In professional cricket this ranges from a limit of 20 overs per side (Limited Overs Cricket) to a game played over 5 days (Test cricket). Depending on the length of the game being played, there are different rules that govern how a game is won, lost, drawn or tied.
In one form of cricket, winning the game is achieved by scoring the most runs, even if the opposition has not been completely dismissed.
Many grounds have facilities to cover the cricket pitch (or the wicket). Covers can be in the form of sheets being laid over the wicket to elevated covers on wheels (using the same concept as an umbrella) to even hover covers which form an airtight seal around the wicket. However, most grounds do not have the facilities to cover the outfield. This means that in the event of heavy bouts of bad weather, games may be cancelled, abandoned or suspended due to an unsafe outfield.
There is also a short interval between innings. Historically, a form of cricket known as single wicket has been extremely successful and many of these contests in the 18th and 19th centuries qualify as major cricket matches.
Teams in Test cricket, first-class cricket and club cricket wear traditional white uniforms and use red cricket balls. Test cricket is the highest standard of first-class cricket.
Teams in limited overs games, such as ODIs and T20s, wear multi-colored uniforms and use white cricket balls. ]Standard limited overs cricket was introduced in England in the 1963 season in the form of a knockout cup contested by the first-class county clubs. In 1969, a national league competition was established. The concept was gradually introduced to the other major cricket countries and the first limited overs international was played in 1971. In 1975, the first Cricket World Cup took place in England. Limited overs cricket has seen various innovations including the use of multi-coloured kit and floodlit matches using a white ball.
In practice, matches sometimes continue on a second day if they have been interrupted or postponed by bad weather. The main objective of a limited overs match is to produce a definite result and so a conventional draw is not possible, but matches can be undecided if the scores are tied or if bad weather prevents a result. Each team plays one innings only and faces a limited number of overs, usually a maximum of 50. The Cricket World Cup is held in one day format and the last World Cup in 2007 was won by Australia. The next World Cup will hosted by India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in 2011.
In Estonia, teams gather over the winter for the annual Ice Cricket tournament. The game juxtaposes the normal summer pursuit with harsh, wintry conditions. Rules are otherwise similar to those for the six-a-side game.
John Major, More Than A Game , HarperCollins, 2007 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 , at Newenden, Kent in 1301 John Leach, From Lads to Lord's quotes the precise date of the accounting entry as Thursday 10 March 1300 (Julian date), which is in the Gregorian year of 1301.
Bowen, p.33 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").
Timothy J McCann, Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century , Sussex Record Society, 2004 in 1859 During the 17th century, numerous references indicate the growth of cricket in the south-east of England.
Test cricket continued to expand during the 20th century with the addition of the West Indies, India, and New Zealand before the Second World War and then Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh in the post-war period.
The governing International Cricket Council (ICC) saw its potential and staged the first limited overs Cricket World Cup in 1975.
The International Cricket Council (ICC), which has its headquarters in Dubai, is the international governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name in 1989.
It also appoints the umpires and referees that officiate at all sanctioned Test matches, One Day International and Twenty20 Internationals. Each nation has a national cricket board which regulates cricket matches played in its country. The cricket board also selects the national squad and organises home and away tours for the national team.
Source: Wikipedia > Cricket
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