Cricket! It’s not just a leaping aggravating bug that can fuck up your crops. It also happens to be England’s national summer sport! Originating in South East England, variations of cricket have existed for hundreds of years and like soccer, it was exported to other parts of the British Empire — such as Australia, South Africa, India, and Pakistan — throughout their reign during their mission to colonize the whole world. Though the British no longer occupy those countries, the influence of cricket still remain and the sport is as popular as it has ever been.

Interested in learning some facts and rules about the sport of cricket? Here are a whole bunch of them!

 

 

1. When was the sport of cricket invented?

It is believed that the earliest version of cricket started in the early 1200s with kids in the countryside bowling a ball at a tree stump, or the gate of an animal pen that was made up of two uprights with a crossbar on top. The gate was known as a wicket and the crossbar was the bail. The game of cricket began to evolve from there, with players preferring using the gate as opposed to the tree stump because of the way the bail would come off the wicket. The earliest known reference to cricket appears in the records of a legal case in Surrey, South East England in 1597 when this coroner named John Derrick testified that he used to play cricket when he was a kid around 1550.

 

2. When was the first cricket match?

Mentions of bat-and-ball games similar to cricket date all the way back to medieval times, and there are plenty of written references to cricket specifically throughout the 1600s. As such, there were obviously plenty of cricket matches but according to the folks at Britannica, the first earliest known official cricket match with 11 players on each side took place in Sussex in 1697. The participants bet 50 guineas on the outcome of the game, which was about $63 USD.

 

3. How many players and what positions does a cricket team have?

In cricket, there are two (2) teams of eleven (11) players on each team. The batting team consists of two (2) players on either end of the pitch: a striking batter who is facing the bowler and a non-striking batter.

The objective of the fielding team in cricket is to limit the number of runs the strikers score and to get them out — not unlike the defensive fielding team in baseball. Three (3) of these positions are stationed around the pitch: The Bowler (kind of like a pitcher in baseball), the Wicket-keeper (a specialist like a baseball catcher who is positioned behind the wicket), and the First Slip, who hangs out just out of range of the Wicket-keeper to catch short-range balls. There is often a Second Slip and Third Slip as well. Generally, the captain of the team decides where the fielders should be positioned throughout the field.

 

4. What is the pitch in cricket?

The pitch is the rectangular area in the middle of the oval playing surface cricket matches take place upon. The pitch is 20.12 meters by 3.04 meters — or 22 yards by 10 feet in American. The pitch has four (4) painted white lines on either end that consist of two (2) return creases, a bowling crease, and a popping crease. The edge of the oval has a boundary that demarcates a diameter between 450 and 500 feet. Like baseball fields, there is no uniform dimensions of a cricket field and the diameter can vary.

 

5. How do you score runs in cricket?

Runs are scored when the batter hits the ball and runs to the opposite end of the pitch. At the same time, their batting partner must run in the opposite direction. The team score runs when both batters touch the floor behind the popping crease that is four (4) feet in front of stumps, with either their body or bat. If the fielding team does not recover the ball and the batsmen return safely, they will score two (2) or more runs. Around the oval pitch is a boundary line. If the ball is hit past the boundary line on the ground, a team records four (4) runs. If the ball is hit over the boundary line in the air, the batting team records six (6) runs — not unlike a grand slam home run in baseball that has more points.

 

6. How many different versions of cricket are there?

There are basically three (3) major formats of cricket played around the world: test matches, One-Day International (ODI), and Twenty20 (T20). Games are played under the rules and regulations governed by the International Cricket Council. Test cricket is the sport’s traditional format, and it has been played since 1877. The games are marathons, and can take up to five (5) days and is a true test of stamina. ODI cricket is a faster-paced style of the game that makes it different in terms of tactics and strategy. The format began began in 1971 and by the 1980s, it had become a pretty popular form of cricket. The new kid on the cricket block is T20 cricket, which is short, fast, and full of action. While test matches take up to five days to play, a T20 match can be played in three hours.

 

7. What is an over in cricket?

An over occurs when a player from the outfield team bowls six (6) balls to a batsman from the opposing team. The captain of the fielding team is allowed to select any of the players from the outfield team to bowl — the only player that cannot bowl is the wicketkeeper. Once the six (6) balls have been bowled, the match umpire will yell, “over!” A different bowl will then be selected by the captain to bowl the next six (6) balls. At this time, the outfield players will change positions.

 

 

8. What is the run-up in cricket?

Cricket bowlers do not often start from a standing position when bowling the ball to opposing batters. Bowlers tend to take a run-up of varying distances before releasing the ball. When a bowler makes the run-up, they have to release the ball behind the bowling crease, and there are different run-ups from different kinds of bowlers. Spin bowlers usually have a short run-up, medium bowlers have a run-up of around ten (10) steps. Meanwhile, there are fast bowlers who will take long run-ups that allow them to build up more speed with the ball.

 

9. What is a century in cricket?

A century is a pretty important statistic in cricket. The term specifically refers to 100 runs scored within a single inning of a game. A batsman aims to score a century as it is a significant personal achievement. Batsman can also tally half centuries, double centuries, triple centuries, or quadrupled. In 1877, Australia batsman Charlie Bannerman scored the first-ever century.

 

10. Who is the fastest bowler in cricket?

At the 2003 Cricket World Cup, Shoaib Akhtar of Pakistan bowled the fastest recorded ball in cricket history. Nicknamed the “Rawalpindi Express,” the right-handed Shoaib Akhtar was clocked at 161.3 kilometers per hour — which is 100.2 miles per hour — in a match against England.

 

11. What was the longest cricket game ever?

According to Guinness World Records, England and South Africa played the longest-ever cricket match in March 1939 in Durban, South Africa. The match lasted for 12 days and remarkably, the game finished without a winner. Now known as the “Timeless Test,” the game went from March 3 to March 14 and lasted an incredible 43 hours and 16 minutes. The cricket match featured 5,447 total balls bowled and the teams combined for 1,981 runs.

 

12. Do women play cricket?

Yes! Totally. Women and girls absolutely play cricket, and have been doing so since before the first recorded women’s cricket match on July 26, 1745. The first known women’s cricket club was the White Heather Club formed in Yorkshire in 1887 and the Original English Lady Cricketers were a traveling professional women’s cricket team of the era. The ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup has been held since 1973 and features ODI matches, while the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup is also a big deal. There is even a Team USA Women’s cricket team. Women’s cricket continues to grow, and team at Female Cricket has been documenting it relentlessly.

 

 

13. Is Cricket an Olympic sport?

No. The only time cricket has been featured in the Olympics was at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. Only two (2) teams competed: Great Britain (who won the gold medal) and France (who was mostly made up of English expats). In recent years, however, the International Cricket Council (ICC) have been making plans to campaign cricket to be included starting with the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.

 

14. What are cricket bats made of?

Today, baseball bats are most often made of maple wood. However, the common wood of choice for a cricket bat is willow — preferably from trees grown in Suffolk or Essex — due to being shock-resistant while also being lightweight. The cricket bat has seen little evolution over the last 200 years and remain largely the same as they were a couple centuries ago. The flat blade of the cricket bat is made using a single piece of willow and the handle is made of cane.

 

 

Click on the cricket bat to buy your own!

 

15. Where can I buy equipment to play cricket?

In addition to a bat, you’ll need a set of high-quality cricket stumps and bails to wicket up in your backyard — preferably something that meets ICC Regulation so you can do it like the professionals do. Of course, you’ll also need some cricket balls. Some are made to look like tennis balls, but heavier at 1.7 pounds. More advanced and competitive cricket players will want shoes, helmets, batting pads, kit bags, and other accessories that can enhance one’s enjoyment and safety playing cricket. Chances are, you probably do not have a specialized cricket store in your neighborhood like CricketZoneUSA in New York City, but you can definitely give them a call.

 

Click on the cricket wicket and cricket ball to buy your own!

 

 

 

Concluding thoughts about Cricket!

Sports fans — especially fans of bat-and-ball-based games like baseball — will find lots of fascination and enjoyment in cricket. That is, if you’re not already a fan of one of the most popular sports in the world. Cricket isn’t as accessible in the United States the way basketball, baseball, and football are, but it’s definitely exciting enough to seek out on specialized sports channels and streaming services. Want to check out other facts about weird and unusual sports you probably don’t know how to play? See our lists on biathlon, snowboarding, curling, luge, and speed skating!

 

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