14 Facts About Cricket

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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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.

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

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

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.

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.

Cricket is played at both the international and domestic level.

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

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

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