Cricket Facts & Figures

Cricket is a sport particularly popular in England. Teams of 11 players win by having their batsmen score runs and their pitchers bowling out the opposing team. According to Skynet.be, cricket is played in 161 countries in the world, with over 4,000 professional cricket players. Although it has some resemblance to baseball, cricket has its own rich and unique history, as well as interesting facts and statistics.

  1. History

    • According to Athleticscholarships.net, cricket has its roots in the sheep country of Southeast England. References to cricket go back in history as far as 1300 in accounts of King Edward's reign. Although primitive versions of the game existed for many years with many rule variations, the first recorded game of modern cricket was in Kent in 1646.

    Laws of Cricket

    • The rules of cricket are formally known as the Laws of Cricket, and are determined and maintained by the Marylebone Cricket Club. There are 42 laws that outline every possible rule scenario in cricket to maintain uniformity in games around the world. One cricket law outlines the type of ball to be used, which is specified as between 8 13/16 and 9 inches in circumference, and weighs from 5.5 to 5.75 ounces. Another law states that a substitute may be brought in to play for an injured player until that player recovers.

    Cricket Figures

    • Cricket statistics include figures based on batting, bowling, wicketkeeping, fielding, and overall team records. Some websites, such as Jdsport.com, use baseball's sabermetrics system to analyze cricket statistics to come up with game projections and overall season predictions. Sabermetrics studies the objective measurements of cricket games, such as number of points by each team and player, number of bats, etc. to devise predictions about game outcomes. For instance, Donald Bradman's legendary batting average of 99.94, or Alan Border's 452 cumulative runs in the World Cup can help sabermetrics determine the probable winner of a game.

    Animals and Cricket

    • There has been a long recorded history of animals interfering with cricket matches. According to Usicricket.tripod.com, a sparrow interrupted play of a cricket match in 1936 when it was struck by a ball and killed. The sparrow is preserved on display at Lord's Cricket Ground in London. Another incident in 1957 during a Kent vs. Hampshire match involved a mouse stopping play when its young owner ran onto the field to trap it in his hat.

    Miscellaneous Cricket Facts

    • According to Cricketequipmentusa.com, the only man to score two test centuries is Brian Lara, who achieved this in 1994. A test century occurs when a batsman hits 100 or more runs in one inning of a test league cricket game. The first official test match was played between Australia and England in 1877 and lasted 4 days. This led to the establishment of the test league, which are international cricket championship matches, and the most popular form of cricket.