each on a field at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard-long pitch. The game is played by 120 million players in many countries, making it the world's second most popular sport after association football.[1][2][3] Each team takes its turn to bat, attempting to score runs, while the other team fields. Each turn is known as an innings (used for both singular and plural).
The bowler delivers the ball to the batsman who attempts to hit the ball with his bat away from the fielders so he can run to the other end of the pitch and score a run. Each batsman continues batting until he is out. The batting team continues batting until ten batsmen are out, or a specified number of overs of six balls have been bowled, at which point the teams switch roles and the fielding team comes in to bat.
In professional cricket, the length of a game ranges from 20 overs (T20) per side to Test cricket played over five days. The Laws of Cricket are maintained by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) with additional Standard Playing Conditions for Test matches and One Day Internationals.[4]
Cricket is generally believed to have been first played in southern England in the 16th century. By the end of the 18th century, it had become the national sport of England. The expansion of the British Empire led to cricket being played overseas and by the mid-19th century the first international match was held. ICC, the game's governing body, has 10 full members.[5] The game is most popular in Australasia, England, the Indian subcontinent, the West Indies and Southern Africa.
Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
3 Rules and game-play
3.1 Format of the game
3.2 Pitch, wickets and creases
3.2.1 Playing surface
3.2.2 Stumps, bails and creases
3.3 Bat and ball
3.4 Umpires and scorers
3.5 Innings
3.6 Overs
3.7 Team structure
3.8 Bowling
3.9 Fielding
3.10 Batting
3.11 Runs
3.12 Extras
3.13 Dismissals
3.14 Innings closed
3.15 Results
4 Distinctive elements
4.1 Individual focus
4.2 Spirit of the Game
4.3 Influence of weather
4.4 Uniqueness of each field
5 Types of matches
5.1 Test cricket
5.2 Limited overs
5.3 National championships
5.4 Club cricket
5.5 Other types of matches
6 International structure
6.1 Members
6.1.1 Full Members
6.1.2 Top Associate and Affiliate Members
7 Statistics
7.1 Scorecards
8 Culture
8.1 Influence on everyday life
8.2 In the arts and popular culture
8.3 Influence on other sports
9 See also
10 References
11 External links
Etymology
A number of words have been suggested as sources for the term "cricket". In the earliest definite reference to the sport in 1598 it is called creckett.[6]
One possible source for the name is the Old English cricc or cryce meaning a crutch or staff.[7] In Samuel Johnson's Dictionary, he derived cricket from "cryce, Saxon, a stick".[8] In Old French, the word criquet seems to have meant a kind of club or stick.[9]
Given the strong medieval trade connections between south-east England and the County of Flanders when the latter belonged to the Duchy of Burgundy, the name may have been derived from the Middle Dutch[10] krick(-e), meaning a stick (crook).[7]
Another possible source is the Middle Dutch word krickstoel, meaning a long low stool used for kneeling in church and which resembled the long low wicket with two stumps used in early cricket.[11]
According to Heiner Gillmeister, a European language expert of Bonn University, "cricket" derives from the Middle Dutch phrase for hockey, met de (krik ket)sen (i.e., "with the stick chase").[12] Dr Gillmeister believes that not only the name but the sport itself is of Flemish origin.[13]
History
Main article: History of cricket
Early cricket was at some time or another described as "a club striking a ball (like) the ancient games of club-ball, stool-ball, trap-ball, stob-ball".[14] Cricket can definitely be traced back to Tudor times in early 16th-century England.
Written evidence exists of a game known as creag being played by Prince Edward, the son of Edward I (Longshanks), at Newenden, Kent in 1301[15] and there has been speculation, but no evidence, that this was a form of cricket.
The earliest written evidence of the game of cricket may date back to France, in a letter written to King Louis XI in 1478, by a man named Estiavannet. He described a game being played by the villagers of Liettres (French Flanders) involving boules (balls) and croquet (a wooden post).[16][17] However this could have been a different game entirely, such as croquet. The earliest definite reference to cricket being played dates back to evidence given at a 1598 court case which mentions that "creckett" was played on common land in Guildford, Surrey, around 1550. The court in Guildford heard on Monday, 17 January 1597 (Julian date, equating to the year 1598 in the Gregorian calendar) from a 59-year-old coroner, John Derrick, who gave witness that when he was a scholar at the "Free School at Guildford", fifty years earlier