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 holding bats, 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 with the bat 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.
In the final round of group matches during the 1979 Benson & Hedges Cup, a one-day cricket competition, Somerset County Cricket Club faced Worcestershire County Cricket Club at New Road, Worcester, on 24 May 1979. The result of the match would help to determine which teams progressed to the quarter-finals. If Somerset lost and Glamorgan won their match, Somerset, Worcestershire and Glamorgan would have been level on points; bowling strike rate would have then been used as a tie-breaker. The Somerset team, led by their captain, Brian Rose, realised that if they batted first and declared the innings closed after just one over, it would protect their strike rate advantage to guarantee their qualification. Somerset scored one run from their over and declared; Worcestershire took ten deliveries to score the two runs they needed to win. The match was completed in 18 minutes, and consisted of only 16 legal deliveries.
Although Somerset's declaration was within the laws of the game, Rose was condemned by the press and cricket officials. The Wisden Cricketers' Almanack claimed that Rose had "sacrificed all known cricketing principles by deliberately losing the game". Just over a week after the match, the Test and County Cricket Board met for an emergency session and voted to eject Somerset from the competition by a vote of seventeen to one. Cricket's rules were later changed to ban declarations in professional one-day cricket, although a similar incident occurred in club cricket in 2017.
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 July 2024, he is joint thirty-first among all-time century makers in Test cricket, and sixth in the equivalent list for India. (Full article...)
The list is initially arranged in the order in which each player won his first Twenty20 cap. Where more than one player won his first Twenty20 cap in the same match, those players are listed alphabetically by surname. (Full article...)
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Viv Richards scored 4 centuries in World Series Cricket, second only to Greg Chappell. World Series Cricket (WSC) was a professional cricket competition established by Kerry Packer which ran from 1977 and 1979. Packer set the competition up after failing to gain the rights to show Test cricket on his Channel Nine television channel. It was opposed by the International Cricket Conference (ICC), who ruled that such matches would not be first-class, and any players taking part would be banned from playing in officially sanctioned cricket, although the latter was ruled to be a "restraint of trade" and was not enforceable. They also barred the WSC from using the term "Test matches", or naming a team "Australia". As a result, the matches were dubbed "Supertests", while the teams were WSC Australia XI, WSC West Indies XI and WSC World XI. In all, 16 Supertests and 58 international one-day matches were played, before Packer and the Australian Cricket Board came to an agreement in May 1979, and World Series Cricket came to an end.
The first Supertest began on 2 December 1977, although the first century (100 or more runs in a single innings) was not scored until the third match, in which Ian Chappell accumulated 141 runs in the first innings. Bruce Laird and Viv Richards went on to score centuries in the same match. A month later, Barry Richards achieved the competition's first double century, scoring 207 runs for the WSC World XI. In the same innings, Gordon Greenidge and Richards also passed a hundred, while Greg Chappell did so in the second innings for WSC Australia XI. In the next match, Greg Chappell surpassed Richards' total, remaining 246 not out, one of his record five WSC centuries. (Full article...)
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New Zealand (pictured in 2009) have been involved in ten 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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Clarke scored 36 centuries for Australia in international cricket. Michael Clarke is an Australian former cricketer and captain of the Australia national cricket team. He scored centuries (100 or more runs in a single innings) in Test matches and One Day International (ODI) matches on 28 and 8 occasions respectively during his international career. He played 115 Tests and 238 ODIs for Australia, scoring 8,643 and 7,981 runs, respectively. Journalist Peter English wrote that "Clarke could do anything with the bat, but he has matured into one of the game's most professional, reliable and focussed players". He was named by Wisden as one of their Cricketers of the Year in 2010. Cricket Australia awarded him with the Allan Border Medal in 2005, 2009, 2012 and 2013.
Sangakkara made his Test debut against South Africa in July 2000. He scored his maiden Test century in 2001, against India, and his first double-century during the 2002 Asian Test Championship final against Pakistan. Sangakkara's highest score in Test cricket is 319, which he scored against Bangladesh in 2014. During his innings of 287 against South Africa in 2006, he and Mahela Jayawardene set a new world record of 624 runs for the highest partnership for any wicket in Test or first-class cricket. In the following year, he scored back-to-back double-centuries against Bangladesh, the fifth instance of successive double-centuries in Test cricket. He has scored 200 or more runs in a Test match on eleven occasions, surpassing Brian Lara, who has scored 200 or more runs in a Test match on nine occasions; only Donald Bradman (12 double-centuries) has done so more often. He became the ninth batsman and second Sri Lankan to score centuries against all Test-playing nations in December 2007, when he scored 152 against England. He was appointed captain of the Sri Lanka team in March 2009, following the resignation of Mahela Jayawardene, and the first of his seven Test centuries as captain came against Pakistan in July of the same year. Sangakkara has the second-highest batting average—69.60 per innings—for a captain who scored a minimum of 1,500 runs. (Full article...)
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Tom Horan was the first bowler to take a wicket with his first delivery in Test cricket. 84 bowlers have taken a wicket with the first ball they bowled in one of the three formats of international cricket.
Jayawardene's debut Test match was against India in August 1997, in which the Sri Lankan team made a world record 952 runs for 6 wickets. He scored his maiden Test century in his fourth match, played in June 1998 against New Zealand. The 150 he scored against Bangladesh in September 2001 is the fastest Test century made by a Sri Lankan player. However, this innings came to an unusual end when he retired out just after reaching 150 runs. Jayawardene's best innings was made against South Africa in July 2006 when he scored 374 runs, surpassing Sanath Jayasuriya's record of 340 for the highest individual score by a Sri Lankan batsman. It is also the fourth-highest score in Test cricket, as well as part of the world's highest Test partnership—624 runs—which he established with teammate Kumar Sangakkara. Jayawardene has scored a total of 34 centuries during his career, the second highest number by a Sri Lankan player, after Kumar Sangakkara. He has scored more than 200 runs on seven of these occasions. This is the second-highest number of double centuries by a Sri Lankan player, behind Kumar Sangakkara. He is also one of only three players who have scored a triple century for Sri Lanka; the other two being Jayasuriya and Sangakkara. (Full article...)
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The Frank Worrell Trophy is awarded to the winner of the West Indies–Australia Test match series in cricket. The trophy is named after Frank Worrell who was the first black captain of the West Indies. It was first awarded at the end of the 1960–61 series in Australia, the first Test of which ended in a tie. The Australian Cricket Board of Control and Don Bradman commissioned former Test cricketer and professional jeweller Ernie McCormick to create a perpetual trophy following the tie. The trophy's design incorporated a ball used in the tied Test.
, Australia hold the trophy following the 1–1 series draw in the West Indies 2023–24 tour. Australia also lead in overall wins, winning 15 of the 25 series, while the West Indies have won 8, the remaining 3 ending in draws (with the trophy being retained by the incumbents). Brian Lara is the most successful batsman in the history of the trophy, scoring 2,815 runs for the West Indies in 56 innings at an average of 52.12. He also holds the record for the highest score (277) which he made in the third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground during the 1992–93 series. West Indian fast bowler Courtney Walsh has taken the most wickets in the trophy, with 135 over 38 matches, at an average of 28.68, while Australia's Graham McKenzie has the best bowling figures of 8 wickets for 71 runs, achieved in the second Test of the 1968–69 series. Australian Mark Waugh has taken the most catches, with 45 in 28 matches, while West Indian Jeff Dujon is the most successful wicketkeeper, making 84 dismissals in 23 matches. (Full article...)
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Marcus Trescothick, Somerset's leading List A and second-highest first-class run-scorer Somerset County Cricket Club are an English cricket club based in Taunton, Somerset. The club was founded in 1875 after a match between "Gentlemen of Somerset" and "Gentlemen of Devon" in Sidmouth, Devon. Somerset played their first undisputedfirst-class cricket match in 1882 against Lancashire. After missing the first season of the official County Championship, Somerset was admitted for the second in 1891, and have participated in the competition ever since. The club have played one-day cricket since its introduction to the English game in 1963, winning their first trophy in the 1979 Gillette Cup. All players who have played in 100 first-class or List A cricket matches are listed below. Only four players have made over 100 appearances in Twenty20 cricket for Somerset, James Hildreth currently holds the record for the most matches in the format for the club, having made 205 appearances.
Brian Langford holds the record for the greatest number of first-class appearances for Somerset. Between 1953 and 1974 the right-arm off break bowler played 504 times for the club. Only three other players have made more than 400 appearances for Somerset, and no-one has reached the milestone since Langford. Jack White, one of the three, is the club's leading wicket-taker in first-class cricket, claiming 2,165 dismissals for the county between 1909 and 1937. Harold Gimblett's tally of 21,142 first-class runs is the most by a Somerset cricketer, over 1,000 more than the next, Marcus Trescothick. (Full article...)
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Chanderpaul is second only to Brian Lara in terms of number of international centuries for the West Indies. Shivnarine Chanderpaul is an international cricketer who has played for the West Indies since 1994, and captained the team for a short time. He has scored centuries (100 or more runs in a single innings) on 30 occasions in Test cricket and 11 times in One Day International (ODI) matches. He is West Indies' second-most prolific batsman in international cricket, after Brian Lara, having accumulated almost 20,000 runs. He bats with an unorthodox technique, which is often described as "crab-like", and is highly regarded for his "patience and obstinacy at the crease." In his list of the 100 greatest Test players, Shane Warne described Chanderpaul as "a bloke you needed to crowbar away from the crease." In 2008 he was named as one of the five Cricketers of the Year by the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, and as the Player of the Year by the International Cricket Council.
Chanderpaul made his Test debut in March 1994, selected as an all-rounder who could bowl leg breaks, against England. He reached his first century three years later, scoring an unbeaten 137 against India at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown. During the initial phase of his career, Chanderpaul was criticised for his inability to convert half-centuries into centuries, but he proved his critics wrong during the 2001–02 series against India when he scored three centuries in five matches, thus earning the man of the series accolade. During that tournament, he batted for 1,513 minutes between dismissals, a record in Test cricket. Despite being well known for his patient batting, Chanderpaul scored a 69-ball century against Australia in 2003, which at the time was the third fastest century in terms of balls faced. His highest score in Test cricket is 203 not out, a total he achieved twice, first against South Africa in 2005, and then against Bangladesh in 2012. He has scored centuries against every Test playing nation with the exception of Sri Lanka, and has scored seven centuries against India, more than any other team. (Full article...)
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Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh's leading wicket taker in international cricket, has taken 25 five-wicket hauls in international cricket.
In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") refers to a bowler taking five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded as a notable achievement, and as of July 2021 only 49 players have taken 15 or more five-wicket hauls at international level in their cricketing careers. Shakib Al Hasan, a slow left-arm orthodox spinner, represents the Bangladesh national cricket team. With 25 five-wicket hauls across all formats of international cricket, he ranks equal 15th in the all-time list, and first among his countrymen He has been described as "Bangladesh's greatest-ever cricketer", and is ranked as the top all-rounder in One Day International (ODI) cricket as of August 2022.
Strauss made his Test cricket debut at the age of 27 after being called into the team to replace the injured Michael Vaughan. He scored a century in the first innings of the match, played against New Zealand at Lord's, his county home ground for Middlesex. In the second innings of the match he missed out on becoming the first England batsman to score centuries in both innings of his Test debut when he was run out on 83. His second Test century came in the first match of the series against the West Indies two months later, and was also scored at Lord's. The following English winter, Strauss scored three centuries during the Test series in South Africa, earning him the man of the series accolade, and high praise from Allan Donald, who said he had "never seen any visiting player bat as well, with so many match-winning performances". In 2008, he passed 150 for the first time in Test cricket, scoring 177 against New Zealand at McLean Park, Napier. The innings, his highest in Test cricket, is also the only time he has scored a Test century when not playing as an opening batsman for England. Strauss was named as England captain in 2009, and responded by passing 140 four times during the year, hitting centuries in three subsequent Tests against the West Indies, and scoring his highest total during an Ashes series against Australia, reaching 161 at Lord's. After a series of low scores, Strauss scored a century against the West Indies in the first match of the 2012 series, his first in a year and a half. (Full article...)
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Aravinda de Silva scored seven of his thirty-one international cricket centuries at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground.
De Silva debuted in 1984 and scored his first Test century in October 1985 against Pakistan. In a man-of-the-match performance, he scored 122 in an eight-and-a-half-hours innings. He made centuries in both innings of a match when he scored 138 and 103 – not out in both innings – in the second Test of the 1997 series against Pakistan, and , he is the only player to score unbeaten centuries in both innings of a Test. He repeated the feat of scoring centuries in both innings in the same year, when he scored 146 and 120 against India in another man-of-the-match performance. De Silva's highest Test score of 267, achieved in January 1991 in Wellington, was reached in 380 balls against New Zealand. The performance is the sixth-highest score by a Sri Lankan batsman in Test cricket. De Silva scored his twenty Test centuries against seven different opponents, and was most successful against Pakistan, making eight. , he is thirty-fourth in the international Test century-makers list, and third in the Sri Lankan list. (Full article...)
The following are images from various cricket-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1New articles of the game of cricket, 25 February 1774 (from Laws of Cricket)
Image 2In 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 4Photograph of Miss Lily Poulett-Harris, founding mother of women's cricket in Australia. (from History of women's cricket)
Image 5A Game of Cricket at The Royal Academy Club in Marylebone Fields, now Regent's Park, depiction by unknown artist, c. 1790–1799 (from History of cricket)
Image 6 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 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 9Broadhalfpenny Down, the location of the first First Class match in 1772 is still played on today (from History of cricket)
... that the English-Australian cricketer Bailey Wightman made his County debut for Kent whilst playing club cricket for Tunbridge Wells after an outbreak of COVID-19?
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.