Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field. At its centre is a pitch that is 22 yards (20 metres) long, called a pitch. There is a wicket at each end. Each wicket has two bails (small sticks) balanced on three stumps.

Two players from the batting team stand in front of the wickets holding bats. They are the striker and the nonstriker. One player from the fielding team, the bowler, bowls the ball toward the striker's wicket from the other end of the pitch. The striker tries to hit the ball and then run to switch places with the nonstriker. The batting team scores one run for each switch. Runs are also scored when the ball reaches the boundary of the field or when the ball is bowled illegally.

The fielding team tries to stop runs by dismissing batters, which means they are "out". A batter can be bowled, which means the ball hits the wicket and knocks off the bails. The fielding side can also get a batter out by catching the ball after it is hit but before it touches the ground. They can also hit a wicket with the ball before the batter can cross the crease line. When ten batters are out, the innings ends and the teams swap roles. There are different forms of cricket. Traditional Test matches are played over five days. The newer Twenty20 format, also called T20, is much shorter. In T20, each team bats for one innings of 20 overs, and the game usually lasts three to four hours. Traditionally, players wear all-white kit, but in limited overs cricket they wear club or team colours. The ball is hard and solid. It is made of leather pressed together with a sewn seam, and it has a cork centre wrapped in tightly wound string.

The earliest known clear reference to cricket describes it being played in South East England in the mid-16th century. The game spread around the world as the British Empire grew. The first international matches took place in the second half of the 19th century. The game's governing body is the International Cricket Council (ICC). It has over 100 members, and twelve of them are full members who play Test matches. The rules, called the Laws of Cricket, are looked after by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in London. The sport is mainly played in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Australia, New Zealand, England and Wales, South Africa and the West Indies.

Cricket has traditionally been played mostly by men, but women's cricket has grown a great deal in the 21st century. The most successful team in international cricket is Australia. Australia has won eight One Day International trophies, including six World Cups, more than any other country. Australia has also been the top-rated Test side more than any other country.

This article is about the sport. For the insect, see Cricket (insect). For other uses, see Cricket (disambiguation). "Cricketer" redirects here. For other uses, see Cricketer (disambiguation). Not to be confused with Croquet.

History

Main article: History of cricket

Main article: History of cricket to 1725

Cricket is one of many "club ball" games, like baseball, golf, hockey, tennis, squash, badminton and table tennis. In these games, a ball is hit with a hand-held tool. People believe cricket began as a children's game in south-east England during the medieval period. The oldest clear record comes from a court case in Guildford in January 1597 (Old Style). A witness said he and other boys played "creckett" at a school there. By 1611, adults were playing too. The Puritans sometimes banned the game, especially on Sundays. After the Restoration in 1660, cricket became more popular. Rich patrons held high-stakes matches and hired the first professional players. Players from the upper classes called themselves "amateurs" to set themselves apart from the professionals, who came from the working class.

In the 1700s, cricket became England's national sport. Around 1760, bowlers began to bounce the ball, which led to the modern straight bat. The Hambledon Club and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) were important. The MCC took care of the Laws of Cricket. In the 1800s, bowling changed from roundarm to overarm, and the County Championship began in 1890. The most famous player of that century was W. G. Grace. Through the British Empire, cricket spread to places like Australia, the Caribbean, New Zealand and South Africa. The first Test match was played in 1876–77. A rivalry between England and Australia led to The Ashes in 1882. In the 1900s, Don Bradman was a famous Australian batter. The first Limited Overs International was played in 1971, and the first Cricket World Cup followed. In the 2000s, T20 cricket became very popular. In 2017, Afghanistan and Ireland became the 11th and 12th Test nations.

Laws and gameplay

Main article: Laws of Cricket

Main article: Innings

Main article: Over (cricket)

Main article: Fielding (cricket)

Main articles: Batting (cricket), Run (cricket), and Extra (cricket)

Main article: Dismissal (cricket)

Main article: Bowling (cricket)

Main articles: Captain (cricket) and Wicket-keeper

Main article: Result (cricket)

Main article: Laws of Cricket

The rules of cricket are written down in The Laws of Cricket, which has 42 Laws. The earliest known version was written in 1744. Since 1788, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in London has owned and looked after the Laws. Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played on a cricket field by two teams of eleven players. In the middle of the field is a pitch, with a wicket at each end. Each wicket has three stumps topped by two bails. A bowler throws the ball toward the batter at the other end, who tries to hit it with a bat. The batters then swap ends, and the batting team scores runs for each swap. Batters wear protective gear, such as pads, gloves, and helmets, because the ball is hard.

Each team takes a turn to bat and a turn to field. The batting team tries to score runs, while the fielding team tries to dismiss the batters and stop the scoring. Each turn is called an innings. Two umpires control the game on the field. The team with more runs wins, but some matches can end in a draw if time runs out.

Main article: Women's cricket

Women's cricket was first recorded in Surrey in 1745. Women's international cricket began to grow at the start of the 20th century. The first Test match was played between Australia and England in December 1934, and New Zealand joined them the following year. In 1958, the International Women's Cricket Council was founded. In 1973, a Women's World Cup was held in England, the first Cricket World Cup of any kind. In 2005, the International Women's Cricket Council joined with the International Cricket Council (ICC) to help manage and develop cricket as one body. In 2007, Netherland became the tenth women's Test nation when it made its debut against South Africa.

The ICC Women's Rankings were launched on 1 October 2015 and covered all three formats of women's cricket. In October 2018, the ICC decided to give T20 International status to all members. After this, the women's rankings were split into separate lists: ODI (for Full Members) and T20I.

Governance

Main article: International Cricket Council

The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world's governing body for cricket. Its headquarters are in Dubai. It started in 1909 as the Imperial Cricket Conference, with members from England, Australia and South Africa. It was renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and it got its current name in 1989. In 2017, the ICC had 105 member nations. Twelve of them are full members and can play Test cricket. The ICC organises big international tournaments, such as the men's and women's Cricket World Cup. It also chooses the umpires and referees for Test matches, Limited Overs Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals.

Each member nation has a national cricket board. These boards run cricket in their country, choose the national team, and plan home and away tours for the team. The West Indies is a group of nations that plays cricket together. Cricket West Indies does these jobs for that group. The table below lists the ICC full members and their national cricket boards:

Main article: Forms of cricket

Cricket has several forms. Most of them fall into two groups: first-class cricket and limited overs cricket. In the past, there was also single wicket cricket. The highest level is Test cricket, the international version of first-class cricket. Teams from the twelve full member countries of the ICC play Test cricket. Test cricket is often traced back to two matches between Australia and England in the 1876–77 Australian season, although the name "Test match" came much later. Since 1882, most Test series between England and Australia have been played for a trophy called The Ashes. First-class matches are the top games within a country. They last three to four days, while Test matches last five days. In both, each team bats twice, and a draw is a valid result.

Limited overs cricket always finishes in one day, and each team bats only once. The two main types are List A, which usually gives each team fifty overs, and Twenty20, where each team has twenty overs. Both are played internationally as Limited Overs Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals. List A began in England in 1963 as a knockout cup for first-class county clubs. The first Cricket World Cup was held in England in 1975. Twenty20 was designed to finish in about three to four hours, usually in the evening. The first Twenty20 World Championship was held in 2007. Some cricket boards have also started leagues in the T10 format. In 2021, the England and Wales Cricket Board introduced The Hundred, a tournament of hundred-ball matches. Limited overs matches cannot be drawn, but a tie is possible. An unfinished match is called a "no result". Single wicket was popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, with only one batter in at a time. It has rarely been played since limited overs cricket began.

Competitions

Main article: International cricket

See also: Category:Domestic cricket competitions

Main article: List of current first-class cricket teams

Main articles: List of Twenty20 cricket competitions, T10 leagues, and The Hundred

See also: Minor Counties Cricket Championship and Second XI Championship

Main articles: Village cricket, Club cricket, and Schools cricket

Cricket is played at international and local levels. Each format has one major international championship. The top domestic competitions follow the three main international formats. There are now many T20 leagues, and this has led to a "T20 freelancer" trend. Most international matches are played on "tours." During a tour, one nation travels to another for weeks or months and plays several matches against the host. Sometimes a perpetual trophy goes to the winner of a Test series. The most famous is The Ashes. The ICC also runs competitions for several countries. These include the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup, ICC T20 World Cup and ICC Champions Trophy. Cricket was part of the Olympic Games only once, at the 1900 Olympics. It is scheduled to return in the T20 format at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

In England, 18 county clubs play most first-class cricket in the County Championship. The idea of a champion county has existed since the 1700s, but the official competition began in 1890. The most successful club is Yorkshire, with 32 official titles (plus one shared) as of 2019. Australia started its national first-class championship in 1892–93 with the Sheffield Shield, where teams represent states. New South Wales has the most titles. Other national trophies include the Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament, National Cricket League, Ranji Trophy, Inter-Provincial Championship, Plunket Shield, Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Currie Cup, Premier Trophy, Shell Shield and Logan Cup.

Local club cricket is mostly a friendly hobby, played at weekends or in the evening. Schools cricket has similar roots in southern England. The world's earliest known cricket match was a village cricket game in Kent. It was recorded in an 1640 court case about a match at Chevening.

Main page: Category:Cricket rivalries

Culture

Main page: Category:Cricket culture

Cricket has had a big impact on popular culture, both in the Commonwealth of Nations and elsewhere. It has shaped the lexicon of these nations, especially the English language. Some phrases are "that's not cricket" (meaning that's unfair), "had a good innings" (meaning lived a long life), and "sticky wicket". A "sticky wicket" (also called "sticky dog" or "glue pot") is a metaphor for a difficult situation. The phrase began as a term for hard batting conditions in cricket, caused by a damp and soft pitch. Street cricket is played in villages. Plaquita, a game similar to cricket, is played in the Dominican Republic.

See also: Cricket in fiction, Cricket in film and television, and Cricket poetry

Cricket has been the subject of works by English poets, including William Blake and Lord Byron. Beyond a Boundary (1963), written by Trinidadian C. L. R. James, is often named the best book about any sport ever written. Some well-known cricket paintings are Albert Chevallier Tayler's Kent vs Lancashire at Canterbury (1907) and Russell Drysdale's The cricketers (1948). French impressionist Camille Pissarro painted cricket during a visit to England in the 1890s. Francis Bacon, a big cricket fan, painted a batter in motion. Caribbean artist Wendy Nanan's cricket images appeared on a first day cover for a Royal Mail stamp issue. The stamps celebrated the London Cricket Conference in 2007, leading up to the Cricket World Cup. In music, many calypsos refer to cricket. See List of calypso songs about cricket.

Cricket has close historical ties with Australian rules football, and many players have competed at top levels in both sports. In 1858, Australian cricketer Tom Wills called for a "foot-ball club" to keep cricketers fit during the off-season. The Melbourne Football Club was founded the following year. Wills and three other members wrote the first laws of the game. It is usually played on modified cricket fields.

In England, a number of association football clubs began with cricketers who wanted to play football to stay fit during the winter. Derby County was started as a branch of the Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1884. Aston Villa (1874) and Everton (1876) were started by members of church cricket teams. Sheffield United's Bramall Lane ground was home to the Sheffield Cricket Club from 1854, and later to Yorkshire. In the late 1800s, English-born Henry Chadwick of Brooklyn, New York, is credited with creating the baseball box score, which he based on the cricket scorecard. The first box score appeared in an 1859 issue of the Clipper. Because of this work, Chadwick is sometimes called "the Father of Baseball."

The influence of cricket and other English sports in British India helped local sports become standardised by the 1920s. The success of the Indian Premier League in the 21st century also encouraged other sports leagues in India to grow. Some native sports were modernised, such as the popular Pro Kabaddi League.