Cricket in England
Encyclopedia
Cricket
is known to have been played in England
since the 16th century. The Marylebone Cricket Club
, based at Lords, came up with the modern rules of play and conduct.
There are eighteen professional county clubs
, seventeen of them in England and one in Wales
. All eighteen counties are named after, and were originally representative of, historic counties.
Each summer the county clubs compete in the first class
County Championship
, which consists of two leagues of nine teams and in which matches are played over four days.
The same teams also play the one day Pro40, a one day knock out competition called the Friends Provident Trophy, and the short-form Twenty20 Cup
. These clubs are heavily dependent on subsidies from the England and Wales Cricket Board
, which makes its money from television and endorsement contracts and attendances at international matches.
The Minor Counties Cricket Championship
is a season-long competition in England for county clubs that do not have first-class status. There are nineteen teams representing historic English counties along with a Welsh minor counties team.
Below the county game, there are a raft of club competitions organised on a regional basis. ECB Premier Leagues
being the highest level. There are also non-ECB-affiliated leagues such as the Bradford Cricket League
, the Lancashire League and the Central Lancashire League.
, and has in place a regional Premier League
pyramid system for recreational club cricket in England and Wales.
English cricket grounds are smaller than the largest in some other countries, especially India
and Australia
, but the best of them have been modernised to a high standard, and two new international grounds have been built in recent years. The largest English cricket ground, Lord's
in London, is internationally regarded as the "home of cricket".
The following other stadiums also have Test match status The Oval
(South London
), Old Trafford (Manchester
), Trent Bridge
(Nottingham
), Headingley
(Leeds
), Edgbaston
(Birmingham
) and Riverside
(Durham
).
On November 24, 2006, the Rose Bowl, Southampton was awarded provisional test venue status by the England and Wales Cricket Board
, with the prospect of the ground hosting its first Test match in 2010.
(ECB) is the governing body of cricket
in England
and Wales
. It was created on 1 January 1997 combining the roles of the Test and County Cricket Board
(TCCB), the National Cricket Association (NCA) and the Cricket Council.
They are full members of the International Cricket Council
.
, One Day International and Twenty20
nation. England played in the first ever Test match in 1877 (against Australia
in Melbourne
) and also the first ever One-day International in 1971 (also against Australia in Melbourne).
Each summer two foreign national teams visit England to play seven Test matches and numerous One Day Internationals. In the British winter the England team tours abroad. The highest profile rival of the England cricket team is the Australian team, with which it competes for The Ashes
, one of the most famous trophies in British sport.
In 2005 the ECB concluded a commercial arrangement with BSkyB
which gave Sky the exclusive television rights for live Test cricket
in England for four years (the 2006 to 2009 seasons). This deal, which took live Test cricket
for home England matches away from terrestrial television
for the first time generated substantial future revenues for English cricket, but was criticised by many England cricket supporters and others.
The Cricket Writers' Club Young Cricketer of the Year
is an annual award voted by the Cricket Writers' Club for the best young cricket player in England and Wales, and has been awarded since 1950.
Cricket is also one of the most popular participation sports in Britain, with most villages running a side every Sunday through the season, and towns putting out 2, 3, 4 and occasionally 4 sides for Saturday league matches, and 1 or 2 sides on a Sunday.
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
is known to have been played in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
since the 16th century. The Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
, based at Lords, came up with the modern rules of play and conduct.
History
- History of English cricket to 1696
- 1697 to 1725 English cricket seasons
- Overview of English cricket 1726 - 1815
- Overview of English cricket 1816 - 1918
Domestic competitions
County cricket
County cricket is the highest level of domestic cricket in England and Wales. For the 2010 season, see 2010 English cricket season.-First-class counties:...
, seventeen of them in England and one in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. All eighteen counties are named after, and were originally representative of, historic counties.
Each summer the county clubs compete in the first class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
, which consists of two leagues of nine teams and in which matches are played over four days.
The same teams also play the one day Pro40, a one day knock out competition called the Friends Provident Trophy, and the short-form Twenty20 Cup
Twenty20 Cup
The Twenty20 Cup was a cricket competition for English and Welsh county clubs.In 2010, it has been replaced by Friends Provident t20 as the domestic Twenty20 competition.-History:...
. These clubs are heavily dependent on subsidies from the England and Wales Cricket Board
England and Wales Cricket Board
The England and Wales Cricket Board is the governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was created on 1 January 1997 combining the roles of the Test and County Cricket Board, the National Cricket Association and the Cricket Council...
, which makes its money from television and endorsement contracts and attendances at international matches.
The Minor Counties Cricket Championship
Minor Counties Cricket Championship
The Minor Counties Cricket Championship is a season-long competition in England that is contested by those county cricket clubs that do not have first-class status...
is a season-long competition in England for county clubs that do not have first-class status. There are nineteen teams representing historic English counties along with a Welsh minor counties team.
Below the county game, there are a raft of club competitions organised on a regional basis. ECB Premier Leagues
ECB Premier Leagues
In 1997 the ECB published "Raising the Standard", the ECB Management Board Blueprint for the Future Playing Structure of cricket. This introduced the concept of ECB Premier Leagues, designed to raise the playing standard of the top tier of club cricket and to bridge the gap between recreational...
being the highest level. There are also non-ECB-affiliated leagues such as the Bradford Cricket League
Bradford Cricket League
The Bradford Cricket League is an amateur cricket competition centred in Bradford, West Yorkshire...
, the Lancashire League and the Central Lancashire League.
Derbies
The following games are considered derbies:-- War of the Roses - Lancashire v Yorkshire
- Battle of London (cross-Thames derby) - Middlesex v Surrey
- South Coast Special - Hampshire v Sussex
- West Midlands Derby - Warwickshire v Worcestershire
- Westcountry Derby- Somerset v Gloucestershire
Recreational club competitions
The ECB runs a national club knock-out competition, the Cockspur CupECB National Club Cricket Championship
The ECB National Club Cricket Championship is a knockout club cricket competition in England. The most successful clubs have been Scarborough Cricket Club from Yorkshire, with five titles and Old Hill Cricket Club from the Metropolitan county of West Midlands , with four.-Winners:ECB National Club...
, and has in place a regional Premier League
ECB Premier Leagues
In 1997 the ECB published "Raising the Standard", the ECB Management Board Blueprint for the Future Playing Structure of cricket. This introduced the concept of ECB Premier Leagues, designed to raise the playing standard of the top tier of club cricket and to bridge the gap between recreational...
pyramid system for recreational club cricket in England and Wales.
Cricket grounds
- See main article: List of cricket grounds in England and Wales
English cricket grounds are smaller than the largest in some other countries, especially India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, but the best of them have been modernised to a high standard, and two new international grounds have been built in recent years. The largest English cricket ground, Lord's
Lord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...
in London, is internationally regarded as the "home of cricket".
The following other stadiums also have Test match status The Oval
The Oval
The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
(South London
South London
South London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...
), Old Trafford (Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
), Trent Bridge
Trent Bridge
Trent Bridge is a Test, One-day international and County cricket ground located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England and is also the headquarters of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. As well as International cricket and Nottinghamshire's home games, the ground has hosted the Finals Day of...
(Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
), Headingley
Headingley Stadium
Headingley Stadium is a sporting complex in the Leeds suburb of Headingley in West Yorkshire, England. It is the home of Yorkshire County Cricket Club, rugby league team Leeds Rhinos and rugby union team Leeds Carnegie ....
(Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
), Edgbaston
Edgbaston Cricket Ground
Edgbaston Cricket Ground, also known as the County Ground or Edgbaston Stadium, is a cricket ground in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham, England...
(Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
) and Riverside
Riverside Ground
The Riverside Ground, officially called the Emirates Durham International Cricket Ground, is a cricket venue in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, England. It is home to Durham County Cricket Club....
(Durham
Durham
Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...
).
On November 24, 2006, the Rose Bowl, Southampton was awarded provisional test venue status by the England and Wales Cricket Board
England and Wales Cricket Board
The England and Wales Cricket Board is the governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was created on 1 January 1997 combining the roles of the Test and County Cricket Board, the National Cricket Association and the Cricket Council...
, with the prospect of the ground hosting its first Test match in 2010.
Governing body
The England and Wales Cricket BoardEngland and Wales Cricket Board
The England and Wales Cricket Board is the governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was created on 1 January 1997 combining the roles of the Test and County Cricket Board, the National Cricket Association and the Cricket Council...
(ECB) is the governing body of cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. It was created on 1 January 1997 combining the roles of the Test and County Cricket Board
Test and County Cricket Board
The Test and County Cricket Board was established in 1968 to provide Test and county cricket in England, replacing the functions of the Board of Control for Test Matches and the Advisory County Cricket Committee. In 1992 Scotland severed their ties with the TCCB and England...
(TCCB), the National Cricket Association (NCA) and the Cricket Council.
They are full members of the International Cricket Council
International Cricket Council
The International Cricket Council 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.The...
.
National team
England is a founding Test cricketTest cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
, One Day International and Twenty20
Twenty20
Twenty20 is a form of cricket, originally introduced in England for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board , in 2003. A Twenty20 game involves two teams, each has a single innings, batting for a maximum of 20 overs. Twenty20 cricket is also known as T20 cricket...
nation. England played in the first ever Test match in 1877 (against Australia
Australian cricket team
The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...
in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
) and also the first ever One-day International in 1971 (also against Australia in Melbourne).
Each summer two foreign national teams visit England to play seven Test matches and numerous One Day Internationals. In the British winter the England team tours abroad. The highest profile rival of the England cricket team is the Australian team, with which it competes for The Ashes
The Ashes
The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...
, one of the most famous trophies in British sport.
Popularity
Cricket is probably the second most widely covered sport, and the fortunes of the England team are closely followed by many people who never attend a live game.In 2005 the ECB concluded a commercial arrangement with BSkyB
British Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting Group plc is a satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with operations in the United Kingdom and the Ireland....
which gave Sky the exclusive television rights for live Test cricket
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
in England for four years (the 2006 to 2009 seasons). This deal, which took live Test cricket
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
for home England matches away from terrestrial television
Terrestrial television
Terrestrial television is a mode of television broadcasting which does not involve satellite transmission or cables — typically using radio waves through transmitting and receiving antennas or television antenna aerials...
for the first time generated substantial future revenues for English cricket, but was criticised by many England cricket supporters and others.
The Cricket Writers' Club Young Cricketer of the Year
Cricket Writers' Club Young Cricketer of the Year
The Young Cricketer of the Year is an annual award voted by the Cricket Writers' Club for the best young cricket player in England and Wales, and has been awarded since 1950. Former recipients include Fred Trueman, Geoffrey Boycott, Ian Botham and David Gower....
is an annual award voted by the Cricket Writers' Club for the best young cricket player in England and Wales, and has been awarded since 1950.
Cricket is also one of the most popular participation sports in Britain, with most villages running a side every Sunday through the season, and towns putting out 2, 3, 4 and occasionally 4 sides for Saturday league matches, and 1 or 2 sides on a Sunday.
See also
- Sport in EnglandSport in EnglandSport plays a prominent role in English life. Popular team sports in England are association football, cricket, rugby union and rugby league. Major individual sports include badminton, athletics, tennis, golf, motorsport and horseracing...
- Cricket in IrelandCricket in IrelandCricket is a long established sport in Ireland. Cricket is governed by Cricket Ireland, which maintains the Ireland Cricket team and Ireland women's cricket team. Following the team's success in 2007 Cricket World Cup, the sport increased its fanbase in Ireland...
- Cricket in ScotlandCricket in ScotlandCricket has a lower profile in Scotland than it has in neighbouring England. Scotland is not one of the ten leading cricketing nations which play Test matches, but the Scottish national team is now allowed to play full One Day Internationals even outside the Cricket World Cup, in which Scotland...
- Cricket in WalesCricket in WalesCricket is a popular sport in Wales. With its roots beginning in the late 18th century, Cricket has been played throughout Wales ever since. Glamorgan County Cricket Club is Wales' only first-class team, and Welsh players are eligible to represent England as the team represents both England and Wales...