Cricket

SPORT
WRITTEN BY:
 Marcus K. Williams
 Rex Alston
 Andrew Longmore
LAST UPDATED: Oct 17, 2019 See Article History

Cricket, England’s national summer sport, which is now played

throughout the world, particularly in Australia, India, Pakistan,
the West Indies, and the British Isles.
Cricket is played with a bat and ball and involves two competing
sides (teams) of 11 players. The field is oval with a rectangular
area in the middle, known as the pitch, that is 22 yards (20.12
metres) by 10 feet (3.04 metres) wide. Two sets of three sticks,
called wickets, are set in the ground at each end of the pitch.
Across the top of each wicket lie horizontal pieces called bails.
The sides take turns at batting and bowling (pitching); each turn
is called an “innings” (always plural). Sides have one or two
innings each, depending on the prearranged duration of the
match, the object being to score the most runs. The bowlers,
delivering the ball with a straight arm, try to break (hit) the
wicket with the ball so that the bails fall. This is one of several
ways that the batsman is dismissed, or put out. A bowler
delivers six balls at one wicket (thus completing an “over”),
then a different player from his side bowls six balls to the
opposite wicket. The batting side defends its wicket.
 Location of wickets and principal playing positions on cricket field.Encyclopædia
Britannica, Inc.

There are two batsman up at a time, and the batsman being

bowled to (the striker) tries to hit the ball away from the wicket.
A hit may be defensive or offensive. A defensive hit may protect
the wicket but leave the batsmen no time to run to the opposite
wicket. In that case the batsmen need not run, and play will
resume with another bowl. If the batsman can make an offensive
hit, he and the second batsman (the nonstriker) at the other
wicket change places. Each time both batsmen can reach the
opposite wicket, one run is scored. Providing they have enough
time without being caught out and dismissed, the batsmen may
continue to cross back and forth between the wickets, earning
an additional run for each time both reach the opposite side.
There is an outside boundary around the cricket field. A ball hit
to or beyond the boundary scores four points if it hits the
ground and then reaches the boundary, six points if it reaches
the boundary from the air (a fly ball). The team with the highest
number of runs wins a match. Should both teams be unable to
complete their number of innings before the time allotted, the
match is declared a draw. Scores in the hundreds are common in
cricket.
Matches in cricket can range from informal weekend afternoon
encounters on village greens to top-level international contests
spread over five days in Test matches and played by leading
professional players in grand stadiums.

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History

Origin

Cricket is believed to have begun possibly as early as the 13th

century as a game in which country boys bowled at a tree stump
or at the hurdle gate into a sheep pen. This gate consisted of two
uprights and a crossbar resting on the slotted tops; the crossbar
was called a bail and the entire gate a wicket. The fact that the
bail could be dislodged when the wicket was struck made this
preferable to the stump, which name was later applied to the
hurdle uprights. Early manuscripts differ about the size of the
wicket, which acquired a third stump in the 1770s, but by 1706
the pitch—the area between the wickets—was 22 yards long.
The ball, once presumably a stone, has remained much the same
since the 17th century. Its modern weight of between 5.5 and
5.75 ounces (156 and 163 grams) was established in 1774.
The primitive bat was no doubt a shaped branch of a tree,
resembling a modern hockey stick but considerably longer and
heavier. The change to a straight bat was made to defend
against length bowling, which had evolved with cricketers in
Hambledon, a small village in southern England. The bat was
shortened in the handle and straightened and broadened in the
blade, which led to forward play, driving, and cutting. As
bowling technique was not very advanced during this period,
batting dominated bowling through the 18th century.
The early years
The earliest reference to an 11-a-side match, played in Sussex
for a stake of 50 guineas, dates from 1697. In 1709 Kent met
Surrey in the first recorded intercounty match at Dartford, and
it is probable that about this time a code of laws (rules) existed
for the conduct of the game, although the earliest known version
of such rules is dated 1744. Sources suggest that cricket was
limited to the southern counties of England during the early 18th
century, but its popularity grew and eventually spread to
London, notably to the Artillery Ground, Finsbury, which saw a
famous match between Kent and All-England in 1744. Heavy
betting and disorderly crowds were common at matches.
The aforementioned Hambledon Club, playing in Hampshire on
Broadhalfpenny Down, was the predominant cricket force in the
second half of the 18th century before the rise of the Marylebone
Cricket Club (MCC) in London. Formed from a cricket club that
played at White Conduit Fields, the club moved to Lord’s Cricket
Ground in St. Marylebone borough in 1787 and became the MCC
and in the following year published its first revised code of laws.
Lord’s, which was named after its founder, Thomas Lord, has
had three locations over its history. Moving to the current
ground in St. John’s Wood in 1814, Lord’s became the
headquarters of world cricket.
In 1836 the first match of North counties versus South counties
was played, providing clear evidence of the spread of cricket. In
1846 the All-England XI, founded by William Clarke of
Nottingham, began touring the country, and from 1852, when
some of the leading professionals (including John Wisden, who
later compiled the first of the famous Wisden almanacs on
cricketing) seceded to form the United All-England XI, these two
teams monopolized the best cricket talent until the rise of
county cricket. They supplied the players for the first English
touring team overseas in 1859.
Cricket
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Technical development

Until early in the 19th century all bowling was underhand, and
most bowlers favoured the high-tossed lob. Next came
“the round-arm revolution,” in which many bowlers began
raising the point at which they released the ball. Controversy
raged furiously, and in 1835 the MCC rephrased the law to allow
the hand to be raised as high as the shoulder. The new style led
to a great increase in pace, or bowling speed. Gradually bowlers
raised the hand higher and higher in defiance of the law.
Matters were brought to a head in 1862 when an England team
playing against Surrey left the field at London’s Kennington Oval
in protest over a “no ball” call (i.e., an umpire’s decision that
the bowler has thrown an illegal pitch). The argument centred
on whether the bowler should be allowed to raise his arm above
the shoulder. As a result of this controversy, the bowler was in
1864 officially accorded liberty to bowl overhand (but not to
cock and straighten the arm). This change dramatically altered
the game, making it yet more difficult for a batsman to judge the
ball. Already a bowler was allowed to take a running start from
any direction and for any distance. Once the bowler was allowed
to release overhand, the ball could then reach speeds above 90
mph (145 km/hr). Though this is not as fast as the pitching
speed in baseball, cricket has an additional twist in that the ball
is usually delivered so as to bounce on the pitch (field) before
the batsman can hit it. Thus, the ball may curve to the right or
the left, bounce low or high, or spin toward or away from the
batsman.
Batsmen learned to protect themselves with pads and batting
gloves, and a cane handle increased the resilience of the bat.
Only the best batsmen, however, could cope with fast bowling,
because the poor condition of most pitches made it yet more
difficult for a batsman to predict the motion of the ball. As the
grounds improved, however, batsmen grew accustomed to the
new bowling style and went on the offensive. Other new bowling
styles were also discovered, causing batsmen to adjust their
technique further.
In the early 20th century so many runs were being scored that
debate ensued on reforming the “leg-before-wicket” law, which
had been introduced in the 1774 laws to prohibit a batsman from
using his body to prevent the ball from hitting his wicket. But
the heavy scores were actually due to the performances of
several outstanding batsmen, such as W.G. Grace, Sir John Berry
Hobbs, and K.S. Ranjitsinhji (later the maharaja of Nawanagar).
This was cricket’s golden age.

W.G. Grace (right), batting in an 1890s match.The Bettmann Archive

In the 20th century there was a series of attempts to aid the

bowler and quicken the tempo of the game. Nevertheless, the
game by the mid-20th century was characterized not by
overwhelming offense but by defensive play on both sides and
by a slow pace. In an attempt to shore up a declining fan base,
one-day, or limited-overs, cricket was introduced. One-day
cricket had first been played internationally when, after a Test
match was rained out for the first days, on the last scheduled
day of play a limited-overs match was held in order to give the
fans some game to watch. The response was enthusiastic, and
one-day cricket came into being. In this version of cricket the
limited number of overs (usually 50 per side) leads to a faster
paced though much-altered game. In one-day cricket there are
some restrictions on placement of fielders. This led to new
batting styles, such as the paddle shot (wherein the ball is hit
behind the wicket because there are usually no fielders there)
and the lofted shot (where the batsman tries to hit the ball past
the fielders and over their heads). Twenty20 (T20), a style of
one-day cricket consisting of 20 overs per side, debuted in 2003
and quickly became an international sensation. The first
Twenty20 world championship was held in 2007, and one-day
cricket, particularly Twenty20, became more popular than Test
matches worldwide, although Test cricket retained a large
following in England. The pace of Test matches increased
dramatically in the late 20th century with the introduction of
new bowling strategies.
Organization of sport and types of
competition

County and university cricket

Some of the earliest organized cricket matches were between

amateur and professional players. From 1806 (annually from
1819) to 1962, the Gentlemen-versus-Players match pitted the
best amateurs against the best professionals. The series was
ended in 1962 when the MCC and the counties abandoned the
distinction between amateurs and professionals. Other early
cricket matches took place between British universities.
The Oxford-versus-Cambridge match, for example, has been
played mainly at Lord’s since 1827 and became a high point of
the summer season in London.
University cricket was a kind of nursery for county cricket—i.e.,
matches between the various counties of England. Although the
press acclaimed a “champion county” (Sussex) as early as 1827,
qualification rules for county cricket were not laid down until
1873, and it was only in 1890 that the format of the county
championship was formalized by the counties
themselves. Gloucestershire dominated the 1870s, thanks to W.G.
Grace and his brothers E.M. and G.F. Grace. From the 1880s
to World War
I, Nottinghamshire, Surrey, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Kent,
and Middlesex constituted the Big Six that dominated county
cricket. After World War I the northern counties, led by
Yorkshire and Lancashire, largely professional teams, were the
leaders. Surrey, with seven successive championships,
dominated in the 1950s and Yorkshire in the 1960s, followed by
Kent and Middlesex in the 1970s. The 1980s were dominated by
Middlesex, Worcestershire, Essex, and Nottinghamshire. Other
counties in first-class county cricket
are Leicestershire, Somerset, Hampshire, Durham, Derbyshire, W
arwickshire, Sussex, Northamptonshire, and Glamorgan.
After a postwar boom, slow play and lower numbers of runs
characterized the 1950s, and this defensive nature of county
cricket led to progressively decreased attendance. In the 1960s
the MCC and the counties introduced a one-day knockout
competition—called the Gillette Cup (1963–1980), the NatWest
Bank Trophy (1981–2000), the C&G Trophy (2000–06), and the
Friends Provident Trophy (2006–09)—and a separate Sunday
afternoon league (the two competitions were merged in 2010 as
the Clydesdale Bank 40), which revived public interest, although
most counties remained dependent financially on proceeds
from football pools and money received from Test matches and
broadcasting fees. The immediate registration of overseas
players was permitted, and each county, as of the early 1980s,
was allowed one such player, who could, however, still play for
his national team. The change worked well for the counties, and
it also strengthened the national teams for whom those players
appeared. In county cricket, bonus points were created to
encourage batsmen and bowlers to play less defensively, and
from 1988, to help the development of young batsmen and spin
bowlers, four-day games increasingly replaced the three-day
format. The longer game gives batsmen more time to build an
innings and relieves them of the pressure to score runs quickly.
Spin bowlers benefit from the longer game because the pitch
wears as the game progresses and permits greater spin.
The Cricket Council and the ECB
A reorganization of English cricket took place in 1969, resulting
in the end of the MCC’s long reign as the controlling body of the
game, though the organization still retains responsibility for the
laws. With the establishment of the Sports Council (a
government agency charged with control of sports in Great
Britain) and with the possibility of obtaining government aid for
 cricket, the MCC was asked to create a governing body for the
game along the lines generally accepted by other sports in
Great Britain. The Cricket Council, comprising the Test and
County Cricket Board (TCCB), the National Cricket Association
(NCA), and the MCC, was the result of these efforts. The TCCB,
which amalgamated the Advisory County Cricket Committee and
the Board of Control of Test Matches at Home, had responsibility
for all first-class and minor-counties cricket in England and for
overseas tours. The NCA consisted of representatives from clubs,
schools, armed services cricket, umpires, and the Women’s
Cricket Association. In 1997 there was another reorganization,
and the TCCB, the NCA, and the Cricket Council were all
subsumed under the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
Marcus K. WilliamsRex Alston

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International cricket

International cricket in the early part of the 20th century was

dominated by the original members of the Imperial Cricket
Conference, England, Australia, and South Africa. Later renamed
the International Cricket Conference and then the International
Cricket Council, the ICC gradually took over more responsibility
for the administration of the game and shifted its power base
from west to east. When in 2005 the ICC moved its offices from
Lord’s in London—home of the MCC, the game’s original rulers
and still its lawmakers—to Dubai, the shift away from the old
ways of governance was complete. The priorities of the game
changed too. By the turn of the 21st century, only Australia and
England still played Test cricket to full houses. Everywhere else,
and particularly in India and Pakistan, crowds flocked to see
limited-overs internationals. Test cricket became almost an
afterthought. Although the power to change the laws of the
game have remained with the MCC, the ICC developed its own
Code of Conduct for players, officials, and administrators, which
sets out disciplinary procedures and protects the spirit of the
game. It also organized major international tournaments,
including the one-day and Twenty20 World Cups and the
Champions Trophy. In 2000 the ICC set up the Anti-Corruption
Unit (renamed the Anti-Corruption Unit and Security Unit in
2003) to combat the growing threat of illegal gambling and
match fixing. At the beginning of the 2010s, the ICC had 10 full
members and dozens of associate and affiliate members.
 Lord's Cricket GroundLord's Cricket Ground, London.Paddy Briggs

READ MORE ON THIS TOPIC

Australia: Cricket
 The major summer sport is cricket. Introduced by a British ship’s crew,
cricket arrived in Australia in 1803. Play among cricket clubs began…

Australia
One of the founding members of the ICC, Australia remains one
of its most powerful countries both on and off the field. The
history of cricket in Australia dates to 1803 when the game was
introduced by the crew of a British ship. The first intercolonial
match took place in 1851 between Victoria and Tasmania, and by
the end of the 19th century teams from England were touring
Australia regularly. The first official Test match was played
in Melbourne in 1877 by Australia and England, beginning the
oldest rivalry in international cricket, a series that became
known as The Ashes (see Test Matches below).
D.M. Jones, batsman for Australia's team in a cricket Test match, placing the ball to the
leg side against England's team.Colorsport

Cricket is played throughout Australia, and matches are

ferociously competitive at every level. All the great Australian
players from Sir Don Bradman to Shane Warne developed their
skills in club cricket before graduating to the state and national
teams, and the Australian style of cricket is marked by
aggressiveness with bat, ball, and, often, voice in an attempt to
intimidate opponents. Through the 20th century, Australia
produced a series of outstanding teams, and the country
dominated international cricket into the new century, winning
three successive one-day World Cups (1999–2007) and twice
recording runs of 16 consecutive Test victories (1999–2001 and
2005–08). In 2005 England’s Test victory over Australia, the
first since 1987, was celebrated with an open-top bus ride
through the city of London.
Bangladesh
In June 2000 Bangladesh became the 10th country to be accorded
full Test status. It played its first Test match in November of
that year, against India in Dhaka. Known as the Tigers, the
Bangladeshi team struggled to perform at the highest level,
winning only three of its first 68 Tests. However, Bangladesh
has defeated the nine countries that preceded it to Test status in
one-day matches, a feat completed with a victory over England
in Bristol in 2010. Bangladesh’s first appearance in an
international tournament had come in England in the ICC Trophy
competition for associate members in 1979. In 1997 Bangladesh
won the trophy and qualified for the 1999 World Cup, beating
Pakistan in the group stages. A domestic first-class tournament
between six regional teams was established in 2000–01. Since
Bangladesh gained Test status, cricket arguably has become the
most popular sport in the country.
India
Cricket is played in every corner of India, on city streets, in
village fields, and on maidans—open playing fields, the largest of
which (such as the Azad, Cross, and Oval maidans in
South Mumbai) can host dozens of overlapping matches.
Historically, Indian cricketers have displayed a good eye and
strong wrists, and Indian batsmen, most notably Sunil
Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar, have been some of the most
productive and stylish in the history of cricket. The dry flat
pitches of the subcontinent have also traditionally produced
high-class spin bowlers.

Sunil Gavaskar.Adrian Murrell—Allsport

The origins of the game in India date to the 18th century. A

touring team led by the English gentleman cricketer Lord Hawke
played a match against the “All India” team in January 1893.
India played its first Test in 1932 and waited 20 years for its
first Test victory, against England in Madras (now Chennai). The
game developed so fast in India, however, that by the end of the
20th century India was one of the world’s foremost cricketing
countries. With the growth of the Indian Premier League in the
early 21st century, it became the undisputed home of Twenty20
cricket and the financial hub of the international game, though
the popularity of Test cricket has declined dramatically in India.
India’s prominence in one-day cricket was further confirmed
when it won the Cricket World Cup in 2011.
New Zealand
Cricket has always taken second place to rugby in
the sports priorities of New Zealanders, but, as in Australia, the
game has a strong national structure in New Zealand. The long
history of domestic cricket in the country is often dated from the
first representative interprovincial match,
between Auckland and Wellington, in 1860, though there is
evidence that unofficial matches between provinces were played
in New Zealand decades earlier. The NZ Cricket Council was
formed in 1894 and was admitted to full membership of the ICC
in 1926. With only a small base of players on which to draw,
New Zealand has always struggled to compete with England and
Australia in Test cricket. As in most cricketing countries, the
one-day game has proved more popular in New Zealand. In
Richard Hadlee, who was knighted in 1990, the country
produced one of the greatest cricketers of any era.
 2015 Cricket World CupNew Zealand's Ross Taylor batting a ball as South African
wicketkeeper Quinton De Kock (right) watches during a Cricket World Cup semifinal in
Auckland, New Zealand, March 24, 2015.David Rowland/AP Images

Pakistan
The development of cricket in Pakistan has been
chaotic, quixotic, and exotic in roughly equal measure. Under the
leadership of Imran Khan, Pakistan won the 1992 World Cup, but
often its cricket was blighted by political interference and
scandal. A low point was reached in 2010: To begin with, the
national team was in virtual exile, unable to persuade other
countries to play in Pakistan for fear of terrorist attacks in the
wake of an assault in Lahore on the visiting Sri Lankan team bus
in March 2009 that left six policemen dead and several players
injured. Moreover, three members of the Pakistani team touring
England were involved in allegations of “spot fixing”—that is,
fixing the results of certain bowls in return for money—and were
banned by the ICC. Huge profits could be made in illegal betting
markets in Asia by predicting the results of individual bowls.
Only a few years earlier several Pakistan players also had been
banned as a result of investigations over match fixing. Yet
Pakistan has also produced a host of talented cricketers such as
Khan, Wasim Akram, Abdul Qadir, and Inzamam-ul-Haq and has
proved itself adept at Twenty20 cricket, winning the T20 World
Cup in 2009.
South Africa
South Africa played its first Test, against England in Port
Elizabeth, as early as in 1889. Cricket has been at the heart of
the country’s sporting culture ever since. When South Africa was
banned from the ICC from 1970 to 1991 because of
its apartheid policies, cricket administrators worked quietly
to integrate nonwhite players into the system, which was based
largely on traditional all-white schools and state teams.
When apartheid was abolished, cricket was far more prepared to
cope with the social and political changes than was rugby
union. Makhaya Ntini, a world-class fast bowler, who made his
international debut for South Africa in 1998 and played in more
than 100 Tests, served as a role model for the new generation of
black cricketers. On the other hand, in 2000 Hansie Cronje, the
captain of South Africa, was banned for match fixing in a
scandal that brought into question the integrity of South African
cricket. It was not until 2003, when South Africa hosted a
successful World Cup, that the rehabilitation of country’s
cricketing reputation was complete. South Africa has always
been a great exporter of cricketers, mainly to England. Allan
Lamb and Robin Smith were prominent members of the England
team in the 1980s and ’90s; Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott
were mainstays of the Ashes-winning side of 2010.
Sri Lanka
Even before Test status was awarded to Sri Lanka in 1981, the
island country was a popular destination for touring teams,
particularly for English teams on the way to Australia by boat.
Given the disadvantages of its relatively small population and of
the civil war that disrupted life on the island for three decades,
Sri Lanka developed into a top cricketing country with
surprising speed. In 1996 it won the World Cup, beating
Australia in the final by playing aggressive, innovative cricket
under the inspired leadership of Arjuna Ranatunga. The victory
instilled belief in a new generation of players that included
Sanath Jayasuriya; Mahela Jayawardene, an elegant and
aggressive batsmen; and Muttiah Muralitharan, who in 2010
became the first bowler to take 800 Test wickets. The Indian
Ocean tsunami of 2004 devastated the cricket-playing regions of
southern Sri Lanka, including the Test match ground at Galle,
and took the lives of many promising young players.
Nonetheless, Sri Lanka recovered to reach the World Cup final
again in 2007. Calamity struck again in 2009, when the Sri
Lankan team’s bus was attacked by terrorists on the way to the
ground for the second Test against Pakistan in Lahore.
West Indies
Cricket has been a unifying force in the Caribbean since the West
Indies became the fourth Test-playing side in 1928. The islands
have generally played other sports as independent countries, but
British colonial influence contributed to the formation of a
united regional team. For a time in the 1970s and ’80s, when the
West Indian team featured a quartet of fast bowlers—led
by Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall, Andy Roberts, and Joel
Garner—and batsmen of the destructive capacity of Sir Viv
Richards and Clive Lloyd, the West Indies were virtually
unbeatable. Blessed with an abundance of talented players and
true pitches, Caribbean cricket has always been played with an
unorthodox flourish, seen most clearly in the batsmanship of Sir
Garfield Sobers, Richards, and Brian Lara.
In the 21st century cricket declined in popularity in the West
Indies, a result of a lack of strong administrative leadership and
because of the increasing appeal of potentially more lucrative
sports such as athletics (track and field), football (soccer)
and basketball. After playing in the finals of the first three
World Cups (1975, 1979, and 1983) and winning the first two,
the West Indian team failed—with the exception of 1996—to
reach even the knockout stage of subsequent World Cups,
including in 2007, as the host of the event.
Zimbabwe
Until Test status was granted to Zimbabwe in 1992, the country’s
best cricketers, such as Colin Bland, played for South Africa.
Indeed, the history of the cricket in the two countries has been
inextricably linked. Long before the newly independent and
renamed Zimbabwe became an associate member of the ICC in
1980, teams representing its Rhodesian forerunner states had
participated in the Currie Cup, the South African domestic first-
class tournament (first in 1904–05, then in the early 1930s, and
again after World War II). Competing in its first World Cup in
1983, Zimbabwe surprised the world by beating Australia,
yet Graeme Hick, arguably the country’s best batsman, left
shortly thereafter to play for England.
Zimbabwean cricket in the early 21st century has been marked
by chaotic administration and political interference. In
2004 Heath Streak was sacked as captain of the national team,
precipitating a crisis from which Zimbabwe took years to
emerge, including an exile from Test cricket that began in 2006
and ended in 2011. The country’s political volatility during this
period had much to do with the situation. In the 2003 World
Cup, for example, England forfeited its match in Zimbabwe,
citing security concerns. During the same tournament, two
Zimbabwe players, Andy Flower and Henry Olonga, wore black
armbands to “mourn the death of democracy” in their country.
Andrew Longmore

Test matches
The first Test match, played by two national teams, was between
Australia and England in Melbourne in 1877, with Australia
winning. When Australia again won at the Oval at Kennington,
London, in 1882, the Sporting Times printed an obituary notice
announcing that English cricket would be cremated and
the ashes taken to Australia, thus creating the “play for the
Ashes.” The Ashes, kept in an urn at Lord’s irrespective of which
country is victorious, are supposed to be those of a bail burned
on the England tour of Australia in 1882–83. For the rest of the
19th century, the two countries met almost yearly. With W.G.
Grace, the greatest cricketer of Victorian England, on its side,
England was often too strong for the Australians, though
Australia had the greatest bowler of this era in F.R. Spofforth
and the first of the great wicketkeepers in J.McC. Blackham.
 AshesAshes urn.Daniel Greef

In 1907 South Africa first played Test matches in England and

also took on Australia, whose dominance between the two World
Wars was symbolized by the prodigious run scoring of Sir Don
Bradman. This period saw a notable growth in the number of
Test match countries with the arrival of the West Indies in 1928,
New Zealand in 1930, and India in 1932.
 Don Bradman, 1934.© Lordprice Collection/Alamy

The visit of the English side to Australia in 1932–33 severely

strained relations between the countries because of the use of
“bodyline” bowling tactics, in which the ball was bowled close to
or at the batsman. This scheme was devised by the English
captain, D.R. Jardine, and involved fast short-pitched deliveries
bowled to the batsman’s body so that the batter would be hit on
the upper body or head or, alternatively, would be caught out by
one of the fielders on the leg side (the side behind the striker
when in a batting stance). The plan was devised to curb
Bradman’s scoring, but it led to a large number of serious
injuries on the Australian team. The practice was felt to be
unsportsmanlike by the Australians, who protested vigorously.
The series was played out (with England winning 3–1), but it
created bitter feeling on the part of Australia for some time to
come. Bodyline bowling tactics were banned soon after the
series.
After World War II there were Test matches in England every
summer, Australia being the most frequent visitor, and the Test
ranks were increased by the addition of Pakistan in 1952. There
was a steady escalation of tours between the Test-playing
countries to the extent that, while the first 500 Test matches
were spread over 84 years, the next 500 occupied only 23. Sri
Lanka’s entry in 1982 as the eighth Test-playing country came
during an era dominated by the West Indies, whose devastating
attack was founded, for the first time in cricket history, on four
fast bowlers. Zimbabwe was admitted as a Test country in 1992
and Bangladesh in 2000.
One-day internationals—answering the complaint that Test
matches went on too long—began in 1972. In 1975 the first World
Cup was contested in England in a series of one-day matches of
60 overs a side (the number of overs was reduced to 50 in
1987). The event was a great success and continued at four-year
intervals. It was held outside England, in India and Pakistan, for
the first time in 1987.
Test cricket has faced a number of crises since the late 1960s. In
one such case in 1969–70, a South African tour of England was
canceled because of opposition to South African apartheid.
Violence, damage, and disruption of play had been threatened. A
further threat to Test cricket was posed by an Australian
television network executive, Kerry Packer, who signed many of
the world’s leading players for a series of private contests
between 1977 and 1979. Reprisals were brought against the
players but were overruled after court action in England. The
players returned to the fold, but commercialism had taken hold
of the game. In 1982 the agreement of 12 first-class English
players to take part—in breach of official guidelines—in a
commercially sponsored South African tour with fees of up to
£50,000 per player led to the players’ being banned from Test
cricket for three years. Cricketers from Sri Lanka and the West
Indies also toured South Africa and received more stringent
sanctions, and the engagement of English professionals as
players and coaches in South Africa threatened a serious
division between the Test-playing countries that ended only
with the repeal of apartheid.
Test cricket was again rocked by a scandal that began in 1999
regarding match fixing. While betting on matches had been
common in England in the early days of cricket, many Test
countries had banned such betting in the modern era. In India
and Pakistan betting on cricket was legal, however, and
cricketers playing international matches there reported being
asked by bookmakers and betting syndicates to underperform in
return for money. Members of the Australian, South African,
Indian, and Pakistani national teams were all tainted by this
scandal, several players were banned from cricket for life, and
the integrity of the game was called into question.
Marcus K. WilliamsRex Alston
21st-century developments

The advent of Twenty20 cricket (T20) and the wild success of

the IPL in the first decade of the 21st century led to a period of
great innovation in the game. The new, truncated form of the
game privileged batting, partly by restricting the placement of
fielders and shortening the boundaries. To counter free-scoring
batsmen with heavy bats, bowlers began to perfect a great
variety of different balls (deliveries). Disguise became an
essential part of the bowler’s armoury. Slow spin-bowling,
which forces the batsman to generate “pace” (that is, to provide
the bulk of the power to propel the batted ball, whereas fast
bowling contributes more force to the batsman’s swing), proved
a surprisingly effective weapon. Among the new shots that
became commonplace for batsmen in T20 cricket was the
reverse sweep, wherein a right-handed batsman, in mid-
delivery, changes hands to swing at the ball like a left-hander
(or a left-hander swings like a right-hander). Batters also began
employing the scoop, a shot played almost vertically over the
wicketkeeper’s head. Test cricket also benefited from these new
techniques and from the new era of creativity, not least from the
introduction of the doosra, a delivery disguised to look like an
off-spinner that actually turns away from the right-handed
batsman like a leg-spinner. Developed by the Pakistan off-
spinner Saqlain Mushtaq and taking its name from the Urdu
expression meaning “the other one,” the ball was perfected
by Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka,
Cricket also followed other sports in its use of video technology
in making onfield decisions. Initially, from its first trial in 1992,
only line decisions such as run outs were decided by referral to a
third umpire off the field. But in 2008 a new referral system, in
which players were allowed to refer any onfield decision to the
third umpire, made its international debut in a series between
India and Sri Lanka (it had been put on trial in English county
cricket in 2007). Each side receives two referrals every innings
(down from three when the system was first tried out).
Referrals that result in the umpire changing an original decision
are not counted against this total. The system was designed
to eradicate an umpire’s innocent but obvious mistake and has
been greeted with more enthusiasm by players than umpires.
Andrew Longmore
Women’s cricket
Women first played cricket in England in the 18th century. In
1887 the first club, White Heather, was formed, and it survived
to 1957. In 1890 two professional teams known collectively as
the Original English Lady Cricketers were in action.
In 1926 the Women’s Cricket Association was founded, and in
1934–35 it sent a team to Australia and New Zealand. Australia
paid a return visit in 1937, and, since World War II, tours have
increased. The International Women’s Cricket Council was
formed in 1958 by Australia, England, the Netherlands, New
Zealand, and South Africa and later included India, Denmark,
and several West Indian islands. A World Cup was instituted in
1973, two years ahead of men’s cricket, and England and
Australia played in the first women’s matches at Lord’s in 1976.
Marcus K. WilliamsRex Alston
Play Of The Game

Field of play, equipment, and dress

Cricket grounds vary in size from great arenas, such as the main
playing area at Lord’s in London (5.5 acres [2.2 hectares]) and
the even larger Melbourne Cricket Ground, to village greens and
small meadows. Level turf of fine texture is the ideal surface,
but where this is unavailable any artificial covered surface—
such as coir (fibre) matting or artificial turf on a firm base—may
be used. The limits of the playing area are usually marked by a
boundary line or fence.

BRITANNICA QUIZ

Cricket Quiz
 What is the slang term given to a ball that is bowled so well that it is
considered unplayable by the batsman?

A wicket consists of three stumps, or stakes, each 28 inches (71.1

cm) high and of equal thickness (about 1.25 inches in diameter),
stuck into the ground and so spaced that the ball cannot pass
between them. Two pieces of wood called bails, each 4.37 inches
(11.1 cm) long, lie in grooves on the tops of the stumps. The bails
do not extend beyond the stumps and do not project more than
half an inch above them. The whole wicket is 9 inches (22.86
cm) in width. There are two of these wickets, which a batsman
defends and a bowler attacks, and they are approximately in the
centre of the ground, facing one another at each end of the pitch.
Lines of whitewash demarcate the creases at each wicket:
the bowling crease is a line drawn through the base of the
stumps and extending 4.33 feet (1.32 metres) on either side of
the centre stump; the return crease is a line at each end of and
at right angles to the bowling crease, extending behind the
wicket; and the popping crease is a line parallel with the
bowling crease and 4 feet in front of it. The bowling and return
creases mark the area within which the bowler’s rear foot must
be grounded in delivering the ball; the popping crease, which is
62 feet (18.9 metres) from the opposing bowling crease,
demarks the batsman’s ground. When a batsman
is running between wickets, the crease represents the area in
which he is “safe” (in baseball parlance) and only a cricketer’s
bat need be in the crease; thus a batsman will often place just
the tip of the bat over the line of the crease and then begin to
run for the opposite wicket.
The blade of the paddle-shaped bat is made of willow and must
not be broader than 4.25 inches (10.8 cm). The length of the bat,
including the handle, must not exceed 38 inches (96.5 cm).
The ball, which has a core of cork built up with string, was
traditionally encased in polished red leather, although white is
now frequently used, especially for night games. The halves of
the ball are sewn together with a raised seam (the seam being
like the equator on a globe, not like the curved seam of
a baseball or tennis ball). Slightly smaller, harder, and heavier
than a baseball, it must weigh between 5.5 and 5.75 ounces (156
and 163 grams) and measure between 8.8 and 9 inches (22.4 and
22.9 cm) in circumference. In the early days of cricket it was
common to use the same ball for an entire match, which allowed
for pitches with more swerve and movement as the match wore
on. Even today a cricket ball may stay in play for an entire day
of a match, and, as the ball gets more used, it is progressively
more difficult to hit.

Cricket bat and ball.© iStockphoto/Thinkstock

Cricket attire has evolved with men’s fashion. In the 18th

century cricketers wore tricorne hats, knee breeches, silk
stockings, and shoes with buckles. More colourful dress was
common on the field in the 18th century, and only in the late
19th century did the uniform long associated with cricket arrive:
white flannel trousers with a white shirt and V-necked sweater,
the sweater often trimmed with club colours. Players have worn
a myriad of hat styles, including top hats and straw hats, but in
the 1880s the coloured cap became the norm. White buckskin
shoes also became popular for men in the 1880s, and cricketers
then adopted the white shoes (known, however, as boots) that
are traditionally worn with flannels. In a break with tradition,
late 20th-century players began to wear brightly coloured
clothing to differentiate between teams on the grounds. By the
21st century the predominant outfit for cricket was a loose-
fitting polo shirt (either short- or long-sleeved) with matching
trousers and spiked cleats for traction.
With the advent of fast bowling, cricketers adopted protective
dress. The batsman wears white pads (leg guards), an abdominal
protector, and batting gloves to protect the fingers; batsmen
may also wear helmets and other protection. The wicketkeeper
also wears pads and reinforced gauntlets (the other fielders do
not wear gloves).
Rules of the game

One player on each team acts as captain. There are two

umpires—one standing behind the bowler’s wicket, the other at
the position called square leg about 15 yards from the batsman’s
popping crease (see the figure)—to control the game according
to the laws; two scorers record its progress. The object of the
game is for one side to score more runs than the other.
At the start of a match, the captain who wins the toss of a coin
decides whether his own or the other side shall take
first innings—i.e., proceed successively as batsmen, the first two
as a pair together, to the wicket and try to make as many runs as
possible against the bowling and fielding of their opponents.
There are three methods by which an innings is completed: (1)
when 10 batsmen have been dismissed (the remaining batsman,
having no partner, is declared “not out”); (2) when the captain
of the batting side declares his innings closed before all 10 men
are out (a captain may decide to declare if his team has a large
lead in runs and he fears that the innings will continue so long
that the opposing team will not have time to get in their full
innings and the game will therefore be a draw); or (3) in a
match of one innings a side, when the allotted number of overs
expires. Results are recorded by the margin of runs or, if the
side batting last passes the other side’s total before all their
batsmen have been dismissed, by the number of their wickets
(i.e., batsmen still to be dismissed) outstanding.
Matches are decided either by the number of runs scored in one
innings each (usually for one-day matches) or on
the aggregate of runs made by each side in two innings. Test
matches last five days (30 playing hours), other first-class
matches from three to four days, and the bulk of club, school,
and village matches one day.
The nonbatting side takes up positions in the field. One man is
the bowler (similar to the pitcher in baseball), another is
the wicketkeeper (similar to the catcher), and the remaining
nine are positioned as the captain or the bowler directs (see
the figure). The first batsman (the striker) guards his wicket by
standing with at least one foot behind the popping crease. His
partner (the nonstriker) waits behind the popping crease at the
bowler’s end. The bowler tries to hit the batsman’s wicket or
to dismiss him in other ways.

Runs

The batsman tries to keep the bowler from hitting the wicket,
while also trying to hit the ball sufficiently hard to score a run,
i.e., enable him to run to the other end of the pitch before any
fieldsman can pick up the ball and throw it to either wicket to
knock off the bails. If the wicket is broken, either by a thrown
ball or by the wicketkeeper or bowler with ball in hand, before
either batsman is in his ground, the batsman is dismissed. The
striker does not have to run after he has hit the ball, nor does it
count in any way if he misses the ball or if his body is struck by
it. But if he gets a good hit and thinks he can score a run, he
races for the opposite wicket and his partner runs toward him.
When each has made good his ground by touching his bat beyond
the popping crease at the opposite end, one run is recorded to
the striker; if there is time, each will run back for a second or
more runs, crossing again. If an even number of runs is scored,
the striker will receive the next ball; if an odd number, then the
nonstriker will be at the wicket opposite the bowler and will
face the next ball. Any runs thus made count to the batsman,
otherwise they are extras. When a ball from a hit or any of the
extras mentioned below goes as far as the boundary, the runners
stop and four runs are scored. If the batsman hits the ball full
pitch over the boundary (on the fly), he scores six runs.
Extras
Only runs scored from the bat count to the batsman, but to the
side’s score may be added the following extras: (1) byes (when a
ball from the bowler passes the wicket without being touched by
the bat and the batsmen are able to make good a run); (2) leg
byes (when in similar circumstances the ball has touched any
part of the batsman’s body except his hand); (3) wides (when a
ball passes out of reach of the striker); (4) no balls (improperly
bowled balls; for a fair delivery the ball must be bowled, not
thrown, the arm neither bent nor jerked, and in the delivery
stride some part of the bowler’s front foot must be behind or
covering the popping crease), off which a batsman cannot be out
(except as noted under Methods of dismissal below) and
which, apprised in time by the umpire’s cry of “no ball,” he may
try to hit.
Overs
When a bowler has bowled six balls (occasionally, eight balls),
not counting wides and no balls, he has completed an over. The
batsmen remain where they are and a new over is begun by a
different bowler at the opposite wicket, with a corresponding
adjustment of the positions of the players in the field. If a
bowler delivers a complete over without a run being scored from
the bat (even though the opponents may have scored extras by
means of byes or leg byes), he has achieved a maiden over. In
one-day cricket, no bowler is allowed to bowl more than 10
overs in a 50-over match.
Methods of dismissal

It is important to remember that in cricket, unlike in baseball, a

batsman need not hit the ball bowled at him to maintain his at
bat. Further, should the batsman hit the ball and, in his
judgment, be unable to reach the other wicket before a
fieldsman can handle the ball, he may stay put at his wicket and
no penalty occurs. The batsman’s primary task is to defend the
wicket, not to get hits or score runs. That being said, there are
10 ways in which a batsman or striker can be dismissed (put
out); they are listed from most common to least:
1. The batsman is “caught out” if a ball hit by the batsman is caught
before it touches the ground.

2. He is “bowled out” if the bowler breaks the wicket, i.e., dislodges a bail
with the ball, which includes when the batsman hits the ball into his
own wicket.

3. The batsman is out “leg before wicket” (lbw) if he intercepts with any
part of his person (except his hand) that is in line between wicket and
wicket a ball that has not first touched his bat or his hand and that has
or would have pitched (hit the ground) in a straight line between the
wickets or on the off side provided the ball would have hit the wicket.
The batsman may also be out lbw if he intercepts the ball outside the
off-side stump having made no genuine attempt to play the ball with his
bat.
4. Either batsman is out by a “run out” if, while the ball is in play, his
wicket is broken while he is out of his ground (that is, he does not have
at least his bat in the crease). If the batsmen have passed each other,
 the one running for the wicket that is broken is out; if they have not
crossed, the one running from that wicket is out.
5. He is “stumped” if, in playing a stroke, he is outside the popping crease
(out of his ground) and the wicket is broken by the wicketkeeper with
ball in hand.

6. The batsman is out “hit wicket” if he breaks his own wicket with his bat
or any part of his person while playing the ball or setting off for a run.
7. Either batsman is out for handling the ball if, with the hand not holding
the bat, he willfully touches the ball while it is in play, unless with the
consent of the opposing side.

8. A batsman is out if he hits the ball, except in defense of his wicket,

after it has been struck or stopped by any part of his person.

9. Either batsman is out if he willfully obstructs the opposite side by word

or action.

10. An incoming batsman is “timed out” if he willfully takes more than

two minutes to come in.
Regardless of the means of dismissal, a batsman is not given out
until the fielding side has appealed to an umpire and that
umpire has declared the player out. Thus, when a play occurs in
which the batsman could be out, a fielder will appeal to the
umpire with the phrase “How was that?” (pronounced
“Howzat?”). Only then will the umpire rule on the play. (If a
player knows himself to have been out, however, he can declare
himself out.) No matter how a player was dismissed, even if by
leg before wicket or timed out, the vernacular of cricket is such
that it is said that the batting side has “lost a wicket.”

Strategy and technique

The disposition of the field will vary widely according to the
technique of the bowler or of the batsman, the condition of the
pitch, the state of the game, and the tactics determined by the
captain. He may place his fieldsmen as he thinks best, and he
may alter their positions, if he wishes, after each ball. There are
no foul lines in cricket, so a hit in any direction is a fair ball. The
objectives of the captain of the fielding side are: (1) to place his
men in positions where the batsman may give a catch, i.e., hit a
drive or a fly ball to a fielder and (2) to save runs, i.e., to block
the path of the ball from the batsman’s scoring strokes
(intercept or trap grounders). The tactical possibilities for a
captain in directing his bowlers and fieldsmen and the batsmen
are manifold and constitute one of the attractions of the game. In
one-day cricket, however, there are some restrictions on the
placement of fielders.
As there are 11 players on a team and 2 of them must be the
bowler and wicketkeeper, only 9 other positions can be occupied
at any one time. The field is spoken of as being divided
lengthwise into off and on, or leg, sides in relation to the
batsmen’s stance, depending upon whether he bats right- or left-
handed; the off side is the side facing the batsman, and the on,
or leg, side is the side behind him as he stands to receive the
ball. The fieldsmen will reposition themselves at the end of each
over and will adjust the field for a left- or right-handed
batsman.
To sum up, the objective of the bowler is primarily to get the
batsman out and only secondarily to prevent him from getting
runs, though these objectives have tended to become reversed in
limited-overs cricket. The objective of the batsman is to protect
his wicket first and then to make runs, for only runs can win a
match. The objective of each fielder is, first, to dismiss the
batsmen, and, second, to prevent the striker from making runs.

Bowling
Bowling can be right- or left-arm. For a fair delivery, the ball
must be propelled, usually overhand, without bending the elbow.
The bowler may run any desired number of paces as a part of his
delivery (with the restriction, of course, that he not cross the
popping crease). The ball generally hits the ground (the pitch)
before reaching the batsman, although it need not. The first
requisite of a good bowler is command of length—i.e., the ability
to pitch (bounce) the ball on a desired spot, usually at or slightly
in front of the batsman’s feet. The location varies with the pace
of the bowler, the state of the pitch, and the reach and technique
of the batsman. The second requisite is command of direction.
On this foundation a bowler may elaborate with variations—
finger spin (in which the ball rotates on its axis as it moves
towards the batsman), swerve (which describes a ball that
curves towards or away from the batsman once it has bounced
on the pitch), alteration of pace (the speed of the ball)—that lend
deceptiveness and uncertainty as to exactly where and how it
will pitch. A good-length ball is one that causes the batsman to
be uncertain whether to move forward to play his stroke or to
move back. A half volley is a ball pitched so far up to the
batsman that he can drive it fractionally after it has hit the
ground without having to move forward. A yorker is a ball
pitched on or inside the popping crease. A full pitch is a ball that
the batsmen can reach before it hits the ground. A long hop is a
ball short of good length.
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The primary purpose of the spin is to bring the ball up from the
pitch at an angle that is difficult for the batsman to anticipate.
The two swerves (curves) are the “inswinger,” which moves in
the air from off to leg (into the batsman), and the “away
swinger,” or “outswinger,” which swerves from leg to off (away
from the batsman). A “googly” (coined by cricketer B.J.T.
Bosanquet on the 1903–04 MCC tour) is a ball bowled with
fingerspin that breaks unexpectedly in the opposite direction
from that anticipated by the batsman given the motion of the
bowler. A more recent variation in bowling is known as reverse
swing. This delivery was pioneered by Pakistani players,
particularly by bowlers Wasim Akram and Waqar Younnus. If a
bowler is able to deliver at speeds of greater than 85 mph (135
kph), he can achieve reverse swing, meaning that without
altering the grip on the ball or the motion of delivery, the
bowler can cause the ball to swing (curve) in either direction.
This makes it difficult for the batsman to gauge the direction in
which the ball will move, as nothing about the bowler’s motion
is different between the swing and the reverse swing delivery.
Bowlers worldwide now employ this delivery, especially at the
end overs as the batsmen look to dominate the bowler. If a
bowler does not have the pace (speed) to deliver the reverse
swing, another way to cause the ball to move in that fashion is
to tamper with the surface of the ball (by scratching or scuffing
it). Charges of ball tampering increased dramatically in the
1990s.
Batting
A batsman may hit right-handed or left-handed. Good batting is
based on a straight (i.e., vertical) bat with its full face presented
to the ball, although a cross (i.e., horizontal) bat can be used
effectively to deal with short bowling. The chief strokes
are: forward stroke, in which the batsman advances his front leg
to the pitch (direction) of the ball and plays it in front of the
wicket (if played with aggressive intent, this stroke becomes the
drive); back stroke, in which the batsman moves his rear leg
back before playing the ball; leg glance (or glide), in which the
ball is deflected behind the wicket on the leg side; cut, in which
the batsman hits a ball on the uprise (after it has hit the ground
on the off side), square with or behind the wicket; and pull or
hook, in which the batsman hits a ball on the uprise through the
leg side.
Fielding

The ideal fieldsman is a fast runner with quick reactions and the
ability to throw quickly and accurately. He should be able to
anticipate the batsman’s strokes, to move quickly to cut off the
ball in its path, and to judge the flight of the ball in the air to
make a safe catch.
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Wicketkeeping
The wicketkeeper is a key member of the fielding side. He takes
position behind the striker’s wicket, 10 to 20 yards back for the
fast bowlers or directly behind for those of slower pace. He must
concentrate on every ball, being ready to stop a ball that passes
the wicket, to stump a batsman if he leaves his ground, or to
receive a ball returned to him by a fielder.