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) pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. Two players from the batting team (the striker and nonstriker) stand in front of either wicket holding bats, with one player from the fielding team (the bowler) bowling the ball towards 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 exchange. Runs are also scored when the ball reaches or crosses the boundary of the field or when the ball is bowled illegally.
The team is coached by Phil Simmons and captained by Shan Masood. They won their first PSL title in PSL V after beating their rivals Lahore Qalandars in the final on 17 November 2020.
Steyn has taken 26 five-wicket hauls in Test cricket. Dale Steyn, a South Africancricketer, has taken 29 five-wicket hauls in international cricket. 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 only 42 bowlers have taken at least 15 five-wicket hauls at international level in their cricketing careers. A right-arm fast bowler, Steyn reached 300 Test wickets in fewer matches than any other South African bowler. He was named the ICC's Test Player of the Year in 2008, and the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack named him one of their cricketers of the year in 2013.
Pune Warriors India (PWI) was a Pune-based franchise cricket team that participated in the Indian Premier League (IPL). They played their first Twenty20 match in the 2011 season of the IPL against Kings XI Punjab. PWI played in three editions of the IPL, failing to reach the playoffs on all occasions. They came last in the 2012 IPL, and came second-last in the 2011 and the 2013 IPL. After the 2013 season, PWI owners withdrew from the IPL due to financial differences with the Board of Control for Cricket in India. In total, 46 players had played for PWI, of whom Robin Uthappa had played the most matches (46, since his debut for the franchise in 2011).
The leading run-scorer for PWI was Uthappa, who had scored 1,103 runs. Jesse Ryder scored 86 runs against Delhi Daredevils in 2012, which was the highest individual score in an innings by a PWI batsman. Steve Smith had the team's best batting average: 40.07. Among PWI's bowlers, Rahul Sharma had taken more wickets than any other, claiming 34. The best bowling average among bowlers who had bowled more than 20 overs was Yuvraj Singh's 22.93. Ashok Dinda had the best bowling figures in an innings; he claimed four wickets against Mumbai Indians in a 2012 match, conceding 18 runs. Uthappa had taken the most catches as wicket-keeper for PWI, with 24, and had also made the most stumpings: six. Smith and Manish Pandey had claimed the highest number of catches among fielders, taking 14 each. (Full article...)
The 16 competing teams were initially divided into four groups, with the two best-performing teams from each group moving on to a Super 8 format. Every team played a total of 6 matches in the Super 8 round; they didn't played with teams of their own group. They played a total of 6 teams from another three groups (the top 2 teams of all three groups) From this, Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and South Africa won through to the semi-finals, with Australia defeating Sri Lanka in the final to win their third consecutive World Cup and their fourth overall. Australia's unbeaten record in the tournament increased their total to 29 consecutive World Cup matches without loss, a streak dating back to 23 May 1999, during the group stage of the 1999 World Cup. The tournament also saw upsets and surprise results, with pre-tournament favourites India and Pakistan failing to make it past the group stage, while Bangladesh, the second-lowest ranked ICC Full Member at the time, and World Cup debutant Ireland, which was an ICC Associate Member at the time, made it to the "Super 8", beating India and Pakistan respectively en route. Ireland became only the second associate nation to make it past the first round of a Cricket World Cup, the first being Kenya in 2003. (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.
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...)
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. , Amla has the second-highest number of centuries for South Africa in Tests. (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 40 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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Nasser Hussain is one of fifteen England captains to have won the award. The Cricket Writers' Club Young Cricketer of the Year is an annual cricket award, presented to the young player who is adjudged to have been the best of the year in English county cricket. The award has been presented since the 1950 season and the winner is chosen by a vote amongst the members of the Cricket Writers' Club. Only players that are qualified to represent the England cricket team, and are aged under 23 on 1 May of the awarding year, are eligible for the prize. With the exception of 1986, when a joint award was made, the accolade has been presented to one individual each season. The award has been described by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) as "prestigious". Although not a firm rule, once a player has won the award, they are considered ineligible to receive it in the future.
Archie Ledbrooke, a sports reporter for the Daily Mirror and the first treasurer of the Cricket Writers' Club, came up with the idea for the award. It was first presented in 1950, when Roy Tattersall of Lancashire was the recipient. In 1986, the vote was tied, and the award was made jointly to Ashley Metcalfe of Nottinghamshire and James Whitaker of Leicestershire. The 1995 winner, Andrew Symonds, went on to make over 200 international appearances for Australia, but at the time of his award was eligible to play for England, as he was born in Birmingham. , representatives of seventeen of the eighteen first-class cricket counties have won the award; no player from Worcestershire has ever won. Yorkshire players have collected the award most frequently, doing so on eleven occasions. Only seven winners have not gone on to play international cricket. (Full article...)
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Steve Smith has scored 44 international centuries for Australia.
Smith made his Test debut against Pakistan in July 2010 at Lord's. His first Test century came during the fifth match of the 2013 Ashes series when he scored 138 not out. His highest score of 239 came against the same team during the 2017–18 series at the WACA Ground, Perth. Smith has scored Test centuries at eighteen different cricket grounds, including thirteen at venues outside Australia. In terms of centuries, he has been most successful against England (12) and India(9). , he ranks equal-second in the list of most centuries by an Australian in Tests. He topped the ICC Test Rankings for the best batsman in the years 2015, 2016 and 2017; on 30 December 2017 he achieved a rating of 947, the second highest of all time after Don Bradman. As a result of his involvement in the 2018 Australian ball-tampering scandal, Smith was subsequently banned from all forms of cricket, except club level, for a year in March 2018. (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. , 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. , 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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Kapil Dev is India's third highest wicket-taker in Test cricket. Kapil Dev is a former Test and One Day International (ODI) cricketer who represented India between 1978 and 1994. He took 24 five-wicket hauls during his international career. 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 fewer than 40 bowlers have taken more than 15 five-wicket hauls at international level in their cricketing careers. A right-arm fast bowler, Kapil Dev took 434 wickets in Test cricket and 253 in ODIs. With 23 five-wicket hauls in Tests, he has the third highest number of international five-wicket hauls among Indian cricketers as of 2012, after Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh. Kapil Dev was named by the Wisden as one of their Cricketers of the Year in 1983 and Indian Cricketer of the Century in 2002. Eight years later, the International Cricket Council (ICC) inducted him into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. As of 2012, Kapil Dev also holds the record for being the only player to have taken more than 400 wickets and scored over 5,000 runs in Tests.
Kapil Dev made his Test and ODI debuts against Pakistan, both in 1978. His first five-wicket haul came a year later against England during the first Test of India's tour. His career-best bowling figures in an innings of nine for 83 was achieved in 1983 against the West Indies in Ahmedabad. In Tests, Kapil Dev was most successful against Pakistan and Australia, with seven five-wicket hauls against each of them. He took his only five-wicket haul in ODIs against Australia during the 1983 Cricket World Cup. (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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Clarke scored 36 centuries for Australia in international cricket. Michael Clarke is an Australian former cricketer and captain of the Australia national cricket team. He scored centuries (100 or more runs in a single innings) in Test matches and One Day International (ODI) matches on 28 and 8 occasions respectively during his international career. He played 115 Tests and 238 ODIs for Australia, scoring 8,643 and 7,981 runs, respectively. Journalist Peter English wrote that "Clarke could do anything with the bat, but he has matured into one of the game's most professional, reliable and focussed players". He was named by Wisden as one of their Cricketers of the Year in 2010. Cricket Australia awarded him with the Allan Border Medal in 2005, 2009, 2012 and 2013.
Vernon Philander has conceded the fewest runs while taking a five-wicket haul. 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. A five-wicket haul on debut is regarded by the critics as a notable achievement. As of February 2024, 171 cricketers have taken a five-wicket haul on Test match debut, out of which twenty-five were from the South Africa national cricket team. The five-wicket hauls have come against six different opponents, and the South Africans have performed this feat fifteen times against England. Of the twenty-two matches where a South African debutant has taken a five-wicket haul, twelve have ended in defeat, six in victory and the other four in a draw. The five-wicket hauls were taken at eleven different venues, six of them being taken at the Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town.
Albert Rose-Innes was the first South African to take a five-wicket haul on Test cricket debut. He took 5 wickets for 43 runs against England in 1889. In the second Test of the series, Gobo Ashley took 7 wickets for 95 runs, in what turned out to be his only appearance in Test cricket. When the country was re-admitted to play competitive cricket in 1991, Lance Klusener became the first debutant to take a five-wicket haul. His 8 wickets for 64 runs against India in November 1996 remain the best bowling figures in an innings by a South African on debut. Sydney Burke and Alf Hall are the only South African debutants to collect 10 or more wickets in a match as of February 2015. Klusener's figures, along with George Bissett's 5 for 37 runs, were included among the "Top 100 Bowling performances of all time" by the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 2002. Neil Brand is the latest cricketer to achieve this feat; he took 6/119 against New Zealand in February 2024. (Full article...)
The following are images from various cricket-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1Photograph of Miss Lily Poulett-Harris, founding mother of women's cricket in Australia. (from History of women's cricket)
Image 2A 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 4In 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 5Broadhalfpenny Down, the location of the first First Class match in 1772 is still played on today (from History of cricket)
Image 6New articles of the game of cricket, 25 February 1774 (from Laws of Cricket)
Image 9A 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 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)
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the international governing body of cricket, and produces team rankings for the various forms of cricket played internationally.
Test cricket is the longest form of cricket, played up to a maximum of five days with two innings per side.
Matches is the number of matches played in the 12–24 months since the May before last, plus half the number in the 24 months before that. See points calculations for more details.