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.
The team is coached by Phil Simmons and captained by David Warner. They won their first PSL title in PSL V after beating their rivals Lahore Qalandars in the final on 17 November 2020.
Brett Lee has the third-highest number of fifers 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. Brett Lee has the seventh-highest number of international five-wicket hauls among Australian cricketers as of 2024. A right-arm fast bowler, he is regarded as one of the fastest international bowlers in the modern cricketing era.
Lee picked up a five-wicket haul on Test debut, playing against India in December 1999; a match that Australia won. His career-best figures for an innings were 5 wickets for 30 runs against West Indies at the Brisbane Cricket Ground in November 2005; while never managing to take ten wickets in a single match. Eight of his ten Test five-wicket hauls were taken at home. After capturing 310 wickets, Lee retired from Test cricket in 2010 and remains Australia's fourth-most successful bowler in the format. (Full article...)
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Sourav Ganguly scored 16 centuries in Test matches and 22 in ODIs.
Ganguly scored a century on Test debut, against England in Lord's in June 1996. He became the 10th Indian player to perform the feat, and the third player to score a century on debut at the ground. In the next match at Trent Bridge, he made 136 and became the third batsman to make a century in each of his first two innings. He is eighth in the list of leading Test century makers for India. His highest score of 239—his only double century—was made against Pakistan in 2007 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. He made centuries against all Test-cricket playing nations except South Africa and West Indies. His centuries have been scored in fourteen cricket grounds, including eight outside India. He ended up in the nineties on four occasions—including two scores of 99. (Full article...)
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Grace Road in the city of Leicester has staged well over half the county's first-class games and almost every game in List A and Twenty20 cricket. 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...)
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Gary Wilson, who has kept wicket for Ireland in ODIs, keeping wicket against Essex. Since their first match in 2006, 70 players have represented Ireland 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. Where more than one player won his first ODI cap in the same match, those players are listed alphabetically by surname.
Ireland have played 204 ODIs, resulting in 81 victories, 105 defeats, 3 ties and 15 no results. Ireland played their maiden ODI on 13 June 2006 against England. Ireland lost by 38 runs, although the match drew interest and was played in front a full capacity crowd at the Civil Service Cricket Club in Belfast. (Full article...)
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Mark Waugh holds the record for the third-highest number of international centuries for Australia. 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 April 2025, his position is eleventh in the list of Test century-makers for Australia. (Full article...)
Amla made his Test debut against India at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, in 2004. His first century came two years later against New Zealand at the Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town. His score of 311 not out, against England at The Oval, London, in 2012, is the only triple century by a South African batsman in Test cricket. Amla has scored Test centuries at sixteen cricket grounds, including ten at venues outside South Africa. In Tests, he has scored centuries against eight different opponents, and has the most centuries (six) against England. As of January 2019[update], Amla has the second-highest number of centuries for South Africa in Tests. (Full article...)
The hall of fame opened with ten inaugural members, ranging from Fred Spofforth, a pace bowler who retired from Test cricket in 1887, to Dennis Lillee who played his last Test match in 1984. As of January 2023[update], the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame comprises 61 members. All twelve members of the Australian Cricket Board Team of the Century are included, six of them amongst the inaugural members. The vast majority are men; Belinda Clark was the first woman admitted to the hall when she was inducted in 2014 (three years after she was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame). Five female Test captains have been admitted, along with 21 of their male counterparts. In December 2020, Johnny Mullagh became the first Indigenous Australian to be inducted into the hall of fame. Regarded as a standout player of the Aboriginal team which toured England in 1868, Mullagh is also the only member to have not played Test cricket for Australia. (Full article...)
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MS Dhoni holds the record of most matches and wins as a captain in the IPL
In cricket, a captain is a player who leads the team and has additional roles and responsibilities. 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.
In the 17 seasons played till 2024, 70 players have captained their team in at least one match. Mumbai Indians' Rohit Sharma and Chennai Super Kings's MS Dhoni are the most successful captains with five IPL titles each. Dhoni also holds the records for most matches (226) and most wins (133) as a captain. Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, and Steven Smith are the only players to have captained three different teams. Shreyas Iyer is the only captain to have led two different sides to the finals of the IPL. Kolkata Knight Riders is the only team to have won IPL with different captains. (Full article...)
The first New Zealand player to take a five-wicket haul on Test debut was Fen Cresswell who took six wickets for 168 runs against England in 1949. Cresswell, Alex Moir and Colin de Grandhomme are the only bowlers to have taken six wickets each on debut. Six other players have taken five wickets on their Test debut. De Grandhomme took six wickets for 41 runs, the best bowling figures by a New Zealand bowler in an innings on Test debut, against Pakistan in 2016, at Hagley Oval. He accumulated seven wickets for 64 runs in the match, the best bowling figures by a New Zealander in a Test match on debut. De Grandhomme and Ajaz Patel are the only players to get the man of the match award on their Test debuts. Amongst the bowlers, Bruce Taylor is the only player "to achieve the all-round feat" on his Test debut against India in 1964–65 at Eden Gardens, Calcutta; he scored 105 runs and took 5 wickets for 86 runs. Paul Wiseman's five-wicket haul is the most economical, with 1.75 runs per over, and Tim Southee has the best strike rate. As of November 2018, the most recent Zealand cricketer to achieve this feat was Ajaz Patel. Moir, Wiseman and Patel are the only spin bowlers to achieve this feat, the others being fast bowlers. (Full article...)
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India's MS Dhoni is the only player to be involved in six ties in ODIs as player and five as captain.
A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams that have international status, as determined by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The first ODI match was played between Australia and England in 1971 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, as a 40-over match. An ODI can have four possible results—it can be won by either of the two teams, it could be tied, or it could be declared to have "no result". In cricket, a match is said to be tied if it ends with both teams scoring exactly the same number of runs and with the side batting second having completed its innings with all 10 batsmen being out or the predetermined number of overs having been completed. In case of rain-affected matches, the match is tied if the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method indicates that the second team exactly meets but does not exceed the par score. There have been two occasions where a match has been tied, but the team which had lost fewer wickets was declared the winner. Pakistan was involved in both matches, losing one against India and winning the other against Australia.
The first tie in ODIs occurred in 1984 when Australia played West Indies in the second final of the Benson and Hedges World Series Cup; the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack noted "[the match] led to more dissension than delight." The second tie, also involving Australia, occurred in 1989 during the second match of the Texaco Trophy in England. Between 1991 and 1997, at least one ODI was tied every year. Starting from 1999, a further 19 ties have occurred until 2014, more frequently than ever before. The first World Cup match involving a tie was the second semi-final of the 1999 tournament when Australia played South Africa. Since then, at least one match was tied in the subsequent tournaments, with the exception of the 2015 edition, until the 2019 World Cup. (Full article...)
Selected for the Australian ODI side, Gilchrist made his debut in October 1996 against South Africa in the Titan Cup at Faridabad. His first century came in January 1998 against the same opponents, this time at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). Opening the batting, he scored 100 runs from 104 deliveries, and led Australia to a seven-wicket victory. Gilchrist's third ODI century helped Australia to equal the world record for the highest ODI runchase, while his fourth, against Sri Lanka in 1999, helped Australia achieve the highest successful run chase in ODI history at the SCG at the time. His fifth ODI century, 154 against the same team later in the tournament, broke Dean Jones and Ricky Ponting's Australian record score of 145. Gilchrist's sixth ODI century, 128 from 98 deliveries against New Zealand, helped Australia on their way to their highest ever ODI total. He reached the milestone in 78 balls, equalling the Australian record of Allan Border for the fastest hundred in ODIs. As part of Gilchrist's eighth century, he and Ponting shared an Australian second-wicket record partnership of 225. He was named the Australian One-Day International Player of the Year in both 2003 and 2004. Gilchrist's highest score in ODI cricket is 172, achieved against Zimbabwe in January 2004. Gilchrist's century against the World XI came from 73 deliveries, breaking his own Australian record by five balls. He broke this mark again with his 14th century, reaching three figures in 67 balls. His penultimate ODI century was made in the 2007 Cricket World Cup final which also happened to be his only world cup century. Scoring 149 runs from 104 deliveries, including eight sixes and thirteen fours, Gilchrist made the highest score and quickest century in the final of the World Cup. Australia won every ODI match in which Gilchrist scored a century, and he retired with 16 to his name, scoring at a rate of more than one run per delivery in 13 of them. (Full article...)
Dravid scored his first Test century in January 1997 against South Africa. In a man-of-the-match performance, he made 148 runs spanning nine hours and took India to their only draw of the series. He made centuries in both innings of a match when he scored 190 and 103 not out in the final Test of the 1998–99 series against New Zealand. He repeated the feat in March 2005 when he scored 110 and 135 against Pakistan in another man-of-the-match performance, leading India to victory in the second of the three-match series. Scoring 180 in a fifth-wicket partnership of 376 with VVS Laxman, in the Second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2001, Dravid helped lead India to victory by 171 runs despite being asked to follow-on by the Australians. His partnership with Laxman was the third-highest for the fifth wicket in Test cricket history. Dravid's highest Test score of 270, achieved in April 2004 in Rawalpindi, helped India to an innings victory against Pakistan. The performance was the fourth-highest score by an Indian batsman in Test cricket. He scored centuries against all Test playing nations and was the first cricketer to score centuries in all 10 Test playing nations. (Full article...)
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Since Brabourne hosted its first international match in 1948, 35 Test centuries and 2 ODI centuries have been scored at the ground.
Brabourne Stadium is a cricket ground in Mumbai, India. It is the home of the Cricket Club of India and has played host to Ranji Trophy matches (including seventeen finals) and Indian Premier League matches, as well as being a Test, One Day International and Twenty20 International (T20) venue. It has a capacity of 20,000 spectators. The ground has hosted eighteen Test matches, the first in 1948 when India played the West Indies. It has also staged nine One Day International matches, the first of which was in 1989 when Australia lost to Pakistan by 66 runs. One T20 International has been played at the ground when India beat Australia by 7 wickets in 2007 (first T20 International to be played in India). Of the nine One Day Internationals played at the stadium, five matches (including the final) were staged during the ICC Champions Trophy in 2006.
The first Test century (100 or more runs in a single innings) scored at the ground was in 1948 by the West Indian Allan Rae in the first innings of the first Test match played at Brabourne Stadium. The first Indian to score a century at the Brabourne was Rusi Modi in the third innings of the same match. In total, 35 Test centuries have been scored at the ground in 18 Test matches. Virender Sehwag's 293, scored against Sri Lanka in 2009, is the highest Test innings achieved at the ground. The highest Test score by an overseas player is 194 by the West Indian Everton Weekes in 1948. Vijay Hazare has scored the most Test centuries at the ground with four. (Full article...)
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Chanderpaul is second only to Brian Lara in terms of number of international centuries for the West Indies. Shivnarine Chanderpaul is an international cricketer who has played for the West Indies since 1994, and captained the team for a short time. He has scored centuries (100 or more runs in a single innings) on 30 occasions in Test cricket and 11 times in One Day International (ODI) matches. He is West Indies' second-most prolific batsman in international cricket, after Brian Lara, having accumulated almost 20,000 runs. He bats with an unorthodox technique, which is often described as "crab-like", and is highly regarded for his "patience and obstinacy at the crease." In his list of the 100 greatest Test players, Shane Warne described Chanderpaul as "a bloke you needed to crowbar away from the crease." In 2008 he was named as one of the five Cricketers of the Year by the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, and as the Player of the Year by the International Cricket Council.
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...)
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...)
... 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 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 4 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 5Plaquita, 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 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 8Afghan 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 9Photograph of Miss Lily Poulett-Harris, founding mother of women's cricket in Australia. (from History of women's cricket)
Image 10A 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 11The boundary can be marked in several ways, such as with a rope. (from Laws of Cricket)
Image 13In 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 14A wicket can be put down by throwing the ball at it and thereby dislodging the bails. (from Laws of Cricket)
... that it took 12 and a half hours for Rashid Israr to reach his highest score in cricket?
... that Michael Kettle received an award at the age of 80 for his work as a cricket groundskeeper?
... that the Kīlauea lava cricket disappears from a lava field as soon as any plants start to grow there?
... 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.