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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; 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 swaps. Runs are also scored when the ball
reaches the boundary of the field or when the ball is bowled illegally.
The fielding team aims to prevent runs by dismissing batters (so they are "out"). Dismissal can
occur in various ways, including being bowled (when the ball hits the striker's wicket and dislodges
the bails), and by the fielding side either catching the ball after it is hit by the bat but before it hits
the ground, or hitting a wicket with the ball before a batter can cross the crease line in front of the
wicket. When ten batters have been dismissed, the innings (playing phase) ends and the teams
swap roles. Forms of cricket range from traditional Test matches played over five days to the
newer Twenty20 format (also known as T20), in which each team bats for a single innings of
20 overs (each "over" being a set of 6 fair opportunities for the batting team to score) and the game
generally lasts three to four hours.
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 spheroid made of compressed leather with a slightly raised sewn
seam enclosing a cork core layered with tightly wound string.
The earliest known definite reference to cricket is to it being played in South East England in the
mid-16th century. It spread globally with the expansion of the British Empire, with the first
international matches in the second half of the 19th century. The game's governing body is
the International Cricket Council (ICC), which has over 100 members, twelve of which are full
members who play Test matches. The game's rules, the Laws of Cricket, are maintained
by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in London. The sport is primarily played
in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Australia, New Zealand, England, South
Africa and the West Indies.[2]
While cricket has traditionally been played largely by men, women's cricket has experienced
significant growth in the 21st century.[3]
The most successful side playing international cricket is Australia, which has won eight One Day
International trophies, including six World Cups, more than any other country, and has been
the top-rated Test side more than any other country.[4][5]
History
Origins
Cricket is one of many games in the "club ball" sphere that involve hitting a ball with a hand-held
implement. Others include baseball (which shares many similarities with cricket, both belonging in
the more specific bat-and-ball
[6] [7]
games category ), golf, hockey, tennis, squash, badminton and table tennis. In cricket's case, a
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key difference is the existence of a solid target structure, the
wicket (originally, it is thought, a "wicket gate" through
which sheep were herded), that the batter must
defend.[8] The cricket historian Harry Altham identified
three "groups" of "club ball" games: the "hockey group", in
which the ball is driven to and from between two targets
(the goals); the "golf group", in which the ball is driven
towards an undefended target (the hole); and the "cricket
group", in which "the ball is aimed at a mark (the wicket)
and driven away from it".[9]
It is generally believed that cricket originated as a children's
game in the south-eastern counties of England, sometime A medieval "club ball" game involving an
during the medieval period. [8] Although there are claims underarm bowl towards a batter. Ball
for prior dates, the earliest definite reference to cricket catchers are shown positioning
themselves to catch a ball. Detail from
being played comes from evidence given at a court case
the Canticles of Holy Mary, 13th century.
in Guildford in January 1597 (Old Style, equating to
January 1598 in the modern calendar). The case concerned
ownership of a certain plot of land, and the court heard the testimony of a 59-year-
old coroner, John Derrick, who gave witness that:[10][11][12]
Being a scholler in the ffree schoole of Guldeford hee and diverse of his fellows did runne
and play there at creckett and other plaies.
Given Derrick's age, it was about half a century earlier when he was at school, and so it is certain
that cricket was being played c. 1550 by boys in Surrey.[12] The view that it was originally a
children's game is reinforced by Randle Cotgrave's 1611 English-French dictionary in which he
defined the noun "crosse " as "the crooked staff wherewith boys play at cricket", and the verb form
"crosser " as "to play at cricket".[13][14]
One possible source for the sport's name is the Old English word "cryce " (or "cricc ") meaning a
crutch or staff. In Samuel Johnson's Dictionary, he derived cricket from "cryce, Saxon, a
stick".[10] In Old French, the word "criquet " seems to have meant a kind of club or stick.[15] Given
the strong medieval trade connections between south-east England and the County of
Flanders when the latter belonged to the Duchy of Burgundy, the name may have been derived
from the Middle Dutch (in use in Flanders at the time) "krick "(-e), meaning a stick
(crook).[15] Another possible source is the Middle Dutch word "krickstoel ", meaning a long low
stool used for kneeling in church that resembled the long low wicket with two stumps used in early
cricket.[16] According to Heiner Gillmeister, a European language expert of Bonn University,
"cricket" derives from the Middle Dutch phrase for hockey, "met de (krik ket)sen" ("with the stick
chase").[17] Gillmeister has suggested that not only the name but also the sport itself may be of
Flemish origin.[17]
Growth of amateur and professional cricket in England
Although the main object of the game has always been to score the most runs, the early form of
cricket differed from the modern game in certain key technical aspects; the North American variant
of cricket known as wicket retained many of these aspects.[18] The ball was bowled underarm by
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the bowler and along the ground towards a batter armed
with a bat that in shape resembled a hockey stick; the batter
defended a low, two-stump wicket; and runs were called
notches because the scorers recorded them by notching
tally sticks.[19][20][21]
In 1611, the year Cotgrave's dictionary was
published, ecclesiastical court records
at Sidlesham in Sussex state that two parishioners,
Bartholomew Wyatt and Richard Latter, failed to attend
church on Easter Sunday because they were playing cricket.
They were fined 12d each and ordered to
Evolution of the cricket bat. The original
do penance.[22] This is the earliest mention of adult "hockey stick" (left) evolved into the
participation in cricket and it was around the same time straight bat from c. 1760, when pitched
that the earliest known organised inter-parish delivery bowling began.
or village match was played, at Chevening, Kent. [10][23] In
1624, a player called Jasper Vinall died after he was
accidentally struck on the head during a match between two parish teams in Sussex.[24]
Cricket remained a low-key local pursuit for much of the 17th century.[14] It is known, through
numerous references found in the records of ecclesiastical court cases, to have been proscribed at
times by the Puritans before and during the Commonwealth.[25][26] The problem was nearly always
the issue of Sunday play, as the Puritans considered cricket to be "profane" if played on
the Sabbath, especially if large crowds or gambling were involved.[27][28]
According to the social historian Derek Birley, there was a "great upsurge of sport after
the Restoration" in 1660.[29] Several members of the court of King Charles II took a strong interest
in cricket during that era.[30] Gambling on sport became a problem significant enough
for Parliament to pass the 1664 Gambling Act, limiting stakes to £100, which was, in any case, a
colossal sum exceeding the annual income of 99% of the population.[29] Along with horse racing, as
well as prizefighting and other types of blood sport, cricket was perceived to be a gambling
sport.[31] Rich patrons made matches for high stakes, forming teams in which they engaged the first
professional players.[32] By the end of the century, cricket had developed into a major sport that
was spreading throughout England and was already being taken abroad by English mariners and
colonisers—the earliest reference to cricket overseas is dated 1676.[33] A 1697 newspaper report
survives of "a great cricket match" played in Sussex "for fifty guineas apiece", the earliest known
contest that is generally considered a First Class match.[34][35]
The patrons and other players from the gentry began to classify themselves as "amateurs"[fn 1] to
establish a clear distinction from the professionals, who were invariably members of the working
class, even to the point of having separate changing and dining facilities.[36] The gentry, including
such high-ranking nobles as the Dukes of Richmond, exerted their honour code of noblesse
oblige to claim rights of leadership in any sporting contests they took part in, especially as it was
necessary for them to play alongside their "social inferiors" if they were to win their bets.[37] In
time, a perception took hold that the typical amateur who played in first-class cricket, until 1962
when amateurism was abolished, was someone with a public school education who had then gone
to one of Cambridge or Oxford University. Society insisted that such people were "officers and
gentlemen" whose destiny was to provide leadership.[38] In a purely financial sense, the cricketing
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amateur would theoretically claim expenses for playing while his professional counterpart played
under contract and was paid a wage or match fee; in practice, many amateurs claimed more than
actual expenditure, and the derisive term "shamateur" was coined to describe the practice.[39][40]
English cricket in the 18th and 19th centuries
The game underwent major development in the 18th century to
become England's national sport.[41] Its success was underwritten
by the twin necessities of patronage and betting.[42] 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.[43] Bowling underwent an evolution around 1760 when
bowlers began to pitch (bounce) the ball instead of rolling or
skimming it towards the batter. 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.[44]
The Hambledon Club was founded in the 1760s and, for the next Francis Cotes, The Young
twenty years until the formation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Cricketer, 1768
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 include the three-stump wicket and leg before wicket (lbw).[45]
The 19th century saw underarm bowling superseded by first roundarm and then overarm bowling.
Both developments were controversial.[46] Organisation of the game at county level led to the
creation of the county clubs, starting with Sussex in 1839.[47] In December 1889, the eight leading
county clubs formed the official County Championship, which began in 1890.[48]
The most famous player of the 19th century was W. G.
Grace, who started his long and influential career in 1865.
It was especially during the career of Grace that the
distinction between amateurs and professionals became
blurred by the existence of players like him who were
nominally amateur but, in terms of their financial gain, de
facto professional. Grace himself was said to have been The first recorded photo of a cricket
match taken on 25 July 1857 by Roger
paid more money for playing cricket than any professional.
Fenton
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.[49]
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Cricket becomes an international sport
In 1844, the first international match took place between
what were essentially club teams,[50] from the United
States and Canada, in New York; Canada won.[51][52] In
1859, a team of English players went to North America
on the first overseas tour.[53] 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 Australia, the Caribbean, British
India (which also includes present-
The first English team to tour overseas,
day Pakistan and Bangladesh), New Zealand, North on board ship to North America, 1859
America and South Africa.[54]
In 1862, an English team made the first tour of Australia.[55] The first Australian team to travel
overseas consisted of Aboriginal stockmen who toured England in 1868.[56]
In 1876–77, an England team took part in what was retrospectively recognised as the first-ever Test
match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground against Australia.[57] The rivalry between England and
Australia gave birth to The Ashes in 1882, which remains Test cricket's most famous
contest.[58] Test cricket began to expand in 1888–89 when South Africa played England.[59]
Cricket in the 20th century
The inter-war years were dominated by Australia's Don Bradman,
statistically the greatest Test batter of all time. To curb his
dominance, England employed bodyline tactics during the 1932–33
Ashes series. These involved bowling at the body of the batter and
setting a field, resulting in batters having to choose between being
hit or risk getting out. This series moved cricket from a game to a
matter of national importance, with diplomatic cables being passed
between the two countries over the incident.[60]
During this time, the number of Test nations continued to grow,
with the West Indies, New Zealand and India being admitted as full
Test members within a four-year period from 1928 to 1932. Don Bradman of Australia had
a record Test batting
An enforced break during the Second World War stopped Test average of 99.94.
Cricket for a time, although the Partition of India caused Pakistan to
gain Test status in 1952. As teams began to travel more, the game
quickly grew from 500 tests in 84 years to 1000 within the next 23.
Cricket entered a new era in 1963 when English counties introduced the limited
overs variant.[61] As it was sure to produce a result, limited overs cricket was lucrative, and the
number of matches increased.[62] The first Limited Overs International was played in 1971, and the
governing International Cricket Council (ICC), seeing its potential, staged the first limited
overs Cricket World Cup in 1975.[63]
Sri Lanka joined the ranks in 1982. Meanwhile, South Africa was banned by the ICC due
to apartheid from 1970 until 1992. 1992 also brought about the introduction of the Zimbabwe
team.[64]
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Cricket in the 21st century
The 21st century brought with it the Bangladesh Team, who made
their Test debut in 2000. The game itself also grew, with a new
format made up of 20-over innings being created. This format,
called T20 cricket, quickly became a highly popular format,
putting the longer formats at risk. The new shorter format also
introduced franchise cricket, with new tournaments like the Indian
The Indian Premier League (IPL)
Premier League and the Australian Big Bash League. The ICC has was launched in 2008. It has
selected the T20 format as cricket's growth format, and has become one of the richest sports
introduced a T20 World Cup which is played every two leagues in the world, and has
years;[66] T20 cricket has also been increasingly accepted into greatly increased the importance
major events such as the Asian Games. [67] The resultant growth of T20 cricket and franchise
has seen cricket's fanbase cross one billion people, with 90% of leagues.[65]
them in South Asia.[2] T20's success has also spawned even shorter
formats, such as 10-over cricket (T10) and 100-ball cricket, though not without controversy.[68]
Outside factors have also taken their toll on cricket. For example, the 2008 Mumbai attacks led
India and Pakistan to suspend their bilateral series indefinitely. The 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan
team during their tour of Pakistan led to Pakistan being unable to host matches until
2019.[69][70][71][72]
In 2017, Afghanistan and Ireland became the 11th and 12th Test nations.[73][74]
Laws and gameplay
In cricket, the rules of the game are codified in The Laws of
Cricket (hereinafter called "the Laws"), which has a global
remit. There are 42 Laws (always written with a capital "L").
The earliest known version of the code was drafted in 1744,
and since 1788, it has been owned and maintained by its
custodian, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in London.[75]
A typical cricket field
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