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.
Donald Tallon (17 February 1916 – 7 September 1984) was an Australian cricketer who played 21 Test matches as a wicket-keeper between 1946 and 1953. He was widely regarded by his contemporaries as Australia's finest ever wicket-keeper and one of the best in Test history, with an understated style, an ability to anticipate the flight, length and spin of the ball and an efficient stumping technique. Tallon toured England as part of Don Bradman's Invincibles of 1948 and was recognised as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1949 for his performances during that season. During his Test career, Tallon made 58 dismissals comprising 50 catches and 8 stumpings.
His early cricket was played in Bundaberg where he was selected to represent Queensland Country against the England cricket team during the infamous Bodyline tour. Aged 17, he made his first-class cricket debut for Queensland against Victoria in December 1933. By the 1935–36 season, Tallon was an established player and he topped the Queensland batting averages for the season, however he was a surprise non-inclusion for the 1938 Australian team to tour England. Following the Second World War and the retirement or unavailability of other candidates, he was finally given an opportunity to play Test cricket, making his debut against New Zealand in 1946 aged 30. (Full article...)
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. As of 2024[update], 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...)
Image 2
The following is a list of all the major statistics and records for the 2007 Cricket World Cup held in the West Indies from 13 March to 28 April 2007. Though India were eliminated early, they set the ODI record for the highest victory margin in their 257 run win over Bermuda. In their match against Netherlands, Herschelle Gibbs (South Africa) created ODI and International cricket record when he hit sixes off all six deliveries in Daan van Bunge's over. In the Super 8 stage games, Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka) created ODI record when he took four wickets in four consecutive deliveries in a losing effort against South Africa. By the end of the tournament, new World Cup records for the fastest fifty (20 balls – Brendon McCullum of New Zealand) and fastest hundred (66 balls – Matthew Hayden of Australia) were established. Glenn McGrath established a new Cricket World Cup record for the most wickets (26) and also finished his ODI career with the most wickets in World Cup history (71). The number of sixes in the overall tournament (373) was 40% higher than the previous record holder, the 2003 Cricket World Cup (266). The tournament also saw 32 century partnerships (previous record of 28 during the 1996 Cricket World Cup) and 10 batsmen over 400 runs (previous record of 4 during the 2003 Cricket World Cup). (Full article...)
Bell made his Test debut in 2004 in the fourth Test against the West Indies at The Oval, scoring 70 in a ten-wicket England victory. His first century came a year later against Bangladesh at the Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street. His highest Test score is 235 against India at The Oval. Bell has scored Test centuries at fifteen cricket grounds, including seven at venues outside England. He has scored his twenty-two Test centuries against eight different opponents; he is most successful against Australia, Pakistan and India, with four against each. England have never lost a test match in which Bell has scored a century. His dismissal for 199 against South Africa in July 2008 made him just the seventh batsman to lose his wicket on that score in Test cricket. As of November 2015, Bell is joint twenty-eighth among all-time Test century makers,[A] and joint third in the equivalent list for England. (Full article...)
Image 4
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...)
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...)
Image 8
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).
Sharma made his ODI debut against Ireland in June 2007. His first century came during the 2010 Tri-nation tournament in Zimbabwe when he made 114 against the hosts. In the 2013 bilateral series against Australia at home, he made two centuries, including a double-century. The next year, he scored 264 against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata. The score remains the highest individual total by a batsman in the format. In January 2016, he made 171 not out against Australia; it remained the highest score by a visiting batsman against Australia until England's Jason Roy made 180 in 2018. Sharma set the record for most centuries scored in a World Cup when he scored five centuries in the 2019 World Cup. He has scored centuries against nine different opponents and has the joint second-highest number of centuries (eight) against Australia in the format. As of January 2020[update], Sharma has eight scores in excess of 150, and three double-centuries, both of which are records in ODIs. He has the second highest number of centuries for an active player in the format. (Full article...)
Image 10
Graeme Swann, a right-armoff-spinner, represented the England cricket team in 60 Tests, 79 One Day Internationals (ODI), and 39 Twenty20 Internationals (T20I) between 2000 and 2013. He took eighteen five-wicket hauls in international cricket – seventeen in Tests and one in ODIs. 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. The English cricket journalist Scyld Berry described Swann as "the best off-break bowler that England have had for more than half a century", and "the most effective spinner that England’s limited-overs teams have ever had". Swann claimed 255 wickets in Test cricket, second only to Derek Underwood (297) among English spin bowlers.
Swann made his Test debut in December 2008, taking four wickets in a match which England lost against India. His first Test five-wicket haul came early the following year against the West Indies at the Antigua Recreation Ground, when he took five wickets for 57 runs. Once during his career, Swann took five wickets in each innings of a match, against Bangladesh in 2010. This was also the first of three occasions in which he took ten wickets in a match. His career-best figures for an innings were six wickets for 65 runs against Pakistan at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground in August 2010. (Full article...)
Gower made his Test debut for England in June 1978 against Pakistan at Edgbaston, Birmingham. He achieved his first century in Test cricket later that year, scoring 111 runs against New Zealand at The Oval, London. The following summer, Gower scored his first double-century, remaining unbeaten on 200 off 279 deliveries, in a batting innings described as "effortless" by the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. He did not pass a hundred again until 1981, when he scored 154 not out against the West Indies, his runs coming off 403 deliveries at a strike rate of 38.21 – his lowest when scoring a century. Across 1984 and 1985, Gower struck five centuries in Test cricket, and on each occasion he passed 150 runs. Three of these centuries were scored during the 1985 Ashes, in which Gower was named as Man of the Series. In the fifth match he reached his highest score in Test cricket, amassing 215 runs and sharing a partnership of 331 with Tim Robinson. At the time, it was the sixth largest partnership for England, but in the next match Gower and Graham Gooch surpassed it, putting on 351 runs together. Gower's final Test century was scored in January 1991, when he reached 123 against Australia. In total, nine of Gower's eighteen Test centuries came during Ashes series, the fourth most by any batsman. (Full article...)
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...)
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. The first bowler to take a five-wicket haul in a Test match at Chepauk was Amar Singh for India against England in 1934; he finished the innings with bowling figures of 7 wickets for 86 runs. Australia's Ashley Mallett became the first to take two five-wicket hauls in the same match at Chepauk, when he took 5 for 91 and 5 for 53 in the second and fourth innings of the fifth Test of Australia's 1969–70 tour of India. Narendra Hirwani is the most recent cricketer and the first Indian to take two five-wicket hauls on debut. He took 8 for 61 and 8 for 75 against the West Indies during the fourth Test of the 1987–88 series between the teams, which was held at this ground, and finished the match with bowling figures of 16 for 136. These are also the best match-figures by any bowler on Test debut. The best figures in Test cricket at Chepauk are 8 for 55, taken by India's Vinoo Mankad against England in 1952. Axar Patel took the most recent five-wicket haul at Chepauk, with figures of 5 for 60 against England in their 2020–21 tour of India. As of September 2024, 33 bowlers have taken 53 Test match five-wicket hauls at this ground. (Full article...)
Image 15
A women's Test match is an international four-innings cricket match held over a maximum of four days between two of the ten leading cricketing nations. The first women's Test was played between England and Australia in 1934. As of 2014, the Pakistan women's team have played three Test matches since their first appearance in 1998, against Sri Lanka at the Colts Cricket Club. Pakistan have lost two matches, while one resulted in a draw. Twenty women have played Test matches for Pakistan.
As of 2014, four players have made the most appearances for Pakistan in Women's Test cricket, playing in all the three matches. Five players have appeared in two matches each, and eleven have played in one match each. Shaiza Khan has captained the side in all the three matches. Kiran Baluch has scored the most runs in total, making 360 from 6 innings. Her score of 242, made against West Indies in March 2004, is the highest total by any batsman in Women's Test cricket as of 2014. Khan has taken more wickets than any other Pakistani bowler in this format of the game, dismissing 19 batsmen over 3 matches. She has the best bowling figures in an innings among Pakistani bowlers, 7 wickets for 59 runs. Her 13 wickets for 226 runs in a match is the best performance by any bowler in the format. Khan, Urooj Mumtaz, and Batool Fatima have taken the most catches with three each. Fatima holds the record for the most Test cricket dismissals for Pakistan with five. (Full article...)
Anniversaries...
On this day in cricket
In England
1902 - Australian bowler Bert Hopkins (pictured) takes CB Fry and Ranjitsinhji both for ducks on the opening day of the second Ashes Test at Lord's.[1]
... that Cyril Smart, an English cricketer, was such a powerful hitter that he once took a world-record 32 runs off a single over, and held the record number of sixes for his club, Glamorgan?
... that the ball used in women's Test cricket can be up to 13⁄16ounces (23.03 grams) lighter than that used in men's cricket?
Image 3A wicket can be put down by throwing the ball at it and thereby dislodging the bails. (from Laws of Cricket)
Image 4Plaquita, 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 7A 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 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 9 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 11Afghan 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 12In 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 13Broadhalfpenny Down, the location of the first First Class match in 1772 is still played on today (from History of cricket)
Image 14A 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)
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the international governing body of cricket, and produces team rankings for the various forms of cricket played internationally.