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) pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striking the ballbowled at one of the wickets with the bat and then running between the wickets, while the bowling and fielding side tries to prevent this (by preventing the ball from leaving the field, and getting the ball to either wicket) and dismiss each batter (so they are "out"). Means of dismissal include being bowled, when the ball hits the stumps and dislodges the bails, and by the fielding side either catching the ball after it is hit by the bat, but before it hits the ground, or hitting a wicket with the ball before a batter can cross the crease in front of the wicket. When ten batters have been dismissed, the innings ends and the teams swap roles. The game is adjudicated by two umpires, aided by a third umpire and match referee in international matches. They communicate with two off-field scorers who record the match's statistical information.
The Australians started the match as firm favourites, having won the previous series against England 3–0; in the lead-up to the 1948 series, they had won 10 of their 12 tour matches in England, mostly by large margins. This included a crushing innings defeat in a match over the Marylebone Cricket Club—a team consisting almost entirely of Test-capped and current England players. England captain Norman Yardley won the toss and elected to bat on a cloudy day. After the first morning was interrupted by inclement weather, the Australian fast bowlers quickly made inroads into the English batting. Despite the loss of leading Australian paceman Ray Lindwall with a groin injury, the hosts had difficulty against his colleagues and fell to be 74 runs for the loss of eight wickets (74/8). However, a rearguard action by tail-endersAlec Bedser and Jim Laker saw England reach 165, Bill Johnston taking five wickets for 36 runs (5/36) for Australia, while compatriot Keith Miller took 3/38. Laker top-scored for the hosts with 63. The tourists then reached 17 without loss by stumps.
South Africa women at Taunton, 2009 ICC Women's World Twenty20
A women's Test match is an international four-innings cricket match held over a maximum of four days between two of the leading cricketing nations. Women's cricket was played in South Africa fairly regularly throughout the beginning of the 20th century, but died out during the Second World War. It was revived in 1949 by a group of enthusiasts, and in 1951 Netta Rheinberg, on behalf of the Women's Cricket Association, suggested that a South Africa Women's Cricket Association be formed, and encouraged the possibility that a series of matches could be played between the two associations. The South Africa & Rhodesian Women's Cricket Association (SA&RWCA) was officially formed in 1952. At their annual general meeting in January 1955, the SA&RWCA accepted an invitation from the Women's Cricket Association to join an International Women's Cricket Council that, in addition to South Africa, included England, Australia and New Zealand. They also agreed that international matches would be played between the four nations. In 1959, arrangements were made for the first international women's cricket tour of South Africa, as they would play host to the English team in 1960.
The first Test involving South Africa women was held at St George's Park, Port Elizabeth, the same venue as the one for first men's Test match in the country in 1889, and ended in a draw. South Africa then played a subsequent series against New Zealand in 1971–72. As part of the international campaign against apartheid, the Commonwealth of Nations signed the Gleneagles Agreement in 1977, excluding South Africa from competing in international sporting events. Because of this exclusion, they did not play another Test until hosting India in 2001–02, before facing England again in 2003, the Netherlands in 2007, India in 2014 and most recently England in 2022. (Full article...)
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Pakistan's Umar Gul was the first player to take a five-wicket haul in a T20I match.
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, especially in the Twenty20 format, as bowlers can bowl no more than four overs in an innings. The first five-wicket haul in a T20I match was taken by Pakistan's Umar Gul while playing against New Zealand at The Oval during the 2009 ICC World Twenty20. The best bowling figures in an T20I innings was taken by Nigeria's Peter Aho who returned figures of 6 for 5 against Sierra Leone. 11 players have taken five-wicket haul twice. (Full article...)
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Gayle has scored 42 centuries for the West Indies.
Chris Gayle is a West Indian cricketer who captained the West Indies cricket team from 2007 to 2010. A left-handed batsman, he has scored centuries (100 or more runs in a single innings) in Test and One Day International (ODI) matches on fifteen and twenty-five occasions respectively. He has also scored century in Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket on two occasions. Gayle made his Test debut in March 2000 against Zimbabwe, scoring 33 and 0. He made his first Test century the following year, scoring 175 against the same team during the first match of the 2001 series between the teams. Gayle's first double century came in June 2002 against New Zealand when he scored 204 in a man of the match performance in Queen's Park. He scored his first triple century against South Africa at Antigua Recreation Ground in May 2005. His highest score of 333—fourth highest total for the West Indies—came against Sri Lanka at the Galle International Stadium in November 2010. Gayle is one of four players to score two triple centuries in Test cricket. He has scored centuries against seven different opponents, and has been most successful against New Zealand and South Africa, making three against each of them. He has scored Test centuries at twelve different cricket grounds, including eight at venues outside the West Indies.
Gayle made his ODI debut in 1999 against India, and his maiden century in the format came three years later against Kenya at the Simba Union Ground. His highest score of 215 came during the 2015 Cricket World Cup against Zimbabwe at the Manuka Oval, Canberra. With five scores over 150 in ODIs, he is joint-third in the list. Gayle has scored ODI centuries at nineteen different cricket grounds. Eighteen of his ODI centuries came at fifteen different venues outside the West Indies. (Full article...)
Sachin Tendulkar is a retired Indian cricketer who is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest batsman of all time, he is the most prolific run-scorer in international cricket. Tendulkar has scored the highest number of centuries (100 or more runs) in Test matches and One Day International (ODI) matches organised by the International Cricket Council. His total of 51 centuries in Test matches and 49 in ODIs are world records for highest number of centuries by a batsman. He became the first and only cricketer to score 100 international centuries when he made 114 against Bangladesh in March 2012.
After making his Test debut in 1989, Tendulkar achieved his first century against England at Old Trafford, Manchester in 1990; he made 119 not out. In Test matches, Tendulkar has scored centuries against all the Test cricket playing nations, and is the second batsman to score 150 against each of them. He has scored a century in at least one cricket ground of all Test cricket playing nations, except Zimbabwe. In October 2010, Tendulkar went past Brian Lara's record of 19 scores of 150 or more by hitting his 20th against Australia in Bangalore. He made his highest score in 2004, when he made 248 not out against Bangladesh at the Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka. Tendulkar has scored six double centuries and remained unbeaten on 15 occasions. His centuries have come in 30 different cricket grounds, with 27 of them being scored in venues outside India. Tendulkar has been dismissed nine times between scores of 90 and 99. (Full article...)
Younis Khan (also spelled as Younus Khan) is a Pakistani cricketer and former captain of the Pakistan national cricket team. He has scored centuries (100 or more runs in a single innings) in Test and One Day International (ODI) matches on thirty-four and seven occasions respectively. He has played 115 Test and 265 ODI matches for Pakistan, scoring 10000+ and 7,249 runs respectively. He was described by the BBC as "a dependable member of the strong Pakistan middle order" and the "most graceful batsman in the side". Former Australian captain Michael Clarke said about him that he was "one of the gentlemen of our game, class player" and "a very good player".
Smith made his Test debut against Pakistan in July 2010 at Lord's. His first Test century came during the fifth match of the 2013 Ashes series when he scored 138 not out. His highest score of 239 came against the same team during the 2017–18 series at the WACA Ground, Perth. Smith has scored Test centuries at eighteen different cricket grounds, including twelve at venues outside Australia. In terms of centuries, he has been most successful against England (11). , he ranks joint third in the list of most centuries by an Australian in Tests. He topped the ICC Test Rankings for the best batsman in the years 2015, 2016 and 2017; on 30 December 2017 he achieved a rating of 947, the second highest of all time after Don Bradman. As a result of his involvement in the 2018 Australian ball-tampering scandal, Smith was subsequently banned from all forms of cricket, except club level, for a year in March 2018. (Full article...)
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Australian bowler Glenn McGrath, one of the players on Australia's winning team.
These were the 10 squads picked to take part in the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy, the fourth instalment of the Champions Trophycricket tournament. The tournament was held in India from 7 October to 5 November 2006. Teams could name a preliminary squad of 30, but only 14-man squads were permitted for the actual tournament, and these had to be submitted by 7 September, one month before the start of the tournament.
Several of the squads were changed during or before the tournament due to injuries or suspensions; Pakistan changed their captains three times before the tournament had begun, and also sent home two players due to doping allegations. Both India and Zimbabwe had to replace a player during the tournament, which required the permission of the International Cricket Council's Technical Committee. (Full article...)
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New Zealand (pictured in 2009) have been involved in nine Twenty20 Internationals tied matches.
A Twenty20 International (T20I) is an international cricket match between two representative teams, each having T20I status, as determined by the International Cricket Council (ICC), and is played under the rules of Twenty20 cricket. The first such match was played between Australia and New Zealand on 17 February 2005. A Twenty20 International can have three possible results: it can be won by one of the two teams, it could be tied, or it could be declared to have "no result". For a match to finish as a tie, both teams must have scored the same number of runs. The number of wickets lost is not considered. Although such matches are recorded as ties, a tiebreak is usually played; prior to December 2008, this was a bowl-out, and since then it has been a Super Over.
The first tied T20I occurred in 2006, between New Zealand and the West Indies. Hosted at Eden Park in Auckland, it was the fifth T20I. The crowd had started to leave the stadium, disappointed with the result, when the bowl-out was announced; the 2007 Wisden Cricketers' Almanack reported that "suddenly the evening took a madcap turn." The next tie, involving India and Pakistan, happened during the group stages of the 2007 ICC World Twenty20. India won the resulting bowl-out, and were awarded two points, the equivalent of a win. In October 2008, the tie between Canada and Zimbabwe was the final international match to be decided by a bowl-out; Zimbabwe won 3–1. Two months later, New Zealand and the West Indies took part in the first Super Over in an international. The West Indies won the eliminator by scoring 25 runs in their extra over, compared to New Zealand's 15. (Full article...)
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Since the Adelaide Oval hosted its first Test match in 1884, 179 Test centuries have been scored at the ground.
The first century at the ground was scored by Australian Percy McDonnell. He made 124 during the first Test of the 1884–85 English tour of Australia in the first Test match at the Adelaide Oval. The first overseas player to score a century at the ground was Englishman Billy Barnes, who made 134 in the same match in which McDonnell made his century. Australian David Warner's triple century, against Pakistan in November 2019, is the highest individual score by a batsman at the ground and was the first triple century at the ground. Australia's Michael Clarke has scored the most centuries at the venue with seven. , 185 Test centuries have been scored at the stadium. (Full article...)
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Don Bradman was retrospectively named as the notional winner ten times between 1930 and 1948.
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...)
Kenya gained ODI status in its own right following a strong performance in the 1996 World Cup, a competition they qualified for by gaining a second-placed finish in the 1994 ICC Trophy. The team's first ODI came against India in the 1996 World Cup, a competition for which Kenya was given temporary ODI status, with the team then playing four further matches in the competition. Kenya's first ODI win came in their fourth World Cup match against the West Indies. The Kenyans won the game by 73 runs but ultimately finished last in group A. Kenya have since qualified for four more Cricket World Cups. They reached the group stage in the 1999 competition, the 2007 competition and the 2011 competition. At the 2003 Cricket World Cup, partly hosted in Kenya, the Kenyan team finished second in their group and in doing so qualified for the Super Sixes stage. Kenya finished third in the Super Sixes stage and qualified for the semi-finals where they lost to India by 91 runs. The Kenyan team have played 154 ODI games with the most recent coming in 2014. Thomas Odoyo and Steve Tikolo have played the most ODIs for Kenya with 131 each. Tikolo has scored the most runs with 3369 for the team while Odoyo has taken the most wickets with 141. (Full article...)
Kirsten made both his Test and ODI debuts against Australia in December 1993. He made his first Test century in November 1995, when he scored 110 against England. A year later Kirsten made centuries in both innings of a Test when he scored 102 and 133 in the second Test of the 1996–97 series against India. He achieved his highest Test score in 1999, when he made 275 against England in Durban. In an attempt to prevent South Africa from losing the match, he batted for almost 14 hours, spread across the last three of the match's five days. The innings remains the second-longest by any batsman in Test cricket in terms of time span, behind an innings of over 16 hours recorded by Hanif Mohammad for Pakistan in 1958. His most prolific series was against England in 2003, when he made 462 runs at an average of 66.00 including two centuries. His accomplishments with the bat during the season led to him being named as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year the following year. As of June 2015, Kirsten is joint fourth in the list of leading Test century-makers for South Africa with AB de Villiers, and his total of three double centuries for the team is exceeded only by the four recorded by Graeme Smith. He scored centuries against all nine other teams which held Test match status at the time, and was the first player to score a hundred against every other active Test-playing nation. (Full article...)
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Statue of Trueman, who took seventeen five-wicket hauls in Test cricket.
Fred Trueman was an English cricketer, an "aggressive" fast bowler widely known as "Fiery Fred". He is generally acknowledged to have been one of the greatest bowlers in cricket history. He represented England in 67 Test matches, and was the first bowler to take 300 wickets in a Test career, taking twelve years and 65 Tests to reach the landmark.
Trueman's wicket tally included seventeen five-wicket hauls (also known as "five-fors" or "fifers") which refer to a bowler taking five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded as a notable achievement, only 41 bowlers have taken more than 15 five-wicket hauls at international level in their cricketing careers. Trueman's seventeen five-wicket hauls places him joint-third in a list of most five-wicket hauls by England Test players, behind Ian Botham and Sydney Barnes. It includes three instances of him taking five or more wickets in each innings of the same Test match, and only one of the Tests in which he took a five-for ended in defeat for England. (Full article...)
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The Cricket World Cup is a One Day International (ODI) competition in men's cricket. Organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC), the tournament has taken place every four years since it was first held in Cricket World Cup in England. The number of teams and number of matches have increased since then, although the ICC declared an interest in reducing the format, following criticism of the 2007 World Cup.
IndiabatsmanSachin Tendulkar holds an array of individual records in the World Cup. One of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1997, and "the most followed cricketer in the world", Tendulkar has made more scores over fifty and scored more runs than any other cricketer in World Cup history. Australia'sGlenn McGrath dominates the individual bowling records, having featured for his country in four World Cups. He has one of the best strike rate and economy rate among any other bowler, having the best individual bowling figures and taken more wickets in the history of the tournament. (Full article...)
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Saqlain Mushtaq, a former Pakistanicricketer, took 19 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 by cricket critics as a notable achievement, and fewer than 50 bowlers have taken more than 15 five-wicket hauls at international level in their cricketing careers. A right-arm off break bowler who represented his country between 1995 and 2004, Saqlain was described by the BBC as "a revolution in the art of attacking off-spin bowling". Saqlain was named by Wisden as one of their Cricketers of the Year in 2000.
1988 - Ian Botham is involved in an in-flight incident between Perth and Brisbane. He was charged by police and pleaded guilty to charges of assault and offensive behaviour. His contract with the Queensland Bulls was later terminated.
In New Zealand
1915 - Fen Cresswell is born. Creswell died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1966.
1995 - Sri Lanka has their first series win, after a drawn second Test at Dunedin.
... that Cyril Smart, an English cricketer, was such a powerful hitter that he once took a world-record 32 runs off a single over, and held the record number of sixes for his club, Glamorgan?
... that the ball used in women's Test cricket can be up to 13⁄16ounces (23.03 grams) lighter than that used in men's cricket?
Image 6Photograph of Miss Lily Poulett-Harris, founding mother of women's cricket in Australia. (from History of women's 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 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 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 10 First Grand Match of Cricket Played by Members of the Royal Amateur Society on Hampton Court Green, August 13th, 1836 (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.
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