting all-rounder, whose batting combined natural strokeplay with great tenacity, Collingwood also bowled reliable medium pace. Described as a "natural athlete", he was regarded as one of the finest fielders of his time, usually fielding at backward point or at third or fourth slip in Tests; he also deputised as wicket-keeper for England. (Full article...)
The India national cricket team represents India in international cricket and is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International (ODI) status. They first competed in international cricket in 1932, when they played against England in a three-day Test match; England won the match by 158 runs. India's first Test series as an independent country was against Australia. They secured their first Test win against England in 1952 at Madras Cricket Club Ground. , India have played 579 Test matches; they have won 178 matches, lost 178 matches, and 222 matches were drawn with one being tied. India played their first ODI match against England in 1974, but registered their first win against East Africa in 1975. , India have played 1055 ODI matches, winning 559 matches and losing 443; 9 matches were tied and 44 matches had no result. They also won the 1983 and 2011 Cricket World Cups, along with the 2002 and the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. India played their first Twenty20 International (T20I) against South Africa in 2006, winning the match by six wickets, and won the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 in 2007. , they have played 209 T20I matches and won 140 of them; 68 were lost, with one being tied and four having no result.
India have faced ten teams in Test cricket, with their most frequent opponent being England, against whom they have played 136 matches. India have registered more wins against England than against any other team, with 35. In ODI matches, India have played against 20 teams. They have played against Sri Lanka more frequently in ODI matches, with a winning percentage of 63.37 in 99 out of 168 matches. India have defeated Sri Lanka on 99 occasions, which is their best record in ODIs. The team have played 17 countries in T20Is, and have played 31 matches with Australia. They also have recorded the most victories against Australia, Sri Lanka and the West Indies, defeating all of them in nineteen matches. (Full article...)
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. (Full article...)
In cricket, a player is said to have completed a century when he scores 100 or more runs in a single innings. The Cricket World Cup is the international championship of One Day International (ODI) cricket. The event is organized by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), and is held once every four years. As of the ongoing 2023 tournament, a total of 236 centuries have been scored by 135 players from 16 different teams. Players from all the teams that have permanent ODI status have made centuries. In addition, players from four teams that have temporary ODI status have scored centuries. India have scored the most centuries (39), and have the most centurions (17).
Amla made his Test debut against India at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, in 2004. His first century came two years later against New Zealand at the Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town. His score of 311 not out, against England at The Oval, London, in 2012, is the only triple century by a South African batsman in Test cricket. Amla has scored Test centuries at sixteen cricket grounds, including ten at venues outside South Africa. In Tests, he has scored centuries against eight different opponents, and has the most centuries (six) against England. , Amla has the second-highest number of centuries for South Africa in Tests. (Full article...)
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Graham Gooch is a former cricketer who captainedEssex and England. He has scored centuries (100 or more runs in a single innings) in Test and One Day International (ODI) matches on twenty and eight occasions respectively, in an international career spanning nearly two decades. He is one of the most successful international batsmen of his generation; through a first-class career spanning from 1973 until 2000, he became the most prolific run scorer of all time with 67,057. With 8,900 runs, Gooch was the leading Test run-scorer for England until overtaken by Alastair Cook in 2015. Gooch is one of 25 players in history to have scored over 100 first-class centuries. Having coached at Essex, he was full-time test batting coach for the England cricket team 2012–2014.
Five years after Gooch's Test debut where he made a pair of ducks against Australia at Edgbaston in July 1975, he scored his first Test century with 123 against the West Indies at Lord's in June 1980. Gooch's highest Test score is 333, which he made in the first innings against India in 1990. As of August 2022, this is the third-highest Test score by an Englishman (after Len Hutton's 364 and Wally Hammond's 336 not out), and is the equal thirteenth-highest score in Test history. He went on to score 123 in the second innings of the same Test match, becoming the sixth Englishman at that time to have scored a century in both innings of a Test match, and the first for over 40 years. Gooch is one of fewer than 60 batsmen to carry his bat in a Test innings when, in 1991 against the West Indies, he remained not out at the end of the England innings with a score of 154. He is also one of only seven cricketers in Test history, and the only on a score of 100 or greater, to have been dismissed by handling the ball, when he flicked the ball away from the stumps against Australia in 1993. (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 May 2019, there have been more than 4100 ODIs have been played, however there are only 14 occasions where a player achieved this feat on his ODI debut. Players from the eight of the twelve teams that have Full member status—Australia, Bangladesh, England, Ireland, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe—have taken five-wicket hauls on debut. Sri Lankans have performed this feat on three occasions, while the Bangladeshis and South Africa have two each. In addition, two players from Associate teams—Canada and Namibia—have taken a five-wicket haul on debut. Afghanistan, India, New Zealand and Pakistan are yet to have a debutant take a five-wicket haul.
Sri Lankan cricketer Uvais Karnain was the first to take a five-wicket haul on ODI debut; he took 5 wickets for 26 runs against New Zealand in March 1984. His figures were bettered by Australian cricketer Tony Dodemaide who took 5 wickets while conceding 21 runs in a match against Sri Lanka in January 1988. In 1991, Allan Donald became the first South African cricketer to take an ODI five-wicket haul for his team. Although South Africa lost the game by three wickets, Donald received a man of the match award. Canada cricketer Austin Codrington's tally of 5 wickets for 27 runs against Bangladesh in the group stage of the 2003 Cricket World Cup is the only five-wicket haul taken during the Cricket World Cup; his figures helped Canada secure a 60-run victory. Namibian cricketer Jan Frylinck is the most recent debutant to take a five-wicket haul, with figures of 5 wickets for 13 runs against Oman. South African cricketer Kagiso Rabada took figures of 6 wickets for 16 runs, against Bangladesh in July 2015, which remain the best by a bowler on debut. Of the fourteen occasions a cricketer has taken a five-wicket haul on debut, his team has lost three times. (Full article...)
Azharuddin made his Test and ODI debuts during England's 1984–85 tour of India. In Tests, he made centuries against all nations except West Indies and Zimbabwe. In his first Test appearance Azharuddin made 110, thus becoming the eighth Indian player to score a century on debut. With scores of 105 and 122 in the subsequent matches of the series, he became the first player to score a century in each of his first three Tests. Azharuddin equalled the record of Kapil Dev for the fastest century by an Indian in Test cricket, when he scored a century from 74 balls against South Africa in 1996. His highest score of 199 came against Sri Lanka at Kanpur in 1986. Azharuddin's 22 Test centuries were made at fifteen cricket grounds, nine of which were outside India. He scored a century in his last Test innings—against South Africa—in March 2000. As of April 2024, he is joint thirty-first among all-time century makers in Test cricket, and sixth in the equivalent list for India. (Full article...)
Somerset County Cricket Club is one of the 18 member clubs of the English County Championship, representing the historic county of Somerset. The club was established in August 1875 and has played first-class cricket since 1882, List A cricket since 1963, and Twenty20 cricket 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" has diminished since the 1980s. Somerset have played first class, List A, or Twenty20 matches at eighteen different grounds.
Somerset's first home first-class match was against Hampshire in 1882 at the County Ground, Taunton. This ground is the headquarters of the county club, and has hosted more Somerset matches than any other ground. It was originally known as the Taunton Athletic Ground, and featured a cycling/running track around the outside of the playing area which was later removed. Prior to the cessation of cricket during the First World War, Somerset only played at three other grounds; two in Bath, and Clarence Park in Weston-super-Mare. The Recreation Ground in Bath, the home ground of Bath Rugby, has been a regular setting for Somerset, hosting over 300 county matches. It is also Somerset's only venue other than the County Ground to have hosted a Twenty20 match. Clarence Park also frequently hosted Somerset matches until 1996, and has featured over 200 Somerset games. The next most frequently used ground is Morlands Athletic Ground in Glastonbury, where Somerset played 24 times between 1952 and 1978. (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...)
Anderson took a five-wicket haul on his Test debut in 2003 against Zimbabwe at Lord's Cricket Ground. He took 5 wickets for 73 runs in the match which England won by an innings and 92 runs. In July 2010, he took five-wicket hauls in both innings of a Test match against Pakistan at the Trent Bridge. In total, he took 11 wickets for 71 runs, which remains his best bowling figures in a Test match . He took another pair of five-wicket hauls at the same venue, against Australia in the first Test of the 2013 Ashes series. Anderson's career-best figures for an innings are 7 wickets for 42 runs against West Indies at Lord's Cricket Ground, in September 2017. , he has taken 32 Test five-wicket hauls at 11 cricket grounds, and has been most successful against India with six five-wicket hauls against them. (Full article...)
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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...)
The following are images from various cricket-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1In 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 2Photograph of Miss Lily Poulett-Harris, founding mother of women's cricket in Australia. (from History of women's cricket)
Image 3 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 6A 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 7Broadhalfpenny Down, the location of the first First Class match in 1772 is still played on today (from History of cricket)
Image 9New articles of the game of cricket, 25 February 1774 (from Laws of Cricket)
Image 10A 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)
Did you know
... that Indian cricketer Bangalore Jayaram's English styled Mashie Lodge, was named after his favourite golf club, the Mashie Niblick?
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.