Cricket Facts

• It is believed that Cricket was started in England in 1300 AD.
• It started as a game of shepherds and became popular among other classes in 18th century AD.
• After some time a club known as "Merylebone Cricket Club(MCC)" was formed at Lords in London.
• Cricket became popular in Australia due to British influence there.
• The first official cricket test match was played in the year 1877 between Australia and England in Melbourne.
• When some other countries started played Cricket Imperial Cricket Conference was formed in 1909 which gave birth to International Cricket Conference in 1956.
• The first One Day International cricket match was played in the year 1971 between England and Australia in Melbourne.
• The first World Cup on one day matches was played in 1975 in London. West Indies wont the World Cup beating Australia 17 runs.
• The apex institutions of world cricket is the 'International Cricket Council'(ICC) and its headquarters is now in Dubai from August 1, 2005. Earlier it was in Lords(England).
• Australia won the maximum of four World Cups till date.
• In India Cricket was introduced by British royalty. Parsee community of India was the first to take part in Cricket in 1848.
• Later on Parsee team visited England in 1886. Matches between European and Parsee teams, called Presidency matches, were started in Poona (now Pune) and Bombay (now Mumbai)
• Raja Bhupindra Singh of Patiala donated the Ranji Trophy in 1934 for the national championship of Cricket.
• The Board of Council for Cricket in India was formed in 1927.

Measurement in Cricket.

Length of Pitch - 22 yards (20.11 meters)
Length of Crease - 1.22 - 1.83 meters (4 ft)
Weight of Ball - 155 to 163 gram
Circumference of the Ball - 22.4-22.9 cm (9 inch)
Lenght of Bat - 96.5 cm (38 inch)
Width of Bat - 10.8 cm (4.25 inch)
Length of the Stumps - 71.1 cm (28 inch)
Length of Bells - 11.1 cm (each bail) 

Winner of the world Cup Cricket Since 1975.
Year	Place	Winner	Runner Up
1975	England	West Indies	Australia
1979	England	West Indies	England
1983	England	India	West Indies
1987	India and Pakistan	Australia	England
1992	Australia and New Zealand	Pakistan	England
1996	India,Pakistan,Sri Lanka	Sri Lanka	Australia
1999	England	Australia	Pakistan
2003	South Africa	Australia	India
2007	West Indies	Australia	Sri Lanka
2011	India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh	India	Sri Lanka

India Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangaldesh jointly host the 2011 cricket World Cup, which comes to the sub continent after a gap of 15 years. International Cricket Cup (ICC) awarded the right to host the cricket's mega event to Asia at its meeting in Dubai on April 30,2006.

India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were the co-hosts for the 1996 world cup.

India will host 22 matches, Pakistan 14, Sri Lanka 9 and Bangladesh 6.

The 2015 World Cup has been awarded jointely to Australia and New Zealand, while England will be the host for the 2019 edition of the Cup.

Some Important terminologies of Cricket:- played on, Appeal, Bye, Leg Bye, Power Play, Follow on, Dusara, Beamer, Hoober Shot, Lost Ball, Duck worthLuis, Retired Hurt, Chinaman, Batsman, Bowler, Wicket Keeper, Fielder, LBW (Leg Before Wicket), Catch, Hit Wicket, Throw, Maiden over, Four, Sixer, Wide, Swing, Stroke, Cover,Mid on, Mid off, Mid Wicket, over the wicket, round the wicket, Leg spinner, Off spinner, Over throw, Over slip, Gulley, Cover point, Long off, Long on, Third man, Short pitch, Hook, Dead ball, Run out, Popping crease, Pitch, Bouncer (or Bumper), Full toss, Yorker, Yorked, Googley, Wicket Maiden, Snick, Duck, Hat-Trick, Rubber, The Ashes, Scoring a Ton etc.

ICC Twenty-20 Cricket World Cup

• The first ICC twenty-20(T-20) World Cup Cricket held in South Africa in September (11-24), 2007
• Inaugural match was played between the host S. Africa and West Indies.
• In the final match played at Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, India thrashed Pakistan by 5 runs and clinched the first T-20 World Cup trophy.
• M.S. Dhoni was the Captain of the Indian Team.