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.
John Barton "Bart" King (October 19, 1873 – October 17, 1965) was an American cricketer, active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. King was part of the Philadelphia team that played from the end of the 19th century until the outbreak of World War I. This period of cricket in the United States was dominated by "gentlemen cricketers"—men of independent wealth who did not need to work. King, an amateur from a middle-class family, was able to devote time to cricket thanks to a job set up by his teammates.
A skilled batsman who proved his worth as a bowler, King set numerous records in the continent of North America during his career and led the first-class bowling averages in England in 1908. He successfully competed against the best cricketers from England and Australia. King was the dominant bowler on his team when it toured England in 1897, 1903, and 1908. He dismissed batsmen with his unique delivery, which he called the "angler", and helped develop the art of swing bowling in the sport. Sir Pelham Warner described Bart King as "one of the finest bowlers of all time", and Donald Bradman called him "America's greatest cricketing son." (Full article...)
Curtly Ambrose has taken the most five-wicket hauls for the West Indies. Curtly Ambrose, a former West Indiancricketer, took 26 five-wicket hauls at international level. 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. Ambrose played 98 Tests and 176 One Day Internationals (ODIs), and took 405 and 225 wickets respectively. A right-arm fast bowler who represented the West Indies from 1988 to 2000, he took 22 five-wicket hauls in Tests and 4 in ODIs. The cricket almanack Wisden noted his "smooth, leggy run-up, fast arm action and accuracy", apart from "lethal yorker[s]" and "nasty bouncer[s]", and named him one of their Cricketers of the Year in 1992. Upon his induction into the International Cricket Council Cricket Hall of Fame in September 2011, ESPNcricinfo described Ambrose as "one of the finest bowlers of all time", and as of 2013 he is tenth overall among all-time combined five-wicket haul takers.
Ambrose made his Test debut in 1988 against Pakistan at the Bourda, Georgetown, a match the West Indies lost by 9 wickets. His first five-wicket haul came eight months later against Australia at the WACA Ground, Perth; West Indies won the match by 169 runs. His career-best bowling figures for an innings were 8 wickets for 45 runs against England at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, in April 1990 where his match-winning performance earned him a man of the match award. Ambrose took his solitary pair of five-wicket hauls in a Test match—5 wickets for 60 runs and 6 wickets for 24 runs—against the same opponents at the Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, in March 1994, his best bowling performance in a Test match. Ambrose achieved his 22 five-wicket hauls at 12 different grounds, including 11 at 9 different venues outside the West Indies. He was most successful against Australia and England taking eight five-wicket hauls each. He took ten or more wickets in a match on three occasions. (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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Caricature of Alfred Lyttelton keeping wicket for I Zingari I Zingari are a wandering amateurcricket club. Founded on 4 July 1845 by three Old Harrovians, it is one of the oldest cricket clubs still in existence. The purpose of the club was to nurture amateur cricket following the rise of professionalism, which had resulted in most clubs and counties employing at least one professional player to strengthen their side. I Zingari sides were chosen carefully, and such was their strength in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that a number of their matches were considered to be of first-class status. I Zingari Australia played senior club cricket for a few seasons after their formation in 1888, before being excluded from Electorate cricket. They have not played any first-class cricket.
I Zingari played numerous fixtures each season from 1845, primarily facing Eton College and Harrow School in the 1840s, and later playing more against stronger opposition; the Gentlemen of England and county sides became frequent opponents. In 1866 they took on the 'Gentlemen of the South' at St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury. This match is the first of their fixtures to be considered of first-class status. I Zingari lost by 121 runs to the Gentlemen, whose team included W.G. Grace and two of his brothers. I Zingari's next first-class match came eleven years later, when they played Yorkshire County Cricket Club as part of the Scarborough Festival. They competed in the festival for each of the following thirteen seasons – with the exception of 1883 – and played Yorkshire on seven occasions, the 'Gentlemen of England' six times and the touring Australians twice. They played two further first-class fixtures, both against the 'Gentlemen of England' at Lord's Cricket Ground, in 1895 and 1904. (Full article...)
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The captains of the 2007 Cricket World Cup.
This is a list of the squads picked for the 2007 Cricket World Cup. This was the ninth Cricket World Cup tournament and was held between 14 March and 28 April 2007. The sixteen teams asked to announce their final squads by 13 February 2007. Changes were allowed after this deadline at the discretion of the ICCs Technical Committee in necessary cases, such as due to player injury. In order to aid the teams to select the final 15, teams were given the option to announce a 30-man squad by mid-January, with the understanding that the final squad would be picked from these 30 players. However, this was not strictly adhered to – several of England's final 15 came from outside the initial 30, for example. The oldest player at the 2007 Cricket World Cup was Desmond Chumney (39) of Canada while the youngest was Alexei Kervezee of the Netherlands. (Full article...)
England cricketer Stuart Broad took hat-tricks against India at Trent Bridge in 2011, and against Sri Lanka at Headingley in 2014. In cricket, a hat-trick occurs when a bowler takes a wicket with each of three consecutive deliveries. Although hat-tricks can carry over between innings, meaning a batter can be dismissed twice as part of the same hat-trick, they do not carry over between matches. As of January 2025, this feat has only been achieved 48 times, by 44 different bowlers, in more than 2,000 men's Test matches, the form of the sport in which national representative teams compete in matches of up to five days' duration.
The first Test hat-trick was recorded on 2 January 1879, in only the third Test match to take place, by the Australia pace bowler Fred Spofforth, nicknamed "The Demon Bowler", who dismissed three Englandbatters with consecutive deliveries at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The most recent Test hat-trick was taken by Noman Ali in January 2025. (Full article...)
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Virat Kohli is the leading century maker, with eight centuries to his name.
In cricket, a batter reaches a century when he scores 100 runs or more in a single innings. A century is regarded as a landmark score for a batter, and his number of centuries is generally recorded in his career statistics. 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. Till date, 101 centuries have been scored by 53 different batsmen, out of which 27 are Indian players and 26 are overseas players. Players from 12 of the 15 franchises have scored centuries, with the three franchises that have not had a player score a century for them being Pune Warriors India, Kochi Tuskers Kerala and Gujarat Lions. (Full article...)
Since the team was formed, 62 women have represented South Africa in Twenty20 International cricket. This list includes all players who have played at least one Twenty20 International match and is initially arranged in the order of debut appearance. Where more than one player won their first cap in the same match, those players are initially listed alphabetically by last name at the time of debut. (Full article...)
A T20I is an international cricket match between two teams that have official Twenty20 International status, as determined by the International Cricket Council. It is played under the rules of Twenty20 cricket and is the shortest form of the game. Afghanistan played its first T20I match on 1 February 2010, against Ireland, losing the match by 5 wickets. Their first win came three days later in their second T20I match, which was against Canada, with Afghanistan winning by 5 wickets with one ball remaining.
This list comprises all members of the Afghanistan cricket team who have played at least one T20I match. It 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, their surnames are listed alphabetically. (Full article...)
A triple century (an individual score of 300 runs or more) in Test cricket has been scored on 32 occasions by 28 batsmen from eight of the twelve Test-cricket playing nations. No player from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ireland or Zimbabwe has scored 300. A batsman scoring a Test triple century is slightly rarer than a bowler taking a Test hat-trick (32 triple centuries versus 46 hat-tricks as of October 2024).
Muttiah Muralitharan has captured the highest number of five-wicket hauls in Test 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; only eleven bowlers have taken more than 30 five-wicket hauls in their Test cricketing careers. Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan has the most five-wicket hauls in Test cricket, and also the second-highest number of five-wicket hauls in One Day Internationals (ODI). He did not take any five-wicket hauls in a Twenty20 International, where his best bowling figures were 3 wickets for 29 runs. One of the most experienced bowlers in international cricket, Muralitharan is the leading wicket taker in both Tests and ODIs. He was declared as the "best bowler ever" in Test cricket by the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 2002, and the Sri Lankan team depended heavily on the off spinner for wickets.
Muralitharan is well ahead of other bowlers by number of five-wicket hauls in Tests with 67 to his name; Australian cricketer Shane Warne ranks in second place with 37. Making his Test debut in 1992, Muralitharan took his first five-wicket haul a year later against South Africa. He performed this feat against every other Test playing nation. He went on to take ten or more wickets per match on 22 occasions—also a world record—while Shane Warne ranks second, having achieved this on 10 occasions. His career best is 9 wickets for 51 runs against Zimbabwe, which ranks as the world's fifth-best figures in an innings. He was most successful against Bangladesh and South Africa, with 11 five-wicket hauls against each team. Fourteen of Muralitharan's five-wicket hauls were taken at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground (SSC) in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He retired from Test cricket in July 2010, capturing his 67th and final five-wicket haul during his last match. (Full article...)
Since the team made its first WT20I appearance in 2006, 73 players—including five different captains—have represented India in the format. The list is arranged in the order in which each player won her first Twenty20 cap. Where more than one player won her first Twenty20 cap in the same match, those players are listed alphabetically by surname. (Full article...)
The following are images from various cricket-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1A wicket can be put down by throwing the ball at it and thereby dislodging the bails. (from Laws of Cricket)
Image 2Broadhalfpenny Down, the location of the first First Class match in 1772 is still played on today (from History of cricket)
Image 3The boundary can be marked in several ways, such as with a rope. (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 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 6In 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 10Plaquita, 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 12New articles of the game of cricket, 25 February 1774 (from Laws of Cricket)
Image 13 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 14A 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 15Afghan 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 16A 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)
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the international governing body of cricket, and produces team rankings for the various forms of cricket played internationally.
![Image 1 The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a domestic, annual Twenty20 cricket tournament played in India, organized by the IPL Governing Council, under the aegis of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). It is the most watched Twenty20 tournament and the second-best-paying sporting league globally. IPL was established in 2008 and currently consists of ten teams in ten cities across India. The inaugural IPL season was won by Rajasthan Royals. As of 2024[update], there have been seventeen seasons of the IPL tournament. (Full article...)](/wiki/File:Blank.png)
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