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Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a cricket field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard-long pitch with a wicket, a set of three wooden stumps sited at each end. One team, designated the batting team, attempts to score as many runs as possible, whilst their opponents field. Each phase of play is called an innings. After either ten batsmen have been dismissed or a set number of overs have been completed, the innings ends and the two teams then swap roles. The winning team is the one that scores the most runs, including any extras gained, during their period batting. 

At the start of each game, two batsmen and eleven fielders enter the field of play. The play begins when a designated member of the fielding team, known as the bowler, delivers the ball from one end of the pitch to the other, towards a set of wooden stumps, in front of which stands one of the batsmen, known as the striker. The striker's role is to prevent the ball from hitting the stumps through use of his bat, and simultaneously strike it sufficiently well to score runs. The other batsman, known as the non-striker, waits at the opposite end of the pitch by the bowler. The bowler's intention is to both prevent the scoring of runs and to dismiss the batsman, at which point the dismissed batsman has to leave the field and another teammate replaces him at the crease.

The most common forms of dismissal are bowled, when the bowler hits the stumps directly with the ball, leg before wicket, when the batsman prevents the ball from hitting the stumps with his body instead of his bat, and caught, when the batsman hits the ball into the air and it is intercepted by a fielder before touching the ground. Runs are scored through two main methods: either hitting the ball sufficiently powerfully that it crosses the boundary, or through the two batsmen swapping ends by each simultaneously running the length of the pitch in opposite directions whilst the fielders are retrieving the ball. If a fielder is able to retrieve the ball sufficiently quickly and put down the wicket with either batsman out of his ground, a run-out occurs. Adjudication is performed on-field by two umpires.

The laws of cricket are maintained by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). There are various formats ranging from Twenty20, played over a few hours with each team having a single innings of 20 overs, to Test cricket, played over five days with unlimited overs and the teams playing two innings apiece. Traditionally, cricketers play in all-white kit but in limited overs cricket they wear club or team colours. In addition to the basic kit, some players wear protective gear to prevent injury caused by the ball which is a hard, solid object made of compressed leather enclosing a cork core.

Although cricket's origins are uncertain, it is first recorded in south-east England in the 16th century. It spread globally with the expansion of the British Empire, leading to the first international matches in the mid-19th century. ICC, the game's governing body, has over 100 members, ten of which are full members who play Test cricket. Women's cricket, which is organised and played separately, has also achieved international standard. Cricket is the world's second most popular spectator sport, after association football, and is followed primarily in Australasia, Great Britain and Ireland, the Indian subcontinent, southern Africa and the West Indies.

Etymology

A number of words have been suggested as sources for the term "cricket". In the earliest definite reference to the sport in 1598 it is called creckett.  One possible source for the name is the Old English cricc or cryce meaning a crutch or staff.Birley, p. 3. In Samuel Johnson's Dictionary, he derived cricket from "cryce, Saxon, a stick".  In Old French, the word criquet seems to have meant a kind of club or stick. Given the strong medieval trade connections between south-east England and the County of Flanders when the latter belonged to the Duchy of Burgundy, the name may have been derived from the Middle Dutch  krick(-e), meaning a stick (crook). Another possible source is the Middle Dutch word krickstoel, meaning a long low stool used for kneeling in church and which resembled the long low wicket with two stumps used in early cricket.  According to Heiner Gillmeister, a European language expert of Bonn University, "cricket" derives from the Middle Dutch phrase for hockey, met de (krik ket)sen (i.e., "with the stick chase").  Dr Gillmeister believes that not only the name but the sport itself is of Flemish origin. 

History

Cricket can definitely be traced back to Tudor times in early 16th-century England though there have been a number of claims, many of them spurious and/or lacking evidence, supporting earlier dates from 1301. The earliest definite reference to cricket being played comes from evidence given at a 1598 court case which mentions that "creckett" (sic) was played on common land in Guildford around 1550. The court in Guildford heard on Monday, 17 January 1597 (Julian date, equating to the year 1598 in the Gregorian calendar) from a 59-year-old coroner, John Derrick, who gave witness that when he was a scholar at the "Free School at Guildford", fifty years earlier, "hee and diverse of his fellows did runne and play [on the common land] at creckett and other plaies." Altham, p. 21.

It is believed that cricket was originally a children's game but references around 1610 indicate that adults had started playing it and the earliest reference to inter-parish or village cricket occurs soon afterwards. In 1624, a player called Jasper Vinall died after he was struck on the head during a match between two parish teams in Sussex.McCann, pp. xxxiii–xxxiv. During the 17th century, numerous references indicate the growth of cricket in the south-east of England. By the end of the century, it had become an organised activity being played for high stakes and it is believed that the first professionals appeared in the years following the Restoration in 1660. A newspaper report survives of "a great cricket match" with eleven players a side that was played for high stakes in Sussex in 1697, and this is the earliest known reference to a cricket match of such importance. 

The game underwent major development in the 18th century. Betting played a key part in that development with rich patrons forming their own "select XIs". 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. The single wicket form of the sport attracted huge crowds and wagers to match, its popularity peaking in the 1748 season. Bowling underwent an evolution around 1760 when bowlers began to pitch the ball instead of rolling or skimming it towards the batsman. This caused a revolution in bat design because, to deal with the bouncing ball, it was necessary to introduce the modern straight bat in place of the old "hockey stick" shape. The Hambledon Club was founded in the 1760s and, for the next twenty years until the formation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the opening of Lord's Old Ground in 1787, Hambledon was both the game's greatest club and its focal point. MCC quickly became the sport's premier club and the custodian of the Laws of cricket. New Laws introduced in the latter part of the 18th century included the three stump wicket and leg before wicket (lbw). 

The 19th century saw underarm bowling superseded by first roundarm and then overarm bowling. Both developments were controversial. Organisation of the game at county level led to the creation of the county clubs, starting with Sussex in 1839, which ultimately formed the official County Championship in 1890. Meanwhile, the British Empire had been instrumental in spreading the game overseas and by the middle of the 19th century it had become well established in India, North America, the Caribbean, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. In 1844, the first-ever international match took place between the United States and Canada. In 1859, a team of English players went to North America on the first overseas tour. 

The first Australian team to tour overseas was a team of Aboriginal stockmen who travelled to England in 1868 to play matches against county teams.  In 1862, an English team made the first tour of Australia. The most famous player of the 19th century was W. G. Grace, who started his long and influential career in 1865. 

In 1876–77, an England team took part in what was retrospectively recognised as the first-ever Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground against Australia. The rivalry between England and Australia gave birth to The Ashes in 1882 and this has remained Test cricket's most famous contest. Test cricket began to expand in 1888–89 when South Africa played England. 

The last two decades before the First World War have been called the "Golden Age of cricket". It is a nostalgic name prompted by the collective sense of loss resulting from the war, but the period did produce some great players and memorable matches, especially as organised competition at county and Test level developed. 

The inter-war years were dominated by one player: Australia's Don Bradman, statistically the greatest batsman of all time. Test cricket continued to expand during the 20th century with the addition of the West Indies, India and New Zealand before the Second World War and then Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh in the post-war period. South Africa was banned from international cricket from 1970 to 1992 because of its government's apartheid policy.

Cricket entered a new era in 1963 when English counties introduced the limited overs variant. As it was sure to produce a result, limited overs cricket was lucrative and the number of matches increased. The first Limited Overs International was played in 1971. The governing International Cricket Council (ICC) saw its potential and staged the first limited overs Cricket World Cup in 1975. In the 21st century, a new limited overs form, Twenty20, has made an immediate impact.

Rules and game-play

Cricket is a bat and ball game, played between two teams of eleven players each.   One team bats, attempting to score runs, while the other bowls and fields the ball, attempting to restrict the scoring and dismiss the batsmen. The objective of the game is for a team to score more runs than its opponent. In some forms of cricket, it may also be necessary to dismiss the opposition in order to win the match, which would otherwise be drawn.

Format of the game

A cricket match is divided into periods called innings (which ends with "s" in both singular and plural form). It is decided before the match whether the teams will have one innings or two innings each. During an innings one team fields and the other bats. The two teams switch between fielding and batting after each innings. All eleven members of the fielding team take the field, but only two members of the batting team (two batsmen) are on the field at any given time. The order of batsmen is usually announced just before the match, but it can be varied.

A coin toss is held by the team captains (who are also players) just before the match starts: the winner decides whether to bat or field first.

The cricket field is usually circular or oval in shape, with a rectangular pitch at the center. The edge of the playing field is marked with a boundary, which could be a fence, part of the stands, a rope or a painted line.

At each end of the pitch is a wooden target called a wicket, placed 22 yards apart. The pitch is marked with painted lines: a bowling crease in line with the wicket, and a batting or popping crease four feet in front of it. The wicket is made of three vertical stumps supporting two small horizontal bails. A wicket is put down if at least one bail is dislodged, or one stump is knocked down (usually by the ball, but also if the batsman does it with his body, clothing or equipment). This is also described as breaking, knocking down, or hitting the wicket - though if the ball hits the wicket but does not dislodge a bail or stump then it is not considered to be down.

At any instant each batsman owns a particular wicket (usually the one closer to him) and, except when actually batting, is safe when he is in his ground. This means that at least one part of his body or bat is touching the ground behind the popping crease. If his wicket is put down while the ball is live and he is out of his ground then he is dismissed, but the other batsman is safe. 

The two batsmen take positions at opposite ends of the pitch. One designated member of the fielding team, called the bowler, bowls the ball from one end of the pitch to the striking batsman at the other end. The batsman at the bowling end is called the non-striker, and stands to the side of his wicket, behind his crease. The batsman are allowed to step forward of their creases, though at some risk. Another member of the fielding team, the wicket keeper, is positioned behind the striker's wicket.

The fielding team's other nine members stand outside the pitch, spread out across the field. The fielding captain often strategically changes their position between balls.

There is always an umpire at each end of the pitch.

The bowler usually retreats a few yards (metres) behind the wicket, runs towards it (his run-up), and then releases the ball over-hand as he reaches the bowling crease. (If he crosses the crease before he releases the ball, or if he flexes his elbow too much in a throw, then it is a no ball, and the batting team gets a penalty or extra run. If the ball passes the far wicket out of reach of the batsman then it is called a wide, also with an extra run.) The ball can be bowled so that it bounces on the pitch, lands exactly on the crease (a yorker), or crosses the crease without bouncing (a full toss).

The batsman tries to prevent the ball from hitting the wicket by striking the ball with his bat. (This includes the handle of the bat, and his gloves.) If the bowler succeeds in putting down the wicket the batsman is dismissed and is said to be bowled out. If the batsman misses the ball, but any part of his body prevents it from reaching the wicket, then he is out leg before wicket, or "LBW".

If the batsman hits the ball but it is caught by a fielder without bouncing then he is caught out. If it is caught by the bowler then he is caught and bowled; by the wicket keeper, caught behind.

If the batsman is successful in striking the ball and it is not caught without bouncing, then the two batsmen may try to score points (runs) for their team. Both batsmen run the length of the pitch, exchanging positions, and grounding their bats behind the opposite crease. Each crossing and grounding by both batsmen is worth one run. The batsmen may attempt one run, multiple runs, or elect not to run at all. By attempting runs, the batsmen risk dismissal. This happens if the fielding team retrieves the ball and hits either wicket with the ball (either by throwing it, or while holding it) before the batsman who owns that wicket reaches his ground behind the crease. The dismissed batsman is run out. Batsmen will sometimes start to run, change their mind, and return to their original positions.

If the batsman hits the ball over the field boundary without the ball touching the field, the batting team scores six runs. If the ball touches the ground and then reaches the boundary, the batting team scores four runs. The batsmen might start running before the ball reaches the boundary, but those runs don't count.

If the batsman misses the ball they can still attempt extra runs : these are called byes. If the ball bounces off his body then it is called a leg bye.

If the striking batsman leaves his ground and misses the ball, then the wicket keeper can catch it and put down the wicket – stumped.

In case of a no ball or a wide the batsman can choose to strike the ball, earning runs in addition to the fixed penalty. If he does so he can only be dismissed by being run out.

When the batsmen have finished attempting their runs the ball is dead, and is returned to the bowler to be bowled again. The ball becomes live when he starts his run up. The bowler continues to bowl toward the same wicket, regardless of any switch of the batsmen's positions. 

A batsman may retire from an innings without being dismissed, usually after reaching a milestone like a hundred runs (a century).

A dismissed batsman leaves the field, to be replaced by another batsman from the batting team. However, even though the wicket may have been put down, or the ball caught, the batsman is not actually dismissed until the fielding team appeal to the umpires for a decision, traditionally using the expression "How's that" (or "Howzat"). In some matches, particularly test matches, either team may request a review by a third umpire who can use a decision review system (DRS), which includes TV replays and other electronic equipment such as Hawk-Eye, Hot Spot and the Snickometer.

After a bowler has bowled six times (an over), another member of the fielding team is designated as the new bowler, the old bowler taking up a fielding position. The batsmen stay in place, and the new bowler bowls to the opposite wicket, so the role of striker and non-striker reverse. The wicket keeper and the two umpires always change positions, as do many of the fielders, and play continues. Fielding team members may bowl multiple times during an innings, but may not bowl two overs in succession.

The innings is complete when 10 of the 11 members of the batting team have been dismissed (all out - although one always remaining "not out"), when a set number of overs has been played, or when the batting team declares that they have enough runs.

The number of innings and the number of overs per innings vary depending on the format of the match. In a match which is not a limited overs format the umpires will usually specify that the last session of the last innings will have a specified number of overs.

The match always ends when all innings have been completed. The umpires can also call an end to the match in case of bad light or weather. But in many cases the match ends immediately when the first team to bat has played all of its innings, and the last team to bat has more runs. In four-innings games the last team may not even need to play its second innings: this team is said to win by an innings. If this winning team has not completed its last innings, and still has, for example, five batsmen who are not out or have not even batted, then they are said to "win by five wickets". If the last team to bat is losing, is all out, and has 10 fewer runs than the other team, then the winning team "wins by 10 runs". If the two teams both play all their innings and they have the same number of runs, then it is a tie.

In four-innings matches there is also the possibility of a draw: the team with fewer runs still has batsmen on the field when the game ends. This has a major effect on strategy: a team will often declare an innings when they have accumulated enough runs, in the hope that they will have enough time left to dismiss the other team and thus avoid a draw, but risking a loss if the other team scores enough runs.

Pitch, wickets and creases

Playing surface

Cricket is played on a grassy field.  The Laws of Cricket do not specify the size or shape of the field,  but it is often oval. In the centre of the field is a rectangular strip, known as the pitch.

The pitch is a flat surface 10 ft wide, with very short grass that tends to be worn away as the game progresses.  At either end of the pitch, 22 yd apart, are placed wooden targets, known as the wickets. These serve as a target for the bowling (also known as the fielding) side and are defended by the batting side, which seeks to accumulate runs.

Stumps, bails and creases

Each wicket on the pitch consists of three wooden stumps placed vertically, in line with one another. They are surmounted by two wooden crosspieces called bails; the total height of the wicket including bails is  and the combined width of the three stumps, including small gaps between them is 9 in.

Four lines, known as creases, are painted onto the pitch around the wicket areas to define the batsman's "safe territory" and to determine the limit of the bowler's approach. These are called the "popping" (or batting) crease, the bowling crease and two "return" creases.

The stumps are placed in line on the bowling creases and so these creases must be 22 yd apart. A bowling crease is 8 ft long, with the middle stump placed dead centre. The popping crease has the same length, is parallel to the bowling crease and is 4 ft in front of the wicket. The return creases are perpendicular to the other two; they are adjoined to the ends of the popping crease and are drawn through the ends of the bowling crease to a length of at least 8 ft.

When bowling the ball, the bowler's back foot in his "delivery stride" must land within the two return creases while at least some part of his front foot must land on or behind the popping crease. If the bowler breaks this rule, the umpire calls "No ball".

The importance of the popping crease to the batsman is that it marks the limit of his safe territory. He can be dismissed stumped or run out (see Dismissals below) if the wicket is broken while he is "out of his ground".

Bat and ball

The essence of the sport is that a bowler delivers the ball from his end of the pitch towards the batsman who, armed with a bat is "on strike" at the other end.

The bat is made of wood (usually White Willow) and has the shape of a blade topped by a cylindrical handle. The blade must not be more than  wide and the total length of the bat not more than 38 in.

The ball is a hard leather-seamed spheroid, with a circumference of 9 in. The hardness of the ball, which can be delivered at speeds of more than 90 mph, is a matter for concern and batsmen wear protective clothing including pads (designed to protect the knees and shins), batting gloves for the hands, a helmet for the head and a box inside the trousers (to protect the crotch area). Some batsmen wear additional padding inside their shirts and trousers such as thigh pads, arm pads, rib protectors and shoulder pads. The ball has a "seam": six rows of stitches attaching the leather shell of the ball to the string and cork interior. The seam on a new ball is prominent, and helps the bowler propel it in a less predictable manner. During cricket matches, the quality of the ball changes to a point where it is no longer usable, and during this decline its properties alter and thus influence the match. Players will therefore attempt to changes the properties of the ball in order to influence its flight. Polishing the ball and wetting it with sweat or saliva is legal, even when the polishing is deliberately done on one side only to increase the ball's swing, while rubbing other substances into the ball, scratching the surface or picking at the seam is illegal ball tampering.

Umpires and scorers

The game on the field is regulated by two umpires, one of whom stands behind the wicket at the bowler's end, the other in a position called "square leg", a position 15–20 metres to the side of the "on strike" batsman. The main role of the umpires is to adjudicate on whether a ball is correctly bowled (not a no ball or a wide), when a run is scored, and whether a batsman is out (the fielding side must appeal to the umpire, usually with the phrase How's That?). Umpires also determine when intervals start and end, decide on the suitability of the playing conditions and can interrupt or even abandon the match due to circumstances likely to endanger the players, such as a damp pitch or deterioration of the light.

Off the field and in televised matches, there is often a third umpire who can make decisions on certain incidents with the aid of video evidence. The third umpire is mandatory under the playing conditions for Test matches and limited overs internationals played between two ICC full members. These matches also have a match referee whose job is to ensure that play is within the Laws of cricket and the spirit of the game.

The match details, including runs and dismissals, are recorded by two official scorers, one representing each team. The scorers are directed by the hand signals of an umpire. For example, the umpire raises a forefinger to signal that the batsman is out (has been dismissed); he raises both arms above his head if the batsman has hit the ball for six runs. The scorers are required by the Laws of cricket to record all runs scored, wickets taken and overs bowled; in practice, they also note significant amounts of additional data relating to the game.

Innings

The innings (ending with 's' in both singular and plural form) is the term used for the collective performance of the batting side.  In theory, all eleven members of the batting side take a turn to bat but, for various reasons, an innings can end before they all do so. Depending on the type of match being played, each team has one or two innings apiece.

The main aim of the bowler, supported by his fielders, is to dismiss the batsman. A batsman when dismissed is said to be "out" and that means he must leave the field of play and be replaced by the next batsman on his team. When ten batsmen have been dismissed (i.e., are out), then the whole team is dismissed and the innings is over. The last batsman, the one who has not been dismissed, is not allowed to continue alone as there must always be two batsmen "in". This batsman is termed "not out".

An innings can end early for three reasons: because the batting side's captain has chosen to "declare" the innings closed (which is a tactical decision), or because the batting side has achieved its target and won the game, or because the game has ended prematurely due to bad weather or running out of time. In each of these cases the team's innings ends with two "not out" batsmen, unless the innings is declared closed at the fall of a wicket and the next batsman has not joined in the play.

In limited overs cricket, there might be two batsmen still "not out" when the last of the allotted overs has been bowled.

Overs

The bowler bowls the ball in sets of six deliveries (or "balls") and each set of six balls is called an over. This name came about because the umpire calls "Over!" when six balls have been bowled. At this point, another bowler is deployed at the other end, and the fielding side changes ends while the batsmen do not. A bowler cannot bowl two successive overs, although a bowler can bowl unchanged at the same end for several overs. The batsmen do not change ends and so the one who was non-striker is now the striker and vice versa. The umpires also change positions so that the one who was at square leg now stands behind the wicket at the non-striker's end and vice versa.

Team structure

A team consists of eleven players. Depending on his or her primary skills, a player may be classified as a specialist batsman or bowler. A well-balanced team usually has five or six specialist batsmen and four or five specialist bowlers. Teams nearly always include a specialist wicket-keeper because of the importance of this fielding position. Each team is headed by a captain who is responsible for making tactical decisions such as determining the batting order, the placement of fielders and the rotation of bowlers.

A player who excels in both batting and bowling is known as an all-rounder. One who excels as a batsman and wicket-keeper is known as a "wicket-keeper/batsman", sometimes regarded as a type of all-rounder. True all-rounders are rare as most players focus on either batting or bowling skills.

Bowling

The bowler reaches his delivery stride by means of a "run-up", although some bowlers with a very slow delivery take no more than a couple of steps before bowling. A fast bowler needs momentum and takes quite a long run-up, running very fast as he does so.

The fastest bowlers can deliver the ball at a speed of over 90 mph and they sometimes rely on sheer speed to try and defeat the batsman, who is forced to react very quickly. Other fast bowlers rely on a mixture of speed and guile. Some fast bowlers make use of the seam of the ball so that it "curves" or "swings" in flight. This type of delivery can deceive a batsman into mistiming his shot so that the ball touches the edge of the bat and can then be "caught behind" by the wicketkeeper or a slip fielder.

At the other end of the bowling scale is the "spinner" who bowls at a relatively slow pace and relies entirely on guile to deceive the batsman. A spinner will often "buy his wicket" by "tossing one up" (in a slower, higher parabolic path) to lure the batsman into making a poor shot. The batsman has to be very wary of such deliveries as they are often "flighted" or spun so that the ball will not behave quite as he expects and he could be "trapped" into getting himself out.

In between the pacemen and the spinners are the "medium pacers" who rely on persistent accuracy to try and contain the rate of scoring and wear down the batsman's concentration.

All bowlers are classified according to their looks or style. The classifications, as with much cricket terminology, can be very confusing. Hence, a bowler could be classified as LF, meaning he is a left arm fast bowler; or as LBG, meaning he is a right arm spin bowler who bowls deliveries that are called a "leg break" and a "Googly".

During the bowling action the elbow may be held at any angle and may bend further, but may not straighten out. If the elbow straightens illegally then the square-leg umpire may call no-ball: this is known as "throwing" or "chucking", and can be difficult to detect. The current laws allow a bowler to straighten his arm 15 degrees or less.

Fielding

All eleven players on the fielding side take the field together. One of them is the wicket-keeper aka "keeper" who operates behind the wicket being defended by the batsman on strike. Wicket-keeping is normally a specialist occupation and his primary job is to gather deliveries that the batsman does not hit, so that the batsmen cannot run byes. He wears special gloves (he is the only fielder allowed to do so), a box over the groin, and pads to cover his lower legs. Owing to his position directly behind the striker, the wicket-keeper has a good chance of getting a batsman out caught off a fine edge from the bat. He is the only player who can get a batsman out stumped.

Apart from the one currently bowling, the other nine fielders are tactically deployed by the team captain in chosen positions around the field. These positions are not fixed but they are known by specific and sometimes colourful names such as "slip", "third man", "silly mid on" and "long leg". There are always many unprotected areas.

The captain is the most important member of the fielding side as he determines all the tactics including who should bowl (and how); and he is responsible for "setting the field", though usually in consultation with the bowler.

In all forms of cricket, if a fielder gets injured or becomes ill during a match, a substitute is allowed to field instead of him. The substitute cannot bowl, act as a captain or keep wicket. The substitute leaves the field when the injured player is fit to return.

Batting

At any one time, there are two batsmen in the playing area. One takes station at the striker's end to defend the wicket as above and to score runs if possible. His partner, the non-striker, is at the end where the bowler is operating.

Batsmen come in to bat in a batting order, decided by the team captain. The first two batsmen - the "openers" - usually face the hostile bowling from fresh fast bowlers with a new ball. The top batting positions are usually given to the most competent batsmen in the team, and the team's bowlers - who are typically, but not always, less skilled as batsmen - typically bat last. The pre-announced batting order is not mandatory; when a wicket falls any player who has not yet batted may be sent in next.

If a batsman "retires" (usually due to injury) and cannot return, he is actually "not out" and his retirement does not count as a dismissal, though in effect he has been dismissed because his innings is over. Substitute batsmen are not allowed.

A skilled batsman can use a wide array of "shots" or "strokes" in both defensive and attacking mode. The idea is to hit the ball to best effect with the flat surface of the bat's blade. If the ball touches the side of the bat it is called an "edge". Batsmen do not always seek to hit the ball as hard as possible, and a good player can score runs just by making a deft stroke with a turn of the wrists or by simply "blocking" the ball but directing it away from fielders so that he has time to take a run.

There is a wide variety of shots played in cricket. The batsman's repertoire includes strokes named according to the style of swing and the direction aimed: e.g., "cut", "drive", "hook", "pull".

A batsman is not required to play a shot; in the event that he believes the ball will not hit his wicket and there is no opportunity to score runs, he can "leave" the ball to go through to the wicketkeeper. Equally, he does not have to attempt a run when he hits the ball with his bat. He can deliberately use his leg to block the ball and thereby "pad it away" but this is risky because of the leg before wicket rule.

In the event of an injured batsman being fit to bat but not to run, the umpires and the fielding captain were previously able to allow another member of the batting side to be a runner. The runner's only task was to run between the wickets instead of the incapacitated batsman, and he was required to wear and carry exactly the same equipment as the batsman. As of 2011 the ICC outlawed the use of runners as they felt this was being abused. 

Runs

The primary concern of the batsman on strike (i.e., the "striker") is to prevent the ball hitting the wicket and secondarily to score runs by hitting the ball with his bat so that he and his partner have time to run from one end of the pitch to the other before the fielding side can return the ball. To register a run, both runners must touch the ground behind the crease with either their bats or their bodies (the batsmen carry their bats as they run). Each completed run increments the score.

More than one run can be scored from a single hit; but, while hits worth one to three runs are common, the size of the field is such that it is usually difficult to run four or more. To compensate for this, hits that reach the boundary of the field are automatically awarded four runs if the ball touches the ground en route to the boundary or six runs if the ball clears the boundary without touching the ground within the boundary. The batsmen do not need to run if the ball reaches or crosses the boundary.

Hits for five are unusual and generally rely on the help of "overthrows" by a fielder returning the ball. If an odd number of runs is scored by the striker, the two batsmen have changed ends, and the one who was non-striker is now the striker. Only the striker can score individual runs, but all runs are added to the team's total.

The decision to attempt a run is ideally made by the batsman who has the better view of the ball's progress, and this is communicated by calling: "yes", "no" and "wait" are often heard.

Running is a calculated risk because if a fielder breaks the wicket with the ball while the nearest batsman is out of his ground (i.e., he does not have part of his body or bat in contact with the ground behind the popping crease), the batsman is run out.

A team's score is reported in terms of the number of runs scored and the number of batsmen that have been dismissed. For example, if five batsmen are out and the team has scored 224 runs, they are said to have scored 224 for the loss of 5 wickets (commonly shortened to "224 for five" and written 224/5 or, in Australia, "five for 224" and 5/224).

Extras

Additional runs can be gained by the batting team as extras (called "sundries" in Australia) due to errors made by the fielding side. This is achieved in four ways:
# No ball: a penalty of one extra that is conceded by the bowler if he breaks the rules of bowling either by (a) using an inappropriate arm action; (b) overstepping the popping crease; (c) having a foot outside the return crease. In addition, the bowler has to re-bowl the ball. In limited overs matches, a no ball is called if the bowling team's field setting fails to comply with the restrictions. In shorter formats of the game (20–20, ODI) the free hit rule has been introduced. The ball following a front foot no-ball will be a free-hit for the batsman, whereby he is safe from losing his wicket except for being run-out.
# Wide: a penalty of one extra that is conceded by the bowler if he bowls so that the ball is out of the batsman's reach; as with a no ball, a wide must be re-bowled. If a wide ball crosses the boundary, five runs are awarded to the batting side (one run for the wide, and four for the boundary).
# Bye: extra(s) awarded if the batsman misses the ball and it goes past the wicketkeeper to give the batsmen time to run in the conventional way (note that one mark of a good wicketkeeper is one who restricts the tally of byes to a minimum).
# Leg bye: extra(s) awarded if the ball hits the batsman's body, but not his bat, while attempting a legitimate shot, and it goes away from the fielders to give the batsmen time to run in the conventional way.

When the bowler has bowled a no ball or a wide, his team incurs an additional penalty because that ball (i.e., delivery) has to be bowled again and hence the batting side has the opportunity to score more runs from this extra ball. The batsmen have to run (i.e., unless the ball goes to the boundary for four) to claim byes and leg byes but these only count towards the team total, not to the striker's individual total for which runs must be scored off the bat.

Dismissals

There are eleven ways in which a batsman can be dismissed; five relatively common and six extremely rare. The common forms of dismissal are "bowled", "caught", "leg before wicket" (lbw), "run out", and "stumped". Less common methods are "hit wicket", "hit the ball twice", "obstructed the field", "handled the ball" and "timed out" - these are almost unknown in the professional game. The eleventh – retired out – is not treated as an on-field dismissal but rather a retrospective one for which no fielder is credited.

If the dismissal is obvious (for example when "bowled" and in most cases of "caught") the batsman will voluntarily leave the field without the umpire needing to dismiss them. Otherwise before the umpire will award a dismissal and declare the batsman to be out, a member of the fielding side (generally the bowler) must "appeal". This is invariably done by asking (or shouting) "how's that?" - normally reduced to howzat? If the umpire agrees with the appeal, he will raise a forefinger and say "Out!". Otherwise he will shake his head and say "Not out". Appeals are particularly loud when the circumstances of the claimed dismissal are unclear, as is always the case with lbw and often with run outs and stumpings.

# Bowled: the bowler has hit the wicket with the delivery and the wicket has "broken" with at least one bail being dislodged (note that if the ball hits the wicket without dislodging a bail it is not out). 
# Caught: the batsman has hit the ball with his bat, or with his hand which was holding the bat, and the ball has been caught before it has touched the ground by a member of the fielding side. 
# Leg before wicket (lbw): the ball has hit the batsman's body (including his clothing, pads etc. but not the bat, or a hand holding the bat) when it would have gone on to hit the stumps. This rule exists mainly to prevent the batsman from guarding his wicket with his legs instead of the bat. To be given out lbw, the ball must not bounce outside leg stump or strike the batsmen outside the line of leg-stump. It may bounce outside off-stump. The batsman may only be dismissed lbw by a ball striking him outside the line of off-stump if he has not made a genuine attempt to play the ball with his bat. 
# Run out: a member of the fielding side has broken or "put down" the wicket with the ball while the nearest batsman was out of his ground; this usually occurs by means of an accurate throw to the wicket while the batsmen are attempting a run, although a batsman can be given out Run out even when he is not attempting a run; he merely needs to be out of his ground. 
# Stumped is similar except that it is done by the wicketkeeper after the batsman has missed the bowled ball and has stepped out of his ground, and is not attempting a run.  A batsman can be run out on a No ball, but cannot be stumped.
# Hit wicket: a batsman is out hit wicket if he dislodges one or both bails with his bat, person, clothing or equipment in the act of receiving a ball, or in setting off for a run having just received a ball. 
# Hit the ball twice is very unusual and was introduced as a safety measure to counter dangerous play and protect the fielders. The batsman may legally play the ball a second time only to stop the ball hitting the wicket after he has already played it. "Hit" does not necessarily refer to the batsman's bat. 
# Obstructing the field: another unusual dismissal which tends to involve a batsman deliberately getting in the way (physically and/or verbally) of a fielder. 
# Handled the ball: a batsman must not deliberately touch the ball with his hand, for example to protect his wicket. Note that the batsman's hand or glove counts as part of the bat while the hand is holding the bat, so batsmen are frequently caught off their gloves (i.e. the ball hits, and is deflected by, the glove and can then be caught). 
# Timed out; means that the next batsman was not ready to receive a delivery within three minutes of the previous one being dismissed. 
#Retired out: a batsman retires without the umpire's permission, and does not have the permission of the opposition captain to resume their innings. 

In the vast majority of cases, it is the striker who is out when a dismissal occurs. If the non-striker is dismissed it is usually by being run out, but he could also be dismissed for obstructing the field, handling the ball or being timed out.

A batsman may leave the field without being dismissed. If injured or taken ill the batsman may temporarily retire, and be replaced by the next batsman. This is recorded as retired hurt or retired ill. The retiring batsman is not out, and may resume the innings later. An unimpaired batsman may retire, and this is treated as being dismissed retired out; no player is credited with the dismissal. Batsmen cannot be out bowled, caught, leg before wicket, stumped or hit wicket off a no ball. They cannot be out bowled, caught, leg before wicket, or hit the ball twice off a wide. Some of these modes of dismissal can occur without the bowler bowling a delivery. The batsman who is not on strike may be run out by the bowler if he leaves his crease before the bowler bowls, and a batsman can be out obstructing the field or retired out at any time. Timed out is, by its nature, a dismissal without a delivery. With all other modes of dismissal, only one batsman can be dismissed per ball bowled.

Innings closed

An innings is closed when:
# Ten of the eleven batsmen are out (have been dismissed); in this case, the team is said to be "all out"
# The team has only one batsman left who can bat, one or more of the remaining players being unavailable owing to injury, illness or absence; again, the team is said to be "all out"
# The team batting last reaches the score required to win the match
# The predetermined number of overs has been bowled (in a one-day match only, commonly 50 overs; or 20 in Twenty20)
# A captain declares his team's innings closed while at least two of his batsmen are not out (this does not apply in one-day limited over matches)

Results

If the team that bats last is all out having scored fewer runs than their opponents, the team is said to have "lost by n runs" (where n is the difference between the number of runs scored by the teams). If the team that bats last scores enough runs to win, it is said to have "won by n wickets", where n is the number of wickets left to fall. For instance a team that passes its opponents' score having only lost six wickets would have won "by four wickets".

In a two-innings-a-side match, one team's combined first and second innings total may be less than the other side's first innings total. The team with the greater score is then said to have won by an innings and n runs, and does not need to bat again: n is the difference between the two teams' aggregate scores.

If the team batting last is all out, and both sides have scored the same number of runs, then the match is a tie; this result is quite rare in matches of two innings a side. In the traditional form of the game, if the time allotted for the match expires before either side can win, then the game is declared a draw.

If the match has only a single innings per side, then a maximum number of deliveries for each innings is often imposed. Such a match is called a "limited overs" or "one-day" match, and the side scoring more runs wins regardless of the number of wickets lost, so that a draw cannot occur. If this kind of match is temporarily interrupted by bad weather, then a complex mathematical formula, known as the Duckworth-Lewis method after its developers, is often used to recalculate a new target score. A one-day match can also be declared a "no-result" if fewer than a previously agreed number of overs have been bowled by either team, in circumstances that make normal resumption of play impossible; for example, wet weather.

Distinctive elements

Individual focus

For a team sport, cricket places individual players under unusual scrutiny and pressure. Bowler, batsman, and fielder all act essentially independently of each other. While team managements can signal bowler or batsman to pursue certain tactics, the execution of the play itself is a series of solitary acts. Cricket is more similar to baseball than many other team sports in this regard: while the individual focus in cricket is slightly mitigated by the importance of the batting partnership and the practicalities of running, it is enhanced by the fact that a batsman may occupy the wicket for a long time.

Spirit of the Game

Cricket is a unique game where in addition to the laws, the players must abide by the "Spirit of the Game".  The standard of sportsmanship has historically been considered so high that the phrase "it's just not cricket" was coined in the 19th century to describe unfair or underhanded behaviour in any walk of life. In the last few decades though, cricket has become increasingly fast-paced and competitive, increasing the use of appealing and sledging, although players are still expected to abide by the umpires' rulings without argument, and for the most part they do. Beginning in 2001, the MCC has held an annual lecture named after Colin Cowdrey on the spirit of the game.  Even in the modern game fielders are known to signal to the umpire that a boundary was hit, despite what could have been considered a spectacular save (though they might be found out by the TV replays anyway). In addition to this, some batsmen have been known to "walk" when they think they are out even if the umpire does not declare them out. This is a high level of sportsmanship, as a batsman can easily take advantage of incorrect umpiring decisions.

Influence of weather

Cricket is a sport played predominantly in the drier periods of the year. But, even so, the weather is a major factor in all cricket matches.

A scheduled game of cricket cannot be played in wet weather. Dampness affects the bounce of the ball on the wicket and is a risk to all players involved in the game. Many grounds have facilities to cover the cricket pitch (or the wicket). Covers can be in the form of tarpaulins being laid over the wicket, elevated covers on wheels (acting like an umbrella) or even hover covers which form an airtight seal around the wicket. However, most grounds do not have the facilities to cover the outfield. This means that in the event of heavy bouts of bad weather, games may be cancelled, abandoned or suspended due to an unsafe outfield.

Another factor in cricket is the amount of light available. At grounds without floodlights (or in game formats which disallow the use of floodlights), umpires can stop play in the event of bad light as it becomes too difficult for the batsmen to be able to see the ball coming at them, (and in extreme cases, members of the fielding team).

On the other hand, in instances of good light, batsmen can use sight-screens which enable batsmen to have a white background against which they can pick out the red ball (or black background for white ball) with greater ease.

The umpires always have the final decision on weather-related issues.

Uniqueness of each field

Unlike those of most sports, cricket playing fields can vary significantly in size and shape. While the dimensions of the pitch and infield are specifically regulated, the Laws of Cricket do not specify the size or shape of the field. The field boundaries are sometimes painted and sometimes marked by a rope. Pitch and outfield variations can have a significant effect on how balls behave and are fielded as well as on batting. Pitches vary in consistency, and thus in the amount of bounce, spin, and seam movement available to the bowler. Hard pitches are usually good to bat on because of high but even bounce. Dry pitches tend to deteriorate for batting as cracks often appear, and when this happens to the pitch, spinners can play a major role. Damp pitches, or pitches covered in grass (termed "green" pitches), allow good fast bowlers to extract extra bounce. Such pitches tend to offer help to fast bowlers throughout the match, but become better for batting as the game goes on. While players of other outdoor sports deal with similar variations of field surface and stadium covering, the size and shape of their fields are much more standardised. Other local factors, such as altitude and climate, can also significantly affect play. These physical variations create a distinctive set of playing conditions at each ground. A given ground may acquire a reputation as batsman friendly or bowler friendly if one or the other discipline notably benefits from its unique mix of elements. The absence of a standardised field affects not only how particular games play out, but the nature of team makeup and players' statistical records.

Types of matches

Cricket is a multi-faceted sport with multiple formats, varying playing standard and level of formality and the desired time that the match should last. A pertinent division in terms of professional cricket is between matches limited by time in which the teams have two innings apiece, and those limited by number of overs, in which they have a single innings each. The former, known as first-class cricket, has a duration of three to five days (there have been examples of "timeless" matches too); the latter, known as limited overs cricket because each team bowls a limit of typically 50 or 20 overs, has a planned duration of one day only (a match can be extended if necessary due to bad weather, etc.).

Typically, two-innings matches have at least six hours of playing time each day. Limited overs matches often last six hours or more. There are usually formal intervals on each day for lunch and tea with brief informal breaks for drinks. There is also a short interval between innings.

Amateur cricketers rarely play matches that last longer than a single day; these may loosely be divided into declaration matches, in which a specified maximum time or number of overs is assigned to the game in total and the teams swap roles only when the batting team is either completely dismissed or declares; and limited overs matches, in which a specified maximum number of overs is assigned for each team's innings individually. These will vary in length between 30 and 60 overs per side at the weekend and the ever popular 20 over format during the evenings. Other forms of cricket, such as indoor cricket and garden cricket remain popular.

Historically, a form of cricket known as single wicket had been extremely successful and many of these contests in the 18th and 19th centuries qualify as major cricket matches. In this form, although each team may have from one to six players, there is only one batsman at a time and he must face every delivery bowled while his innings lasts. Single wicket has rarely been played since limited overs cricket began.

Test cricket

Test cricket is the highest standard of first-class cricket. A Test match is an international fixture between teams representing those countries that are Full Members of the ICC.

Although the term "Test match" was not coined until much later, Test cricket is deemed to have begun with two matches between Australia and England in the 1876–77 Australian season. Subsequently, eight other national teams have achieved Test status: South Africa (1889), West Indies (1928), New Zealand (1929), India (1932), Pakistan (1952), Sri Lanka (1982), Zimbabwe (1992) and Bangladesh (2000). Zimbabwe suspended its Test status in 2006 due to its inability to compete against other Test teams,  and returned in 2011. 

Welsh players are eligible to play for England, which is in effect an England and Wales team. The West Indies team comprises players from numerous states in the Caribbean, notably Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, the Leeward Islands and the Windward Islands.

Test matches between two teams are usually played in a group of matches called a "series". Matches last up to five days and a series normally consists of three to five matches. Test matches that are not finished within the allotted time are drawn. In the case of Test and first-class cricket: the possibility of a draw often encourages a team that is batting last and well behind to bat defensively, giving up any faint chance at a win to avoid a loss. 

Since 1882, most Test series between England and Australia have been played for a trophy known as The Ashes. Some other bilateral series have individual trophies too: for example, the Wisden Trophy is contested by England and West Indies; the Frank Worrell Trophy by Australia and West Indies and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia.

Limited overs

Standard limited overs cricket was introduced in England in the 1963 season in the form of a knockout cup contested by the first-class county clubs. In 1969, a national league competition was established. The concept was gradually introduced to the other major cricket countries and the first limited overs international was played in 1971. In 1975, the first Cricket World Cup took place in England. Limited overs cricket has seen various innovations including the use of multi-coloured kit and floodlit matches using a white ball.
A "one day match", named so because each match is scheduled for completion in a single day, is the common form of limited overs cricket played on an international level. In practice, matches sometimes continue on a second day if they have been interrupted or postponed by bad weather. The main objective of a limited overs match is to produce a definite result and so a conventional draw is not possible, but matches can be undecided if the scores are tied or if bad weather prevents a result. Each team plays one innings only and faces a limited number of overs, usually a maximum of 50. The Cricket World Cup is held in one day format and the last World Cup in 2015 was won by the co-hosts, Australia. The next World Cup will be hosted by England and Wales in 2019.

Twenty20 is a new variant of limited overs itself with the purpose being to complete the match within about three hours, usually in an evening session. The original idea, when the concept was introduced in England in 2003, was to provide workers with an evening entertainment. It was commercially successful and has been adopted internationally. The inaugural Twenty20 World Championship was held in 2007 and won by India. Subsequent events have been held which were won by Pakistan (2009), England (2010), West Indies (2012), and Sri Lanka (2014). The next tournament is scheduled to be held in 2016. After the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 many domestic Twenty20 leagues were born. First of them was Indian Cricket League which was a rebel league since it was not authorized by BCCI. BCCI then formed its official league called the Indian Premier League. The official league went on to become a successful annual affair that attracted players and audience around the globe, while the Indian Cricket League has been disbanded. After the success of Indian premier league many other domestic leagues were formed in all major cricketing nations. Recently Twenty20 Champions League was formed as a tournament for domestic clubs of various countries. In this league competition is between the top domestic teams from major cricketing nations.

National championships

First-class cricket includes Test cricket but the term is generally used to refer to the highest level of domestic cricket in those countries with full ICC membership, although there are exceptions to this. First-class cricket in England is played for the most part by the 18 county clubs which contest the County Championship. The concept of a champion county has existed since the 18th century but the official competition was not established until 1890. The most successful club has been Yorkshire County Cricket Club with 30 official titles.

Australia established its national first-class championship in 1892–93 when the Sheffield Shield was introduced. In Australia, the first-class teams represent the various states. New South Wales has won the maximum number of titles with 45 to 2008.

National championship trophies to be established elsewhere included the Ranji Trophy (India), Plunket Shield (New Zealand), Currie Cup (South Africa) and Shell Shield (West Indies). Some of these competitions have been updated and renamed in recent years.

Domestic limited overs competitions began with England's Gillette Cup knockout in 1963. Countries usually stage seasonal limited overs competitions in both knockout and league format. In recent years, national Twenty20 competitions have been introduced, usually in knockout form though some incorporate mini-leagues.

Club cricket

Club cricket is a mainly amateur, but still formal, form of the sport of cricket, usually involving teams playing in competitions at weekends or in the evening. There is a great deal of variation in game format although the Laws of Cricket are always observed.

Club cricket is frequently organised in a league or cup format. Games are limited by either time or overs. Limited overs games usually last between 20 and 60 overs per innings. A less common, but more traditional, format is limiting the game by time only. Games can range from a few hours in the evening to two days long. A modern innovation is the introduction of Twenty20 competitions, both as a format in the existing leagues and new leagues solely based on Twenty20, such as LastManStanding.

Standards of play can vary from semi-professional to occasional recreational level and club cricket is often enjoyed as much for the social element as for the competition. Most clubs have their own ground to play on regularly, often including a field and pavilion or club house. An exception being 'Wandering Sides' who use other's grounds.

Many leagues have been formed around the world of varying degrees of professionalism, the oldest being the Birmingham & District Premier League in the Birmingham area of England, founded in 1888.

Other types of matches

There are numerous variations of the sport played throughout the world that include indoor cricket, French cricket, beach cricket, Kwik cricket and all sorts of card games and board games that have been inspired by cricket. In these variants, the rules are often changed to make the game playable with limited resources or to render it more convenient and enjoyable for the participants.

Indoor Cricket was first invented in 1970.  It is similar to outdoor cricket except that is played in an indoor sports hall with 6 players per team. It is extremely popular in the UK with national championships and multiple independent leagues. Another less formal version of indoor cricket is played in a smaller arena with a soft ball and without pads was invented some years later and is commonly played in the Southern Hemisphere, and even has its own nominal international championships, including World Cups.

In the UK, garden cricket is a popular version of the sport, played in gardens and on recreation grounds around the country by adults and children alike. Although a cricket bat and ball are generally used, other equipment such as pads and gloves are not. The exact rules will vary based on the number of participants and the available space.

Families and teenagers play backyard cricket or tennis ball cricket in suburban yards or driveways, and the cities of India and Pakistan play host to countless games of "Gully Cricket" or "tape ball" in their long narrow streets. Sometimes the rules are improvised: e.g. it may be agreed that fielders can catch the ball with one hand after one bounce and claim a wicket; or if only a few people are available then everyone may field while the players take it in turns to bat and bowl. Tennis balls and homemade bats are often used, and a variety of objects may serve as wickets: for example, the batter's legs as in French cricket, which did not in fact originate in France, and is usually played by small children.

In Kwik cricket, the bowler does not have to wait for the batsman to be ready before a delivery, leading to a faster, more exhausting game designed to appeal to children, which is often used in physical education lessons at UK schools. Another modification to increase the pace of the game is the "Tip and Run", "Tipity" Run, "Tipsy Run" or "Tippy-Go" rule, in which the batter must run when the ball touches the bat, even if it the contact is unintentional or minor. This rule, seen only in impromptu games, speeds the match up by removing the batsman's right to block the ball.

In Samoa a form of cricket called Kilikiti is played in which hockey stick-shaped bats are used. In original English cricket, the hockey stick shape was replaced by the modern straight bat in the 1760s after bowlers began to pitch the ball instead of rolling or skimming it. In Estonia, teams gather over the winter for the annual Ice Cricket tournament. The game juxtaposes the normal summer pursuit with harsh, wintry conditions. Rules are otherwise similar to those for the six-a-side game.

International structure

The International Cricket Council (ICC), which has its headquarters in Dubai, 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 ICC has 104 members: 10 Full Members that play official Test matches, 34 Associate Members, and 60 Affiliate Members.  The ICC is responsible for the organisation and governance of cricket's major international tournaments, notably the Cricket World Cup. It also appoints the umpires and referees that officiate at all sanctioned Test matches, One Day International and Twenty20 Internationals. Each nation has a national cricket board which regulates cricket matches played in its country. The cricket board also selects the national squad and organises home and away tours for the national team. In the West Indies these matters are addressed by the West Indies Cricket Board which consists of members appointed by four national boards and two multi-national boards.

Members

Full Members

Full Members are the governing bodies for cricket in a country or associated countries. Full Members may also represent a geographical area. All Full Members have a right to send one representative team to play official Test matches. Also, all Full Member nations are automatically qualified to play ODIs and Twenty20 Internationals. West Indies cricket team does not represent one country instead an amalgamation of over 20 countries from the Caribbean. The English Cricket team represents both England and Wales.

*Last Updated: 9 February 2016  

AResigned May 1961, readmitted 10 July 1991.

Top Associate and Affiliate Members

All the associate and affiliate members are not qualified to play Test Cricket, however ICC grants One Day International status to its associate and affiliate members based on their success in the World Cricket League. The top six teams will be awarded One day international and Twenty20 International status, which will allow the associate and affiliate teams to be eligible to play the full members and play official ODI cricket.

The associate and affiliate teams who currently hold ODI and T20I status:

Cricket at international multi-sport events

Cricket was played as part of the 1900 Summer Olympics, when England and France contested a two-day match.  In 1998, cricket was played as part of the Commonwealth Games, on this occasion in the 50-over format. There was some talk about Twenty20 cricket being part of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, which were held in Delhi, but at the time the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), were not in favour of the short format of the game, and it was not included.  

Cricket was played in 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China  and 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.  India skipped both times.  There was further calls for subsequent Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games. The Commonwealth Games Federation asked the ICC to participate in the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games, but the ICC turned down the invitation.  In 2010, the International Olympic Committee recognised cricket as a sport which could apply to be included in the Olympic Games,  but in 2013 the ICC announced that it had no intentions to make such an application, primarily due to opposition from the  BCCI. ESPNcricinfo suggested that the opposition might be based on the possible loss of income.  In April 2016, ICC chief executive Dave Richardson said that Twenty20 cricket can have a chance of getting in for the 2024 Summer Games, but there must be collective support shown by the ICC's membership base, in particular from BCCI, in order for there to be a chance of inclusion. 

Statistics

Organized cricket lends itself to statistics to a greater degree than many other sports. Each play is discrete and has a relatively small number of possible outcomes. At the professional level, statistics for Test cricket, one-day internationals, and first-class cricket are recorded separately. However, since Test matches are a form of first-class cricket, a player's first-class statistics will include his Test match statistics - but not vice versa. The Guide to Cricketers was a cricket annual edited by Fred Lillywhite between 1849 and his death in 1866. Wisden Cricketers' Almanack was founded in 1864 by the English cricketer John Wisden (1826–1884) as a competitor to The Guide to Cricketers. Its annual publication has continued uninterrupted to the present day, making it the longest running sports annual in history.

Certain traditional statistics are familiar to most cricket fans. The basic batting statistics include:
* Innings (I): The number of innings in which the batsman actually batted.
* Not outs (NO): The number of times the batsman was not out at the conclusion of an innings they batted in.
* Runs (R): The number of runs scored.
* Highest score (HS/Best): The highest score ever made by the batsman.
* Batting average (Ave): The total number of runs divided by the total number of innings in which the batsman was out. Ave = Runs/[I - NO] (also Avge or Avg.)
* Centuries (100): The number of innings in which the batsman scored one hundred runs or more.
* Half-centuries (50): The number of innings in which the batsman scored fifty to ninety-nine runs (centuries do not count as half-centuries as well).
* Balls faced (BF): The total number of balls received, including no balls but not including wides.
* Strike rate (SR): The number of runs scored per 100 balls faced. (SR = [100 * Runs]/BF)
* Run rate (RR): Is the number of runs a batsman (or the batting side) scores in an over of six balls.

The basic bowling statistics include:
* Overs (O): The number of overs bowled.
* Balls (B): The number of balls bowled. Overs is more traditional, but balls is a more useful statistic because the number of balls per over has varied historically.
* Maiden overs (M): The number of maiden overs (overs in which the bowler conceded zero runs) bowled.
* Runs (R): The number of runs conceded.
* Wickets (W): The number of wickets taken.
* No balls (Nb): The number of no balls bowled.
* Wides (Wd): The number of wides bowled.
* Bowling average (Ave): The average number of runs conceded per wicket. (Ave = Runs/W)
* Strike rate (SR): The average number of balls bowled per wicket. (SR = Balls/W)
* Economy rate (Econ): The average number of runs conceded per over. (Econ = Runs/overs bowled).

Scorecards

A match's statistics are summarised on a scorecard. Prior to the popularisation of scorecards, most scoring was done by men sitting on vantage points cuttings notches on tally sticks. The earliest known scorecards were printed in 1776 by Pratt, scorer to the Sevenoaks Vine Cricket Club, but it was many years before his invention was widely adopted.  Scorecards were printed and sold at Lord's for the first time in 1846. 

The introduction of scoreboards revolutionised cricket by allowing spectators to keep track of the day's play. In 1848, Fred Lillywhite used a portable printing press at grounds to print updated scorecards. In 1858, the Kennington Oval introduced the first mobile scorebox, "a house on rollers with figures for telegraphing on each side". In 1881, the Melbourne Cricket Ground erected the first cricket scoreboard. The scoreboard, located at the western end of the ground, gave the batsman's name and method of dismissal.

Culture

Influence on everyday life

Cricket has had a broad impact on popular culture, both in the Commonwealth of Nations and elsewhere. Cricket has had an influence on the lexicon of these nations, especially the English language, with such phrases as "that's not cricket" (unfair), "had a good innings", "sticky wicket", and "bowled over". There have been many cricket films. The term "Bradmanesque" from Don Bradman's name has become a generic term for outstanding excellence, both within cricket and in the wider world. 

The amateur game has also been spread further afield by expatriates from the Test-playing nations.

In the arts and popular culture

Cricket is the subject of works by major English poets including William Blake and Lord Byron.Smart, Alastair (20 July 2013). [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-features/10191131/The-art-of-cricket-Enough-to-leave-you-stumped.html "The art of cricket: Enough to leave you stumped"], The Telegraph. Retrieved 12 March 2016. Beyond a Boundary (1963), written by Trinidadian C.L.R. James, is often named the best book on any sport, ever written.  In fiction, there is English author P. G. Wodehouse's 1909 novel, Mike.

In the visual arts, notable cricket paintings include Albert Chevallier Tayler's Kent vs Lancashire at Canterbury (1907) and Russell Drysdale's The Cricketers (1948), which has been called "possibly the most famous Australian painting of the 20th century."  French impressionist Camille Pissarro painted cricket on a visit to England in the 1890s. Francis Bacon, an avid cricket fan, captured a batsman in motion. Caribbean artist Wendy Nanan’s cricket images  are featured in a limited edition first day cover for Royal Mail's "World of Invention" stamp issue,  celebrating the London Cricket Conference 1–3 March 2007, first international workshop of its kind and part of the celebrations leading up to the 2007 Cricket World Cup. 

There are many cricket video games, including EA Sports Cricket 07.

Influence on other sports

Cricket has close historical ties with Australian rules football and many players have competed at top levels in both sports.  In 1858, prominent Australian cricketer Tom Wills called for the formation of a "foot-ball club" with "a code of laws" to keep cricketers fit during the off-season. The Melbourne Football Club was founded the following year, and Wills and three other members codified the first laws of the game.  It is typically played on modified cricket fields.

In the late 19th century, a former cricket player, English-born Henry Chadwick of Brooklyn, New York, was responsible for the "development of the box score, tabular standings, the annual baseball guide, the batting average, and most of the common statistics and tables used to describe baseball". The statistical record is so central to the game's "historical essence" that Chadwick came to be known as Father of Baseball, and was an early inductee in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The 2009 Ashes series was that year's edition of the long-standing and storied cricket rivalry between England and Australia, and was part of the Australian cricket tour of England in 2009. Starting on 8 July 2009, England and Australia played five Tests, with England winning the series 2–1. England thus reclaimed The Ashes from Australia, who had won the previous series in 2006–07.

The first Test was held at the SWALEC Stadium in Cardiff, the first Test match ever to be held at the ground,  and resulted in England saving a draw with one wicket to spare, and Ricky Ponting surpassing 11,000 Test runs, becoming Australia's leading Test run scorer as the series progressed. The second Test at Lord's was preceded by the announcement that Andrew Flintoff would be retiring from Test cricket at the end of the series. The England all-rounder then took his first Lord's five-for to seal a 115-run victory, England's first against Australia at the ground in 75 years.  Rain prevented play for large amounts of the Third Test at Edgbaston, including the entire third day,  making the draw an inevitable result. Australia pegged the score back to 1–1 with an innings victory at Headingley after bowling out England for 102, their lowest Ashes total since they were bowled out for 77 at Lord's in 1997.  This left the Fifth Test at The Oval to decide the series.

Australia began the match needing only a draw to retain the Ashes, but an inspired bowling performance from Stuart Broad to remove Australia for just 160 runs, and a maiden Test century for Jonathan Trott in England's second innings left Australia chasing 546 with two days left to play. An innings of 121 from Michael Hussey gave the Australians hope, but he gradually ran out of partners before losing his own wicket to give England a 197-run win in the match and a 2–1 series victory. 

Background

The 2009 Ashes series began with Australia leading by 31 series to 27, with five drawn series. Australia had won the most recent series in 2006–07 by five matches to nil,  but the 2005 series, the last to be held in England, was won 2–1 by the home side. 

Australia's last two Test series before the Ashes were played against South Africa, the first in Australia and the second in South Africa. Although South Africa won their tour series 2–1,  Australia recovered to win the return series by the same scoreline. 

Meanwhile, England warmed up for the 2009 Ashes with two Test series against the West Indies, the first in the West Indies and the second in England. The first series comprised five matches and was won 1–0 by the West Indies,  but the second only included two Tests, England winning both. 

The immediate preparation for the Ashes consisted of the 2009 ICC World Twenty20, held in England in June 2009. Australia struggled in their group, losing to the West Indies and Sri Lanka by seven and six wickets, respectively, and were eliminated at the first hurdle.   England also suffered a shock four-wicket defeat to the Netherlands in their first match,  but they recovered by defeating Pakistan by 48 runs to qualify for the Super Eights.  There, they were paired with South Africa, India and the West Indies, but defeat to South Africa and a narrow victory over India meant that they needed a victory against the West Indies to reach the semi-finals.   They lost the match via the Duckworth–Lewis method, and were eliminated. 

Australia completed their Ashes preparations with tour matches against Sussex and the England Lions, but both matches finished as draws.   Meanwhile, England's schedule was completed with a draw against Warwickshire. 

Squads

;Notes
*Note A: Steve Harmison was called up as cover for the Second Test after an injury concern regarding Andrew Flintoff.
*Note B: Monty Panesar was dropped for the Fourth Test and allowed to return to his county, before being recalled for the Fifth Test.
*Note C: Kevin Pietersen was dropped from the England squad after the Second Test after undergoing surgery on an injury to his Achilles tendon. 
*Note D: Ryan Sidebottom was called up for the Fourth Test squad, taking Monty Panesar's place in the England bowling attack.
*Note E: Jonathan Trott was called up as batting cover for the injured Andrew Flintoff for the Fourth Test.

Matches

First Test

England won the toss and captain Andrew Strauss chose to bat. England slumped to 90/3 early but recovered with a fine partnership of 138 runs between Pietersen and Collingwood.  Hauritz dismissed Pietersen for the crucial fifth wicket when he offered a simple catch to short leg, attempting to sweep from outside the off stump. England ended the day at 336/7 after Siddle picked up two crucial wickets in the last four overs of play.

Swann's unbeaten 47 off 40 balls took England to 435. Australia's openers started brightly facing eight overs before lunch. Flintoff, the fastest bowler in the match, captured the only wicket when Hughes's bottom-edge was well caught by Prior. Katich and Ponting steadily took control with sensible batting. Ponting reached a major milestone in his career scoring his 11,000th run and joining Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Allan Border. By the end of the day both batsmen had scored centuries, Katich's first against England and their unbeaten partnership of 189 runs had Australia at 249/1 at stumps.

Katich and Ponting added 50 runs to the overnight total before their partnership was broken by Anderson who had been given the new ball earlier. Anderson collected his second wicket of the day (Hussey) when Prior took an easy catch. Ponting was soon to follow crashing his stumps as he attempted a cut shot of Panesar. After lunch, Australia consolidated their position without losing a wicket and passing England's total and at tea were 458/4. Play was delayed unexpectedly for two hours due to rain and when play resumed it was under lights – the first time artificial light was used in a Test Match in Britain. At stumps Australia were in a strong position with 5 wickets in hand and a lead of 44 runs.

Resuming in fairly muggy, heavy clouded conditions North and Haddin punished the English attack. North reached his deserved century scoring centuries on both his Test and Ashes debuts. At lunch Australia had reached 577/5. After lunch, Haddin became the destroyer-in-chief, flicking three successive Anderson deliveries to the boundary and closed in on his second Test ton with booming sixes off the ineffective English attack. When Haddin was finally dismissed, Ponting declared the Australian innings at 674/6, the largest total against England since 1934 and fourth highest in The Ashes series. In the short time before tea England failed miserably to hold on, losing Cook and Bopara. The rain started as tea was taken and play ended for the day with England 219 runs behind and in dire straits to save the match.

Resuming on 20/2, England lost three wickets in the first 90 minutes of play and reached lunch on 102/5. Paul Collingwood lasted 245 balls and batted for five hours and 43 minutes before being caught at gully by Michael Hussey. The last man partnership of James Anderson and Monty Panesar managed to bat England into a lead. With every dot ball cheered, England managed to bat until 18:40 to secure a draw. Australia captain Ricky Ponting later accused the England team of time-wasting by allowing their 12th man, Bilal Shafayat, and physiotherapist, Steve McCaig, to twice run onto the pitch. 

Second Test

England started the day with the news that former captain and talisman Andrew Flintoff was going to retire from Test cricket after the Ashes, Monty Panesar had been dropped in favour of Graham Onions and Steve Harmison had been left out of the squad. England started exceptionally well with Strauss and Cook opening and going in for lunch 126/0. There was bad luck for the Australians after the interval when Strauss hit a ball back towards bowler Nathan Hauritz who, in trying to take the catch, dislocated his finger. England's pre-lunch form continued into the afternoon, until, with the score 196/0, Cook was dismissed LBW by Johnson just short of his century on 95. England soon lost Bopara for 18 and, from 222/2, England started to collapse: the next four middle order batsmen fell for just 74 with Australia's bowlers looking far better than they had done earlier in the day. Strauss continued past 150 to reach 161 with Broad on 7 going into day 2 and England on a possible shaky 364/6. 

England started the way they had finished on day 1 – with fast wickets for few runs. Strauss was eventually bowled out on his second ball of the day for his previous day's total of 161. After that, two quick wickets meant that England were on 378 with only one wicket left. Onions and Anderson started slowly but gathered confidence with a partnership of 47 until Anderson was caught by Hussey ending England's innings on 425 all-out. The Australians had just under an hour before lunch and James Anderson claimed two wickets with the crucial wicket of Ricky Ponting. A 93 run partnership seemed to have the Australians back in the game but 6 wickets for 53 runs put England into a very strong position going into day 3 with Hauritz and Siddle on 3* each. 

Having bowled Australia out for 215, England decided not to enforce the follow on. In England's 2nd Innings, openers Strauss and Cook started brightly as they looked to score quick runs to increase their lead in the match. After reaching 32 in 42 balls, Cook was trapped LBW by spinner Nathan Hauritz while England were on 61. Strauss fared little better against Hauritz and was out against him shortly afterwards by a catch from Michael Clarke. These two wickets brought Bopara and Pietersen to the crease and also signalled a slowing of the run rate. This partnership lasted 28 overs when Hauritz, showing few ill-effects from his dislocated middle finger on Day 1, got another England wicket. Simon Katich caught Bopara for 27 from 93 balls. When Pietersen fell 7 overs later, caught behind to Siddle, the score 174 for 4. It was left to Collingwood and wicketkeeper Prior to accelerate the run-rate for England. Matt Prior in particular enjoyed success hitting a quick-fire 61 off 42 balls (an innings which included 9 boundaries) until he was dismissed run out by a quick piece of fielding from Marcus North. Upon Prior's dismissal came Andrew Flintoff, playing in his last test for England at Lord's. Flintoff with Collingwood made a fifty partnership in 8 overs with Collingwood reaching his half-century. When Collingwood was dismissed caught behind off Siddle, Stuart Broad came on as next batsman but failed to face a ball as the umpires stopped play due to rain. Almost immediately afterwards, heavy showers meant that play was abandoned for the day with England 311 for 6, a lead over Australia of 521. 

Play was delayed due to early showers until 11:15. Andrew Strauss immediately declared England's second innings closed on 311 for 6, leaving Australia a target of 522 to win in two days of play. England started strongly, reducing Australia to 128/5, but a counter-attack by Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin brought Australia back into the game, reaching 313/5 at the close of play, with an outside chance of reaching the target of 522. The highest total ever to have been reached by a test side in the fourth innings to win was 418 (West Indies vs Australia, 2002–03 at St John's).

Requiring another 209 runs to win, Australia hopes were high with Michael Clarke on 136 and Brad Haddin on 80. England broke the partnership early when Andrew Flintoff made Haddin edge one to Paul Collingwood. Graeme Swann then bowled Clarke with his first ball of the day, and Flintoff then bowled both Nathan Hauritz and Peter Siddle to claim his first five-wicket-haul at Lord's, on his final appearance as a Test player at the ground. The feat also meant he became one of the few players to grace both Lord's Honours Boards (because of the 142 he made against South Africa six years prior). With only one wicket left, Mitchell Johnson aggressively powered to 63 before he was clean-bowled by Swann to wrap up England's first Ashes Test victory at Lord's since 1934 at 12:42.

Third Test

Play began at 17:00 after a long rain delay. At the start of the day, Australian opener Phillip Hughes announced via his Twitter page that he had been dropped from the side. His replacement, all-rounder Shane Watson, put on 85 runs for the first wicket with Simon Katich before Katich was trapped LBW in Graeme Swann's first over. Over the course of the day's 30 overs, Watson accrued 62 runs not out as Australia finished the day at 126/1. 

England started the day in fine form as Graham Onions removed Shane Watson and Michael Hussey with the first two balls of the day, before taking the wicket of Ricky Ponting soon after as the Australian captain tried to hook a quick bouncer. The Australians only added another 30 runs before James Anderson took the next wicket, sparking a sequence of four Anderson wickets in four overs for just 10 runs. Anderson and Onions shared the last two wickets between them as Nathan Hauritz and Ben Hilfenhaus put on 34 for the tenth wicket. England opened their innings with the momentum in their favour, but they had to face the same batting conditions as the Australians had, and Alastair Cook was removed for a duck in the second over. Ravi Bopara was the next to fall as he continued his poor run of form and put on just 23 runs. However, Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell batted until the end of the day to take England into the third day at 116/2. 

Heavy overnight rain left the pitch unplayable on Day 3. The umpires examined the pitch at 12:00 and 14:30, by which time large puddles had formed, forcing play to be abandoned for the day.

The fourth day began in the same fashion as the first three had: with a one-hour delay for rain. Play eventually got underway at 12:00, but the partnership only lasted another eight overs, as Strauss was caught behind by Graham Manou off Hilfenhaus. Collingwood was next to fall to Hilfenhaus, caught by Ponting at second slip with the last ball before lunch. Bell reached his half-century just after lunch, but was trapped LBW by Johnson five overs later. Matt Prior and Andrew Flintoff then developed a strong partnership, putting on 89 runs for the sixth wicket. Flintoff and Stuart Broad then combined for another 52 runs before Flintoff was caught out by a Nathan Hauritz ball that spat out of the rough and caught him on the glove. The last three wickets went for 66 runs, with Broad top-scoring with 55 to take England to 376 all out, 113 runs ahead of the Aussies. The Australian innings began well, with the openers putting on 47 runs before two quick wickets fell to Onions and Swann in consecutive overs: Katich edged Onions to Prior, and then Swann tormented Ponting before clean-bowling him with the last ball of his over. The day ended with Australia on 88/2. 

The final day of the Third Test was the only day on which play began on schedule. Victory was a definite possibility for both sides, but England's 25-run lead gave them a slight advantage despite the time constraints. Australia drew level with England in the 10th over of the day, with both batsmen heading towards half-centuries. Watson was the first to reach 50, but was out off his next ball, edging the last ball of Anderson's first over of the day to Prior. Hussey was next to reach 50; however, he only put on 14 more before himself edging to Prior off Broad, in only Broad's second over of the innings. Australia's fifth-wicket partnership proved largely impenetrable for the remainder of the day, as Clarke and North pushed towards centuries and Australia towards a 200-run lead in the evening session. North looked the most likely to reach his century first, but – when still on 96 – he mistimed a drive that Anderson caught spectacularly at gully. Clarke then took another eight overs to reach his century with a four off Bopara, at which the two captains agreed to end the match as a draw.

Fourth Test

England won the toss and decided to bat first. However, within four overs they were already a wicket down as Andrew Strauss was caught for just three runs. He was then followed by Ravi Bopara (1), Ian Bell (8) and Paul Collingwood (0) before the end of the 19th over. Alastair Cook had managed to stay in throughout all this, but he was soon caught on 30 runs by Michael Clarke off Stuart Clark. After Cook's wicket, only Matt Prior offered any resistance, finishing the innings on 37 not out, while the five bowlers scored just six runs between them, three of them getting ducks. Although England responded well by getting Simon Katich out for a duck off series debutant Steve Harmison, the Australian innings began to gather pace and they were 69/1 off 15 overs by tea. The Australian second wicket partnership reached its century, but then three wickets came in relatively quick succession as Shane Watson fell for 51, Ricky Ponting for 78 and Michael Hussey for just 10 in the space of three overs. Australia finished the day on 196/4, with Michael Clarke on 34 and Marcus North on 7. 

Resuming with a 94 run lead Clarke and North extended their partnership to 152 runs before it was broken by Graham Onions. After the lunch break, North continued with good support from the Australian tail and reached his century with a six. Clark was the best of the others with three sixes in his score of 32 (22 deliveries), and Australia finished with a total of 445. Stuart Broad recorded his best Test effort with figures of six wickets for 91 runs. The English openers started comfortably in the quest to erase the 343 run deficit. But just as it seemed they were in control, Ben Hilfenhaus struck twice in two balls, first removing Strauss with a ball that swung in subtly and then Bopara was dismissed for leg before, despite replays showing a deft inside edge onto his pad. Johnson produced a spell of left arm swing bowling that captured the prime wickets of Bell (3), Collingwood (4) and opener Cook. Nightwatchman Anderson was left with Prior at stumps with England in trouble at 82/5, still 261 runs behind Australia's total.

Hilfenhaus dismissed Anderson with the third ball of the third day, when the batsman nicked a short ball outside off stump and was caught at second slip by Ponting. It came the delivery after Anderson scored a 4. Prior and Broad added a further 34 runs before Hilfenhaus had Prior taken behind by a diving Haddin. Broad and Swann then took the attack to the Australian bowlers, at one point taking 47 off 2.4 overs. Their eighth-wicket partnership of 108 from 79 balls was the second-fastest century stand in Test history, behind Kiwis Nathan Astle and Chris Cairns against England in 2002 (118 from 65 balls).  Broad was out with the score at 228/8 attempting to hit a boundary off a wide delivery from Johnson and was caught by Watson in the deep. After lunch, Harmison continued to frustrate the Australian bowlers with 19 from 28 deliveries, until Swann (62) and Onions (0) fell to Johnson, and the innings concluded after 61.3 overs at 263 to give Australia a victory by an innings and 80 runs.

Fifth Test

With a 10-day break between the 4th and 5th Tests, England looked at their squad following their batting performances at Headingley. Many names were thrown up as possible replacements for the failing middle order of Bopara, Bell and Collingwood, including Jonathan Trott and Robert Key,  as well as Mark Ramprakash, whose last test came in 2002,  and Marcus Trescothick, who then ruled himself out of the running.  The fitness of Andrew Flintoff was also questioned, as many commentators said that he would have to play if England were to win the Test.  Flintoff remained in the squad, the only change being the introduction of Trott for Bopara, with the confirmation that the South African-born batsman would make his Test debut at The Oval.

England won the toss and captain Andrew Strauss chose to bat on a pitch quite uncharacteristic of what would be considered normal at The Oval.  Although they lost Alastair Cook to an outside edge off Peter Siddle early in the innings, England recovered to reach 108/1 at lunch, with Strauss making his fifty in just 89 balls. However, the captain put on just five more after the break before being caught behind by wicket-keeper Brad Haddin. The next two wickets fell to Siddle in relatively quick succession: Paul Collingwood was caught at mid-on by Michael Hussey, before Ian Bell – who had reached his half-century off 73 balls – inside-edged onto his own stumps for 72. In came debutant Jonathan Trott, who took 12 balls to open his Test scoring tally, and continued to score slowly as he lost partners in Matt Prior and Andrew Flintoff, who made just seven runs in the first innings of his final Test match to take England to 247/6. Trott himself was next to fall, run out by Simon Katich: Trott clipped the ball to the leg side, but Katich made a smart stop and, with just one to aim at, threw the ball at the stumps, catching Trott well out of his ground. The eighth wicket stood for another 39 runs, when Graeme Swann was caught behind off Siddle for the Australian's fourth wicket of the innings, and with that play was closed for the day with England at 307/8. 

England added just 25 more runs for their last two wickets at the start of Day 2, Hilfenhaus trapping Anderson LBW for 0 in the second over of the day (ending his 54 innings sequence without a duck), before dismissing Broad for 37. Shane Watson and Simon Katich took Australia to 66/0 before rain forced lunch to be taken three minutes early, with the resumption of play delayed until almost 14:30. After lunch the Australian openers lasted just two overs before the start of a massive Broad-inspired batting collapse. First to fall was Watson, LBW on 34, then Ricky Ponting was deceived by a cutter from Broad and played onto his own stumps for just eight runs. Michaels Hussey and Clarke were next to go, Hussey LBW for a duck, before Clarke was caught low at short extra cover by Jonathan Trott. After a spell in which Broad took four wickets for just eight runs, Swann returned to the attack and immediately took the wicket of Marcus North, although replays subsequently showed that the Australian number 6 got an inside edge to the ball before it struck his pad. Katich reached his half-century in the 37th over of the innings, but was out the very next ball, caught by Alastair Cook at short leg. Broad completed his five-wicket haul in the 39th over, bowling Brad Haddin to give him wicket-to-wicket figures of 5/19 and leave only the Australian bowlers to dismiss. Swann took the next two wickets – albeit that of Stuart Clark was given incorrectly – leaving it to Flintoff to bowl Hilfenhaus and end the Australian innings for 160 runs. The English openers returned to the crease and put on 27 before Cook edged North to first slip for just nine. Mitchell Johnson then combined well with Simon Katich at short leg for the next two wickets, Katich catching Bell low before Johnson thumped a bouncer into Collingwood, looping the ball up for Katich to catch easily, leaving the home side at 39/3. Nevertheless, Strauss and Trott recovered well to take England into the third day at 58/3. 

Strauss and Trott built a partnership of 118 before the England captain edged to Michael Clarke at first slip just before the lunch break on day three. With the final ball of the morning session, Prior drove a ball from North to the off side and hit Ricky Ponting at silly point square in the jaw. The Australian captain, looked nonplussed, simply spat out some blood. After lunch, Prior was run out while attempting to sneak a run, despite hitting the ball straight to Katich, who threw down the stumps at the bowler's end. The next man in was Andrew Flintoff, playing in his final Test innings, and he added 22 off 18 before being caught on the long-on boundary. A lofted straight drive from England's most promising all-round prospect, Stuart Broad, brought up the 400 lead, but an attempted slog found his top edge and he was caught by Ponting off North for 29. Meanwhile, Trott progressed towards his maiden Test century, ably supported by Graeme Swann, who reached his half-century in just 44 balls. However, the England spinner was eventually caught behind, top-edging a pull shot off a bouncer from Hilfenhaus. Trott then became the 18th England cricketer to make a century on debut with a four off Hilfenhaus's next over, but he and Anderson only managed to add another 31 before Trott was caught by North at point off Stuart Clark, prompting a declaration from Andrew Strauss. England's score of 373/9 declared meant that in order to win the match Australia would need to make 546 runs in just over two days on a pitch that had not yet produced more than 400 over the course of the match. England, on the other hand, needed only to take 10 Australian wickets. The Australian openers managed to get to 80 without loss by the end of play. 

Starting the day at 80/0, Australia lost both Simon Katich and Shane Watson LBW in quick succession within the first five overs. Ponting and Hussey then built an impressive partnership, sharing a stand of 127 runs before Ponting was run out by a direct hit from Andrew Flintoff fielding at mid-off, which marked an important turning point in the match. Michael Clarke was then run out in the very next over following some sharp fielding from Andrew Strauss at slip, while Marcus North was stumped by Matt Prior. Hussey and Haddin steadied the innings as Hussey reached his first century in 28 Test innings after earlier being dropped by Paul Collingwood on 55, but Haddin was eventually out for 34 attempting a big shot over mid-wicket, where he was caught in the deep by Strauss. Harmison took the wicket of Mitchell Johnson for a duck in the next over, and then removed Siddle and Clark in consecutive balls. Hilfenhaus survived the hat-trick ball, but the match only lasted another two overs as Hussey was caught by Cook at short leg off the bowling of Swann. England won the match by 197 runs, to claim a 2–1 series win.

Statistics

Individual

Team

Other

*Ricky Ponting reached 11,000 Test runs when he reached 40 in the first innings of the First Test.
*Andrew Strauss reached 5,000 Test runs when he reached 161 in the first innings of the Second Test.
*Mitchell Johnson reached 100 Test wickets when he took the first innings wicket of Alastair Cook in the Second Test. The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The Ashes are regarded as being held by the team that most recently won the Test series.

The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, The Sporting Times, immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, their first Test win on English soil. The obituary stated that English cricket had died, and "the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia".  The mythical ashes immediately became associated with the 1882–83 series played in Australia, before which the English captain Ivo Bligh had vowed to "regain those ashes". The English media therefore dubbed the tour the quest to regain the Ashes.

After England had won two of the three Tests on the tour, a small urn was presented to Bligh by a group of Melbourne women including Florence Morphy, whom Bligh married within a year.[http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/63185850 Summary of Events] The Illustrated Australian News, 20 February 1884, (foot of column 2) at Trove The contents of the urn are reputed to be the ashes of a wooden bail, and were humorously described as "the ashes of Australian cricket".  It is not clear whether that "tiny silver urn" is the same as the small terracotta urn given to the MCC by Bligh's widow after his death in 1927.

The urn has never been the official trophy of the Ashes series, having been a personal gift to Bligh.  However, replicas of the urn are often held aloft by victorious teams as a symbol of their victory in an Ashes series. Since the 1998–99 Ashes series, a Waterford Crystal representation of the Ashes urn (called the Ashes Trophy) has been presented to the winners of an Ashes series as the official trophy of that series. Whichever side holds the Ashes, the urn remains in the MCC Museum at Lord's; it has however been taken to Australia to be put on touring display on two occasions: as part of the Australian Bicentenary celebrations in 1988, and to accompany the Ashes series in 2006–07.

An Ashes series is traditionally of five Tests, hosted in turn by England and Australia at least once every four years. , England hold the ashes, having won three of the five Tests in the 2015 Ashes series. Overall, Australia has won 32 series, England 32 and five series have been drawn.

1882 origins

The first Test match between England and Australia was played in Melbourne, Australia, in 1877, though the Ashes legend started later, after the ninth Test, played in 1882. On their tour of England that year the Australians played just one Test, at the Oval in London. It was a low-scoring affair on a difficult wicket.  Australia made a mere 63 runs in its first innings, and England, led by A. N. Hornby, took a 38-run lead with a total of 101. In their second innings, the Australians, boosted by a spectacular 55 runs off 60 deliveries from Hugh Massie, managed 122, which left England only 85 runs to win. The Australians were greatly demoralised by the manner of their second-innings collapse, but fast bowler Fred Spofforth, spurred on by the gamesmanship of his opponents, in particular W. G. Grace, refused to give in. "This thing can be done," he declared. Spofforth went on to devastate the English batting, taking his final four wickets for only two runs to leave England just eight runs short of victory.

When Ted Peate, England's last batsman, came to the crease, his side needed just ten runs to win, but Peate managed only two before he was bowled by Harry Boyle. An astonished Oval crowd fell silent, struggling to believe that England could possibly have lost to a colony on home soil. When it finally sank in, the crowd swarmed onto the field, cheering loudly and chairing Boyle and Spofforth to the pavilion.

When Peate returned to the pavilion he was reprimanded by his captain for not allowing his partner, Charles Studd (one of the best batsman in England, having already hit two centuries that season against the colonists), to get the runs. Peate humorously replied, "I had no confidence in Mr Studd, sir, so thought I had better do my best." 

The momentous defeat was widely recorded in the British press, which praised the Australians for their plentiful "pluck" and berated the Englishmen for their lack thereof. A celebrated poem appeared in Punch on Saturday, 9 September. The first verse, quoted most frequently, reads:

Well done, Cornstalks! Whipt us
Fair and square,
Was it luck that tript us?
Was it scare?
Kangaroo Land's 'Demon', or our own
Want of 'devil', coolness, nerve, backbone?

On 31 August, in the Charles Alcock-edited magazine Cricket: A Weekly Record of The Game, there appeared a mock obituary:

SACRED TO THE MEMORY
OF
ENGLAND'S SUPREMACY IN THE
CRICKET-FIELD
WHICH EXPIRED
ON THE 29TH DAY OF AUGUST, AT THE OVAL
"ITS END WAS PEATE"

On 2 September a more celebrated mock obituary, written by Reginald Shirley Brooks, appeared in The Sporting Times. It read:

In Affectionate Remembrance
of
ENGLISH CRICKET,
which died at the Oval
on
29 August 1882,
Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing
friends and acquaintances

R.I.P.

N.B.—The body will be cremated and the
ashes taken to Australia.

Ivo Bligh promised that on 1882–83 tour of Australia, he would, as England's captain, "recover those Ashes". He spoke of them several times over the course of the tour, and the Australian media quickly caught on. The three-match series resulted in a two-one win to England, notwithstanding a fourth match, won by the Australians, whose status remains a matter of ardent dispute.

In the 20 years following Bligh's campaign the term "the Ashes" largely disappeared from public use. There is no indication that this was the accepted name for the series, at least not in England. The term became popular again in Australia first, when George Giffen, in his memoirs (With Bat and Ball, 1899), used the term as if it were well known. 

The true and global revitalisation of interest in the concept dates from 1903, when Pelham Warner took a team to Australia with the promise that he would regain "the ashes". As had been the case on Bligh's tour 20 years before, the Australian media latched fervently onto the term and, this time, it stuck. Having fulfilled his promise, Warner published a book entitled How We Recovered the Ashes. Although the origins of the term are not referred to in the text, the title served (along with the general hype created in Australia) to revive public interest in the legend. The first mention of "the Ashes" in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack occurs in 1905, while Wisdens first account of the legend is in the 1922 edition.

Urn

As it took many years for the name "the Ashes" to be given to ongoing series between England and Australia, there was no concept of there being a representation of the ashes being presented to the winners. As late as 1925 the following verse appeared in The Cricketers Annual:

So here's to Chapman, Hendren and Hobbs,
Gilligan, Woolley and Hearne
May they bring back to the Motherland,
The ashes which have no urn!

Nevertheless, several attempts had been made to embody the Ashes in a physical memorial. Examples include one presented to Warner in 1904, another to Australian captain M. A. Noble in 1909, and another to Australian captain W. M. Woodfull in 1934.

The oldest, and the one to enjoy enduring fame, was the one presented to Bligh, later Lord Darnley, during the 1882–83 tour. The precise nature of the origin of this urn is matter of dispute. Based on a statement by Darnley in 1894, it was believed that a group of Victorian ladies, including Darnley's later wife Florence Morphy, made the presentation after the victory in the Third Test in 1883. More recent researchers, in particular Ronald Willis  and Joy Munns  have studied the tour in detail and concluded that the presentation was made after a private cricket match played over Christmas 1882 when the English team were guests of Sir William Clarke, at his property "Rupertswood", in Sunbury, Victoria. This was before the matches had started. The prime evidence for this theory was provided by a descendant of Clarke.

In August 1926 Ivo Bligh (now Lord Darnley) displayed the Ashes urn at the Morning Post Decorative Art Exhibition held in the Central Hall, Westminster. He made the following statement about how he was given the urn: 

A more detailed account of how the Ashes were given to Ivo Bligh was outlined by his wife, the Countess of Darnley, in 1930 during a speech at a cricket luncheon. Her speech was reported by the London Times as follows: 

There is another statement which is not totally clear made by Lord Darnley in 1921 about the timing of the presentation of the urn. He was interviewed in his home at Cobham Hall by Montague Grover and the report of this interview was as follows: 

He made a similar statement in 1926. The report of this statement in the Brisbane Courier was as follows: 

The contents of the urn are also problematic; they were variously reported to be the remains of a stump, bail or the outer casing of a ball, but in 1998 Darnley's 82-year-old daughter-in-law said they were the remains of her mother-in-law's veil, casting a further layer of doubt on the matter. However, during the tour of Australia in 2006/7, the MCC official accompanying the urn said the veil legend had been discounted, and it was now "95% certain" that the urn contains the ashes of a cricket bail. Speaking on Channel Nine TV on 25 November 2006, he said x-rays of the urn had shown the pedestal and handles were cracked, and repair work had to be carried out. The urn is made of terracotta and is about 6 in tall and may originally have been a perfume jar.

A label containing a six-line verse is pasted on the urn. This is the fourth verse of a song-lyric published in the Melbourne Punch on 1 February 1883:

When Ivo goes back with the urn, the urn;
Studds, Steel, Read and Tylecote return, return;
The welkin will ring loud,
The great crowd will feel proud,
Seeing Barlow and Bates with the urn, the urn;
And the rest coming home with the urn.

In February 1883, just before the disputed Fourth Test, a velvet bag made by Mrs Ann Fletcher, the daughter of Joseph Hines Clarke and Marion Wright, both of Dublin, was given to Bligh to contain the urn.

During Darnley's lifetime there was little public knowledge of the urn, and no record of a published photograph exists before 1921.  The Illustrated London News published this photo in January 1921 (shown above).

When Darnley died in 1927 his widow presented the urn to the Marylebone Cricket Club and that was the key event in establishing the urn as the physical embodiment of the legendary ashes. MCC first displayed the urn in the Long Room at Lord's Cricket Ground and since 1953 in the MCC Cricket Museum at the ground. MCC's wish for it to be seen by as wide a range of cricket enthusiasts as possible has led to its being mistaken for an official trophy.

It is in fact a private memento, and for this reason it is never awarded to either England or Australia, but is kept permanently in the MCC Cricket Museum where it can be seen together with the specially made red and gold velvet bag and the scorecard of the 1882 match.

Because the urn itself is so delicate, it has been allowed to travel to Australia only twice. The first occasion was in 1988 for a museum tour as part of the Australian Bicentenary celebrations; the second was for the 2006/7 Ashes series.  The urn arrived on 17 October 2006, going on display at the Museum of Sydney. It then toured to other states, with the final appearance at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery on 21 January 2007.

In the 1990s, given Australia's long dominance of the Ashes and the popular acceptance of the Darnley urn as "the Ashes", the idea was mooted that the victorious team should be awarded the urn as a trophy and allowed to retain it until the next series. As its condition is fragile and it is a prized exhibit at the MCC Cricket Museum, the MCC would not agree. Furthermore, in 2002, Bligh's great-great-grandson Lord Clifton, the heir-apparent to the Earldom of Darnley, argued that the Ashes urn should not be returned to Australia because it belonged to his family and was given to the MCC only for safe keeping.

As a compromise, the MCC commissioned a trophy in the form of a larger replica of the urn in Waterford Crystal, to award to the winning team of each series from 1998–99. This is known as the Ashes Trophy.  This did little to diminish the status of the Darnley urn as the most important icon in cricket, the symbol of this old and keenly fought contest.

Series and matches

See also: List of Ashes series for a full listing of all the Ashes series.

Quest to "recover those ashes"

Later in 1882, following the famous Australian victory at The Oval, Bligh led an England team to Australia, as he said, to "recover those ashes". Publicity surrounding the series was intense, and it was at some time during this series that the Ashes urn was crafted. Australia won the First Test by nine wickets, but in the next two England were victorious. At the end of the Third Test, England were generally considered to have "won back the Ashes" 2–1. A fourth match was played, against a "United Australian XI", which was arguably stronger than the Australian sides that had competed in the previous three matches; this game, however, is not generally considered part of the 1882–83 series. It is counted as a Test, but as a standalone. This match ended in a victory for Australia

1884 to 1896

After Bligh's victory, there was an extended period of English dominance. The tours generally had fewer Tests in the 1880s and 1890s than people have grown accustomed to in more recent years, the first five-Test series taking place only in 1894–95. England lost only four Ashes Tests in the 1880s out of 23 played, and they won all the seven series contested.

There was more chopping and changing in the teams, given that there was no official board of selectors for each country (in 1887–88, two separate English teams were on tour in Australia) and popularity with the fans varied. The 1890s games were more closely fought, Australia taking their first series win since 1882 with a 2–1 victory in 1891–92. But England dominated, winning the next three series to 1896 despite continuing player disputes.

The 1894–95 series began in sensational fashion when England won the First Test at Sydney by just 10 runs having followed on. Australia had scored a massive 586 (Syd Gregory 201, George Giffen 161) and then dismissed England for 325. But England responded with 437 and then dramatically dismissed Australia for 166 with Bobby Peel taking 6 for 67. At the close of the second last day's play, Australia were 113–2, needing only 64 more runs. But heavy rain fell overnight and next morning the two slow left-arm bowlers, Peel and Johnny Briggs, were all but unplayable. England went on to win the series 3–2 after it had been all square before the Final Test, which England won by 6 wickets. The English heroes were Peel, with 27 wickets in the series at an average of 26.70, and Tom Richardson, with 32 at 26.53.

In 1896 England under the captaincy of W. G. Grace won the series 2–1, and this marked the end of England's longest period of Ashes dominance.

1897 to 1902

Australia resoundingly won the 1897–98 series by 4–1 under the captaincy of Harry Trott. His successor Joe Darling won the next three series in 1899, 1901–02 and the classic 1902 series, which became one of the most famous in the history of Test cricket.

Five matches were played in 1902 but the first two were drawn after being hit by bad weather. In the First Test (the first played at Edgbaston), after scoring 376 England bowled out Australia for 36 (Wilfred Rhodes 7/17) and reduced them to 46–2 when they followed on. Australia won the Third and Fourth Tests at Bramall Lane and Old Trafford respectively. At Old Trafford, Australia won by just 3 runs after Victor Trumper had scored 104 on a "bad wicket", reaching his hundred before lunch on the first day. England won the last Test at The Oval by one wicket. Chasing 263 to win, they slumped to 48–5 before Jessop's 104 gave them a chance. He reached his hundred in just 75 minutes. The last-wicket pair of George Hirst and Rhodes were required to score 15 runs for victory. When Rhodes joined him, Hirst reportedly said: "We'll get them in singles, Wilfred." In fact, they scored thirteen singles and a two. 

The period of Darling's captaincy saw the emergence of outstanding Australian players such as Trumper, Warwick Armstrong, James Kelly, Monty Noble, Clem Hill, Hugh Trumble and Ernie Jones.

Reviving the legend

After what the MCC saw as the problems of the earlier professional and amateur series they decided to take control of organising tours themselves, and this led to the first MCC tour of Australia in 1903–04. England won it against the odds, and Plum Warner, the England captain, wrote up his version of the tour in his book How We Recovered The Ashes.  The title of this book revived the Ashes legend and it was after this that England v Australia series were customarily referred to as "The Ashes".

1905 to 1912

England and Australia were evenly matched until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. Five more series took place between 1905 and 1912. In 1905 England's captain Stanley Jackson not only won the series 2–0, but also won the toss in all five matches and headed both the batting and the bowling averages. Monty Noble led Australia to victory in both 1907–08 and 1909. Then England won in 1911–12 by four matches to one. Jack Hobbs establishing himself as England's first-choice opening batsman with three centuries, while Frank Foster (32 wickets at 21.62) and Sydney Barnes (34 wickets at 22.88) formed a formidable bowling partnership.

England retained the Ashes when they won the 1912 Triangular Tournament, which also featured South Africa. The Australian touring party had been severely weakened by a dispute between the board and players that caused Clem Hill, Victor Trumper, Warwick Armstrong, Tibby Cotter, Sammy Carter and Vernon Ransford to be omitted. 

1920 to 1933

After the war, Australia took firm control of both the Ashes and world cricket. For the first time, the tactic of using two express bowlers in tandem paid off as Jack Gregory and Ted McDonald crippled the English batting on a regular basis. Australia recorded overwhelming victories both in England and on home soil. They won the first eight matches in succession including a 5–0 whitewash in 1920–1921 at the hands of Warwick Armstrong's team.

The ruthless and belligerent Armstrong led his team back to England in 1921 where his men lost only two games late in the tour to narrowly miss out of being the first team to complete a tour of England without defeat.

England won only one Test out of 15 from the end of the war until 1925. 

In a rain-hit series in 1926, England managed to eke out a 1–0 victory with a win in the final Test at The Oval. Because the series was at stake, the match was to be "timeless", i.e., played to a finish. Australia had a narrow first innings lead of 22. Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe took the score to 49–0 at the end of the second day, a lead of 27. Heavy rain fell overnight, and next day the pitch soon developed into a traditional sticky wicket. England seemed doomed to be bowled out cheaply and to lose the match. In spite of the very difficult batting conditions, however, Hobbs and Sutcliffe took their partnership to 172 before Hobbs was out for exactly 100. Sutcliffe went on to make 161 and England won the game comfortably.  Australian captain Herbie Collins was stripped of all captaincy positions down to club level, and some accused him of throwing the match.

Australia's ageing post-war team broke up after 1926, with Collins, Charlie Macartney and Warren Bardsley all departing, and Gregory breaking down at the start of the 1928–29 series.

Despite the debut of Donald Bradman, the inexperienced Australians, led by Jack Ryder, were heavily defeated, losing 4–1.  England had a very strong batting side, with Wally Hammond contributing 905 runs at an average of 113.12, and Hobbs, Sutcliffe and Patsy Hendren all scoring heavily; the bowling was more than adequate, without being outstanding.

In 1930, Bill Woodfull led an extremely inexperienced team to England.

Bradman fulfilled his promise in the 1930 series when he scored 974 runs at 139.14, which remains a world record Test series aggregate. A modest Bradman can be heard in a 1930 recording saying "I have always endeavoured to do my best for the side, and the few centuries that have come my way have been achieved in the hope of winning matches. My one idea when going into bat was to make runs for Australia."  In the Headingley Test, he made 334, reaching 309* at the end of the first day, including a century before lunch. Bradman himself thought that his 254 in the preceding match, at Lord's, was a better innings. England managed to stay in contention until the deciding final Test at The Oval, but yet another double hundred by Bradman, and 7/92 by Percy Hornibrook in England's second innings, enabled Australia to win by an innings and take the series 2–1. Clarrie Grimmett's 29 wickets at 31.89 for Australia in this high-scoring series were also important.

Australia had one of the strongest batting line-ups ever in the early 1930s, with Bradman, Archie Jackson, Stan McCabe, Bill Woodfull and Bill Ponsford. It was the prospect of bowling at this line-up that caused England's 1932–33 captain Douglas Jardine to adopt the tactic of fast leg theory, better known as Bodyline.

Jardine instructed his fast bowlers, most notably Harold Larwood and Bill Voce, to bowl at the bodies of the Australian batsmen, with the goal of forcing them to defend their bodies with their bats, thus providing easy catches to a stacked leg-side field. Jardine insisted that the tactic was legitimate and called it "leg theory" but it was widely disparaged by its opponents, who dubbed it "Bodyline" (from "on the line of the body"). Although England decisively won the Ashes 4–1, Bodyline caused such a furore in Australia that diplomats had to intervene to prevent serious harm to Anglo-Australian relations, and the MCC eventually changed the Laws of cricket to curtail the number of leg side fielders.

Jardine's comment was: "I've not travelled 6,000 miles to make friends. I'm here to win the Ashes". 

Some of the Australians wanted to use Bodyline in retaliation, but Woodfull flatly refused. He famously told England manager Pelham Warner, "There are two teams out there. One is playing cricket; the other is making no attempt to do so" after the latter had come into the Australian rooms to express sympathy for a Larwood bouncer had struck the Australian skipper in the heart and felled him. 

1934 to 1953

On the batting-friendly wickets that prevailed in the late 1930s, most Tests up to the Second World War still gave results. It should be borne in mind that Tests in Australia prior to the war were all played to a finish. Many batting records were set in this period.

The 1934 Ashes series began with the notable absence of Larwood, Voce and Jardine. The MCC had made it clear, in light of the revelations of the bodyline series, that these players would not face Australia. It should be noted that the MCC, although it had earlier condoned and encouraged  bodyline tactics in the 1932–33 series, laid the blame on Larwood when relations turned sour. Larwood was forced by the MCC to either apologise or be removed from the Test side. He went for the latter.

Australia recovered the Ashes in 1934 and held them until 1953, though no Test cricket was played during the Second World War.

As in 1930, the 1934 series was decided in the final Test at The Oval. Australia, batting first, posted a massive 701 in the first innings. Bradman (244) and Ponsford (266) were in record-breaking form with a partnership of 451 for the second wicket. England eventually faced a massive 707-run target for victory and failed, Australia winning the series 2–1.  This made Woodfull the only captain to regain the Ashes and he retired upon his return to Australia.

In 1936–37 Bradman succeeded Woodfull as Australian captain. He started badly, losing the first two Tests heavily after Australia were caught on sticky wickets. However, the Australians fought back and Bradman won his first series in charge 3–2.

The 1938 series was a high-scoring affair with two high-scoring draws, resulting in a 1–1 result, Australia retaining the Ashes. After the first two matches ended in stalemate and the Third Test at Old Trafford never started due to rain. Australia then scraped home by five wickets inside three days in a low-scoring match at Headingley to retain the urn. In the timeless Fifth Test at The Oval, the highlight was Len Hutton's then world-record score of 364 as England made 903-7 declared. Bradman and Jack Fingleton injured themselves during Hutton's marathon effort, and with only nine men, Australia fell to defeat by an innings and 579 runs,  the heaviest in Test history.

The Ashes resumed after the war when England toured in 1946–47 and, as in 1920–21, found that Australia had made the better post-war recovery. Still captained by Bradman and now featuring the potent new-ball partnership of Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller, Australia were convincing 3–0 winners.

Aged 38 and having been unwell during the war, Bradman had been reluctant to play. He batted unconvincingly and reached 28 when he hit a ball to Jack Ikin; England believed it was a catch, but Bradman stood his ground, believing it to be a bump ball. The umpire ruled in the Australian captain's favour and he appeared to regain his fluency of yesteryear, scoring 187. Australia promptly seized the initiative, won the First Test convincingly and inaugurated a dominant post-war era. The controversy over the Ikin catch was one of the biggest disputes of the era.

In 1948 Australia set new standards, completely outplaying their hosts to win 4–0 with one draw. This Australian team, led by Bradman, who turned 40 during his final tour of England, has gone down in history as The Invincibles. Playing 34 matches on tour—three of which were not first-class—and including the five Tests, they remained unbeaten, winning 27 and drawing 7.

Bradman's men were greeted by packed crowds across the country, and records for Test attendances in England were set in the Second and Fourth Tests at Lord's and Headingley respectively. Before a record attendance of spectators at Headingley, Australia set a world record by chasing down 404 on the last day for a seven-wicket victory.

The 1948 series ended with one of the most poignant moments in cricket history, as Bradman played his final innings for Australia in the Fifth Test at The Oval, needing to score only four runs to end with a career batting average of exactly 100. However, Bradman made a second-ball duck, bowled by an Eric Hollies googly  that sent him into retirement with a career average of 99.94.

Bradman was succeeded as Australian captain by Lindsay Hassett, who led the team to a 4–1 series victory in 1950–51. The series was not as one-sided as the number of wins suggest, with several tight matches.

The tide finally turned in 1953 when England won the final Test at The Oval to take the series 1–0, having narrowly avoided defeat in the preceding Test at Headingley. This was the beginning of one of the greatest periods in English cricket history with players such as captain Len Hutton, batsmen Denis Compton, Peter May, Tom Graveney, Colin Cowdrey, bowlers Fred Trueman, Brian Statham, Alec Bedser, Jim Laker, Tony Lock, wicket-keeper Godfrey Evans and all-rounder Trevor Bailey.

1954 to 1971

In 1954–55, Australia's batsmen had no answer to the pace of Frank Tyson and Statham. After winning the First Test by an innings after being controversially sent in by Hutton, Australia lost its way and England took a hat-trick of victories to win the series 3–1. 

A dramatic series in 1956 saw a record that will probably never be beaten: off-spinner Jim Laker's monumental effort at Old Trafford when he bowled 68 of 191 overs to take 19 out of 20 possible Australian wickets in the Fourth Test.  It was Australia's second consecutive innings defeat in a wet summer, and the hosts were in strong positions in the two drawn Tests, in which half the playing time was washed out. Bradman rated the team that won the series 2–1 as England's best ever.

England's dominance was not to last. Australia won 4–0 in 1958–59, having found a high-quality spinner of their own in new skipper Richie Benaud, who took 31 wickets in the five-Test series, and paceman Alan Davidson, who took 24 wickets at 19.00. The series was overshadowed by the furore over various Australian bowlers, most notably Ian Meckiff, whom the English management and media accused of illegally throwing Australia to victory.

Australia consolidated their status as the leading team in world cricket with a hard-fought 2–1 away series. After narrowly winning the Second Test at Lord's, dubbed "The Battle of the Ridge" because of a protrusion on the pitch that caused erratic bounce, Australia mounted a comeback on the final day of the Fourth Test at Old Trafford and sealed the series after a heavy collapse during the English runchase.

The tempo of the play changed over the next four series in the 1960s, held in 1962–63, 1964, 1965–66 and 1968. The powerful array of bowlers that both countries boasted in the preceding decade moved into retirement, and their replacements were of lesser quality, making it more difficult to force a result. England failed to win any series during the 1960s, a period dominated by draws as teams found it more prudent to save face than risk losing. Of the 20 Tests played during the four series, Australia won four and England three. As they held the Ashes, Australian captains Bob Simpson and Bill Lawry were happy to adopt safety-first tactics and their strategy of sedate batting saw many draws. During this period, spectator attendances dropped and media condemnation increased, but Simpson and Lawry flatly disregarded the public dissatisfaction.

It was in the 1960s that the bipolar dominance of England and Australia in world cricket was seriously challenged for the first time. West Indies defeated England twice in the mid-1960s and South Africa, in two series before they were banned for apartheid, completely outplayed Australia 3–1 and 4–0. Australia had lost 2–1 during a tour of the West Indies in 1964–65, the first time they had lost a series to any team other than England.

In 1970–71, Ray Illingworth led England to a 2–0 win in Australia, mainly due to John Snow's fast bowling, and the prolific batting of Geoffrey Boycott and John Edrich. It was not until the last session of what was the 7th Test (one match having been abandoned without a ball bowled) that England's success was secured. Lawry was sacked after the Sixth Test after the selectors finally lost patience with Australia's lack of success and dour strategy. Lawry was not informed of the decision privately and heard his fate over the radio. 

1972 to 1987

The 1972 series finished 2–2, with England under Illingworth retaining the Ashes. 

In the 1974–75 series, with the England team breaking up and their best batsman Geoff Boycott refusing to play, Australian pace bowlers Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee wreaked havoc. A 4–1 result was a fair reflection as England were left shell shocked.  England then lost the 1975 series 0–1, but at least restored some pride under new captain Tony Greig. 

Australia won the 1977 Centenary Test  which was not an Ashes contest, but then a storm broke as Kerry Packer announced his intention to form World Series Cricket.  WSC affected all Test-playing nations but it weakened Australia especially as the bulk of its players had signed up with Packer; the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) would not select WSC-contracted players and an almost completely new Test team had to be formed. WSC came after an era during which the duopoly of Australian and English dominance dissipated; the Ashes had long been seen as a cricket world championship but the rise of the West Indies in the late 1970s challenged that view. The West Indies would go on to record resounding Test series wins over Australia and England and dominated world cricket until the 1990s.

With Greig having joined WSC, England appointed Mike Brearley as their captain and he enjoyed great success against Australia. Largely assisted by the return of Boycott, Brearley's men won the 1977 series 3–0 and then completed an overwhelming 5–1 series win against an Australian side missing its WSC players in 1978–79. Allan Border made his Test debut for Australia in 1978–79.

Brearley retired from Test cricket in 1979 and was succeeded by Ian Botham, who started the 1981 series as England captain, by which time the WSC split had ended. After Australia took a 1–0 lead in the first two Tests, Botham was forced to resign or was sacked (depending on the source). Brearley surprisingly agreed to be reappointed before the Third Test at Headingley. This was a remarkable match in which Australia looked certain to take a 2–0 series lead after they had forced England to follow-on 227 runs behind. England, despite being 135 for 7, produced a second innings total of 356, Botham scoring 149*. Chasing just 130, Australia were sensationally dismissed for 111, Bob Willis taking 8–43. It was the first time since 1894–95 that a team following on had won a Test match. Under Brearley's leadership, England went on to win the next two matches before a drawn final match at The Oval. 

In 1982–83 Australia had Greg Chappell back from WSC as captain, while the England team was weakened by the enforced omission of their South African tour rebels, particularly Graham Gooch and John Emburey. Australia went 2–0 up after three Tests, but England won the Fourth Test by 3 runs (after a 70-run last wicket stand) to set up the final decider, which was drawn. 

In 1985 David Gower's England team was strengthened by the return of Gooch and Emburey as well as the emergence at international level of Tim Robinson and Mike Gatting. Australia, now captained by Allan Border, had themselves been weakened by a rebel South African tour, the loss of Terry Alderman being a particular factor. England won 3–1.

Despite suffering heavy defeats against the West Indies during the 1980s, England continued to do well in the Ashes. Mike Gatting was the captain in 1986–87 but his team started badly and attracted some criticism.  Then Chris Broad scored three hundreds in successive Tests and bowling successes from Graham Dilley and Gladstone Small meant England won the series 2–1. 

1989 to 2003

The Australian team of 1989 was comparable to the great Australian teams of the past, and resoundingly defeated England 4–0.  Well led by Allan Border, the team included the young cricketers Mark Taylor, Merv Hughes, David Boon, Ian Healy and Steve Waugh, who were all to prove long-serving and successful Ashes competitors. England, now led once again by David Gower, suffered from injuries and poor form. During the Fourth Test news broke that prominent England players had agreed to take part in a "rebel tour" of South Africa the following winter; three of them (Tim Robinson, Neil Foster and John Emburey) were playing in the match, and were subsequently dropped from the England side. 

Australia reached a cricketing peak in the 1990s and early 2000s, coupled with a general decline in England's fortunes. After re-establishing its credibility in 1989, Australia underlined its superiority with victories in the 1990–91, 1993, 1994–95, 1997, 1998–99, 2001 and 2002–03 series, all by convincing margins.

Great Australian players in the early years included batsmen Border, Boon, Taylor and Steve Waugh. The captaincy passed from Border to Taylor in the mid-1990s and then to Steve Waugh before the 2001 series. In the latter part of the 1990s Waugh himself, along with his twin brother Mark, scored heavily for Australia and fast bowlers Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie made a serious impact, especially the former. The wicketkeeper-batsman position was held by Ian Healy for most of the 1990s and by Adam Gilchrist from 2001 to 2006–07. In the 2000s, batsmen Justin Langer, Damien Martyn and Matthew Hayden became noted players for Australia. But the most dominant Australian player was leg-spinner Shane Warne, whose first delivery in Ashes cricket in 1993, to dismiss Mike Gatting, became known as the Ball of the century.

Australia's record between 1989 and 2005 had a significant impact on the statistics between the two sides. Before the 1989 series began, the win-loss ratio was almost even, with 87 test wins for Australia to England's 86, 74 tests having been drawn.  By the 2005 series Australia's test wins had increased to 115 whereas England's had increased to only 93 (with 82 draws).  In the period between 1989 and the beginning of the 2005 series, the two sides had played 43 times; Australia winning 28 times, England 7 times, with 8 draws. Only a single England victory had come in a match in which the Ashes were still at stake, namely the First Test of the 1997 series. All others were consolation victories when the Ashes had been secured by Australia. 

2005 to present

England were undefeated in Test matches through the 2004 calendar year. This elevated them to second in the ICC Test Championship. Hopes that the 2005 Ashes series would be closely fought proved well-founded, the series remaining undecided as the closing session of the final Test began. Experienced journalists including Richie Benaud rated the series as the most exciting in living memory. It has been compared with the great series of the distant past, such as 1894–95 and 1902.

The First Test at Lord's was convincingly won by Australia, but in the remaining four matches the teams were evenly matched and England fought back to win the Second Test by 2 runs, the smallest winning margin in Ashes history, and the second-smallest in all Tests. The rain-affected Third Test ended with the last two Australian batsmen holding out for a draw; and England won the Fourth Test by three wickets after forcing Australia to follow-on for the first time in 191 Tests being a period of 17 years. A draw in the final Test gave England victory in an Ashes series for the first time in 18 years and their first Ashes victory at home since 1985.

Australia regained the Ashes on their home turf in the 2006–07 series with a convincing 5–0 victory, only the second time an Ashes series has been won by that margin. Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Justin Langer retired from Test cricket after that series, while Damien Martyn retired during the series. 

The 2009 series began with a tense draw in the First Test at SWALEC Stadium in Cardiff, with England's last-wicket batsmen James Anderson and Monty Panesar surviving 69 balls. England then achieved its first Ashes win at Lord's since 1934 to go 1–0 up. After a rain-affected draw at Edgbaston, the fourth match at Headingley was convincingly won by Australia by an innings and 80 runs to level the series. Finally, England won the Fifth Test at The Oval by a margin of 197 runs to regain the Ashes. Andrew Flintoff retired from Test cricket soon afterwards.

The 2010–11 series was played in Australia. The First Test at Brisbane ended in a draw, but England won the Second Test, at Adelaide, by an innings and 71 runs. Australia came back with a victory at Perth in the Third Test. In the Fourth Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground, England batting second scored 513 to defeat Australia (98 and 258) by an innings and 157 runs. This gave England an unbeatable 2–1 lead in the series and so they retained the Ashes. England went on to win the series 3–1, beating Australia by an innings and 83 runs at Sydney in the Fifth Test. Australia, captained by Michael Clarke, batted first on a cloudy day after winning the toss and were bowled out for 280. England made 644, their highest innings total since 1938. England then bowled Australia out again for 281. England's series victory was its first on Australian soil for 24 years. The 2010–11 Ashes series was the only one in which a team had won three Tests by innings margins and it was the first time England had scored 500 or more four times in a single series.

Australia's build-up to the 2013 Ashes series was far from ideal. Darren Lehmann took over as coach from Mickey Arthur  following a string of poor results. A batting line-up weakened by the previous year's retirements of former captain Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey, was also shorn of opener David Warner, who was suspended for the start of the series following an off-field incident.  The tourists put those issues behind them to bowl England out for 215 after losing the toss in the First Test at Trent Bridge. In the face of high-class swing bowling from James Anderson, who ended with 10 wickets in the match, Australia collapsed to 117–9. However, debutant 19-year-old Ashton Agar made a world-record 98 for a number 11 and Phil Hughes an unbeaten 81 to secure an unlikely lead of 65. England's second-innings total of 375 set Australia a target of 311, against which they fell short by only 14 runs in a tense finish. In the Second Test, England beat Australia by 347 runs in a very one-sided contest. In the Third Test, held at a newly refurbished Old Trafford, Australia won the toss and elected to bat first. They amassed a commanding score of 527–7, led by captain Michael Clarke's 187. The pressure was then on the home side to avoid the follow-on. England scored 368 with a century for Kevin Pietersen. Australia's second innings score was 172–7 at the end of Day 4, characterised by batting order changes to achieve a fast run rate to allow enough time to bowl England out amid inclement weather forecasts. Australia declared overnight to post England a target of 332 to win. Contrary to expectations, play resumed with only a minor delay on Day 5, and with captain Alastair Cook being bowled out for 0 (his first duck in 26 innings as captain), Australia looked to be in with a significant chance of a win, keeping their series hopes alive. By lunch England were 37–3, but on resumption of play only 3 balls were bowled before rain stopped play. This rain persisted and, at 16:40, the captains shook hands and the match was declared a draw. With England 2–0 up with two tests to play, England retained the Ashes on 5 August 2013. 

In the Fourth Test, England won the toss and batted first, putting on 238 runs, Australia took a narrow lead scoring 270 in their first innings. In the second innings England scored 330, Ian Bell top-scoring with 113. Needing only 298 runs to win Australia was in a strong position at 138/2, only 160 short with eight wickets in hand. Following a rain delay, Australia crashed to a 74-run defeat, losing all eight wickets for only 86 runs. England had taken 9 wickets in the final session of the fourth day. Stuart Broad was England's top wicket-taker in the match with 11 wickets. England held a 3–0 lead going into the final Fifth Test at The Oval.

The final Test was drawn. On the fourth day no play was possible due to rain, but on the final day after an aggressive Australian declaration, England came close to achieving its first 4–0 victory in an Ashes series. Play was abandoned, owing to bad light, denying a thrilling finish to the large crowd of spectators. There was media criticism of the new ICC rules requiring umpires to stop play when failing light was measured at a specified level. 

In the second of two Ashes series held in 2013 (the series ended in 2014), this time hosted by Australia, the home team won the series five test matches to nil. This was the third time Australia has completed a clean sweep (or "whitewash") in Ashes history, a feat never matched by England.

Australia came into the next Ashes series in England as favourites to retain the Ashes. Although England won the first Test in Cardiff, Australia won comfortably in the second Test at Lords. In the next two Tests, the Australian batsmen struggled, being bowled out for 136 in the first innings at Edgbaston , with England proceeding to win by eight wickets. This was followed by Australia being bowled out for 60 as Stuart Broad took fastest five wickets and finished the spell with 8 for 15 in the first innings at Trent Bridge, the quickest - in terms of balls faced - a team has been bowled out in the first innings of a Test match. With victory by an innings and 78 runs on the morning of the third day of the Fourth Test, England regained the Ashes.

Summary of results and statistics

See also: List of Ashes series for a full listing of all the Ashes series since 1882.

A team must win a series to gain the right to hold the Ashes. A drawn series results in the previous holders retaining the Ashes.

Ashes series have generally been played over five Test matches, although there have been four-match series (1938; 1975) and six-match series (1970–71; 1974–75; 1978–79; 1981; 1985; 1989; 1993 and 1997).

69 series have been played, with Australia winning 32 and England 32. The remaining five series were drawn. , the win–loss ratio in Ashes Tests  (from 1882) stands at 130 wins for Australia to 106 wins for England, with 89 draws. 

In the 132 years since 1883, Australia have held the Ashes for approximately 78.5 years, and England for 53.5 years.

Australians have made 264 centuries in Ashes Tests, of which 23 have been scores over 200, while Englishmen have scored 212 centuries, of which 10 have been over 200. Australians have taken 10 wickets in a match on 41 occasions, Englishmen 38 times.

Series results, up to and including the 2015 Ashes series:

Match venues

The series alternates between the United Kingdom and Australia, and within each country each of the usually five matches is held at a different cricket ground.

In Australia, the grounds currently used are The Gabba in Brisbane (first staged an England–Australia Test in the 1932–33 season), Adelaide Oval (1884–85), the WACA in Perth (1970–71), the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) (1876–77), and the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) (1881–82). A single Test was held at the Brisbane Exhibition Ground in 1928–29. Traditionally, Melbourne hosts the Boxing Day Test and Sydney hosts the New Year Test. Cricket Australia proposed that the 2010–11 series consist of six Tests, with the additional game to be played at Bellerive Oval in Hobart. The England and Wales Cricket Board declined and the series was played over five Tests.

In the UK, the grounds used are: Old Trafford in Manchester (1884), The Oval in Kennington, South London (1884); Lord's in St John's Wood, North London (1884); Trent Bridge at West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire (1899), Headingley in Leeds (1899); Edgbaston in Birmingham (1902); Sophia Gardens in Cardiff (2009); and the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street, County Durham (2013); Rose Bowl will host it in 2023. One Test was held at Bramall Lane in Sheffield in 1902. Traditionally the final Test of the series is played at the Oval.

Cultural references

The popularity and reputation of the cricket series has led to other sports or games, and/or their followers, using the name "Ashes" for contests between England and Australia. The best-known and longest-running of these events is the rugby league rivalry between Great Britain and Australia (see rugby league "Ashes"). Use of the name "Ashes" was suggested by the Australian team when rugby league matches between the two countries commenced in 1908. Other examples included the television game shows Gladiators and Sale of the Century, both of which broadcast special editions containing contestants from the Australian and English versions of the shows competing against each other.

The term became further genericised in Australia in the first half of the twentieth century, and was used to describe many sports rivalries or competitions outside the context of Australia vs England. The Australian rules football interstate carnival, and the small silver casket which served as its trophy, were symbolically known as "the Ashes" of Australian football,  and was spoken of as such until at least the 1940s.  The soccer rivalry between Australia and New Zealand was described as "the soccer ashes of Australasia" until as late as the 1950s;  ashes from cigars smoked by the two countries' captains were put into a casket in 1923 to make the trophy literal.  The interstate rugby league rivalry between Queensland and New South Wales was known for a time as Australia's rugby league ashes, and bowls competitions between the two states also regularly used the term.  Even some local rivalries, such as southern Western Australia's annual Great Southern Football Carnival, were locally described as "the ashes".  This genericised usage is no longer common, and "the Ashes" would today be assumed only to apply to a contest between Australia and England.

The Ashes featured in the film The Final Test, released in 1953, based on a television play by Terence Rattigan. It stars Jack Warner as an England cricketer playing the last Test of his career, which is the last of an Ashes series; the film includes cameo appearances of English captain Len Hutton and other players  who were part of England's 1953 triumph.

Douglas Adams's 1982 science fiction comedy novel Life, the Universe and Everything – the third part of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series – features the urn containing the Ashes as a significant element of its plot. The urn is stolen by alien robots, as the burnt stump inside is part of a key needed to unlock the "Wikkit Gate" and release an imprisoned world called Krikkit.

Bodyline, a fictionalised television miniseries based on the "Bodyline" Ashes series of 1932–33, was screened in Australia in 1984. The cast included Gary Sweet as Donald Bradman and Hugo Weaving as England captain Douglas Jardine.

In 2012, the second international instalment of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)-produced reality television series The Ultimate Fighter featured an Australian Team and an English team, and therefore called the season The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes. The England cricket team is the team that represents England and Wales (and until 1992 also Scotland) in international cricket. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) from 1903 until the end of 1996.  

England and Australia were the first teams to play a Test match (between 15–19 March 1877), and these two countries together with South Africa formed the Imperial Cricket Conference (predecessor to today's International Cricket Council) on 15 June 1909. England and Australia also played the first One Day International (ODI) on 5 January 1971. England's first Twenty20 International (T20I) was played on 13 June 2005, once more against Australia.

As of 25 July 2016, England has played 974 Test matches, winning 349 and losing 283 (with 342 draws). The team has won The Ashes on 32 occasions, the same number as their opponents Australia.  The team has played 666 ODIs, winning 321,  and its record in major ODI tournaments includes finishing as runners-up in three Cricket World Cups (1979, 1987 and 1992), and also in two ICC Champions Trophys (2004 and 2013). The team has played 86 T20Is, winning 42.  They won the ICC World Twenty20 in 2010, and were runners-up in 2016.

England are currently ranked fourth in Tests, fifth in ODIs and fifth in T20Is by the ICC.

History 

The first recorded incidence of a team with a claim to represent England comes from 9 July 1739 when an "All-England" team, which consisted of 11 gentlemen from any part of England exclusive of Kent, played against "the Unconquerable County" of Kent and lost by a margin of "very few notches".  Such matches were repeated on numerous occasions for the best part of a century.

In 1846 William Clarke formed the All-England Eleven. This team would eventually compete against a United All-England Eleven with annual matches occurring between 1847 and 1856. These matches were arguably the most important contest of the English season if judged by the quality of the players.

Early tours

The first overseas tour occurred in September 1859 with England touring North America. This team had six players from the All-England Eleven, six from the United All-England Eleven and was captained by George Parr.

With the outbreak of the American Civil War, attention turned elsewhere. English tourists visited Australia in 1861-62 with this first tour organised as a commercial venture by Messrs Spiers and Pond, restaurateurs of Melbourne. Most matches played during tours prior to 1877 were "against odds", with the opposing team fielding more than 11 players to make for a more even contest.  This first Australian tour were mostly against odds of at least 18/11.

The tour was so successful that George Parr led a second tour in 1863–64. James Lillywhite led a subsequent England team which sailed on the P&O steamship Poonah on 21 September 1876. They would play a combined Australian XI, for once on even terms of 11 a side. The match, starting on 15 March 1877 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground came to be regarded as the inaugural Test match. The combined Australian XI won this Test match by 45 runs with Charles Bannerman of Australia scoring the first Test century. At the time, the match was promoted as James Lillywhite's XI v Combined Victoria and New South Wales. The teams played a return match on the same ground at Easter, 1877, when Lillywhite's team avenged their loss with a victory by four wickets. The first Test match on English soil occurred in 1880 with England victorious; this was the first time England fielded a fully representative side with W.G. Grace included in the team. 

The Ashes

England lost their first home series 1–0 in 1882 with The Sporting Times printing an obituary on English cricket:

As a result of this loss the tour of 1882–83 was dubbed by England captain Ivo Bligh as "the quest to regain the ashes". England with a mixture of amateurs and professionals won the series 2–1.  Bligh was presented with an urn that contained some ashes, which have variously been said to be of a bail, ball or even a woman's veil and so The Ashes was born. A fourth match was then played which Australia won by 4 wickets but the match was not considered part of the Ashes series.  England would dominate many of these early contests with England winning the Ashes series 10 times between 1884 and 1898.  During this period England also played their first Test match against South Africa in 1889 at Port Elizabeth. 

The 1899 Ashes series was the first tour where the MCC and the counties appointed a selection committee. There were three active players: Lord Hawke, W. G. Grace and Herbert Bainbridge who was the captain of Warwickshire. Prior to this, England teams for home Tests had been chosen by the club on whose ground the match was to be played.

The start of the 20th century saw mixed results for England as they lost four of the eight Ashes series between 1900 and 1914.  During this period England would lose their first series against South Africa in the 1905–06 season 4–1 as their batting faltered.  The 1912 season saw England take part in a unique experiment. A nine Test triangular tournament involving England, South Africa and Australia was set up. The series was hampered by a very wet summer and player disputes however and the tournament was considered a failure with the Daily Telegraph stating: 

With Australia sending a weakened team and the South African bowlers being ineffective England dominated the tournament winning four of their six matches. The Australia v South Africa match, at Lord's, was notable for a visit by King George V, the first time a reigning monarch had watched Test cricket.  England would go on one more tour against South Africa before the outbreak of World War I.

Inter-war period

England's first match after the war was in the 1920–21 season against Australia. Still feeling the effects of the war England went down to a series of crushing defeats and suffered their first whitewash losing the series 5–0. Six Australians scored hundreds while Mailey spun out 36 English batsmen. Things were no better in the next few Ashes series losing the 1921 Ashes series 3–0 and the 1924–5 Ashes 4–1. England's fortunes were to change in 1926 as they regained the Ashes and were a formidable team during this period dispatching Australia 4–1 in the 1928–29 Ashes tour.

On the same year the West Indies became the fourth nation to be granted Test status and played their first game against England. England won each of these three Tests by an innings, and a view was expressed in the press that their elevation had proved a mistake although Learie Constantine did the double on the tour. In the 1929–30 season England went on two concurrent tours with one team going to New Zealand (who were granted Test status earlier that year) and the other to the West Indies. Despite sending two separate teams England won both tours beating New Zealand 1–0 and the West Indies 2–1.

The 1930 Ashes series saw a young Don Bradman dominate the tour, scoring 974 runs in his seven Test innings. He scored 254 at Lord's, 334 at Headingley and 232 at the Oval. Australia regained the Ashes winning the series 3–1. As a result of Bradman's prolific run-scoring the England captain Douglas Jardine chose to develop the already existing leg theory into fast leg theory, or bodyline, as a tactic to stop Bradman. Fast leg theory involved bowling fast balls directly at the batsman's body. The batsman would need to defend himself, and if he touched the ball with the bat, he risked being caught by one of a large number of fielders placed on the leg side.

Using his fast leg theory England won the next Ashes series 4–1. But complaints about the Bodyline tactic caused crowd disruption on the tour, and threats of diplomatic action from the Australian Cricket Board, which during the tour sent the following cable to the MCC in London:

Later, Jardine was removed from the captaincy and the laws of cricket changed so that no more than one fast ball aimed at the body was permitted per over, and having more than two fielders behind square leg was banned.

England's following tour of India in the 1933–34 season was the first Test match to be staged in the subcontinent. The series was also notable for Morris Nichols and Nobby Clark bowling so many bouncers that the Indian batsman wore solar topees instead of caps to protect themselves.

Australia won the 1934 Ashes series 2–1 and would keep the urn for the following 19 years. Many of the wickets of the time were friendly to batsmen resulting in a large proportion of matches ending in high scoring draws and many batting records being set.

The 1938–39 tour of South Africa saw another experiment with the deciding Test being a timeless Test that was played to a finish. England lead 1–0 going into the final timeless match at Durban. Despite the final Test being 'timeless', the game ended in a draw after 10 days as England had to catch the train to catch the boat home. A record 1,981 runs were scored, and the concept of timeless Tests was abandoned. England would go in one final tour of the West Indies in 1939 before World War II, although a team for an MCC tour of India was selected more in hope than expectation of the matches being played.

Post-war period

After World War II, England fell under difficult times suffering a heavy defeat 3–0 to Australia. This was followed by a 4–0 loss to Bradman's 'invincibles' and a stunning 2–0 loss to the West Indies. These losses were tempered by victories against India and South Africa.

Their fortunes would change in the 1953 Ashes tour as they won the series 1–0. England would not lose a series between their 1950–51 and 1958–59 tours of Australia and secured famous victory in 1954–55 thanks to Typhoon Tyson whose 6–85 at Sydney and 7–27 at Melbourne are remembered as the fastest bowling ever seen in Australia. The 1956 series was remembered for the bowling of Jim Laker who took 46 wickets at 9.62 which included bowling figures of 19/90 at Old Trafford. After drawing to South Africa, England defeated the West Indies and New Zealand comfortably. The England team would then leave for Australia in the 1958–59 season with a team that had been hailed as the strongest ever to leave on an Ashes tour but lost the series 4–0 as Richie Benaud's revitalised Australians were too strong.

The early and middle 1960s were poor periods for English cricket. Despite England's strength on paper, Australia held the Ashes and the West Indies dominated England in the early part of the decade. However, from 1968 to 1971 they played 27 consecutive Test matches without defeat, winning 9 and drawing 18 (including the abandoned Test at Melbourne in 1970–71). The sequence began when they drew with Australia at [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/29/29502.html Lords] in the Second Test of the 1968 Ashes series and ended in 1971 when India won the Third Test at [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/31/31968.html the Oval] by 4 wickets. They played 13 Tests with only one defeat immediately beforehand and so played a total of 40 consecutive Tests with only one defeat, dating from their innings victory over the West Indies at [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/28/28408.html The Oval] in 1966. During this period they beat New Zealand, India, the West Indies, Pakistan and, under Ray Illingworth's determined leadership, regained The Ashes from Australia in 1970–71.

1971 to 2000

The 1970s, for the England team, can be largely split into three parts. The early 70s saw Ray Illingworth's side dominate world cricket winning the Ashes away in 1971 and then retaining them at home in 1972. The same side beat Pakistan at home in 1971 and played by far the better cricket against India that season. However, England were largely helped by the rain to sneak the Pakistan series 1–0 but the same rain saved India twice and one England collapse saw them lose to India. This was, however, one of (if not the) strongest England team ever with Boycott, Edrich, D'Oliveira, Amiss, Illingworth, Knott, Snow, Underwood amongst its core.

The mid-1970s were more turbulent. Illingworth and several others had refused to tour India in 1972–73 which led to a clamour for Illingworth's job by the end of that summer  – England had just been thrashed 2–0 by a flamboyant West Indies side  – with several England players well over 35. Mike Denness was the surprising choice but only lasted 18 months; his results against poor opposition were good, but England were badly exposed as ageing and lacking in good fast bowling against the 1974–75 Australians, losing that series 4–1 to lose the Ashes.

Denness was replaced in 1975 by Tony Greig. While he managed to avoid losing to Australia, his side were largely thrashed the following year by the young and very much upcoming West Indies for whom Greig's infamous "grovel" remark acted as motivation. Greig's finest hour was probably the 1976–77 win over India in India. When Greig was discovered as being instrumental in World Series Cricket, he was sacked, and replaced by Mike Brearley.

Brearley's side showed again the hyperbole that is often spoken when one side dominates in cricket. While his side of 1977–80 contained some young players who went on to become England greats, most notably future captains Ian Botham, David Gower and Graham Gooch, their opponents were often very much weakened by the absence of their World Series players, especially in 1978, when England beat New Zealand 3–0 and Pakistan 2–0 before thrashing what was probably Australia's 3rd XI 5–1 in 1978–79.

The England team, with Brearley's exit in 1980, was never truly settled throughout the 1980s, which will probably be remembered as a low point for the team. While some of the great players like Botham, Gooch and Gower had fine careers, the team seldom succeeded in beating good opposition throughout the decade and did not score a home Test victory (except against minnows Sri Lanka) between September 1985 and July 1990. In this time, undoubted highlights were the Ashes victories of 1981 "Botham's Ashes", 1985 and 1986–87. The 1985 and 1986–87 victories, while sweet for the team, exposed more Australia's weakness than England's strength.

If the 1980s were a low point for English Test cricket then the 1990s were only a slight improvement. The arrival of Graham Gooch as captain in 1990 forced a move toward more professionalism and especially fitness though it took some time for old habits to die. Even in 2011, one or two successful county players have been shown up as physically unfit for international cricket. Creditable performances against India and New Zealand in 1990 were followed by a hard fought draw against the 1991 West Indies, but landmark losses against Australia in 1990–91 and especially Pakistan in 1992 showed England up badly in terms of bowling. So bad was England's bowling in 1993 that Rodney Marsh described England's pace attack at one point as "pie throwers". Having lost three of the first four Tests played in England in 1993 Graham Gooch resigned to be replaced by Mike Atherton.

More selectorial problems abounded during Atherton's reign as new chairman of selectors / coach Ray Illingworth (then into his 60s) assumed almost sole responsibility for the team off the field. The youth policy which had seen England emerge from the West Indies tour of 1993–94 with some credit (though losing to a seasoned Windies team) was abandoned and players such as Gatting and Gooch were persisted with when well into their 30s and 40s. England duly continued to do well at home against weaker opponents such as India, New Zealand and a West Indies side beginning to fade but struggled badly against improving sides like Pakistan and South Africa. Atherton had offered his resignation after losing the 1997 Ashes series 3–2 having been 1–0 up after 2 matches  – eventually to resign one series later in early 1998. England, looking for talent, went through a whole raft of new players during this period, such as Ronnie Irani, Adam Hollioake, Craig White, Graeme Hick, Mark Ramprakash. At this time, there were two main problems:
* The lack of a genuine all-rounder to bat at 6, Ian Botham having left a huge gap in the batting order when he had retired from Tests in 1992.
* Alec Stewart, a sound wicket-keeper and an excellent player of quick bowling, could not open and keep wicket, hence his batting down the order, where he was often exposed to spin which he didn't play as well.

Alec Stewart took the reins as captain in 1998, but another losing Ashes series and early World Cup exit cost him Test and ODI captaincy in 1999. This should not detract from the 1998 home Test series where England showed great fortitude to beat a powerful South African side 2–1.

Another reason for their poor performances were the demands of County Cricket teams on their players, meaning that England could rarely field a full strength team on their tours. This would eventually lead to the ECB taking over the MCC as the governing body of England and the implementation of central contracts. 1992 also saw Scotland sever ties with the England and Wales team, and begin to compete independently as the Scotland national cricket team.

By 1999, with coach David Lloyd resigning after the World Cup exit and new captain Nasser Hussain just appointed, England hit rock bottom (literally ranked as lowest-rated Test nation) after losing in shambolic fashion to New Zealand 2–1. Hussain was booed on the Oval balcony as the crowd jeered "We've got the worst team in the world" to the tune of "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands".

2000 to 2010

One year later, with central contracts now installed reducing players workloads and the arrival of Zimbabwean coach Duncan Fletcher, England had thrashed the fallen West Indies 3–1. England's results in Asia improved markedly that winter with series wins against both Pakistan and Sri Lanka though one-day success still eluded them.

England's fortunes improved under the new management  – not without the occasional "blip" particularly against Australia but home Test wins became commonplace. Hussain's side had a far harder edge to it, even managing to avoid the anticipated "Greenwash" in the 2001 Ashes series against the all-powerful Australian team. The nucleus of a side of fighters was slowly coming together as players such as Hussain himself, Graham Thorpe, Darren Gough and Ashley Giles began to be regularly selected. By 2003 though, having endured another Ashes drubbing as well as another first-round exit from the World Cup, Hussain felt he could not continue and resigned after one Test against South Africa, though carried on as a batsman until 2004.

Michael Vaughan took over and, while keeping the emphasis as Hussain on fitness and control, encouraged players to express themselves. This especially brought the best out of Andrew Flintoff who, in a career blighted by serious injury managed a real purple patch of 18 months from 2004 to 2005 in which England won five consecutive test series prior to facing Australia in the 2005 Ashes series, taking the team to second place in the ICC Test Championship table. During this period England defeated the West Indies home and away, New Zealand, and Bangladesh at home, and South Africa in South Africa.

In June 2005, England played its first ever T20 international match, defeating Australia by 100 runs.

Later that year, England defeated Australia 2–1 in a thrilling series to regain the Ashes for the first time in 16 years having lost them in 1989. Following the 2005 Ashes win, the team suffered from a spate of serious injuries to key players such as Vaughan, Flintoff, Giles and Simon Jones. As a result, the team underwent an enforced period of transition. A 2–0 defeat in Pakistan was followed by two drawn away series with India and Sri Lanka.

In the home Test series victory against Pakistan in July and August 2006, several promising new players emerged. Most notable were the left-arm orthodox spin bowler Monty Panesar, the first Sikh to play Test cricket for England, and left-handed opening batsman Alastair Cook. Meanwhile, England's injury problems allowed previously marginal Test players such as Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell to consolidate their places in the team.

The 2006–07 Ashes series was keenly anticipated and was expected to provide a level of competition comparable to the 2005 series. In the event, England, captained by Flintoff who was deputising for the injured Vaughan, lost all five Tests to concede the first Ashes whitewash in 86 years.

England's form in ODIs had been consistently poor. They only narrowly avoided the ignominy of having to play in the qualifying rounds of the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy. Despite this, in the ODI triangular in Australia, England recorded its first ODI tournament win overseas since 1997. But, in the 2007 Cricket World Cup, England lost to most of the Test playing nations they faced, beating only the West Indies and Bangladesh, although they also avoided defeat by any of the non-Test playing nations. Even so, the unimpressive nature of most of their victories in the tournament, combined with heavy defeats by New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, left many commentators criticising the manner in which the England team approached the one-day game. Coach Duncan Fletcher resigned after eight years in the job as a result and was succeeded by former Sussex coach Peter Moores.

Afterwards, England's Test record was indifferent and the team slumped to fifth in the ICC rankings. There was a convincing 3–0 Test series win over West Indies in 2007 but it was followed in the second half of the summer by a 1–0 loss to India, although England did defeat India 4–3 in the ODI series.

In 2007–08, England toured Sri Lanka and New Zealand, losing the first series 1–0 and winning the second 2–1. They followed up at home in May 2008 with a 2–0 home series win against New Zealand, these results easing the pressure on Moores, who was not at ease with his team, particularly star batsman Kevin Pietersen, who succeeded Vaughan as captain in June 2008, after England had been well beaten by South Africa at home.

The poor relationship between Moores and Pietersen came to a head in India on the 2008–09 tour. England lost the series 1–0 and both men resigned their positions, although Pietersen remained a member of the England team. Moores was replaced as coach by Zimbabwean Andy Flower. Against this background, England toured the West Indies under the captaincy of Andrew Strauss and, in a disappointing performance, lost the Test series 1–0.

The second Twenty20 World Cup was held in England in 2009 but England suffered an opening day defeat to the Netherlands. They recovered to defeat both eventual champions Pakistan and reigning champions India but were then knocked out by West Indies.

This was followed by the 2009 Ashes series which featured the first Test match played in Wales, at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff. England drew that match thanks to a last wicket stand by bowlers James Anderson and Monty Panesar. A victory for each team followed before the series was decided at The Oval. Thanks to fine bowling by Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann and a debut century by Jonathan Trott, England regained the Ashes.

Since 2010

After a drawn Test series in South Africa, England won their first ever ICC world championship, the 2010 World Twenty20, with a seven-wicket win over Australia in Barbados. The following winter in the 2010-11 Ashes, they thrashed Australia 3-1 to retain the urn and record their first series win in Australia for 24 years. Furthermore, all three of their wins were innings victories - the first time a touring side had ever recorded three innings victories in a single Test series. Alastair Cook earned Man of the Series with 766 runs.

England struggled to match their Test form in the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. Despite beating South Africa and tying with eventual winners India, England suffered shock losses to Ireland and Bangladesh before losing in the quarter-finals to Sri Lanka.  However the team's excellent form in the Test match arena continued and they became the world's top-ranked Test team after comfortably whitewashing India 4–0, their sixth consecutive series victory and eighth in the past nine series. However, this status only lasted a year – having lost 3–0 to Pakistan over the winter, England were beaten 2–0 by South Africa, who replaced them at the top of the rankings. It was their first home series loss since 2008, against the same opposition.

This loss saw the resignation of Strauss as captain (and his retirement from cricket). His replacement, Alastair Cook, who was already in charge of the ODI side, led England to a 2–1 victory in India – their first in the country since 1984–85. In doing so, Cook became the first ever captain to score centuries in his first five Tests as captain and became England's leading century-maker with 23 centuries to his name.

After finishing as runners-up in the ICC Champions Trophy, England faced Australia in back-to-back Ashes series. A 3–0 home win secured England the urn for the fourth time in five series. However, in the return series, they found themselves utterly demolished in a 5–0 defeat, their second Ashes whitewash in under a decade. Their misery was compounded by batsman Jonathan Trott leaving the tour early due to a stress-related illness and the mid-series retirement of spinner Graeme Swann. Following the tour, head coach Andy Flower resigned his post whilst batsman Kevin Pietersen was dropped indefinitely from the England team.  Flower was replaced by his predecessor, Peter Moores, but he was sacked for a second time after a string of disappointing results including failing to advance from the group stage at the 2015 World Cup.  He was replaced by Australian Trevor Bayliss  who oversaw an upturn of form in the ODI side, including series victories against New Zealand and Pakistan. In the test arena, England reclaimed the Ashes 3–2 in the summer of 2015.

Recent results

Forthcoming fixtures

As set out by the ICC's Future Tours Programme, below is England's full international fixture list until the end of the 2019–20 season.  It therefore does not include the 2021 ICC World Test Championship to be held in India, the 2023 Cricket World Cup to be held in India or the 2020 ICC World Twenty20 to be held in Australia. The venues for the home games are in brackets and reflect the announcement made in 2011 for hosting until 2016.  

Summer 2016
*July to September: Pakistani cricket team in England in 2016 for 4 Tests (at Lord's, Old Trafford, Edgbaston and The Oval), 5 ODIs (Lord's, Trent Bridge, Cardiff, the Rose Bowl and Headingley) and 1 T20I (Old Trafford)

Winter 2016–17
*October to November: England cricket team in Bangladesh in 2016–17 for 2 Tests and 5 ODIs
*November to February: England cricket team in India in 2016–17 for 4 Tests, 7 ODIs and 1 T20I
*February to March: England cricket team in West Indies in 2016–17 for 3 ODIs

Summer 2017
*April: England cricket team in Ireland in 2017 for 1 ODI
*May to September: West Indies cricket team in England in 2017 for 3 Tests (Edgbaston, Headingley and Lord's), 5 ODIs (Bristol, Old Trafford, The Oval, Southampton and Trent Bridge) and 1 T20I (Chester-le-Street)
*May to August: South Africa cricket team in England in 2017 for 4 Tests (Lord's, Old Trafford, The Oval and Trent Bridge), 3 ODIs (Chester-le-Street, Headingley and Lord's) and 3 T20Is (Cardiff, Southampton and Taunton)
*June: 2017 2017 ICC Champions Trophy in England (Cardiff, Edgbaston and The Oval)

Winter 2017–18
*November to January: English cricket team in Australia in 2017–18 for 5 Tests, 5 ODIs and 3 T20Is
*February to April: English cricket team in New Zealand in 2017–18 for 2 Tests, 5 ODIs and 1 T20I

Summer 2018
*May: England cricket team in Scotland in 2018 for 1 ODI
*May to June: Pakistan cricket team in England in 2018 for 2 Tests (Headingley and Lord's)
*June: Australia cricket team in England in 2018 for 5 ODIs (Cardiff, Chester-le-Street, Old Trafford, The Oval and Trent Bridge) and 1 T20I (Edgbaston)
*June to September: India cricket team in England in 2018 for 5 Tests (Edgbaston, Lord's, The Oval, Southampton and Trent Bridge), 5 ODIs (Bristol, Headingley, Lord's, Old Trafford and Trent Bridge) and 1 T20I (Cardiff)

Winter 2018–19
*October to November: English cricket team in Sri Lanka in 2018–19 for 3 Tests, 5 ODIs and 2 T20Is
*February to March: English cricket team in West Indies in 2018–19 for 3 Tests, 5 ODIs and 1 T20I

Summer 2019
*April: England cricket team in Ireland in 2019 for 1 ODI
*May: Pakistan cricket team in England in 2019 for 5 ODIs (Bristol, Chester-le-Street, Headingley, The Oval and Southampton) and 1 T20I (Cardiff)
*June to July:  2019 Cricket World Cup in England (Lord's (final), Edgbaston and Old Trafford (semi-finals), The Oval (opening game), Bristol, Cardiff, Chester-le-Street, Headingley, Southampton, Taunton and Trent Bridge (group games))
*August: Australia cricket team in England in 2019 for 5 Tests (Edgbaston, Headingley, Lord's, Old Trafford and The Oval) 
*September: England v winners of ICC Test Challenge play-off (Lord's)

Winter 2019–20
*December to February: English cricket team in South Africa in 2019–20 for 4 Tests, 5 ODIs and 1 T20I
*March to April: English cricket team in New Zealand in 2019–20 for 2 Tests, 5 ODIs and 1 T20I

Performances

England has traditionally been one of the stronger teams in international cricket, fielding a competitive side for most of cricket's history. On 26 February 2016 the England cricket team was ranked 5 in the Test rankings.  Up to 5 November 2015, England had played 965 Test matches, winning 344 (35.76%), losing 281 (29%), and drawing 340 (35.24%).  As of 25 May 2015, 666 players had played Test matches for England.   Up to 20 November 2015, England had played 659 ODIs, winning 317 (47.91%), losing 313 (47.6%), tying 7 (1.08%) and having 22 (3.41%) with no result. 222 players had played for England in One Day International matches up to 28 August 2011.
 
After Australia won The Ashes for the first time in 1881–82, England had to fight with them for primacy and one of the fiercest rivalries in sport dominated the cricket world for 70 years. In 1963 this duopoly of cricket dominance began to fall away with the emergence of a strong West Indies team.

England failed to win a series against the West Indies between 1969 and 2000. England similarly failed to compete with Australia for a long period and The Ashes stayed in Australian hands between 1989 and 2005. England struggled against other nations over this period as well and after a series loss to New Zealand in 1999 they were ranked at the bottom of the ICC Test cricket ratings. From 2000, English cricket had a resurgence and England reached the final of the ICC Champions Trophy in 2004 and regained The Ashes in 2005. The team was second behind Australia in the Test rankings following victory in the 2005 Ashes series, although the 2006–07 whitewash, coupled with a 2008 series defeat to South Africa and the 2008–09 series loss to the West Indies, meant England were ranked fifth in the ICC Test rankings as of May 2009. 
In the 2006–07 tour of Australia, The Ashes were lost in a 0–5 "whitewash" but England did succeed in clinching victory in the Commonwealth Bank ODI Tri-series against Australia and New Zealand. The loss of The Ashes prompted the announcement by the England and Wales Cricket Board of an official review of English cricket amid much criticism from the media, former players and fans. England failed to reach the semi-finals of the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies after defeats against New Zealand, Sri Lanka and South Africa.

In the summer of 2009 England regained The Ashes in a 2–1 series win with a 197-run victory against Australia at the Brit Oval, Kennington, London (20–23 August). Andrew Strauss was named nPower Man of the Series and all-rounder Andrew Flintoff retired from international Test cricket at the end of the fifth Test.

Governing body

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is the governing body of English cricket and the England cricket team. The Board has been operating since 1 January 1997 and represents England on the International Cricket Council. The ECB is also responsible for the generation of income from the sale of tickets, sponsorship and broadcasting rights, primarily in relation to the England team. The ECB's income in the 2006 calendar year was £77  million. 

Prior to 1997, the Test and County Cricket Board (TCCB) was the governing body for the English team. Apart from in Test matches, when touring abroad, the England team officially played as MCC up to and including the 1976–77 tour of Australia, reflecting the time when MCC had been responsible for selecting the touring party. The last time the England touring team wore the bacon-and-egg colours of the MCC was on the 1996–97 tour of New Zealand.

Status of Wales

Because of the traditional status of Wales as part of England, which lasted until the 1950s, the England team also represents Wales in international cricket. Plaid Cymru have argued that Wales should have its own international team and withdraw from the existing arrangement under which Welsh players play for England. The proposal has aroused strong opposition from Cricket Wales and Glamorgan County Cricket Club, who argue such a move would be financially disastrous. The debate focused on a report produced by the Welsh National Assembly’s petitions committee, which reflected the passionate arguments on both sides. Bethan Jenkins, Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson on heritage, culture, sport and broadcasting, and a member of the petitions committee, said: "Cricket Wales and Glamorgan CCC say the idea of a Welsh national cricket team is ‘an emotive subject’. Of course having a national team is emotive. You only have to look at the stands during any national game to see that. To suggest this as anything other than natural is a bit of a misleading argument."      

Team colours

England's kit is manufactured by Adidas, who replaced previous manufacturer Admiral on 1 April 2008. 

When playing Test cricket, England's cricket whites feature the three lions badge on the left of the shirt and the name and logo of the sponsor Waitrose on the right. The Adidas logo appears on either the left or right sleeve depending on which handed bat the player is, allowing it to face the camera when the player is on strike. English fielders may wear a navy blue cap or white sun hat with the ECB logo in the middle. Helmets are also coloured navy blue.

In limited overs cricket, England's ODI and Twenty20 shirts feature the Waitrose logo across the centre, with the three lions badge on the left of the shirt and the Adidas logo on the right. In ODIs, the kit comprises a blue shirt with navy trousers, whilst the Twenty20 kit comprises a red shirt with black trousers. In ICC limited-overs tournaments, a modified kit design is used with sponsor's logo moving to the sleeve and 'ENGLAND' printed across the front.

Until January 2010, Vodafone were the official shirt sponsor across all formats in a long-lasting deal whilst Brit Insurance sponsored the team before Waitrose.

International grounds

Test and ODI

Listed chronologically in order of first Test match

* 1880 – The Oval, London (Surrey) – capacity 26,000
* 1884 – Old Trafford, Manchester (Lancashire) – 26,000
* 1884 – Lord's, London (Middlesex) – 28,000
* 1899 – Trent Bridge, Nottingham (Nottinghamshire) – 17,500
* 1899 – Headingley, Leeds (Yorkshire) – 17,500
* 1925 – Edgbaston, Birmingham (Warwickshire) – 25,000
* 2003 – Riverside, Chester-le-Street (Durham) – 19,000
* 2009 – Sophia Gardens, Cardiff (Glamorgan) – 15,500
* 2011 – Rose Bowl, Southampton (Hampshire) – 25,000

ODI only 

*1983 – County Ground, Bristol (Gloucestershire) – 17,500

Tournament history

World Cup 

ICC Champions Trophy 

(known as the "ICC Knockout" in 1998 and 2000)

ICC World Twenty20 

Records

Test matches

Test team records

*Highest team total: 903–7 dec v Australia at The Oval in 1938
*Lowest team total: 45 v Australia at Sydney in 1886/87
*England are the only team in the history of Test cricket to have secured 100 victories by an innings.

Test individual records

*Most matches: 133 Tests – Alec Stewart 
*Longest-serving captain: 54 Tests – Mike Atherton

Test batting records

*Most runs: 10,265 – Alastair Cook 
*Best average: 60.73 – Herbert Sutcliffe 
*Highest individual score: 364 – Len Hutton v Australia at the Oval in 1938
*Record partnership: 411 – Colin Cowdrey and Peter May v West Indies at Birmingham in 1957
*Most centuries: 29 – Alastair Cook
*England's most prolific opening partnership was Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe. In 38 innings, they averaged 87.81 for the first wicket, with 15 century partnerships and 10 others of 50 or more.
*Most ducks: 20 – Mike Atherton, Steve Harmison & Monty Panesar 

Test bowling records

*Most wickets: 458 – James Anderson
*Best average: 10.75 – George Lohmann
*Best innings bowling: 10/53 – Jim Laker v Australia at Manchester in 1956
*Best match bowling: 19/90 – Jim Laker v Australia at Manchester in 1956
*Best strike rate: 34.1 – George Lohmann
*Best economy rate: 1.31 – William Attewell
*Five England bowlers have taken four wickets in an over, three of these at Headingley. They were Maurice Allom v New Zealand at Christchurch in 1929–30, Kenneth Cranston v South Africa at Headingley in 1947, Fred Titmus v New Zealand at Headingley in 1965, Chris Old v Pakistan at Edgbaston in 1978 and Andy Caddick v West Indies at Headingley in 2000.

Test fielding records

*Most catches by an outfielder: 130 – Alastair Cook
*Most dismissals as wicketkeeper: 269 – Alan Knott
*Most dismissals in an innings: 7 – Bob Taylor v India at Bombay in 1979/80
*Most dismissals in a match: 11 – Jack Russell v South Africa at Johannesburg in 1995/96

Test record versus other nations

One Day Internationals

ODI team records

*Highest team total: 408/9 (50 overs) v New Zealand at Birmingham in 2015
*Lowest team total: 86 (32.4 overs) v Australia at Manchester in 2001

ODI individual records

*Most matches: 197 – Paul Collingwood
*Longest-serving captain: 69 matches – Alastair Cook 

ODI batting records

*Most runs: 5,416 – Ian Bell
*Best average: 51.25 – Jonathan Trott
*Best strike rate: 118.72 – Jos Buttler
*Highest individual score: 167* – Robin Smith v Australia at Birmingham in 1993
*Record partnership: 256* – Alex Hales and Jason Roy v Sri Lanka at Birmingham in 2016
*Most centuries: 12 – Marcus Trescothick
*Most ducks: 13 – Marcus Trescothick and Alec Stewart

ODI bowling records

*Most wickets: 269 – James Anderson
*Best average: 19.45 – Mike Hendrick
*Best bowling: 6/31 – Paul Collingwood v Bangladesh at Nottingham in 2005
*Best strike rate: 31.40 – Chris Jordan
*Best economy rate: 3.27 – Mike Hendrick

ODI fielding records

*Most catches by an outfielder: 108 – Paul Collingwood
*Most dismissals as wicketkeeper: 163 – Alec Stewart
*Most dismissals in a match: 6 – Alec Stewart v Zimbabwe at Manchester in 2000; Matt Prior v South Africa at Nottingham in 2008; Jos Buttler v South Africa at The Oval in 2013

ODI record versus other nations

T20 Internationals

Where applicable, a minimum of 10 innings batted or 50 balls bowled applies.

T20I team records

*Highest team total: 230/8 v South Africa at Mumbai in 2016
*Lowest team total: 80 v India at Colombo (RPS) in 2012

T20I individual records

*Most matches: 63 – Eoin Morgan
*Longest serving captain: 30 matches – Paul Collingwood

T20I batting records

*Most runs: 1,446 – Eoin Morgan
*Best average: 39.60 – Joe Root
*Best strike rate: 149.47 – Ben Stokes
*Highest individual score: 116* – Alex Hales v Sri Lanka at Chittagong in 2014
*Record partnership: 159 – Alex Hales and Ravi Bopara v West Indies at Trent Bridge in 2012
*Most centuries: 1 – Alex Hales
*Most ducks: 9 – Luke Wright

T20I bowling records

*Most wickets: 65 – Stuart Broad
*Best average: 16.84 – Graeme Swann
*Best bowling: 4/10 – Ravi Bopara v West Indies at The Oval in 2011
*Best strike rate: 11.00 – Joe Root
*Best economy rate: 6.36 – Graeme Swann

T20I fielding records

*Most catches by an outfielder: 23 – Eoin Morgan
*Most dismissals as wicketkeeper: 20 – Craig Kieswetter
*Most dismissals in an innings: 4 – Matt Prior v South Africa at Cape Town in 2007

T20I record versus other nations

Most England appearances

* † denotes player is currently active in cricket.

Personnel

Playing staff

This lists all the players who have played for England in the past year and the forms in which they have played. In addition, batsman James Taylor represented England during the last 12 months, but was forced to retire from cricket in April 2016 due to a heart condition and is therefore not listed below. 

Key
*S/N = Shirt number
*C/I = Contract type (Central or Incremental)

Coaching staff

England Men's Cricketer of the Year

At the start of each season the ECB present the England Men’s Cricketer of the Year award to  "recognise outstanding performances in all formats of international cricket over the past year",  voted on by members of the cricket media. 

The previous winners of this award are:
*2006/07: Andrew Flintoff 
*2007/08: Ian Bell
*2008/09: Kevin Pietersen
*2009/10: Graeme Swann 
*2010/11: Jonathan Trott 
*2011/12: James Anderson 
*2012/13: Matt Prior 
*2013/14: Ian Bell 
*2014/15: Joe Root 
*2015/16: Joe Root 

Eligibility of players

The England cricket team represents England and Wales. However, under ICC regulations,  players can qualify to play for a country by nationality, place of birth or residence, so (as with any national sports team) some people are eligible to play for more than one team. ECB regulations  state that to play for England, a player must be a British or Irish citizen, and have either been born in England or Wales, or have lived in England or Wales for the last seven years (reduced to four years if this period commenced before their 18th birthday). This has led to players of many other nationalities becoming eligible to play for England.

Of the current squad (see above), Jason Roy was born to British parents in South Africa while Zimbabwean-born Gary Ballance has British grandparents - both had to fulfil residency requirements. In addition, Chris Jordan and Ben Stokes have British citizenship, having lived in England since their youth, while Eoin Morgan is an Irish citizen.

ICC regulations also allow cricketers who represent associate (i.e. non-Test-playing) nations to switch to a Test-playing nation, provided nationality requirements are fulfilled. In recent years, this has seen Irish internationals Ed Joyce, Boyd Rankin and Eoin Morgan switch to represent England, whilst Gavin Hamilton previously played for Scotland – though Joyce, Rankin and Hamilton were later able to re-qualify for and represent their home countries.
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