Cricket
Australia during the 2005 Boxing Day Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground | |
Highest governing body | International Cricket Council |
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First played | 16th century; South East England |
Characteristics | |
Contact | No |
Team members | 11 players per side (substitutes permitted in some circumstances) |
Mixed-sex | No, separate competitions |
Type | Team sport, Bat-and-Ball |
Equipment | Cricket ball, Cricket bat, Wicket (Stumps, Bails), Protective equipment |
Venue | Cricket field |
Glossary | Glossary of cricket terms |
Presence | |
Country or region | Worldwide (most popular in the Commonwealth) |
Olympic | 1900 |
Part of a series on |
Cricket |
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Women's cricket |
Records |
Part of a series on |
Bowling techniques |
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Cricket is a
The fielding team tries to prevent runs from being scored by dismissing batters (so they are "out"). Means of dismissal include being bowled, when the ball hits the striker's wicket 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. Forms of cricket range from Twenty20 (also known as T20), with each team batting for a single innings of 20 overs (each "over" being a set of 6 fair opportunities for the batting team to score) and the game generally lasting three to four hours, to Test matches played over five days.
Traditionally cricketers play in all-white kit, but in limited overs cricket they wear club or team colours. In addition to the basic kit, some players wear protective gear to prevent injury caused by the ball, which is a hard, solid spheroid made of compressed leather with a slightly raised sewn seam enclosing a cork core layered with tightly wound string.
The earliest known definite reference to cricket is to it being played in South East England in the mid-16th century. It spread globally with the expansion of the British Empire, with the first international matches in the second half of the 19th century. The game's governing body is the International Cricket Council (ICC), which has over 100 members, twelve of which are full members who play Test matches. The game's rules, the Laws of Cricket, are maintained by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in London. The sport is followed primarily in South Asia, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Southern Africa and the West Indies.[1]
Women's cricket, which is organised and played separately, has also achieved international standard.
The most successful side playing
History
Origins
Cricket is one of many games in the "club ball" sphere that basically involve hitting a ball with a hand-held implement; others include baseball (which shares many similarities with cricket, both belonging in the more specific bat-and-ball games category[2]), golf, hockey, tennis, squash, badminton and table tennis.[3] In cricket's case, a key difference is the existence of a solid target structure, the wicket (originally, it is thought, a "wicket gate" through which sheep were herded), that the batter must defend.[4] The cricket historian Harry Altham identified three "groups" of "club ball" games: the "hockey group", in which the ball is driven to and from between two targets (the goals); the "golf group", in which the ball is driven towards an undefended target (the hole); and the "cricket group", in which "the ball is aimed at a mark (the wicket) and driven away from it".[5]
It is generally believed that cricket originated as a
Being a scholler in the ffree schoole of Guldeford hee and diverse of his fellows did runne and play there at creckett and other plaies.
Given Derrick's age, it was about half a century earlier when he was at school and so it is certain that cricket was being played c. 1550 by boys in Surrey.[8] The view that it was originally a children's game is reinforced by Randle Cotgrave's 1611 English-French dictionary in which he defined the noun "crosse" as "the crooked staff wherewith boys play at cricket" and the verb form "crosser" as "to play at cricket".[9][10]
One possible source for the sport's name is the
Growth of amateur and professional cricket in England
Although the main object of the game has always been to score the most
In 1611, the year Cotgrave's dictionary was published,
Cricket remained a low-key local pursuit for much of the 17th century.[10] It is known, through numerous references found in the records of ecclesiastical court cases, to have been proscribed at times by the Puritans before and during the Commonwealth.[21][22] The problem was nearly always the issue of Sunday play as the Puritans considered cricket to be "profane" if played on the Sabbath, especially if large crowds or gambling were involved.[23][24]
According to the social historian
The patrons, and other players from the social class known as the "gentry", began to classify themselves as "amateurs"[fn 1] to establish a clear distinction from the professionals, who were invariably members of the working class, even to the point of having separate changing and dining facilities.[32] The gentry, including such high-ranking nobles as the Dukes of Richmond, exerted their honour code of noblesse oblige to claim rights of leadership in any sporting contests they took part in, especially as it was necessary for them to play alongside their "social inferiors" if they were to win their bets.[33] In time, a perception took hold that the typical amateur who played in first-class cricket, until 1962 when amateurism was abolished, was someone with a public school education who had then gone to one of Cambridge or Oxford University – society insisted that such people were "officers and gentlemen" whose destiny was to provide leadership.[34] In a purely financial sense, the cricketing amateur would theoretically claim expenses for playing while his professional counterpart played under contract and was paid a wage or match fee; in practice, many amateurs claimed more than actual expenditure and the derisive term "shamateur" was coined to describe the practice.[35][36]
English cricket in the 18th and 19th centuries
The game underwent major development in the 18th century to become England's national sport.[37] Its success was underwritten by the twin necessities of patronage and betting.[38] Cricket was prominent in London as early as 1707 and, in the middle years of the century, large crowds flocked to matches on the Artillery Ground in Finsbury.[citation needed] The single wicket form of the sport attracted huge crowds and wagers to match, its popularity peaking in the 1748 season.[39] Bowling underwent an evolution around 1760 when bowlers began to pitch the ball instead of rolling or skimming it towards the batter. This caused a revolution in bat design because, to deal with the bouncing ball, it was necessary to introduce the modern straight bat in place of the old "hockey stick" shape.[40][citation needed]
The Hambledon Club was founded in the 1760s and, for the next twenty years until the formation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the opening of Lord's Old Ground in 1787, Hambledon was both the game's greatest club and its focal point.[citation needed] MCC quickly became the sport's premier club and the custodian of the Laws of Cricket. New Laws introduced in the latter part of the 18th century included the three stump wicket and leg before wicket (lbw).[41]
The 19th century saw underarm bowling superseded by first roundarm and then overarm bowling. Both developments were controversial.[42] Organisation of the game at county level led to the creation of the county clubs, starting with Sussex in 1839.[43] In December 1889, the eight leading county clubs formed the official County Championship, which began in 1890.[44]
The most famous player of the 19th century was W. G. Grace, who started his long and influential career in 1865. It was especially during the career of Grace that the distinction between amateurs and professionals became blurred by the existence of players like him who were nominally amateur but, in terms of their financial gain, de facto professional. Grace himself was said to have been paid more money for playing cricket than any professional.[citation needed]
The last two decades before the
Cricket becomes an international sport
In 1844, the
In 1862, an English team made the first tour of Australia.[50] The first Australian team to travel overseas consisted of Aboriginal stockmen which toured England in 1868.[51]
In 1876–77, an England team took part in what was retrospectively recognized as the first-ever Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground against Australia.[52] The rivalry between England and Australia gave birth to The Ashes in 1882, and this has remained Test cricket's most famous contest.[53] Test cricket began to expand in 1888–89 when South Africa played England.[54]
Cricket in the 20th century
The inter-war years were dominated by Australia's Don Bradman, statistically the greatest Test batter of all time. To curb his dominance, England employed Bodyline tactics during the 1932-33 Ashes series, which involved bowling at the body of the batter and setting a field, that resulted in batters having to choose between being hit or risking getting out. This series moved cricket from simply being a game to a matter of national importance with diplomatic cables being passed between the two countries over the incident.[55]
During this time, the number of Test nations continued to grow with the
An enforced break during the
Cricket entered a new era in 1963 when English counties introduced the
Cricket in the 21st century
The 21st century was welcomed in by the introduction of
Outside factors also took their toll on cricket with the 2008 Mumbai attacks leading India and Pakistan to suspend bilateral series indefinitely, while a 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan team during their tour of Pakistan, led to Pakistan being unable to play at home until 2019.[60][61][62][63]
In 2017, Afghanistan and Ireland became the 11th and 12th Test nations.[64][65]
Laws and gameplay
In cricket, the rules of the game are specified in a code called
Playing area
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played on a cricket field (see image of cricket pitch and creases) between two teams of eleven players each.[67] The field is usually circular or oval in shape and the edge of the playing area is marked by a boundary, which may be a fence, part of the stands, a rope, a painted line or a combination of these; the boundary must if possible be marked along its entire length.[68]
In the approximate centre of the field is a rectangular pitch (see image, below) on which a wooden target called a wicket is sited at each end; the wickets are placed 22 yards (20 m) apart.[69] The pitch is a flat surface 10 feet (3.0 m) wide, with very short grass that tends to be worn away as the game progresses (cricket can also be played on artificial surfaces, notably matting). Each wicket is made of three wooden stumps topped by two bails.[70]
As illustrated, the pitch is marked at each end with four white painted lines: a bowling crease, a popping crease and two return creases. The three stumps are aligned centrally on the bowling crease, which is eight feet eight inches long. The popping crease is drawn four feet in front of the bowling crease and parallel to it; although it is drawn as a twelve-foot line (six feet either side of the wicket), it is, in fact, unlimited in length. The return creases are drawn at right angles to the popping crease so that they intersect the ends of the bowling crease; each return crease is drawn as an eight-foot line, so that it extends four feet behind the bowling crease, but is also, in fact, unlimited in length.[71]
Match structure and closure
Before a match begins, the team
The main objective of each team is to score more runs than their opponents but, in some forms of cricket, it is also necessary to dismiss all of the opposition batters in their final innings in order to win the match, which would otherwise be drawn.[77] If the team batting last is all out having scored fewer runs than their opponents, they are said to have "lost by n runs" (where n is the difference between the aggregate number of runs scored by the teams). If the team that bats last scores enough runs to win, it is said to have "won by n wickets", where n is the number of wickets left to fall. For example, a team that passes its opponents' total having lost six wickets (i.e., six of their batters have been dismissed) have won the match "by four wickets".[77]
In a two-innings-a-side match, one team's combined first and second innings total may be less than the other side's first innings total. The team with the greater score is then said to have "won by an innings and n runs", and does not need to bat again: n is the difference between the two teams' aggregate scores. If the team batting last is all out, and both sides have scored the same number of runs, then the match is a tie; this result is quite rare in matches of two innings a side with only 62 happening in first-class matches from the earliest known instance in 1741 until January 2017. In the traditional form of the game, if the time allotted for the match expires before either side can win, then the game is declared a draw.[77]
If the match has only a single innings per side, then usually a maximum number of overs applies to each innings. Such a match is called a "limited overs" or "one-day" match, and the side scoring more runs wins regardless of the number of wickets lost, so that a draw cannot occur. In some cases, ties are broken by having each team bat for a one-over innings known as a Super Over; subsequent Super Overs may be played if the first Super Over ends in a tie. If this kind of match is temporarily interrupted by bad weather, then a complex mathematical formula, known as the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method after its developers, is often used to recalculate a new target score. A one-day match can also be declared a "no-result" if fewer than a previously agreed number of overs have been bowled by either team, in circumstances that make normal resumption of play impossible; for example, wet weather.[77]
In all forms of cricket, the umpires can abandon the match if bad light or rain makes it impossible to continue.[78] There have been instances of entire matches, even Test matches scheduled to be played over five days, being lost to bad weather without a ball being bowled: for example, the third Test of the 1970/71 series in Australia.[79]
Innings
The innings (ending with 's' in both singular and plural form) is the term used for each phase of play during a match. Depending on the type of match being played, each team has either one or two innings. Sometimes all eleven members of the batting side take a turn to bat but, for various reasons, an innings can end before they have all done so. The innings terminates if the batting team is "all out", a term defined by the Laws: "at the fall of a wicket or the retirement of a batter, further balls remain to be bowled but no further batter is available to come in".[72] In this situation, one of the batters has not been dismissed and is termed not out; this is because he has no partners left and there must always be two active batters while the innings is in progress.
An innings may end early while there are still two not out batters:[72]
- the batting team's captain may declare the innings closed, even though some of the captain's players have not had a turn to bat: this is a tactical decision by the captain, usually because the captain believes that their team have scored sufficient runs and need time to dismiss the opposition in their innings
- the set number of overs (i.e., in a limited overs match) have been bowled
- the match has ended prematurely due to bad weather or running out of time
- in the final innings of the match, the batting side has reached its target and won the game.
Overs
The Laws state that, throughout an innings, "the ball shall be bowled from each end alternately in overs of 6 balls".[80] The name "over" came about because the umpire calls "Over!" when six balls have been bowled. At this point, another bowler is deployed at the other end, and the fielding side changes ends while the batters do not. A bowler cannot bowl two successive overs, although a bowler can (and usually does) bowl alternate overs, from the same end, for several overs which are termed a "spell". The batters do not change ends at the end of the over, and so the one who was non-striker is now the striker and vice versa. The umpires also change positions so that the one who was at "square leg" now stands behind the wicket at the non-striker's end and vice versa.[80]
Clothing and equipment
The
Subject to certain variations, on-field clothing generally includes a collared shirt with short or long sleeves; long trousers; woolen pullover (if needed); cricket cap (for fielding) or a safety helmet; and spiked shoes or boots to increase traction. The kit is traditionally all white and this remains the case in Test and first-class cricket but, in limited overs cricket, team colours are worn instead.[83]
Bat and ball
The essence of the sport is that a bowler delivers (i.e., bowls) the ball from their end of the pitch towards the batter who, armed with a bat, is "on strike" at the other end (see next sub-section: Basic gameplay).
The bat is made of wood, usually Salix alba (white willow) and has the shape of a blade topped by a cylindrical handle. The blade must not be more than 4.25 inches (10.8 cm) wide and the total length of the bat not more than 38 inches (97 cm). There is no standard for the weight, which is usually between 2 lb 7 oz and 3 lb (1.1 and 1.4 kg).[84][85]
The ball is a hard leather-seamed spheroid, with a circumference of 9 inches (23 cm). The ball has a "seam": six rows of stitches attaching the leather shell of the ball to the string and cork interior. The seam on a new ball is prominent and helps the bowler propel it in a less predictable manner. During matches, the quality of the ball deteriorates to a point where it is no longer usable; during the course of this deterioration, its behaviour in flight will change and can influence the outcome of the match. Players will, therefore, attempt to modify the ball's behaviour by modifying its physical properties. Polishing the ball and wetting it with sweat or saliva was legal, even when the polishing was deliberately done on one side only to increase the ball's swing through the air. The use of saliva has since been made illegal due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[86] The acts of rubbing other substances into the ball, scratching the surface or picking at the seams constitute illegal ball tampering.[87]
Player roles
Basic gameplay: bowler to batter
During normal play, thirteen players and two umpires are on the field. Two of the players are batters and the rest are all eleven members of the fielding team. The other nine players in the batting team are off the field in the pavilion. The image with overlay below shows what is happening when a ball is being bowled and which of the personnel are on or close to the pitch.[88]
|
In the photo, the two batters (3 & 8; wearing yellow) have taken position at each end of the pitch (6). Three members of the fielding team (4, 10 & 11; wearing dark blue) are in shot. One of the two umpires (1; wearing white hat) is stationed behind the wicket (2) at the bowler's (4) end of the pitch. The bowler (4) is bowling the ball (5) from his end of the pitch to the batter (8) at the other end who is called the "striker". The other batter (3) at the bowling end is called the "non-striker". The wicket-keeper (10), who is a specialist, is positioned behind the striker's wicket (9) and behind him stands one of the fielders in a position called "first slip" (11). While the bowler and the first slip are wearing conventional kit only, the two batters and the wicket-keeper are wearing protective gear including safety helmets, padded gloves and leg guards (pads).
While the umpire (1) in shot stands at the bowler's end of the pitch, his colleague stands in the outfield, usually in or near the fielding position called "
Some players are skilled in both batting and bowling, or as either of these as well as wicket-keeping, so are termed all-rounders. Bowlers are classified according to their style, generally as fast bowlers, seam bowlers or spinners. Batters are classified according to whether they are right-handed or left-handed.
Fielding
Of the eleven fielders, three are in shot in the image above. The other eight are elsewhere on the field, their positions determined on a tactical basis by the captain or the bowler. Fielders often change position between deliveries, again as directed by the captain or bowler.[82]
If a fielder is injured or becomes ill during a match, a substitute is allowed to field instead of the aforementioned fielder, but the substitute cannot bowl or act as a captain, except in the case of concussion substitutes in international cricket.[76] The substitute leaves the field when the injured player is fit to return.[89] The Laws of Cricket were updated in 2017 to allow substitutes to act as wicket-keepers.[90]
Bowling and dismissal
Most bowlers are considered specialists in that they are selected for the team because of their skill as a bowler, although some are all-rounders and even specialist batters bowl occasionally. These specialists bowl multiple overs during an innings, in groups called "spells" that are generally 4 to 8 overs long in order not to physically exhaust the bowler, cause muscle strain and stress the skeleton. The rules prevent a single bowler bowling consecutive overs, resulting in at least two bowlers alternating each over. If the captain wants a bowler to "change ends", another bowler must temporarily fill in so that the change is not immediate.[80]
A bowler reaches their delivery stride by means of a "run-up", and an over is deemed to have begun when the bowler starts their run-up for the first delivery of that over, the ball then being "in play".[80] Fast bowlers, needing momentum, take a lengthy run up, while bowlers with a slow delivery take no more than a couple of steps before bowling. The fastest bowlers can deliver the ball at a speed of over 145 kilometres per hour (90 mph), and they sometimes rely on sheer speed to try to defeat the batter, who is forced to react very quickly.[92] Other fast bowlers rely on a mixture of speed and guile by making the ball seam or swing (i.e. curve) in flight. This type of delivery can deceive a batter into miscuing their shot, for example, so that the ball just touches the edge of the bat and can then be "caught behind" by the wicket-keeper or a slip fielder.[92] At the other end of the bowling scale is the spin bowler, who bowls at a relatively slow pace and relies entirely on guile to deceive the batter. A spinner will often "buy their wicket" by "tossing one up" (in a slower, steeper parabolic path) to lure the batter into making a poor shot. The batter has to be very wary of such deliveries, as the batter is often "flighted" or spun so that the ball will not behave quite as the batter expects it to, and the batter could be "trapped" into getting themself out. Accidental full toss deliveries can also get wickets as the failure of the ball to bounce can surprise a batsman, or induce a poor stroke in an effort to punish the poor deliver with a boundary hit.[93] In between the pacemen and the spinners are the medium-paced seamers, who rely on persistent accuracy to try to contain the rate of scoring and wear down the batter's concentration.[92]
There are nine ways in which a batter can be dismissed: five relatively common and four extremely rare. The common forms of dismissal are
Batting, runs and extras
Batters take turns to bat via a batting order which is decided beforehand by the team captain and presented to the umpires, though the order remains flexible when the captain officially nominates the team.[67] Substitute batters are generally not allowed,[89] except in the case of concussion substitutes in international cricket.[76]
In order to begin batting the batter first adopts a batting stance. Standardly, this involves adopting a slight crouch with the feet pointing across the front of the wicket, looking in the direction of the bowler, and holding the bat so it passes over the feet and so its tip can rest on the ground near to the toes of the back foot.[105]
A skilled batter can use a wide array of "shots" or "strokes" in both defensive and attacking mode. The idea is to hit the ball to the best effect with the flat surface of the bat's blade. If the ball touches the side of the bat, it is called an "
The batter on strike (i.e. the "striker") must prevent the ball hitting the wicket, and try to score runs by hitting the ball with their bat so that the batter and their partner have time to run from one end of the pitch to the other before the fielding side can return the ball. To register a run, both runners must touch the ground behind the popping crease with either their bats or their bodies (the batters carry their bats as they run). Each completed run increments the score of both the team and the striker.[107]
The decision to attempt a run is ideally made by the batter who has the better view of the ball's progress, and this is communicated by calling: usually "yes", "no" or "wait". More than one run can be scored from a single hit: hits worth one to three runs are common, but the size of the field is such that it is usually difficult to run four or more.[107] To compensate for this, hits that reach the boundary of the field are automatically awarded four runs if the ball touches the ground en route to the boundary or six runs if the ball clears the boundary without touching the ground within the boundary. In these cases the batters do not need to run.[108] Hits for five are unusual and generally rely on the help of "overthrows" by a fielder returning the ball.
If an odd number of runs is scored by the striker, the two batters have changed ends, and the one who was non-striker is now the striker. Only the striker can score individual runs, but all runs are added to the team's total.[107]
Additional runs can be gained by the batting team as extras (called "sundries" in Australia) due to errors made by the fielding side. This is achieved in four ways: no-ball, a penalty of one extra conceded by the bowler if he breaks the rules;[109] wide, a penalty of one extra conceded by the bowler if they bowl so that the ball is out of the batter's reach;[110] bye, an extra awarded if the batter misses the ball and it goes past the wicket-keeper and gives the batters time to run in the conventional way;[111] leg bye, as for a bye except that the ball has hit the batter's body, though not their bat.[111] If the bowler has conceded a no-ball or a wide, the bowler's team incurs an additional penalty because that ball (i.e., delivery) has to be bowled again and hence the batting side has the opportunity to score more runs from this extra ball.[109][110]
Specialist roles
The captain is often the most experienced player in the team, certainly the most tactically astute, and can possess any of the main skillsets as a batter, a bowler or a wicket-keeper. Within the Laws, the captain has certain responsibilities in terms of nominating their players to the umpires before the match and ensuring that the captain's players conduct themselves "within the spirit and traditions of the game as well as within the Laws".[67]
The wicket-keeper (sometimes called simply the "keeper") is a specialist fielder subject to various rules within the Laws about their equipment and demeanour. The wicket-keeper is the only member of the fielding side who can effect a stumping, and is the only one permitted to wear gloves and external leg guards.[112]
Depending on their primary skills, the other ten players in the team tend to be classified as specialist batters or specialist bowlers. Generally, a team will include five or six specialist batters, and four or five specialist bowlers, plus the wicket-keeper.[113][114]
Umpires and scorers
The game on the field is regulated by the two umpires, one of whom stands behind the wicket at the bowler's end, and the other in a position called "square leg" which is about 15–20 metres away from the batter on strike and in line with the popping crease on which that umpire is taking guard. The umpires have several responsibilities, including adjudication on whether a ball has been correctly bowled (i.e., not a no-ball or a wide); when a run is scored; whether a batter is out (the fielding side must first appeal to the umpire, usually with the phrase "How's that?" or "Howzat?"); when intervals start and end; and the suitability of the pitch, field and weather for playing the game. The umpires are authorised to interrupt or even abandon a match due to circumstances likely to endanger the players, such as a damp pitch or deterioration of the light.[78]
Off the field in televised matches, there is usually a
The match details, including runs and dismissals, are recorded by two official
A match's
Scores are displayed differently depending on location, although it is standard to show how many wickets have been lost and how many runs a team has made in the following formats.
Within Australia, the format is Wickets/Runs. While in the rest of the world, the format is Runs/Wickets.
A score of 125 with 4 wickets lost, would be displayed as 4/125 or 125/4 respectively.[119]
Spirit of the Game
Besides observing the Laws, cricketers must respect the "Spirit of Cricket", a concept encompassing sportsmanship, fair play and mutual respect. This spirit has long been considered an integral part of the sport but is only nebulously defined. Amidst concern that the spirit was weakening, in 2000 a Preamble was added to the Laws instructing all participants to play within the spirit of the game. The Preamble was last updated in 2017, now opening with the line:[120]
"Cricket owes much of its appeal and enjoyment to the fact that it should be played not only according to the Laws, but also within the Spirit of Cricket".
The Preamble is a short statement intended to emphasise the "positive behaviours that make cricket an exciting game that encourages leadership, friendship, and teamwork."[121] Its second line states that "the major responsibility for ensuring fair play rests with the captains, but extends to all players, match officials and, especially in junior cricket, teachers, coaches and parents."[120]
The umpires are the sole judges of fair and unfair play. They are required under the Laws to intervene in case of dangerous or unfair play or in cases of unacceptable conduct by a player.
Previous versions of the Spirit identified actions that were deemed contrary (for example, appealing knowing that the batter is not out) but all specifics are now covered in the Laws of Cricket, the relevant governing playing regulations and disciplinary codes, or left to the judgement of the umpires, captains, their clubs and governing bodies. The terse expression of the Spirit of Cricket now avoids the diversity of cultural conventions that exist in the detail of sportsmanship – or its absence.
Women's cricket
Governance
The International Cricket Council (ICC), which has its headquarters in Dubai, is the global governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965 and took up its current name in 1989.[123] The ICC in 2017 has 105 member nations, twelve of which hold full membership and can play Test cricket.[125] The ICC is responsible for the organisation and governance of cricket's major international tournaments, notably the men's and women's versions of the Cricket World Cup. It also appoints the umpires and referees that officiate at all sanctioned Test matches, Limited Overs Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals.
Each member nation has a national cricket board which regulates cricket matches played in its country, selects the national squad, and organises home and away tours for the national team.[126] In the West Indies, which for cricket purposes is a federation of nations, these matters are addressed by Cricket West Indies.[127]
The table below lists the ICC full members and their national cricket boards:[128]
Nation | Governing body | Full Member since[129] |
---|---|---|
Afghanistan | Afghanistan Cricket Board | 22 June 2017 |
Australia | Cricket Australia | 15 July 1909 |
Bangladesh | Bangladesh Cricket Board | 26 June 2000 |
England | England and Wales Cricket Board | 15 July 1909 |
India | Board of Control for Cricket in India | 31 May 1926 |
Ireland | Cricket Ireland | 22 June 2017 |
New Zealand | New Zealand Cricket | 31 May 1926 |
Pakistan | Pakistan Cricket Board | 28 July 1952 |
South Africa | Cricket South Africa | 15 July 1909 |
Sri Lanka | Sri Lanka Cricket | 21 July 1981 |
West Indies | Cricket West Indies | 31 May 1926 |
Zimbabwe | Zimbabwe Cricket | 6 July 1992 |
Forms of cricket
Cricket is a multi-faceted sport with multiple formats that can effectively be divided into first-class cricket, limited overs cricket and, historically, single wicket cricket.
The highest standard is
Limited overs cricket is always scheduled for completion in a single day, and the teams are allotted one innings each. There are two main types:
Single wicket was popular in the 18th and 19th centuries and its matches were generally considered top-class. In this form, although each team may have from one to six players, there is only one batter in at a time, and that batter must face every delivery bowled while their innings lasts. Single wicket has rarely been played since limited overs cricket began. Matches tended to have two innings per team like a full first-class one and they could end in a draw.[140]
Competitions
Cricket is played at both the international and domestic level. There is one major international championship per format, and top-level domestic competitions mirror the three main international formats. There are now a number of
International competitions
Most international matches are played as parts of 'tours', when one nation travels to another for a number of weeks or months, and plays a number of matches of various sorts against the host nation. Sometimes a perpetual trophy is awarded to the winner of the Test series, the most famous of which is The Ashes.
The ICC also organises competitions that are for several countries at once, including the
Competitions for member nations of the ICC with
The game's only appearance in an Olympic Games was the 1900 Olympics.[142] However, it is scheduled to make a return, with the T20 format of the game, in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.[143][144]
National competitions
First-class
First-class cricket in England is played for the most part by the 18 county clubs which contest the
Australia established its national first-class championship in 1892–93 when the Sheffield Shield was introduced. In Australia, the first-class teams represent the various states.[146] New South Wales has the highest number of titles.
The other ICC full members have national championship trophies called the
Limited overs
Other
Club and school cricket
The world's earliest known cricket match was a village cricket meeting in Kent which has been deduced from a 1640 court case recording a "cricketing" of "the Weald and the Upland" versus "the Chalk Hill" at Chevening "about thirty years since" (i.e., c. 1611). Inter-parish contests became popular in the first half of the 17th century and continued to develop through the 18th with the first local leagues being founded in the second half of the 19th.[19]
At the grassroots level, local
Rivalries
Culture
Influence on everyday life
Cricket has had a broad impact on popular culture, both in the Commonwealth of Nations and elsewhere. It has, for example, influenced the lexicon of these nations, especially the English language, with various phrases such as "that's not cricket" (that's unfair), "had a good innings" (lived a long life) and "sticky wicket". "On a sticky wicket" (aka "sticky dog" or "glue pot")[152] is a metaphor[153] used to describe a difficult circumstance. It originated as a term for difficult batting conditions in cricket, caused by a damp and soft pitch.[154]
In the arts and popular culture
Cricket is the subject of works by noted English poets, including William Blake and Lord Byron.[155] Beyond a Boundary (1963), written by Trinidadian C. L. R. James, is often named the best book on any sport ever written.[156]
In the visual arts, notable cricket paintings include
In music, many calypsos make reference to the Sport of Cricket.
Influence on other sports
Cricket has close historical ties with Australian rules football and many players have competed at top levels in both sports.[160] In 1858, prominent Australian cricketer Tom Wills called for the formation of a "foot-ball club" with "a code of laws" to keep cricketers fit during the off-season. The Melbourne Football Club was founded the following year, and Wills and three other members codified the first laws of the game.[161] It is typically played on modified cricket fields.[162]
In England, a number of
In the late 19th century, a former cricketer, English-born Henry Chadwick of Brooklyn, New York, was credited with devising the baseball box score[166] (which he adapted from the cricket scorecard) for reporting game events. The first box score appeared in an 1859 issue of the Clipper.[167] The statistical record is so central to the game's "historical essence" that Chadwick is sometimes referred to as "the Father of Baseball" because he facilitated the popularity of the sport in its early days.[168]
See also
Related sports
- Street cricket
- Bete-ombro – Brazilian version
- Plaquita – Dominican version
- Baseball
- Stoolball
Footnotes
- ^ The term "amateur" in this context does not mean someone who played cricket in his spare time. Many amateurs in first-class cricket were full-time players during the cricket season. Some of the game's greatest players, including W. G. Grace, held amateur status.
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Sources
- Altham, H. S. (1962). A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914). London: George Allen & Unwin.
- OCLC 28863559.
- Barclays (1986). ISBN 0-00-218193-2.
- ISBN 1-85410-710-0.
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- Goldstein, Dan (2000). The Rough Guide to English Football (2000–2001). London: Rough Guides. ISBN 1-85828-557-7.
- Harte, Chris (1993). A History of Australian Cricket. London: Andre Deutsch. p. 175. ISBN 0-233-98825-4.
- Haygarth, Arthur (1862). Frederick Lillywhite's Cricket Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826). London: Frederick Lillywhite.
- ISBN 978-0-00-718364-7.
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- Webber, Roy (1960). The Phoenix History of Cricket. London: Phoenix House Ltd.
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Further reading
- OCLC 255899689.
External links
- Cricket at Curlie
- International Cricket Council (ICC)
- ESPNcricinfo
- "Cricket". Encyclopædia Britannica Online