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.
William Harold PonsfordMBE (19 October 1900 – 6 April 1991) was an Australian cricketer. Usually playing as an opening batsman, he formed a successful and long-lived partnershipopening the batting for Victoria and Australia with Bill Woodfull, his friend and state and national captain. Ponsford is the only player to twice break the world record for the highest individual score in first-class cricket; Ponsford and Brian Lara are the only cricketers to twice score 400 runs in an innings. Ponsford holds the Australian record for a partnership in Test cricket, set in 1934 in combination with Don Bradman (451 for 2nd wicket)—the man who broke many of Ponsford's other individual records. In fact, he along with Bradman set the record for the highest partnership ever for any wicket in Test cricket history when playing on away soil (451 runs for the second wicket)
Despite being heavily built, Ponsford was quick on his feet and renowned as one of the finest ever players of spin bowling. His bat, much heavier than the norm and nicknamed "Big Bertha", allowed him to drive powerfully and he possessed a strong cut shot. However, critics questioned his ability against fast bowling, and the hostile short-pitched English bowling in the Bodyline series of 1932–33 was a contributing factor in his early retirement from cricket a year and a half later. Ponsford also represented his state and country in baseball, and credited the sport with improving his cricketing skills. (Full article...)
Each team selected a squad of 15 players which was finalised by 24 January 2013, and any changes to that squad due to illness or injury had to be requested in writing, and approved by the ICC's Event Technical Committee. Once a player had been removed from the squad through this process, they could only return as an approved replacement for a different player suffering illness or injury. (Full article...)
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Members of the Pakistan women's cricket team at the 2009 ICC Women's World Twenty20 in Sydney.
The Pakistan women's national cricket team represents Pakistan in international cricket and is a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test and One Day International (ODI) status. They first competed in international cricket in 1997 when they played an ODI against New Zealand. Pakistan lost the match by 10 wickets. They recorded their first ODI win against the Netherlands, in April 2001 at the National Stadium. As of 2018[update], Pakistan has played 150 ODI matches; they have won 44 matches and lost 104 matches, whilst two had no result. They have faced 13 teams in ODI cricket, with their most frequent opponent being Sri Lanka, playing 30 matches against them. Pakistan registered more wins against Ireland than any other team, with 12. They have lost to Sri Lanka in 21 matches. Pakistan has participated in three editions of the Women's Cricket World Cup: 1997, 2009 and 2013. In the 2009 edition, they defeated Sri Lanka in the group stage match by 57 runs. They also defeated West Indies in the "Super Six" match by four wickets, and finished at sixth losing in the fifth place playoff to the same team by three wickets.
Pakistan played their first Test match against Sri Lanka in April 1998, a match they lost by 309 runs. They have played three Test matches against three different opponents: Ireland, Sri Lanka and West Indies. As of 2018[update], Pakistan has played 82 Twenty20 International (T20I) matches since their first such contest in 2009 against Ireland, winning 32 matches and losing 47; they also tied two match, whilst one had no result. They have competed against 10 different opponents, and their first win in the format came against Ireland at the Vineyard in May 2009. The team has played most frequently against Ireland, in 13 matches, and defeated them in 11 matches. Pakistan has participated in all the editions of the ICC Women's World Twenty20. They lost all of their games in 2009 and 2010 editions, and in the 2012 edition, they registered their solitary win over India. Pakistan lost the final of the 2012 Women's Twenty20 Asia Cup to India by 18 runs. In the 2014 ICC Women's World Twenty20, Pakistan finished at seventh place defeating Sri Lanka by 14 runs in the playoffs. (Full article...)
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Darren Sammy took a five-wicket haul on Test debut in 2007.
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 significant achievement. As of September 2024[update], 174 cricketers have taken a five-wicket haul on their debut in a Test match, with ten of them being taken by West Indian players. They have taken a five-wicket haul on debut against five different opponents: four times against England, twice against India and Australia, and once against Pakistan and Sri Lanka each. Of the ten occasions, the West Indies won the match four times, and drew once. The players have taken five-wicket hauls at four different venues, two in the West Indies and two overseas. The most common venue for a West Indies player to achieve the feat is Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica, where it has occurred five times. Of the overseas hauls, three occurred at Old Trafford in Manchester, England.
Since the team made its first appearance in 2009, 55 women have represented Pakistan in T20I cricket. This list includes all players who have played at least one T20I 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...)
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Michael Munday is one of fourteen Cornwall cricketers to have played first-class cricket.Cornwall County Cricket Club was formed in 1894, and first competed in the Minor Counties Championship in 1904. Their first appearance in List A cricket was in 1970, and in total they have played seventeen matches, making four Gillette Cup, five NatWest Trophy and eight Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy appearances. On three occasions the county progressed to the third round of the competition: in 2001, 2002, and 2003. Minor counties teams were excluded from the competition from the 2006 season; Cornwall's last match was against the Netherlands in the first round of the 2004 competition.
In their seventeen List A matches, 69 players have represented Cornwall. Gary Thomas has appeared the most times for the county, playing in twelve matches, closely followed by Jonathan Kent, who made eleven appearances. Kent recorded the highest score in List A cricket for Cornwall, scoring 80 runs against Somerset Cricket Board in 2002. Steven Pope, who played 109 first-class matches in his native South Africa is Cornwall's leading run-scorer, having scored 294 runs in his eight appearances for the county. Justin Stephens's thirteen wickets for the county is the most by any player, but Charlie Shreck has the best bowling figures, having taken five wickets against Worcestershire in 2002. Gavin Edwards, who appeared for Cornwall on seven occasions, has claimed the most dismissals as wicket-keeper, taking five catches and making two stumpings. Only three non-English players have appeared for Cornwall; Jersey's Ryan Driver, Pakistan's Naeem Akhtar and South Africa's Steven Pope. (Full article...)
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Tom Horan was the first bowler to take a wicket with his first delivery in Test cricket.
The first Indian to take a five-wicket haul was Mohammad Nissar who took 5 wickets for 93 runs during India's first Test, in June 1932 against England. Vaman Kumar, a leg spinner, was the next to achieve this feat. His figures of 5 wickets for 64 runs took India close to winning a match against Pakistan during the latter's tour of India in 1960–61. In December 1967, Syed Abid Ali took 6 wickets for 55 runs against Australia. The figures remain the best by an Indian fast bowler on debut. Narendra Hirwani's 8 wickets for 61 runs against the West Indies, in January 1988, are the best bowling figures by an Indian on Test debut. His aggregate of 16 wickets for 136 runs in the match are a record for any bowler on debut. As of February 2021, he is the only Indian cricketer to take ten or more wickets in a Test match on debut. (Full article...)
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Stuart Broad has taken twenty-one five-wicket hauls in international cricket.
In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "fifer") refers to a bowler taking five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded as a notable achievement, and as of July 2020[update] only as of October 2024[update], only 54 bowlers have taken 15 or more five-wicket hauls at international level in their cricketing careers. Stuart Broad—a right-arm fast-medium bowler—is a former Test, One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) cricketer who represented England. Broad has taken 604 wickets in Test matches, 178 wickets in ODIs and 65 wickets in T20Is. As of July 2023[update], Broad has 21 five-wicket hauls across all formats in his international career and ranks twenty-eighth in the all-time list, and fourth in the equivalent list for England.
Broad made his Test debut against Sri Lanka during England's tour in 2007 with bowling figures of one wicket for 77 runs. His first five-wicket haul came against the West Indies during the first Test of the 2008–09 series at Sabina Park, taking five wickets for 85 runs in the first innings. His best bowling figures are eight wickets for 15 runs which he took in the first innings of the fourth and decisive Test of the 2015 Ashes series at Trent Bridge. Securing the five wickets in 19 deliveries, Broad equalled the fastest five-wicket haul in Test history, set in 1947 by Ernie Toshack for Australia against India, and recorded the best Test bowling figures ever at Trent Bridge, surpassing Muttiah Muralitharan's eight for 70 against England in June 2006. Broad has been most successful against Australia, taking eight Test five-wicket hauls. (Full article...)
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, especially in the Twenty20 format, as bowlers can bowl no more than four overs in an innings. The first five-wicket haul in a WT20I match was taken by New Zealand's Amy Satterthwaite against England in August 2007. Satterthwaite took six wickets for 17 runs, the first six-wicket haul in the international format. On 24 April 2024, Indonesia's Rohmalia Rohmalia took 7 wickets for 0 runs, the best bowling figures in an innings, surpassing Netherlands' Frederique Overdijk (7 wickets for 3 runs against France) and Nepal's Anjali Chand (6 for 0 against the Maldives). Tanzania's Nasra Saidi also conceded no runs in her five-wicket haul against Mali during the 2019 Kwibuka Women's T20 Tournament in Rwanda making all three figures the most economical with an economy rate of zero. Shabnim Ismail of South Africa took the least economical five-wicket haul, bowling with an economy rate of 7.82 against India in February 2018. At the age 49 years and 168 days, Joanne Hicks of Isle of Man is the oldest player to take five wickets in an innings while Botsogo Mpedi of Botswana who returned figures of 6 for 8 against Lesotho during the Botswana 7s tournament in Gaborone in August 2018, is the youngest at 15 years and 198 days. Mpedi alongside Chand, Indonesia's Dara Paramitha, Zimbabwe's Esther Mbofana, Samoa's Teinemane Faimalo and Rohmalia are the only bowlers to take a five-wicket haul on WT20I debut. There have been 11 occurrences which did not result in a victory to the team taking the five-wicket haul. (Full article...)
Kirsten made both his Test and ODI debuts against Australia in December 1993. He made his first Test century in November 1995, when he scored 110 against England. A year later Kirsten made centuries in both innings of a Test when he scored 102 and 133 in the second Test of the 1996–97 series against India. He achieved his highest Test score in 1999, when he made 275 against England in Durban. In an attempt to prevent South Africa from losing the match, he batted for almost 14 hours, spread across the last three of the match's five days. The innings remains the second-longest by any batsman in Test cricket in terms of time span, behind an innings of over 16 hours recorded by Hanif Mohammad for Pakistan in 1958. His most prolific series was against England in 2003, when he made 462 runs at an average of 66.00 including two centuries. His accomplishments with the bat during the season led to him being named as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year the following year. As of June 2015, Kirsten is joint fourth in the list of leading Test century-makers for South Africa with AB de Villiers, and his total of three double centuries for the team is exceeded only by the four recorded by Graeme Smith. He scored centuries against all nine other teams which held Test match status at the time, and was the first player to score a hundred against every other active Test-playing nation. (Full article...)
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Marcus Trescothick, Somerset's leading List A and second-highest first-class run-scorer 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...)
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Gloucestershire's first ever match was played at Durdham Down in 1870, but it was the only time the county club played there. Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, representing the historic county of Gloucestershire, is one of the 18 member clubs of the English County Championship. The club was established in 1846 following the merger of the Mangotsfield Cricket Club and West Gloucestershire Cricket Club and played under the latter name until 1867, after which it became the Gloucestershire County Cricket Club. It has played first-class cricket since 1870, List A cricket since 1963 and Twenty20 cricket since 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" away from the club's main headquarters has diminished since the 1980s. Gloucestershire have played home matches at eighteen different grounds.
The club's first home match in first-class cricket was played at Durdham Down in the Clifton district of Bristol. This was the only time the county used this venue for a match. The following year Gloucestershire began to play matches at the Clifton College Close Ground in the grounds of Clifton College in the same part of the city, and this remained a regular venue for the county until the 1930s, hosting nearly 100 first-class matches. In 1872 the county used a venue outside Bristol for the first time when they played at the College Ground in the grounds of Cheltenham College. This venue has continued to be used regularly for the county's annual "Cheltenham festival" event, which in the modern era incorporates additional charity events and off-field entertainment. In 1889 Gloucestershire began to play matches at the County Ground in Bristol, which has subsequently served as the club's main headquarters and hosted the majority of the county's matches. It was here that the club played its first List A match in 1963 against Middlesex, and its first Twenty20 match forty years later against Worcestershire. Bristol is not officially part of Gloucestershire and has been considered an independent county since 1373, though it was officially part of the county of Avon from 1974 until 1996. Somerset have played first-class matches at other venues in the city. (Full article...)
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The Trans-Tasman Trophy is awarded to the winner of the Australia–New ZealandTest match series in cricket. The trophy is awarded to the team that wins a Test series, or one-off Test match, between the two nations. If the series is a draw, the holder retains the trophy. It was first competed for in the 1985–86 season, although six Test series between the nations were contested before the trophy's instigation. As of March 2024[update], Australia hold the trophy following their 2–0 series win in the 2023–24 series in New Zealand. Australia also lead in overall wins, winning 12 of the 19 series, while New Zealand (nicknamed the Black Caps) have won 3, the remaining 4 ending in draws. Australia's Allan Border is the most successful batsman in the history of the trophy, scoring 1,356 runs in 25 innings at an average of 61.63. New Zealand's Ross Taylor holds the record for the highest score in the trophy's history, with 290 in the second innings of the second Test of the 2015–16 series in Australia. Taylor's score surpassed the previous record set in the same Test; Australian David Warner struck 253 in the first innings. Australian spin bowlerShane Warne has taken the most wickets in the trophy, with 103 in 20 matches at an average of 24.37, while New Zealand's Richard Hadlee has the best bowling figures with 9 wickets for 52 runs which he took in the first innings of the inaugural Test. Former Australian captainMark Taylor has taken the most catches, with 25 in 11 matches, while fellow countryman Ian Healy is the most successful wicket-keeper, making 42 dismissals in 11 matches. (Full article...)
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Ashwin has taken a pair of five-wicket hauls in a match on four occasions.
In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "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. Ravichandran Ashwin – a right-arm off break bowler – is a Test, One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) cricketer who represents the India national cricket team. In a 2016 interview, former Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan described Ashwin as the "best current Test spinner". As of September 2024[update], Ashwin has taken 37 five-wicket hauls in international cricket; he ranks joint-fourth in the all-time list, and joint-first among his countrymen.
Ashwin made his Test debut in November 2011 against the West Indies. He took nine wickets in the match, including a five-wicket haul in the second innings. India won the match and his performance earned him the man of the match honour. His career-best figures of seven wickets for 59 runs came against New Zealand in October 2016; in the process he also became the fifth bowler to take six five-wicket hauls against them. He has picked up ten or more wickets in a match on seven occasions. Ashwin made his ODI and T20I debuts in June 2010 against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, respectively, and is yet to take a five-wicket haul in both formats. His four wickets for 25 runs against the United Arab Emirates in the 2015 World Cup remain his best in ODIs, while his figures of four wickets for 8 runs against Sri Lanka are his best in T20Is. (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 Anderson Cummins (40) of Canada while the youngest was Alexei Kervezee of the Netherlands. (Full article...)
The following are images from various cricket-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1Broadhalfpenny Down, the location of the first First Class match in 1772 is still played on today (from History of cricket)
Image 2A 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 3New articles of the game of cricket, 25 February 1774 (from Laws of Cricket)
Image 6A 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 7A wicket can be put down by throwing the ball at it and thereby dislodging the bails. (from Laws of Cricket)
Image 8The boundary can be marked in several ways, such as with a rope. (from Laws of Cricket)
Image 9A 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 10 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 11Photograph of Miss Lily Poulett-Harris, founding mother of women's cricket in Australia. (from History of women's cricket)
Image 14In 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 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 16Plaquita, 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)
... 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.