Jack Russell (cricketer and artist)
Encyclopedia
Robert Charles "Jack" Russell MBE
(born 15 August 1963, Stroud
, Gloucestershire
, England
) is a retired English
international cricket
er, now known for his abilities as an artist
, as a cricket wicketkeeping coach and football goalkeeping coach.
er from his father John at Stroud Cricket Club, and at Archway School
. Two days before his fourteenth birthday, he saw a catch on television: McCosker
caught Knott
bowled Greig
, Headingley
1977. Russell himself has commented: "Low down, one handed, across first slip. Brilliant. I thought then that I would like to be able to do that. That's where it started, that was the inspiration [for becoming a wicket keeper]."
The other inspiration cited was the death of his brother David. But the death of his brother, who died of a brain haemorrhage changed this and Russell quickly rededicated himself. Archway School's sports master Ricky Rutter guided Russell towards Gloucestershire County Cricket Club
, and as a result Russell stayed at Archway for one year of Sixth Form college. He then headed to Bristol Technical College
to study accountancy, staying for one before joining Gloucestershire full time in 1981.
on account of the latter's superior batting ability. Russell however was a great wicket-keeper and could also be an unorthodox but resolute lower-order batsman. In 1990, he was one of Wisden's
five Cricketers' of the Year, Wisden stating:
It was his batting that got the fans on their feet - not the high scores, but the determination to stay and grit it out against the Australians. So, with mentor Alan Knott
, Russell turned up early for the second Test at Lord's and for twenty minutes had the MCC ground staff boys throw plastic balls at him - without Russell batting a stroke, just ducking and diving to miss the short deliveries. That day, he also adopted some suitably pungent language in response to the Aussies' sledging, and after he had scored 64 not out, the Aussies never tried it on him again. In the third Test at Edgbaston, he scored 42, the second highest score of the first innings. But his greatest achievement was to come in the fourth Test at Old Trafford, where in the summer of the South African cricket rebels and near-certain defeat, for six hours he held up Aussie celebrations by scoring his maiden Test century and highest ever score in cricket, 128 not out, to almost save the Test for England. Russell had achieved something only one other Englishman had in the twentieth century, Billy Griffith against West Indies in 1947-48 - but it was largely forgotten in the furore of the South African debacle, and the loss of the series. Russell finished the Ashes series as England's third most successful batsman with 314 runs and an average of 39.25.
The summer of 1989 gave Russell a run in the England side, but his batting never reached such scoring heights again, and the game was moving forward in a new era: a six-hour stand for 29 was not what was required. For reasons of balance and depth in batting, Alec Stewart
often got the gloves ahead of Russell due to his superior batting and increasingly reliable keeping. Russell was sometimes called up when England needed a good man behind the stumps, but slowly he faded away until 1998, when he decided to retire after being left out of that year's Ashes tour squad.
Russell turned himself into part of the hub of Gloucestershire's one-day success, and together with captain Mark Alleyne
won a couple of ODI caps. In 2002 he set a world record when conceding no byes in Northamptonshire's mammoth 746-9 declared. After an inconsistent season due to persistent back problems, he retired from county cricket in 2004, just short of the age of 41.
His fitness regime included running every day, and while driving between games Russell would be clad in a sleeping bag
with the bottom cut out, so as not to get a chill in his back and legs. He also had a block fitted beneath the accelerator, so as to avoid over-stretching the Achilles tendon
.
As can happen to many cricketers, if their era coincides with others who are as good, they are susceptible to whatever selection policies prevail. Jack Russell vied for many years with Alec Stewart for one place. Stewart, a superb player of quick bowling, often struggled against spin. This debate of whether Stewart (slightly inferior to Russell with the gloves but a far superior batsman - especially against quicks) versus Russells's better glove work but lack of results against quick bowling raged from around 1990-1997. When England finally realised that Stewart's best position was opening and not keeping in 1998, Russell was 35. On that tour of the West Indies in 1998 Stewart opened the batting with some success but Russell endured a poor (for him) match in Guyana crucially dropping Dinanath Ramnarine. With Stewart being made captain immediately after this tour - the writing was on the wall for Russell as Stewart batted at 3, kept wicket and captained the side from 1998-1999. The selectors signalled the end of Russell's international career in 1998-1999 when they selected Warren Hegg as Stewart's deputy.
Some of his more notable oddities included a diet to supplement his extreme fitness regime, which consisted largely of tea, biscuits and baked beans. Like his mentor Alan Knott, a heavy tea drinker, Russell would often get through 20 cups a day. He used to dip the tea bag in once, add plenty of milk, then hang it on a nail ready for subsequent use. In the final Test of the 1989 Ashes series (against Australia) at the Oval, Derek Randall
counted that he used the same bag for all five days, which roughly equates to 100 cups. For lunch, Russell would eat two Weetabix
, soaked for exactly eight minutes in milk, and a mashed banana. For dinner, steak and chips or chicken without skin was a favourite meal - Russell once spent every night of a Test at a Chinese restaurant in Perth
, ordering cashew chicken: without the cashews.
He also insisted on always wearing the same battered old flowerpot sunhat during his time out in the field, a constant companion from his debut in 1981 to his last game in 2004. Russell lined up the ball with the specially cut back rim, but it ended up rather worn out. Only his wife Aileen was allowed to repair it, while Russell carried an emergency repair kit of cotton thread and rubber. Its state of age and hence apparent disrepair caused more than one argument with the authorities. Russell refused to wear the official coloured one day sun hat in South Africa, with a compromise was only reached when Russell agreed to wear his old flowerpot hat inside the new sun hat. On a second occasion in the West Indies, he agreed to wash it, and placed it to dry in an oven. Forgotten and resultantly over baked, the hat caught fire and was only just rescued from total incineration - the top collapsed like puff pastry on removal. The fire damage could still be seen on the hat years later.
Another eccentricity was his trademark black wicket keeping gloves. These were falling to pieces, but when he was advised to get new ones, he simply claimed that the old ones gave him a better feel for the ball. Allegedly the gloves were originally owned by Russell and then given away to a fan. When his previous gloves finally fell to bits. Russell managed to track down where the other gloves were. The fan had left them in a garage, and was only too pleased to donate them back to the eccentric wicket-keeper.
Russell has stated his desire that his hands be amputated after his death, and preserved in formaldehyde
.
When Russell was on tour in India in (year), sharing a room with Craig White, he would wash his underwear, white y-fronts, and leave them to dry on the bed-side lamp.
railway modelling. During a rainy early season county cricket game at Worcestershire, while sitting waiting for the rain to stop, he walked into town and bought a sketch-pad and some pencils.
When England toured Pakistan in 1987, Russell had two days cricket in a six-week tour, so kept his mind sane through sketching and photography
. On return to the UK he displayed 40 sketches in a gallery in Bristol, which sold out in two days.
Russell now has his own gallery in Chipping Sodbury
, and exhibits in London, displaying a portfolio of sights and scenes of his home area in Gloucestershire, architecture, classic military battlefields and wildlife. Russell also undertakes commissions, and has painted comedian Eric Sykes
(a fellow wicket keeper), Sir Norman Wisdom
, Sir Bobby Charlton
, Eric Clapton
, Henry Allingham
and HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
. He states that his style shows influences of impressionism
and pointillism
.
transmission of the Ashes series, Russell was commissioned by BSkyB to hand-paint five Sky+ HD digibox
es.
In 2007, Russell was appointed goal-keeping
coach for football team Forest Green Rovers
who play in the Conference National
. After his mentorship from Alan Knott
throughout his own career, Russell later provided one-to-one coaching for wicketkeeper Geraint Jones
. He also provided coaching and mentorship at Gloucestershire in 2008.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 15 August 1963, Stroud
Stroud, Gloucestershire
Stroud is a market town and civil parish in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District.Situated below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills at the meeting point of the Five Valleys, the town is noted for its steep streets and cafe culture...
, Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
, 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...
) is a retired English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
international 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...
er, now known for his abilities as an artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, as a cricket wicketkeeping coach and football goalkeeping coach.
Biography
Russell gained the support he needed to become a first-class cricketFirst-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...
er from his father John at Stroud Cricket Club, and at Archway School
Archway School
Archway School is a comprehensive co-educational school for pupils aged 11 to 18 in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England. It holds the status of a Specialist Technology College. The headteacher is Mr Colin Belford....
. Two days before his fourteenth birthday, he saw a catch on television: McCosker
Rick McCosker
Richard Bede McCosker is a former New South Wales and Australian cricketer.McCosker played in 25 Tests and 14 One Day Internationals in a career spanning 1975 to 1982 playing as a right hand batsman....
caught Knott
Alan Knott
Alan Philip Eric Knott is a former Kent County Cricket Club and English cricketer, as a wicket-keeper-batsman....
bowled Greig
Tony Greig
Anthony "Tony" William Greig is a former English Test cricketer and currently a commentator.Born in Queenstown, South Africa, Greig qualified to play for England by virtue of his Scottish father. He was a tall batting all-rounder who bowled both medium pace and off spin. He became captain of the...
, 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 ....
1977. Russell himself has commented: "Low down, one handed, across first slip. Brilliant. I thought then that I would like to be able to do that. That's where it started, that was the inspiration [for becoming a wicket keeper]."
The other inspiration cited was the death of his brother David. But the death of his brother, who died of a brain haemorrhage changed this and Russell quickly rededicated himself. Archway School's sports master Ricky Rutter guided Russell towards Gloucestershire County Cricket Club
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Gloucestershire. Its limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators....
, and as a result Russell stayed at Archway for one year of Sixth Form college. He then headed to Bristol Technical College
University of the West of England
The University of the West of England is a university based in the English city of Bristol. Its main campus is at Frenchay, about five miles north of the city centre...
to study accountancy, staying for one before joining Gloucestershire full time in 1981.
County and Test career
Jack Russell was involved in a number of controversial Test selections. He was frequently being passed over in favour of Alec StewartAlec Stewart
Alec James Stewart OBE is a retired English cricketer, a right-handed batsman-wicketkeeper and former captain of the England cricket team...
on account of the latter's superior batting ability. Russell however was a great wicket-keeper and could also be an unorthodox but resolute lower-order batsman. In 1990, he was one of Wisden's
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom...
five Cricketers' of the Year, Wisden stating:
At the beginning of 1989, Jack Russell had played only one Test for England and was not considered a good enough batsman to merit a place in the one-day squad to face the Australians. By the end of the year he was the only Englishman who could justifiably expect a place in anyone's World XI.
It was his batting that got the fans on their feet - not the high scores, but the determination to stay and grit it out against the Australians. So, with mentor Alan Knott
Alan Knott
Alan Philip Eric Knott is a former Kent County Cricket Club and English cricketer, as a wicket-keeper-batsman....
, Russell turned up early for the second Test at Lord's and for twenty minutes had the MCC ground staff boys throw plastic balls at him - without Russell batting a stroke, just ducking and diving to miss the short deliveries. That day, he also adopted some suitably pungent language in response to the Aussies' sledging, and after he had scored 64 not out, the Aussies never tried it on him again. In the third Test at Edgbaston, he scored 42, the second highest score of the first innings. But his greatest achievement was to come in the fourth Test at Old Trafford, where in the summer of the South African cricket rebels and near-certain defeat, for six hours he held up Aussie celebrations by scoring his maiden Test century and highest ever score in cricket, 128 not out, to almost save the Test for England. Russell had achieved something only one other Englishman had in the twentieth century, Billy Griffith against West Indies in 1947-48 - but it was largely forgotten in the furore of the South African debacle, and the loss of the series. Russell finished the Ashes series as England's third most successful batsman with 314 runs and an average of 39.25.
The summer of 1989 gave Russell a run in the England side, but his batting never reached such scoring heights again, and the game was moving forward in a new era: a six-hour stand for 29 was not what was required. For reasons of balance and depth in batting, Alec Stewart
Alec Stewart
Alec James Stewart OBE is a retired English cricketer, a right-handed batsman-wicketkeeper and former captain of the England cricket team...
often got the gloves ahead of Russell due to his superior batting and increasingly reliable keeping. Russell was sometimes called up when England needed a good man behind the stumps, but slowly he faded away until 1998, when he decided to retire after being left out of that year's Ashes tour squad.
Russell turned himself into part of the hub of Gloucestershire's one-day success, and together with captain Mark Alleyne
Mark Alleyne
Mark Wayne Alleyne MBE is an English all-round cricketer who made ten One Day International appearances for England between 1998/99 and 2000/01...
won a couple of ODI caps. In 2002 he set a world record when conceding no byes in Northamptonshire's mammoth 746-9 declared. After an inconsistent season due to persistent back problems, he retired from county cricket in 2004, just short of the age of 41.
Character
Russell was never seen as much of a team player, a perception reinforced by his being a loner off the field, his painting, and his protective attitude to his family life. None of his Gloucestershire team mates were ever invited to his home, and he claimed if they ever asked he would be more than willing if they agreed to be blindfolded; the builders who constructed the extension to it were subjected to the same treatment.His fitness regime included running every day, and while driving between games Russell would be clad in a sleeping bag
Sleeping bag
A sleeping bag is a protective "bag" for a person to sleep in, essentially a blanket that can be closed with a zipper or similar means, and functions as a bed in situations where a bed is unavailable . Its primary purpose is to provide warmth and thermal insulation...
with the bottom cut out, so as not to get a chill in his back and legs. He also had a block fitted beneath the accelerator, so as to avoid over-stretching the Achilles tendon
Achilles tendon
The Achilles tendon , also known as the calcaneal tendon or the tendo calcaneus, is a tendon of the posterior leg. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius and soleus muscles to the calcaneus bone.- Anatomy :The Achilles is the tendonous extension of 3 muscles in the lower leg:...
.
As can happen to many cricketers, if their era coincides with others who are as good, they are susceptible to whatever selection policies prevail. Jack Russell vied for many years with Alec Stewart for one place. Stewart, a superb player of quick bowling, often struggled against spin. This debate of whether Stewart (slightly inferior to Russell with the gloves but a far superior batsman - especially against quicks) versus Russells's better glove work but lack of results against quick bowling raged from around 1990-1997. When England finally realised that Stewart's best position was opening and not keeping in 1998, Russell was 35. On that tour of the West Indies in 1998 Stewart opened the batting with some success but Russell endured a poor (for him) match in Guyana crucially dropping Dinanath Ramnarine. With Stewart being made captain immediately after this tour - the writing was on the wall for Russell as Stewart batted at 3, kept wicket and captained the side from 1998-1999. The selectors signalled the end of Russell's international career in 1998-1999 when they selected Warren Hegg as Stewart's deputy.
Some of his more notable oddities included a diet to supplement his extreme fitness regime, which consisted largely of tea, biscuits and baked beans. Like his mentor Alan Knott, a heavy tea drinker, Russell would often get through 20 cups a day. He used to dip the tea bag in once, add plenty of milk, then hang it on a nail ready for subsequent use. In the final Test of the 1989 Ashes series (against Australia) at the Oval, Derek Randall
Derek Randall
Derek William Randall is an English former cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Nottinghamshire, and Tests and ODIs for England in the late 1970s and early 1980s....
counted that he used the same bag for all five days, which roughly equates to 100 cups. For lunch, Russell would eat two Weetabix
Weetabix
Weetabix is a whole grain wheat breakfast cereal produced by Weetabix Limited of the United Kingdom. It comes in the form of palm-sized biscuits. Variants include organic and Weetabix Minis versions. The UK cereal is manufactured in Burton Latimer, Kettering, United Kingdom and in Canada and...
, soaked for exactly eight minutes in milk, and a mashed banana. For dinner, steak and chips or chicken without skin was a favourite meal - Russell once spent every night of a Test at a Chinese restaurant in Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, ordering cashew chicken: without the cashews.
He also insisted on always wearing the same battered old flowerpot sunhat during his time out in the field, a constant companion from his debut in 1981 to his last game in 2004. Russell lined up the ball with the specially cut back rim, but it ended up rather worn out. Only his wife Aileen was allowed to repair it, while Russell carried an emergency repair kit of cotton thread and rubber. Its state of age and hence apparent disrepair caused more than one argument with the authorities. Russell refused to wear the official coloured one day sun hat in South Africa, with a compromise was only reached when Russell agreed to wear his old flowerpot hat inside the new sun hat. On a second occasion in the West Indies, he agreed to wash it, and placed it to dry in an oven. Forgotten and resultantly over baked, the hat caught fire and was only just rescued from total incineration - the top collapsed like puff pastry on removal. The fire damage could still be seen on the hat years later.
Another eccentricity was his trademark black wicket keeping gloves. These were falling to pieces, but when he was advised to get new ones, he simply claimed that the old ones gave him a better feel for the ball. Allegedly the gloves were originally owned by Russell and then given away to a fan. When his previous gloves finally fell to bits. Russell managed to track down where the other gloves were. The fan had left them in a garage, and was only too pleased to donate them back to the eccentric wicket-keeper.
Russell has stated his desire that his hands be amputated after his death, and preserved in formaldehyde
Formaldehyde
Formaldehyde is an organic compound with the formula CH2O. It is the simplest aldehyde, hence its systematic name methanal.Formaldehyde is a colorless gas with a characteristic pungent odor. It is an important precursor to many other chemical compounds, especially for polymers...
.
When Russell was on tour in India in (year), sharing a room with Craig White, he would wash his underwear, white y-fronts, and leave them to dry on the bed-side lamp.
Artist
Although not studying art at school, he had an interest in art, expressed at an early age through dioramaDiorama
The word diorama can either refer to a nineteenth century mobile theatre device, or, in modern usage, a three-dimensional full-size or miniature model, sometimes enclosed in a glass showcase for a museum...
railway modelling. During a rainy early season county cricket game at Worcestershire, while sitting waiting for the rain to stop, he walked into town and bought a sketch-pad and some pencils.
When England toured Pakistan in 1987, Russell had two days cricket in a six-week tour, so kept his mind sane through sketching and photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
. On return to the UK he displayed 40 sketches in a gallery in Bristol, which sold out in two days.
Russell now has his own gallery in Chipping Sodbury
Chipping Sodbury
Chipping Sodbury is a market town in the county of South Gloucestershire, south-west England, founded in the 12th century by William Crassus . The villages of Old Sodbury and Little Sodbury are nearby...
, and exhibits in London, displaying a portfolio of sights and scenes of his home area in Gloucestershire, architecture, classic military battlefields and wildlife. Russell also undertakes commissions, and has painted comedian Eric Sykes
Eric Sykes
Eric Sykes, CBE is an English radio, television and film writer, actor and director whose performing career has spanned more than 50 years. He frequently wrote for and/or performed with many other leading comedy performers and writers of the period, including Tony Hancock, Spike Milligan, Peter...
(a fellow wicket keeper), Sir Norman Wisdom
Norman Wisdom
Sir Norman Joseph Wisdom, OBE was an English actor, comedian and singer-songwriter best known for a series of comedy films produced between 1953 and 1966 featuring his hapless onscreen character Norman Pitkin...
, Sir Bobby Charlton
Bobby Charlton
Sir Robert "Bobby" Charlton CBE is an English former professional football player, a member of the England team who won the World Cup and Ballon d'Or for European Footballer of the Year in 1966...
, Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
, Henry Allingham
Henry Allingham
Henry William Allingham was a British supercentenarian, First World War veteran and, for one month, the verified oldest living man in the world...
and HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....
. He states that his style shows influences of impressionism
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
and pointillism
Pointillism
Pointillism is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of pure color are applied in patterns to form an image. Georges Seurat developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism. The term Pointillism was first coined by art critics in the late 1880s to ridicule the works...
.
After retirement from cricket
From his retirement, Russell has been a full time artist. In 2009, to celebrate the first high-definition televisionHigh-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
transmission of the Ashes series, Russell was commissioned by BSkyB to hand-paint five Sky+ HD digibox
Digibox
The Digibox is a device marketed by British Sky Broadcasting in the UK and Republic of Ireland to enable home users to receive digital satellite television broadcasts from the Astra satellites at 28.2° east. An internet service is also available through the device, similar in some ways to the...
es.
In 2007, Russell was appointed goal-keeping
Goalkeeper (football)
In association football, the goalkeeper occupies a position that represents the last line of defence between the opponent's offence and his own team's goal. The primary role of the goalkeeper is to defend his team's goal and prevent the opposition from scoring a goal...
coach for football team Forest Green Rovers
Forest Green Rovers F.C.
Forest Green Rovers Football Club is an English football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, currently the longest-serving members of the Conference National. The club is affiliated to the Gloucestershire County FA.-Early years:...
who play in the Conference National
Conference National
Conference National is the top division of the Football Conference in England. It is the highest level of the National League System and fifth highest of the overall English football league system...
. After his mentorship from Alan Knott
Alan Knott
Alan Philip Eric Knott is a former Kent County Cricket Club and English cricketer, as a wicket-keeper-batsman....
throughout his own career, Russell later provided one-to-one coaching for wicketkeeper Geraint Jones
Geraint Jones
Geraint Owen Jones MBE is an England cricketer of Welsh extraction but raised in Australia. Until August 2006 he was the first-choice wicketkeeper for England in both Test and One-day cricket, but fell behind Chris Read, Paul Nixon, Matt Prior and Tim Ambrose...
. He also provided coaching and mentorship at Gloucestershire in 2008.
External links
- The Jack Russell Gallery contains notes on his domestic and Test cricket records
- Wisden Almanack - Cricketer of the Year 1990
- Statistical summary from CricketArchiveCricketArchiveCricketArchive is a website that aims to provide a comprehensive archive of records relating to the sport of cricket. It claims to be the most comprehensive cricket database on the internet, including scorecards for all matches of first-class cricket , List A cricket , Women's Test cricket and...