This article is about the sport. For the insect, see Cricket (insect).
For other uses, see Cricket
(disambiguation).
"Cricketer" redirects here. For other uses, see Cricketer (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Croquet.
Cricket
Shaun Pollock of South Africa bowls to Michael
Hussey of Australia during the 2005 Boxing Day Test match at
the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Highest governing body International Cricket Council
Nicknames The Gentlemen's Game[1]
First played 16th century; South East England
Characteristics
Contact No
Team members 11 players per side
(substitutes permitted in some
circumstances)
Mixed-sex No, separate competitions
Type Team sport, Bat-and-Ball
Equipment Cricket ball, Cricket
bat, Wicket (Stumps, Bails), Protective
equipment
Venue Cricket field
Glossary Glossary of cricket terms
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Presence
Country or region Worldwide (most popular in the
Commonwealth)
Olympic 1900, 2028
Part of a series on
Cricket
Women's cricket
Forms of cricket
Test cricket
Men's format
Women's format
First-class cricket
Men's format
Women's format
One Day International
Men's format
Women's format
Limited overs (domestic)
Limited overs cricket
List A cricket
Twenty20 International
Men's format
Women's format
Twenty20 (domestic)
Men's format
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Women's format
Other forms
100-ball cricket
Backyard cricket
Bete-ombro
Blind cricket
Club cricket
Crocker
Deaf cricket
French cricket
Indoor cricket
o UK variant
Kilikiti
Plaquita
Single wicket
Softball cricket
T10 cricket
Tape ball cricket
Tennis ball cricket
Vigoro
Village cricket
International competitions
ICC World Test Championship
ICC Men's Test Team Rankings
Cricket World Cup
Women's Cricket World Cup
Men's T20 World Cup
Women's T20 World Cup
ICC Champions Trophy
ICC Cricket World Cup League 2
ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League
Euro T20 Slam
Asia Cup
World Cricket League Africa Region
Cricket at the Summer Olympics
Cricket at the African Games
Cricket at the Asian Games
Cricket at the Commonwealth Games
Cricket at the Pacific Games
Cricket at the South Asian Games
History of cricket
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History of cricket to 1725
History of English cricket (1726–1750)
History of English cricket (1751–1775)
History of English cricket (1776–1800)
History of English cricket (1801–1825)
History of women's cricket
Records
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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 followed primarily in South
Asia, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Southern Africa, and the West Indies.[2]
While cricket has traditionally been played largely by men, women's cricket has experienced large
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
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Main article: History of cricket
Origins
Main article: History of cricket to 1725
A medieval "club ball" game involving an underarm bowl towards a batter.
Ball catchers are shown positioning themselves to catch a ball. Detail from the Canticles of Holy Mary, 13th century.
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
games category[6]), golf, hockey, tennis, squash, badminton and table tennis.[7] In cricket's case, a
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 during the medieval period.[8] Althou
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