CRICKET

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of

eleven players on a cricket field, at the centre of which is a
rectangular 22-yard-long pitch with a wicket (a set of three
wooden stumps) sited at each end. One team, designated the
batting team, attempts to score as many runs as possible,
whilst their opponents field. Each phase of play is called an
innings. After either ten batsmen have been dismissed or a set
number of overs have been completed, the innings ends and
the two teams then swap roles. The winning team is the one
that scores the most runs, including any extras gained, during
their one or two innings.
At the start of each game, two batsmen and eleven fielders
enter the field of play. The play begins when a designated
member of the fielding team, known as the bowler, delivers the
ball from one end of the pitch to the other, towards a set of
wooden stumps, in front of which stands one of the batsmen,
known as the striker. The striker's role is to prevent the ball
from hitting the stumps by use of his bat, and simultaneously
to strike it well enough to score runs. The other batsman,
known as the non-striker, waits at the opposite end of the
pitch near the bowler. The bowler's objectives are to prevent
the scoring of runs and to dismiss the batsman. A dismissed
batsman must leave the field, and a teammate replaces him at
the crease.
The most common forms of dismissal are bowled, when the
bowler hits the stumps directly with the ball, leg before wicket,
when the batsman prevents the ball from hitting the stumps
with his body instead of his bat, and caught, when the
batsman hits the ball into the air and it is intercepted by a
fielder before touching the ground. Runs are scored by two
main methods: either by hitting the ball hard enough for it to
cross the boundary, or by the two batsmen swapping ends by
each simultaneously running the length of the pitch in

opposite directions whilst the fielders are retrieving the ball. If

a fielder retrieves the ball quickly enough to put down the
wicket with a batsman not having reached the crease at that
end of the pitch, that batsman is dismissed (a run-out occurs).
Adjudication is performed on the field by two umpires.
The laws of cricket are maintained by the International Cricket
Council (ICC) and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). There are
various formats ranging from Twenty20, played over a few
hours with each team having a single innings of 20 overs (i.e.
120 deliveries), to Test cricket, played over five days with
unlimited overs and the teams playing two innings apiece.
Traditionally cricketers play in all-white kit, but in limited overs
cricket they wear club or team colours. In addition to the basic
kit, some players wear protective gear to prevent injury
caused by the ball, which is a hard, solid object made of
compressed leather enclosing a cork core.
Although cricket's origins are uncertain, it is first recorded in
south-east England in the 16th century. It spread globally with
the expansion of the British Empire, leading to the first
international matches in the mid-19th century. ICC, the game's
governing body, has over 100 members, ten of which are full
members who play Test cricket. Women's cricket, which is
organised and played separately, has also achieved
international standard. It is followed primarily in Australasia,
Great Britain and Ireland, the Indian subcontinent, southern
Africa and the West Indies.

HISTORY
Cricket can definitely be traced back to Tudor times in early
16th-century England though there have been a number of
claims, many of them spurious and/or lacking evidence,
supporting earlier dates from 1301. The earliest definite
reference to cricket being played comes from evidence given
at a 1598 court case which mentions that "creckett" (sic) was
played on common land in Guildford around 1550. The court in
Guildford heard on Monday, 17 January 1597 (Julian date,

equating to the year 1598 in the Gregorian calendar) from a

59-year-old coroner, John Derrick, who gave witness that when
he was a scholar at the "Free School at Guildford", fifty years
earlier, "hee and diverse of his fellows did runne and play [on
the common land] at creckett and other plaies."[3][8]
It is believed that cricket was originally a children's game but
references around 1610[3] indicate that adults had started
playing it and the earliest reference to inter-parish or village
cricket occurs soon afterwards. In 1624, a player called Jasper
Vinall died after he was struck on the head during a match
between two parish teams in Sussex.[9] During the 17th
century, numerous references indicate the growth of cricket in
the south-east of England. By the end of the century, it had
become an organised activity being played for high stakes and
it is believed that the first professionals appeared in the years
following the Restoration in 1660. A newspaper report survives
of "a great cricket match" with eleven players a side that was
played for high stakes in Sussex in 1697, and this is the
earliest known reference to a cricket match of such
importance.[10]
The game underwent major development in the 18th century.
Betting played a key part in that development with rich
patrons forming their own "select XIs". Cricket was prominent
in London as early as 1707 and, in the middle years of the
century, large crowds flocked to matches on the Artillery
Ground in Finsbury. The single wicket form of the sport
attracted huge crowds and wagers to match, its popularity
peaking in the 1748 season. Bowling underwent an evolution
around 1760 when bowlers began to pitch the ball instead of
rolling or skimming it towards the batsman. This caused a
revolution in bat design because, to deal with the bouncing
ball, it was necessary to introduce the modern straight bat in
place of the old "hockey stick" shape. The Hambledon Club was
founded in the 1760s and, for the next twenty years until the
formation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the opening of
Lord's Old Ground in 1787, Hambledon was both the game's
greatest club and its focal point. MCC quickly became the
sport's premier club and the custodian of the Laws of cricket.
New Laws introduced in the latter part of the 18th century

included the three stump wicket and leg before wicket (lbw).
The 19th century saw underarm bowling superseded by first
roundarm and then overarm bowling. Both developments were
controversial. Organisation of the game at county level led to
the creation of the county clubs, starting with Sussex in 1839,
which ultimately formed the official County Championship in
1890. Meanwhile, the British Empire had been instrumental in
spreading the game overseas and by the middle of the 19th
century it had become well established in India, North
America, the Caribbean, South Africa, Australia and New
Zealand. In 1844, the first-ever international match took place
between the United States and Canada. In 1859, a team of
English players went to North America on the first overseas
tour.
The first Australian team to tour overseas was a team of
Aboriginal stockmen who travelled to England in 1868 to play
matches against county teams.[11] In 1862, an English team
made the first tour of Australia. The most famous player of the
19th century was W. G. Grace, who started his long and
influential career in 1865.
In 187677, an England team took part in what was
retrospectively recognised as the first-ever Test match at the
Melbourne Cricket Ground against Australia. The rivalry
between England and Australia gave birth to The Ashes in 1882
and this has remained Test cricket's most famous contest. Test
cricket began to expand in 188889 when South Africa played
England.
The last two decades before the First World War have been called the
"Golden Age of cricket". It is a nostalgic name prompted by the
collective sense of loss resulting from the war, but the period did
produce some great players and memorable matches, especially as
organised competition at county and Test level developed.
The inter-war years were dominated by one player: Australia's Don
Bradman, statistically the greatest batsman of all time. Test cricket
continued to expand during the 20th century with the addition of the
West Indies, India and New Zealand before the Second World War and
then Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh in the post-war period. South

Africa was banned from international cricket from 1970 to 1992

because of its government's apartheid policy.
Cricket entered a new era in 1963 when English counties introduced
the limited overs variant. As it was sure to produce a result, limited
overs cricket was lucrative and the number of matches increased. The
first Limited Overs International was played in 1971. The governing
International Cricket Council (ICC) saw its potential and staged the first
limited overs Cricket World Cup in 1975. In the 21st century, a new
limited overs form, Twenty20, has made an immediate impact.