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.
His strike rate is amongst the highest in the history of both ODI and Test cricket; his 57 ball century against England at Perth in December 2006 is the fourth-fastest century in all Test cricket. He was the first player to have hit 100 sixes in Test cricket. His 17 Test centuries and 16 in ODIs are both second only to Sangakkara by a wicket-keeper. He holds the unique record of scoring at least 50 runs in successive World Cup finals (in 1999, 2003 and 2007). His 149 off 101 balls against Sri Lanka in the 2007 World Cup final is rated one of the greatest World Cup innings of all time. He is one of only three players to have won three World Cup titles. (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...)
Nathan Astle is a former international cricketer who represented the New Zealand cricket team between 1995 and 2007. He scored centuries (100 or more runs in a single innings) in Test cricket and One Day International (ODI) matches on 11 and 16 occasions, respectively. Described by BBC Sport as "one of the best one-day batsmen New Zealand has ever produced", Astle is the fourth-highest run-scorer for his country in international cricket.
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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David Warner has scored 49 international centuries for Australia.
Warner made his Test debut against New Zealand in December 2011 and scored his first century (123 not out) in the second match of the series held at the Bellerive Oval. He carried the bat in the fourth innings of the match, which Australia lost by seven runs. He followed that with a 69-ball century in the third match of the home series against India in January 2012. It was the joint-fourth fastest in terms of balls faced at the time. In January 2017, while playing against Pakistan at the Sydney Cricket Ground, he became the fifth cricketer—and the first in Australia—to score a century before lunch on the first day of a Test match. His highest score of 335 not out was made against Pakistan at the Adelaide Oval in November 2019. Warner is one of three batsmen to score centuries in both innings of a Test match on three occasions. In December 2022, he scored 200 in his hundredth Test match, becoming the second Australian to score a century in his hundredth Test, and the second overall to score a double century. Among all countries, Warner has scored the most Test centuries (six) against Pakistan. (Full article...)
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Vaas has captured the second-highest number of five-wicket hauls for Sri Lanka. In cricket, a bowler taking five or more wickets in a single innings is known as a five-wicket haul or fifer, and 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. Chaminda Vaas, a former Sri Lankan cricketer and current fast bowling coach of the Sri Lankan team, has a total of 16 five-wicket hauls to his name, with twelve in Tests and four in One Day Internationals (ODIs). As a left-arm fast-medium bowler, he was accurate and particularly skilled in bowling both swing and reverse swing. Vaas often played a supporting role to Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lanka's off spinner and leading wicket taker. In the period from 1995 to their retirement from international cricket, the two bowlers accumulated 1,155 Test wickets and paved the way for many of Sri Lanka's victories.
Having made his Test debut in August 1994 against Pakistan, Vaas took his first five-wicket haul seven months later in March 1995 against New Zealand. He repeated the feat in New Zealand's second innings, taking a total of 10 wickets and led Sri Lanka to their first ever overseas Test win. His career-best bowling is the seven wickets he took against the West Indies for 71 runs in November 2001. He had taken another seven wickets in the first innings of the same match, bringing the total to 14 and making it the highest number of wickets he has taken in a single match. It is also the second-best bowling performance by a Sri Lankan bowler after Muralitharan's 16 wickets for 220 runs in 1998. Vaas is ranked third among Sri Lankan bowlers by the number of Test five-wicket hauls, behind spinners Muralitharan and Rangana Herath. (Full article...)
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Bowlers have taken fourteen five-wicket hauls in Tests and five five-wicket hauls in One Day International matches played at McLean Park. McLean Park is a sports ground in Napier, New Zealand which has hosted international rugby union and cricket matches as well as provincial sports matches. It is one of the home grounds of the Central Districts cricket team and the Hawke's Bay Rugby Union. It has hosted international cricket matches since 1979, the first Test match at the ground taking place between New Zealand and Pakistan in February of that year. It was first used for One Day International (ODI) cricket during the 1982 Women's Cricket World Cup and the first Twenty20 International match played on the ground took place in 2017. The ground has a capacity of 10,500 spectators for international matches.
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. The first bowler to take a five-wicket haul in a Test match at McLean Park was Imran Khan in the ground's inaugural Test; he finished with bowling figures of 5 wickets for 106 runs. Sri Lanka's Chaminda Vaas became the first cricketer to take two five-wicket hauls at McLean Park, when he took 5 for 47 and 5 for 43 in the first Test of Sri Lanka's 1994–95 tour of New Zealand. The best figures in Test cricket at McLean Park are 7 for 47, taken by England's Ryan Sidebottom against New Zealand in March 2008. (Full article...)
Mitchell Johnson has taken fifteen 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 October 2024[update], only 54 bowlers have taken 15 or more five-wicket hauls at international level in their cricketing careers. Mitchell Johnson—a left-arm fast bowler—is a former Test, One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) cricketer who represented Australia. Johnson took 264 wickets in Test matches, 212 wickets in ODIs and 38 wickets in T20Is. With 15 five-wicket hauls across all formats of the game, he ranks equal thirty-ninth among all-time combined five-wicket haul takers, and ninth in the equivalent list for Australia.
Johnson made his Test debut against Sri Lanka in 2007. His first five-wicket haul came against New Zealand during the first Test of the 2008–09 series at the Gabba. His 5 wickets for 39 runs in the second innings raised his tally to 9 wickets for the match. Australia won the match by 149 runs and his performance earned him the man-of-the-match award. His best bowling figures for an innings are 8 wickets for 61 runs against South Africa in 2008. In Test matches, Johnson was most successful against England, taking 5 of his 12 five-wicket hauls against them. (Full article...)
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Bowlers have taken 11 five-wicket hauls in Test matches and two fifers in One Day Internationals played at the Riverside Ground. The Riverside Ground is a cricket ground in Chester-le-Street, County Durham. It is the home of Durham County Cricket Club and has hosted Test, One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) matches. It has a capacity of 17,000 spectators for international matches, for which temporary stands are erected. The Riverside hosted six Test matches between 2003, when England played Zimbabwe, and 2016. It hosted its first ODI in 1999 when Pakistan defeated Scotland by 94 runs in the qualifying round of that year's Cricket World Cup, and T20Is have been played at the ground since 2008. Women's ODI and T20I matches have also been played on the ground.
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. The first bowler to take a five-wicket haul in a Test match at the Riverside Ground was Richard Johnson in 2003 who, making his Test debut for England against Zimbabwe, finished with bowling figures of 6 wickets for 33 runs. These remained the best Test bowling figures at the Riverside until 2013 when Australia's Ryan Harris took 7 wickets for 117 runs in the fourth Test against England. Stuart Broad is the only bowler to have taken two five-wicket hauls in Test matches at the ground, doing so in the same Test match, also making him the only bowler to have taken ten wickets in an international match at the Riverside. As of January 2020[update], nine bowlers have taken ten Test match five-wicket hauls at the ground; every Test match in which a five-wicket haul has been taken at the Riverside Ground has resulted in an England victory. (Full article...)
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Test cricket is the longest form of cricket. The women's variant of the game includes four innings to be completed over four days of play with eleven players in each side. The first women's Test was played between England and Australia in 1934. However, India did not play Test cricket until 1973 when the Women's Cricket Association of India was formed. The Indian women's team played their first Test match in 1976, against the West Indies. The Women's Cricket Association of India was merged with the Board of Control for Cricket in India in 2006 as part of the International Cricket Council's initiative to develop women's cricket.
India have played 41 Tests, starting with their first Test in 1976. They first won a Test in Patna (1976), in front of over 25,000 spectators, against the West Indies but did not win again until 2002, when they won against South Africa. The team has remained unbeaten since 2006, over the course of three Test matches. (Full article...)
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Second women's Test match between Australia and England in Sydney in 1935; Myrtle Maclagan (not pictured) scored the first century in women's Test cricket during this match while Betty Snowball (wicketkeeper, third from left) scored a century two Tests later.
Test cricket is the longest version of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between international teams of eleven players each over four innings; each team bats twice. In the women's variant, the game is scheduled to last four days of play. The Women's Cricket Association was formed in England in 1926, and the first women's Test was played between England and Australia in 1934. The English team were on a tour of Australia and New Zealand, arranged by the WCA. The International Women's Cricket Council was formed in 1958 as the governing body for women's cricket. In 2005, women's cricket was brought under the International Cricket Council along with men's cricket; at that time 89 of the council's 104 members had started developing women's cricket. As of February 2025, a total of ten teams have played a total of 151 women's Test matches and 2 matches were abandoned. England have played the most matches (102) while Sri Lanka, Ireland and the Netherlands have played only one Test each.
A century is a score of a hundred or more runs in an innings. The first century in women's Test cricket was scored in 1935 by Myrtle Maclagan, who made 119 runs for England against Australia. Since then, a total of 119 centuries, including nine double centuries, have been scored. Betty Snowball of England (189 runs) held the record for the highest individual score for over 51 years. She was the second cricketer to hold the record after Maclagan, a record which stood until Sandhya Agarwal of India surpassed it by a single run in 1986. Following Agarwal the record was held by Denise Annetts (Australia, 1987), Kirsty Flavell (New Zealand, 1996), Karen Rolton (Australia, 2001), Mithali Raj (India, 2002), and the current record holder Kiran Baluch of Pakistan who, in 2004, scored 242 runs against the West Indies. Janette Brittin of England has scored five centuries in a Test career spanning 27 matches and 44 innings, the most hundreds in women's Test match history. Flavell scored the first double century in women's Test cricket in 1996; later eight more double centuries were scored, by Joanne Broadbent (Australia, 1998), Michelle Goszko (Australia, 2001), Karen Rolton (Australia, 2001), Mithali Raj (India, 2002), and Kiran Baluch (Pakistan, 2004), Ellyse Perry (Australia, 2017) and Shafali Verma (India, 2024). As of June 2022[update], Australia and England have the most centurions (25 players each) while English players have scored the most centuries (47 times). (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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Saqlain Mushtaq, a former Pakistanicricketer, took 19 five-wicket hauls during his career in international 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 cricket critics 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. A right-arm off break bowler who represented his country between 1995 and 2004, Saqlain was described by the BBC as "a revolution in the art of attacking off-spin bowling". Saqlain was named by Wisden as one of their Cricketers of the Year in 2000.
The following are images from various cricket-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1A wicket can be put down by throwing the ball at it and thereby dislodging the bails. (from Laws of Cricket)
Image 2 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 3Broadhalfpenny Down, the location of the first First Class match in 1772 is still played on today (from History of cricket)
Image 4Photograph of Miss Lily Poulett-Harris, founding mother of women's cricket in Australia. (from History of women's cricket)
Image 5The boundary can be marked in several ways, such as with a rope. (from Laws of Cricket)
Image 6A 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 7A 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 8Plaquita, 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 9In 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 11A 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 15New articles of the game of cricket, 25 February 1774 (from Laws of Cricket)
Image 16Afghan 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)
... 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"?
... that the Kīlauea lava cricket disappears from a lava field as soon as any plants start to grow there?
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the international governing body of cricket, and produces team rankings for the various forms of cricket played internationally.
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