14 Facts About Cricket

1.

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a 22-yard pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps.

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2.

Cricket is one of many games in the "club ball" sphere that basically involve hitting a ball with a hand-held implement; others include baseball, golf, hockey, tennis, squash, badminton and table tennis.

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3.

Cricket remained a low-key local pursuit for much of the 17th century.

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4.

Cricket was prominent in London as early as 1707 and, in the middle years of the century, large crowds flocked to matches on the Artillery Ground in Finsbury.

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5.

Cricket entered a new era in 1963 when English counties introduced the limited overs variant.

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6.

The first Limited Overs International was played in 1971 and the governing International Cricket Council, seeing its potential, staged the first limited overs Cricket World Cup in 1975.

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7.

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played on a cricket field between two teams of eleven players each.

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8.

The Laws of Cricket were updated in 2017 to allow substitutes to act as wicket-keepers.

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9.

Cricket is the only member of the fielding side who can effect a stumping and is the only one permitted to wear gloves and external leg guards.

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10.

The terse expression of the Spirit of Cricket now avoids the diversity of cultural conventions that exist in the detail of sportsmanship – or its absence.

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11.

Cricket is played at both the international and domestic level.

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12.

Cricket has had a broad impact on popular culture, both in the Commonwealth of Nations and elsewhere.

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13.

Cricket is the subject of works by noted English poets, including William Blake and Lord Byron.

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14.

Cricket has close historical ties with Australian rules football and many players have competed at top levels in both sports.

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