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, 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 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.
The first century at the ground was scored by the West IndianGarfield Sobers. He made 198 during the second Test of the 1958–59 West Indies tour of India. The first Indian to score a century at the ground was Polly Umrigar, who made 147 not out against England in December 1961. West Indian Faoud Bacchus' 250, against India in February 1979, is the highest individual score by a batsman at the ground. India's Gundappa Viswanath and Mohammed Azharuddin have scored the most centuries at the venue with three each. The latter also holds the record for the highest score by an Indian at the ground. As of February 2016, 32 Test centuries have been scored at the stadium. (Full article...)
Hildreth is Somerset's leading run-scorer in Twenty20 cricket, aggregating 3,906 runs. He is also one of only nine batsmen to have scored a century for Somerset in the format, along with Tom Abell, Babar Azam, Tom Banton, Chris Gayle, Johann Myburgh, Graeme Smith, Marcus Trescothick and Cameron White. Gayle's score of 151 not out, scored in 2015 against Kent is the highest score by a Somerset batsman, and Gayle also has the county's best batting average: 84.16. Among the bowlers, Max Waller has taken more wickets than any other bowler, claiming 139, two more than Alfonso Thomas. The best bowling average is Jack Leach's 12.00. Arul Suppiah has the best bowling figures in an innings: he claimed six wickets against Glamorgan in a 2011 match, while only conceding five runs. Suppiah's figures in that match were the best by any bowler in Twenty20 cricket at the time. Tom Banton and Craig Kieswetter have taken the most catches as wicket-keeper for Somerset, with 40, and Kieswetter has made the highest number of stumpings: 14. Max Waller has claimed the highest number of catches among fielders, taking 86. (Full article...)
From their first match in 2006 to their final match in 2009, 37 players represented the Bermuda cricket team in One Day Internationals (ODIs). A One Day International is an international cricket match between two representative teams, each having ODI status, as determined by the International Cricket Council (ICC). An ODI differs from Test matches in that the number of overs per team is limited, and that each team has only one innings.
The Bermuda Cricket Board was formed in 1948, when the Somers Isles Cricket League amalgamated with the Bermuda Cricket Club to form the Bermuda Cricket Board. They were admitted to the ICC as an associate member in 1969, and in the 2005 ICC Trophy they gained ODI status and qualified for the World Cup for the first time. Bermuda played its first ODI against Canada in May 2006. In the 2007 World Cup, Bermuda struggled against the Test playing nations in their group and against India they recorded what remains the largest margin of defeat in a World Cup match, losing by 257 runs at Queen's Park Oval, Trinidad and Tobago. Bermuda lost all their matches in the World Cup, which began a decline in Bermudian cricket and eventually led to them losing their ODI status during the 2009 World Cup Qualifier, in which they finished 9th. Bermuda have not managed to regain this status and now play in World Cricket League Division Three, having also lost their first-class status they had held since 2004. (Full article...)
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Abdul Qadir was a Pakistanicricketer who took 17 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 fewer than 50 bowlers have taken more than 15 five-wicket hauls at international level in their cricketing careers. A right-arm leg spin bowler who represented his country between 1977 and 1994, Yahoo! Cricket wrote that Abdul Qadir "was a master of the leg-spin" and "mastered the googlies, the flippers, the leg-breaks and the topspins."
Abdul Qadir made his Test debut in 1977 against England at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. His first Test five-wicket haul came the following year against the same team in a match at the Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad. In March 1984 against the English at the Gaddafi Stadium, he took a five-wicket haul in both innings of a Test match for the first time. He repeated this feat only once more in his career, at the National Stadium, Karachi, against the same team, in December 1987. His career-best figures for an innings were 9 wickets for 56 runs against England at the Gaddafi Stadium, in November 1987. In Tests, Qadir was most successful against the English taking eight of his five-wicket hauls against them. He took ten or more wickets in a match on five occasions. Qadir claimed 15 five-wicket hauls in his Test career, and Pakistan never lost any of the games on such instances. (Full article...)
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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 five 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...)
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Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 member clubs of the English County Championship, representing the historic county of Leicestershire. The club was established on 25 March 1879. It has since played first-class cricket from 1894, List A cricket from 1963 and Twenty20 cricket from 2003.[A] 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" has diminished since the 1980s. Leicestershire's first XI have played home matches at fifteen different grounds.
The club's debut home match in first-class cricket was played at Grace Road in Leicester. After the 1900 season, the club ceased using Grace Road, as it was felt that it was located too far from the centre of the city. Instead, Aylestone Road became the club's headquarters, and staged nearly 400 first-class matches between 1901 and the outbreak of the Second World War. Due to a combination of wartime damage and industrial development, however, the club was forced to discontinue using Aylestone Road after the war, and Grace Road once again became the club's main venue. In the years after the war, the county also utilised grounds in other towns including Hinckley, Melton Mowbray, Barwell and Loughborough. (Full article...)
When a player is found by the umpire to have delivered the ball contrary to those rules, the umpire will call a no-ball and he is said to have been called for throwing. Where public opinion is that a player's bowling action appears to be that he routinely throws, he is said to have a 'suspect' or an 'illegal' action, or more derogatorily, is said to be a 'chucker'. The issue is often highly emotive with accusers considering that deliveries with an illegal action are akin to cheating. (Full article...)
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Javed Miandad is a former batsman and captain of Pakistan. He scored 23 centuries in Test cricket and 8 One Day International (ODI) hundreds during his 17-year international career. Miandad played 124 Test matches and notched 8,832 runs to remain the leading scorer for Pakistan in Test cricket. In 233 ODI matches, he scored 7,381 runs. In 1982, he was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year; the cricket almanac tagged him as "one of the best and most exciting players in the world". He was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in January 2009.
Miandad scored century on his Test debut against New Zealand at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, in 1976. He was only the second Pakistan player to achieve this feat. In the third and final Test of the series at National Stadium, Karachi, he made 206 runs and, at 19 years and 141 days, became the youngest ever player to complete a double hundred. Seven years later, in 1983, Miandad realized his highest Test score, an unbeaten 280, against India at the Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad. (Full article...)
Williamson made his ODI debut against India in August 2010 and scored his first century two months later when he made 108 against Bangladesh; New Zealand lost the match by nine runs. His 69-ball 100 not out—made against Zimbabwe in October 2011—is the fourth fastest ODI century by a New Zealander. His highest score of 148 came against the West Indies in the 2019 World Cup. (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 by critics as a notable achievement, and fewer than 50 bowlers have taken 15 or more five-wicket hauls at international level in their cricketing careers. Danish Kaneria, a right-arm leg spinner, represented the Pakistan national cricket team in 61 Tests between 2000 and 2010. He took 15 five-wicket hauls during his career in international cricket. Kaneria was described by the BBC as a "match-winner with his leg-breaks".
Kaneria made his Test debut in 2000 against England at the Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad. His first Test five-wicket haul came the following year against Bangladesh at the Multan Cricket Stadium during the 2001–02 Asian Test Championship. Kaneria went on to take his second five-wicket haul in the same match, the only instance in his career where he did so. He accumulated 12 wickets for 94 runs in the match, and the performance earned him the man of the match award. Kaneria's best bowling figures in an innings were 7 wickets for 77 runs against Bangladesh at the Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, in January 2002. He was most successful against Australia and Bangladesh, claiming three five-wicket hauls against each of them. (Full article...)
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Mark Waugh is a former Australian cricketer who scored centuries (100 or more runs) in Test and One Day International (ODI) matches organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). Described by ESPNcricinfo writer John Polack as "one of the world's most elegant and gifted strokemakers", he played most of his career under the captaincy of his older twin-brother Steve Waugh. Waugh represented Australia in 128 Test matches and 244 ODIs between 1988 and 2002, scoring 20 and 18 centuries respectively. He was primarily a batsman who played as an opener in ODIs, while normally at number four in Tests.
Waugh made his Test debut against England at the Adelaide Oval in January 1991, scoring a century; he became the fifteenth player from Australia to score a hundred on debut when he made 138 in the innings. He ended the season with one more century, aggregating 554 runs at an average of 61.55. Following his performances, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack named him as one of their five Cricketers of the Year the same year. Waugh was instrumental in Australia's victory in the 1995 Frank Worrell Trophy against the West Indies when he made 126 in the deciding game. His highest score of 153 not out was achieved against India during the third Test of the 1998 Border–Gavaskar Trophy in Bangalore. In Tests, Waugh was most successful against England scoring six centuries. As of May 2024, his position is eleventh in the list of Test century-makers for Australia. (Full article...)
Anniversaries...
On this day in cricket
England
1901 - George Duckworth, wicketkeeper in 24 Tests for England in the 1920s and 1930s and later a tour organiser and manager for Commonwealth teams in India, is born at Warrington
West Indies
1932 - Conrad Hunte, opening batsman in 44 Tests and later international Test match referee, is born at St Andrew, Barbados
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 2A 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 3Photograph of Miss Lily Poulett-Harris, founding mother of women's cricket in Australia. (from History of women's 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 5Broadhalfpenny Down, the location of the first First Class match in 1772 is still played on today (from History of cricket)
Image 8In 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 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)
... that the relatively low standards of player selection for Somerset County Cricket Club in 1883 have been described as being "determined with a nod and a wink over drinks"?
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.