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; 66-foot) pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails (small sticks) balanced on three stumps. Two players from the batting team, the striker and nonstriker, stand in front of either wicket holding bats, while one player from the fielding team, the bowler, bowls the ball toward 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 of these exchanges. Runs are also scored when the ball reaches the boundary of the field or when the ball is bowled illegally.
The riot was sparked by a controversial umpiring decision, when star Australian batsman Billy Murdoch was given out by George Coulthard, a Victorian employed by the Englishmen. The dismissal caused an uproar among the spectators, many of whom surged onto the pitch and assaulted Coulthard and some English players. It was alleged that illegal gamblers in the New South Wales pavilion, who had bet heavily on the home side, encouraged the riot because the tourists were in a dominant position and looked set to win. Another theory given to explain the anger was that of intercolonial rivalry, that the New South Wales crowd objected to what they perceived to be a slight from a Victorian umpire. (Full article...)
Pune Warriors India (PWI) was a Pune-based franchise cricket team that participated in the Indian Premier League (IPL). They played their first Twenty20 match in the 2011 season of the IPL against Kings XI Punjab. PWI played in three editions of the IPL, failing to reach the playoffs on all occasions. They came last in the 2012 IPL, and came second-last in the 2011 and the 2013 IPL. After the 2013 season, PWI owners withdrew from the IPL due to financial differences with the Board of Control for Cricket in India. In total, 46 players had played for PWI, of whom Robin Uthappa had played the most matches (46, since his debut for the franchise in 2011).
The leading run-scorer for PWI was Uthappa, who had scored 1,103 runs. Jesse Ryder scored 86 runs against Delhi Daredevils in 2012, which was the highest individual score in an innings by a PWI batsman. Steve Smith had the team's best batting average: 40.07. Among PWI's bowlers, Rahul Sharma had taken more wickets than any other, claiming 34. The best bowling average among bowlers who had bowled more than 20 overs was Yuvraj Singh's 22.93. Ashok Dinda had the best bowling figures in an innings; he claimed four wickets against Mumbai Indians in a 2012 match, conceding 18 runs. Uthappa had taken the most catches as wicket-keeper for PWI, with 24, and had also made the most stumpings: six. Smith and Manish Pandey had claimed the highest number of catches among fielders, taking 14 each. (Full article...)
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Lasith Malinga has taken three five-wicket hauls, the most by any bowler in Asia Cup matches.
MS Dhoni holds the record of most matches and wins as a captain in the IPL
In cricket, a captain is a player who leads the team and has additional roles and responsibilities. The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional league for Twenty20 cricket in India, which has been held annually since its first edition in 2008.
In the 17 seasons played till 2024, 70 players have captained their team in at least one match. Mumbai Indians' Rohit Sharma and Chennai Super Kings's MS Dhoni are the most successful captains with five IPL titles each. Dhoni also holds the records for most matches (226) and most wins (133) as a captain. Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, and Steven Smith are the only players to have captained three different teams. Shreyas Iyer is the only captain to have led two different sides to the finals of the IPL. Kolkata Knight Riders is the only team to have won IPL with different captains. (Full article...)
The 16 competing teams were initially divided into four groups, with the two best-performing teams from each group moving on to a Super 8 format. Every team played a total of 6 matches in the Super 8 round; they didn't played with teams of their own group. They played a total of 6 teams from another three groups (the top 2 teams of all three groups) From this, Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and South Africa won through to the semi-finals, with Australia defeating Sri Lanka in the final to win their third consecutive World Cup and their fourth overall. Australia's unbeaten record in the tournament increased their total to 29 consecutive World Cup matches without loss, a streak dating back to 23 May 1999, during the group stage of the 1999 World Cup. The tournament also saw upsets and surprise results, with pre-tournament favourites India and Pakistan failing to make it past the group stage, while Bangladesh, the second-lowest ranked ICC Full Member at the time, and World Cup debutant Ireland, which was an ICC Associate Member at the time, made it to the "Super 8", beating India and Pakistan respectively en route. Ireland became only the second associate nation to make it past the first round of a Cricket World Cup, the first being Kenya in 2003. (Full article...)
Kumar Sangakkara was the captain of the Deccan Chargers during their last season.
The Hyderabad Deccan Chargers (often abbreviated as DC) was a franchise cricket team based in Hyderabad, Telangana, that competed in the Indian Premier League (IPL) from 2008 to 2012. The team was owned by Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited who won the bid for the Hyderabad franchise at US$107 million. VVS Laxman and Robin Singh were appointed as the captain and the coach for their first season in 2008. After finishing last in that season, the DC sacked their coach and removed their captain and replaced them with Darren Lehmann and Adam Gilchrist under whom they won their only IPL title in 2009, when they defeated the Royal Challengers Bangalore by six runs in the final. They reached the semi-finals again in 2010 but failed to reach past the group stages before the team was folded in 2012. They qualified for the Champions League Twenty20 only once, for the 2009 season, but failed to advance past the group stage. Lehmann remained as the coach for the DC but they were forced to replace Gilchrist with Kumar Sangakkara in 2011 after they lost former to the Kings XI Punjab in the 2011 auction. Sangakkara remained as the captain until the middle of the 2012 season before he was replaced by Cameron White following the poor performances. Sangakkara later returned as captain as the move did not yield the desired results for the Deccan Chargers.
On 15 September 2012, the Deccan Chargers' IPL contract was terminated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which was concerned about overdue payments to the players. The Hyderabad franchise was later acquired by the Sun TV Network for ₹85.05 crore (US$9.7 million) per year in a bid which also retained 20 players. (Full article...)
Border made his Test debut against England in December 1978 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. His first century came three months later against Pakistan at the same venue. Border's 27 Test hundreds were scored at 14 different grounds; 14 hundreds were made at venues outside Australia. In Tests, he was most successful against England accumulating eight centuries. Border's highest score of 205 – one of his two double centuries – came against New Zealand at the Adelaide Oval in 1987. As of 2012, he is thirteenth overall in the list of most hundreds in Test cricket. (Full article...)
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Nasser Hussain is one of fifteen England captains to have won the award. The Cricket Writers' Club Young Cricketer of the Year is an annual cricket award, presented to the young player who is adjudged to have been the best of the year in English county cricket. The award has been presented since the 1950 season and the winner is chosen by a vote amongst the members of the Cricket Writers' Club. Only players that are qualified to represent the England cricket team, and are aged under 23 on 1 May of the awarding year, are eligible for the prize. With the exception of 1986, when a joint award was made, the accolade has been presented to one individual each season. The award has been described by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) as "prestigious". Although not a firm rule, once a player has won the award, they are considered ineligible to receive it in the future.
Archie Ledbrooke, a sports reporter for the Daily Mirror and the first treasurer of the Cricket Writers' Club, came up with the idea for the award. It was first presented in 1950, when Roy Tattersall of Lancashire was the recipient. In 1986, the vote was tied, and the award was made jointly to Ashley Metcalfe of Nottinghamshire and James Whitaker of Leicestershire. The 1995 winner, Andrew Symonds, went on to make over 200 international appearances for Australia, but at the time of his award was eligible to play for England, as he was born in Birmingham. As of 2021[update], representatives of seventeen of the eighteen first-class cricket counties have won the award; no player from Worcestershire has ever won. Yorkshire players have collected the award most frequently, doing so on eleven occasions. Only seven winners have not gone on to play international cricket. (Full article...)
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The County Ground, Hove, which was first used in 1872, and has hosted the majority of Sussex's matches.
Sussex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 member clubs of the English County Championship, representing the historic county of Sussex. Although Sussex representative sides had been playing cricket since the mid-eighteenth century and had also played first-class cricket matches since 1815, the County Cricket Club was established on 1 March 1839. They have played first-class matches since 1839, List A matches since 1963, and Twenty20 matches since 2003.
Unlike most professional sports, in which a team usually has a single fixed home ground, county cricket clubs have traditionally used different grounds in various towns and cities within the county for home matches, although the use of minor "out grounds" away from the club's main headquarters has diminished since the 1980s. In total, Sussex have played first-class, List A and Twenty20 cricket at 17 different grounds across the county. (Full article...)
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Imran Khan, a retired Pakistanicricketer and former Prime Minister of Pakistan, took 24 five-wicket hauls during his career 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 October 2024[update], only 54 bowlers have taken 15 or more five-wicket hauls at international level in their cricketing careers. A right-armfast bowler who represented his country between 1971 and 1992, Khan was described by the BBC as "one of the finest fast bowlers cricket has ever seen", while ESPNcricinfo declared him as "the greatest cricketer to emerge from Pakistan, and arguably the world's second-best allrounder after Garry Sobers". In 1983 he was named as one of the five Cricketers of the Year by the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, and was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in January 2009.
Khan made his Test debut in 1971 against England at Edgbaston Cricket Ground. His first Test five-wicket haul came in 1977 against Australia in a match at Melbourne Cricket Ground which Pakistan lost. In the same year, he took his first pair of five-wicket hauls in a single match against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground. By the end of his career, he had claimed five-wickets hauls in both innings of a match on three occasions. His career-best figures for an innings were 8 wickets for 58 runs against Sri Lanka at Gaddafi Stadium, in March 1982. He took ten or more wickets in a match on six occasions. (Full article...)
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Mahela Jayawardene holds several batting and fielding test cricket records for Sri Lanka. Test cricket is the oldest form of cricket played at international level. A Test match takes place over a period of five days, and is played by teams representing Full Member nations of the International Cricket Council (ICC). Sri Lanka obtained Full Member status of the ICC in 1981, becoming the eighth nation eligible to play Test cricket. The Sri Lanka national cricket team played their first Test match on 17 February 1982, against England, and recorded their first victory on 6 September 1985, in a match against India. Since then, they have played nearly 300 matches, against every other Test-playing nation. Sri Lanka holds the world record for the highest team score, which was established against India in 1997. The highest partnership in Test cricket was also established by two Sri Lankan batsmen; Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara. Sri Lankan players also hold the highest partnership scores for the second and third wickets.
Top order batsman and former captain Kumar Sangakkara holds several Sri Lankan batting records as he has scored the most runs for Sri Lanka in Test cricket. He is also the record holder for the highest number of centuries as well as the highest number of half-centuries. The 374 made by Mahela Jayawardene against South Africa in 2006 is the highest individual score by a Sri Lankan cricketer, surpassing the previous best of 340 by Sanath Jayasuriya, which was established in 1997. It is also the fourth-highest individual score in Test cricket. Jayawardene, Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara [319] are the only Sri Lankan players who have scored triple centuries. (Full article...)
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Mohammad Yousuf pictured during Pakistan's 2010 tour of England Mohammad Yousuf (known before his conversion to Islam as Yousuf Youhana) is a Pakistan cricketer and former captain of the Pakistan national cricket team. He has scored centuries (100 or more runs) on 24 occasions in Test cricket and 15 times in One Day International (ODI) matches. As of February 2019[update], he has the second-highest number of centuries in international cricket for Pakistan. Described by one writer in 2010 as one of the best middle order batsmen ever, and by the West Indies cricketer Brian Lara in 2006 as "not just a role model for Pakistan cricket but for young cricketers around the world", Yousuf captained the Pakistan side in nine Tests and eight ODIs between 2003 and 2010. As of February 2019[update], he holds the world record for the most runs in Test matches during a calendar year, scoring 1,788 runs in 11 Tests during 2006. He scored nine international centuries in 2006, also a world record for a calendar year. In 2007, when he was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year, the cricket almanack Wisden noted his "stylishness" as well as his "appetite for runs".
Yousuf made his Test debut against South Africa in 1998. Later the same year, he reached his first Test century against Zimbabwe at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, scoring 120 not out. His highest Test score of 223 came in a match against England at the same venue, during the 2005–06 series between the teams. He has made a double century (200 or more runs) on four occasions during Tests. Yousuf has scored Test centuries at 16 cricket grounds, including 12 at venues outside Pakistan. He is third in the list of Test century-makers for Pakistan behind Younis Khan (33) and Inzamam-ul-Haq (25). (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".
Amla made his Test debut against India at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, in 2004. His first century came two years later against New Zealand at the Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town. His score of 311 not out, against England at The Oval, London, in 2012, is the only triple century by a South African batsman in Test cricket. Amla has scored Test centuries at sixteen cricket grounds, including ten at venues outside South Africa. In Tests, he has scored centuries against eight different opponents, and has the most centuries (six) against England. As of January 2019[update], Amla has the second-highest number of centuries for South Africa in Tests. (Full article...)
The following are images from various cricket-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1Afghan soldiers playing cricket. Afghan refugees in Pakistan brought the sport back to Afghanistan, and it is now one of the most popular sports in the country. (from History of cricket)
Image 2Photograph of Miss Lily Poulett-Harris, founding mother of women's cricket in Australia. (from History of women's cricket)
Image 3The boundary can be marked in several ways, such as with a rope. (from Laws of Cricket)
Image 4A 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 5Plaquita, a Dominican street version of cricket. The Dominican Republic was first introduced to cricket through mid-18th century British contact, but switched to baseball after the 1916 American occupation. (from History of cricket)
Image 6New articles of the game of cricket, 25 February 1774 (from Laws of Cricket)
Image 7Broadhalfpenny Down, the location of the first First Class match in 1772 is still played on today (from History of cricket)
Image 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 9In 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 11A 1793 American depiction of "wicket" being played in front of Dartmouth College. Wicket likely came to North America in the late 17th century. (from History of cricket)
Image 16 First Grand Match of Cricket Played by Members of the Royal Amateur Society on Hampton Court Green, August 3rd, 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.