New Zealand national cricket team

New Zealand national cricket team
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v • d • e
New Zealand
Test status granted 1930
First Test match v England at Lancaster Park, Christchurch, 10-13th January 1930
Captain Daniel Vettori
Coach John Bracewell
Official ICC Test and ODI ranking 7th (Test), 3rd (ODI) [2],[3]
Test matches
- this year 336
2
Last Test match v Bangladesh at Basin Reserve, Wellington, 12-14 January 2008in Adelaide at Adelaide oval
Wins/losses
- this year 64/133
2/0
As of 19th January 2008

The New Zealand cricket team, also known as the Black Caps, played their first Test in 1929-30 against England in Christchurch, New Zealand, becoming the fifth Test nation. It took the team until 1955-56 to win a Test, against the West Indies at Eden Park in Auckland. They played their first ODI in the 1972-73 season against Pakistan in Christchurch.

The current Test captain is Daniel Vettori. He replaces the Black Caps' most successful captain, Stephen Fleming who led New Zealand to 28 Test victories, more than twice as many as any other captain. Vettori lost his first match as captain (vs South Africa) by 358 runs, New Zealand's worst ever defeat by runs.

The New Zealand cricket team became known as the Black Caps in January 1998, after its sponsor at the time, Clear Communications, held a competition to choose a name for the team.

As of October 2007, the New Zealand team has played 332 Test matches, winning 18.67%, losing 39.45% and drawing 41.86% of its games.[1]
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Key Players
* 2 Current Squad
o 2.1 Opening Batsmen
o 2.2 Middle Order Batsmen
o 2.3 Wicket-keepers
o 2.4 All-rounders
o 2.5 Spin bowlers
o 2.6 Fast bowlers
o 2.7 Test XI
o 2.8 One Day Starting XI
* 3 Tournament History
o 3.1 World Cup
o 3.2 Mini World Cup
o 3.3 Twenty20 World Championship
o 3.4 Commonwealth Games
o 3.5 World Championship of Cricket
o 3.6 Austral-Asia Cup
o 3.7 Tournament Victories
* 4 Results Summary
* 5 Test Records
o 5.1 First Test series wins
o 5.2 First Test match wins
o 5.3 Largest Wins and Losses
+ 5.3.1 By an Innings
+ 5.3.2 By Runs
+ 5.3.3 By Wickets
o 5.4 Highest Test Innings Totals
+ 5.4.1 Away
+ 5.4.2 Home
o 5.5 Lowest Test Innings Totals
+ 5.5.1 Away
+ 5.5.2 Home
* 6 Player Records
o 6.1 Batting Records
+ 6.1.1 Most Runs in an Innings
# 6.1.1.1 Home
# 6.1.1.2 Away
+ 6.1.2 Most Runs in an Innings by Batting Position
+ 6.1.3 Centuries
+ 6.1.4 Highest Batting Averages
+ 6.1.5 Highest Partnerships
o 6.2 Bowling Records
+ 6.2.1 Best Bowling in a Match
+ 6.2.2 Ten wickets in a match most times
+ 6.2.3 Best Bowling in an Innings
+ 6.2.4 Hat Tricks
+ 6.2.5 Five wickets in an innings most times
+ 6.2.6 Best Bowling Averages
o 6.3 All Rounders' Records
+ 6.3.1 All rounders
# 6.3.1.1 A Century and 10 wickets in a match
# 6.3.1.2 A Fifty and 10 wickets in a match
# 6.3.1.3 A Century and 5 wickets in an innings in a match
# 6.3.1.4 A Fifty and 5 wickets in an innings in a match
o 6.4 Wicketkeeping Records
+ 6.4.1 Most Dismissals
+ 6.4.2 Most Dismissals in a Match
+ 6.4.3 Most Dismissals in an Innings
o 6.5 Fielding Records
+ 6.5.1 Most Catches in a Match
+ 6.5.2 Most Catches in an Innings
* 7 World Records
* 8 Notable
* 9 See also
* 10 References
* 11 External links

[edit] Key Players
Name Province Debut Role Best Performance (Test)
Stephen Fleming Wellington 1994 Left-Hand Top Order Batsman 274*
Daniel Vettori Northern Districts 1997 Captain & Left-Arm Orthodox Bowler 137* & 7/87
Brendon McCullum Otago 2004 Wicket Keeper, Right-Hand Batsman and Vice Captain 143
Jacob Oram Central Districts 2003 Left-Hand Middle Order Batsman - Right Arm Fast Medium Seam Bowler 133 & 4/41

[edit] Current Squad

Players who have been awarded a central contract for 2007-8 are in bold.

[edit] Opening Batsmen
Tests Test Average First Class Average Shirt Number
Jamie How right-hand bat 6 14.55 32.80 16
Michael Papps right-hand bat 6 16.40 36.43 46
Craig Cumming right-hand bat 11 25.94 33.64 47
Matthew Bell right-hand bat 15 25.50 37.55 19

[edit] Middle Order Batsmen
Tests Test Average First Class Average Shirt Number
Stephen Fleming left-hand bat 107 39.73 43.78 Test Only
Peter Fulton right-hand bat 6 26.22 47.57 50
Ross Taylor right-hand bat 2 11.00 36.80 3
Mathew Sinclair right-hand bat 28 35.44 47.51 18
Lou Vincent right-hand bat 23 34.15 36.04 40

[edit] Wicket-keepers
Tests Test Average First-Class Average Shirt Number
Brendon McCullum right-hand bat 28 30.30 32.70 42
Gareth Hopkins right-hand bat 0 30.26 48

[edit] All-rounders
Batting Averages Bowling Averages
Tests Test First Class Test First Class Shirt Number
Jacob Oram left-hand bat, right-arm fast medium 24 39.42 35.65 32.46 25.66 24
Scott Styris right-hand bat, right-arm fast medium 29 36.04 31.52 51.15 30.65 56
James Franklin left-hand bat, left-arm fast medium 21 21.95 27.73 28.19 24.80 70

[edit] Spin bowlers
Batting Averages Bowling Averages
Tests Test First Class Test First Class Shirt Number
Daniel Vettori left-hand bat, left-arm orthodox 76 26.38 27.53 34.22 31.89 11
Jeetan Patel right-hand bat, right-arm off-spin 1 18.90 39.00 39.76 39

[edit] Fast bowlers
Tests Test Average First-Class Average Shirt Number
Shane Bond right-arm fast 17 22.39 24.78 27
Chris Martin right-arm fast-medium 37 32.46 30.23 32
Kyle Mills right-arm fast-medium 9 28.91 26.31 37
Mark Gillespie right-arm fast-medium 1 27.20 24.94 17
Michael Mason right-arm fast-medium 1 24.46 49
Daryl Tuffey right-arm fast-medium 22 31.16 25.93 14
Iain O'Brien right-arm fast-medium 6 42.08 24.39 N/A

[edit] Test XI

The preferred XI for NZ's most recent test series against Bangladesh was:

1. Craig Cumming
2. Matthew Bell
3. Peter Fulton
4. Stephen Fleming
5. Matthew Sinclair
6. Jacob Oram
7. Brendan McCullum
8. Daniel Vettori(C)
9. Kyle Mills
10. Ian O'Brien
11. Chris Martin

NB: James Franklin, and Mark Gillespie are injured.
Shane Bond and Scott Styris have retired from test cricket.

[edit] One Day Starting XI

The following lineup was the preferred XI from the squad used during the recent series v England

1. Jesse Ryder
2. Brendon McCullum
3. Jamie How
4. Ross Taylor
5. Scott Styris
6. Peter Fulton
7. Jacob Oram
8. Daniel Vettori(C)
9. Kyle Mills
10. Jeetan Patel
11. Chris Martin

NB: James Franklin, and Mark Gillespie are injured. Shane Bond has been "banned" from playing for NZ.

[edit] Tournament History

[edit] World Cup

* 1975: Semi Finals
* 1979: Semi Finals
* 1983: First round
* 1987: First round
* 1992: Semi Finals
* 1996: Quarter Finals
* 1999: Semi Finals
* 2003: 5th Place
* 2007: Semi Finals

[edit] Mini World Cup

* ICC Knockout 1998: Quarter Finals
* ICC Knockout 2000: Won
* ICC Champions Trophy 2002: First round
* ICC Champions Trophy 2004: First round
* ICC Champions Trophy 2006: Semi Finals

[edit] Twenty20 World Championship

* 2007: Semi Finals

[edit] Commonwealth Games

* 1998: Bronze medal

[edit] World Championship of Cricket

1985: Fourth

[edit] Austral-Asia Cup

* 1986: Semi Finals
* 1990: Semi Finals
* 1994: Semi Finals

[edit] Tournament Victories

* ICC Knock-Out Trophy Nairobi Gymkhana Club Nairobi Kenya 2000. New Zealand beat India in the final.
* 2003 Bank Alfala Series Trophy held in Sri Lanka (New Zealand, Pakistan,Sri Lanka)
* 2004 NatWest Series Trophy held in England (West Indies, England,New Zealand).
* 2005 Videocon TriSeries held in Zimbabwe (India, Zimbabwe,New Zealand).

[edit] Results Summary
Test Matches One-Day Games Twenty/20 Games
Played 336 532 13
Won 64 227 5
Lost 133 276 7
Tied 0 4 1
Drawn / No Result 139 25 0

[edit] Test Records

Main article: List of One Day Cricket Records for New Zealand
Main article: List of Twenty20 Cricket Records for New Zealand


[edit] First Test series wins
Opponent Year of first Home win Year of first Away win
Australia 1986 1985
Bangladesh 2001 2004
England 1984 1986
India 1981 No series won as at Jan 2007
Pakistan 1985 1969
South Africa No series won as at Jan 2007 No series won as at Jan 2007
Sri Lanka 1983 1984
West Indies 1980 2002
Zimbabwe 1998 1992

[edit] First Test match wins
Opponent Home Away
Venue Year Venue Year
Australia Christchurch 1974 Brisbane 1985
Bangladesh Hamilton 2001 Dhaka 2004
England Basin Reserve Wellington 1978 Headingley Leeds 1983
India Christchurch 1968 Nagpur 1969
Pakistan Auckland 1985 Lahore 1969
Sri Lanka Christchurch 1983 Kandy 1984
South Africa Auckland 2004 Cape Town 1962
West Indies Auckland 1956 Barbados 2002
Zimbabwe Basin Reserve Wellington 1998 Harare 1992



[edit] Largest Wins and Losses

[edit] By an Innings
NZ Won by an vs Venue Season NZ Lost by an vs Venue Season
Innings and 294 runs Zimbabwe Harare 2005-2006 Innings and 324 runs Pakistan Lahore 2002
Innings and 185 runs Pakistan Hamilton 2000-2001 Innings and 322 runs West Indies Wellington 1994-1995
Innings and 137 runs Bangladesh Wellington 2007-2008 Innings and 222 runs Australia Hobart 1993-1994
Innings and 132 runs England Christchurch 1983-1984 Innings and 215 runs England Auckland 1962-1963
Innings and 105 runs West Indies Wellington 1999-2000 Innings and 187 runs England Leeds 1965
Innings and 99 runs Pakistan Auckland 1984-1985 Innings and 180 runs South Africa Wellington 1953
Innings and 74 runs Bangladesh Wellington 2001-2002 Innings and 166 runs Pakistan Dunedin 1972-1973
Innings and 61 runs Sri Lanka Colombo 1983-1984 Innings and 156 runs Australia Brisbane 2004-2005

[edit] By Runs
NZ Won by vs Venue Season NZ Lost by vs Venue Season
204 runs West Indies Bridgetown 2002 358 runs South Africa Johannesburg 2007-2008
190 runs West Indies Auckland 1955-1956 299 runs Pakistan Auckland 2001-2002
177 runs Zimbabwe Harare 1992-1993 297 runs Australia Auckland 1973-1974
167 runs India Nagpur 1969-1970 272 runs India Auckland 1967-1968
167 runs Sri Lanka Colombo 1997-1998 241 runs Sri Lanka Napier 1994-1995
137 runs South Africa Johannesburg 1994-1995 230 runs England Lord's 1969
136 runs India Mumbai 1988-1989 217 runs Sri Lanka Wellington 2006-2007
120 runs Sri Lanka Hamilton 1996-1997 216 runs India Chennai 1976-1977

[edit] By Wickets
NZ Won by vs Venue Season NZ Lost by vs Venue Season
10 Wickets India Christchurch 1989-1990 10 Wickets Pakistan Hyderabad (sind) 1976
10 Wickets Zimbabwe Wellington 1997-1998 10 Wickets Australia Auckland 1976-1977
10 Wickets India Wellington 2002-2003 10 Wickets Australia Brisbane 1980-1981
10 Wickets West Indies Wellington 2005-2006 10 Wickets West Indies Bridgetown 1985
9 Wickets Australia Wellington 1989-1990 10 Wickets West Indies Kingston 1985
9 Wickets England Lords 1999 10 Wickets West Indies Wellington 1986-1987
9 Wickets West Indies Hamilton 1999-2000 10 Wickets India Hyderabad (Decc) 1988-1989
9 Wickets Bangladesh Dunedin 2007-2008 10 Wickets West Indies Bridgetown 1996

[edit] Highest Test Innings Totals

[edit] Away

* 630-6d vs India, in Mohali, in 2003-2004
* 593-8d vs South Africa, in Cape Town, in 2005-2006
* 553-7d vs Australia, in Brisbane, in 1985-1986

[edit] Home

* 671-4 vs Sri Lanka, in Wellington, 1990-1991
* 595 vs South Africa, in Auckland, 2003-2004
* 586-7d vs Sri Lanka, in Dunedin, 1996-1997

[edit] Lowest Test Innings Totals

[edit] Away

* 47 vs England, at Lord's, in 1958
* 67 vs England, at Leeds, in 1958
* 67 vs England, at Lord's, in 1978

[edit] Home

* 26 vs England, in Auckland, in 1954-1955 (world record low for test playing nation)
* 42 vs Australia, in Wellington, in 1945-1946
* 54 vs Australia, in Wellington, in 1945-1946

[edit] Player Records
Most Matches Most Runs Most Wickets Most Catches Most Tests as Captain
Stephen Fleming 108 Stephen Fleming 6875 Richard Hadlee 431 Stephen Fleming 166 Stephen Fleming 80
Richard Hadlee 86 Martin Crowe 5444 Daniel Vettori 237 Martin Crowe 71 John R. Reid 34
John Wright 82 John Wright 5334 Chris Cairns 218 Nathan Astle 69 Geoff Howarth 30
Nathan Astle 79 Nathan Astle 4650 Danny Morrison 160 Jeremy Coney 64 Graham Dowling 19
Adam Parore 78 Bevan Congdon 3448 Lance Cairns 130 Bryan Young 54 Ken Rutherford 18
Daniel Vettori 77 John R. Reid 3428 Chris Martin 125 Bevan Congdon 43 Bevan Congdon 17
Martin Crowe 77 Chris Cairns 3320 Ewen Chatfield 123 Glenn Turner 42 Martin Crowe 16
Ian Smith 63 Richard Hadlee 3124 Richard Collinge 116 Jeff Crowe 41 Jeremy Coney 15
Chris Cairns 62 Craig McMillan 3116 Bruce Taylor 111 John R. Reid 39 Mark Burgess 10
Bevan Congdon 61 Glenn Turner 2991 John Bracewell 102 Richard Hadlee 39 Glenn Turner 10
John R. Reid 58 Andrew Jones 2992 Dick Motz 100 John Wright 38 Harry Cave 9
Ken Rutherford 56 Mark Richardson 2776 Simon Doull 98 Daniel Vettori 36 Walter Hadlee 8
Craig McMillan 55 Bert Sutcliffe 2727 Dion Nash 93 Mark Burgess 34 Tom Lowry 7
Jeremy Coney 52 Mark Burgess 2684 Hedley Howarth 86 Hedley Howarth 33 Curly Page 7
Mark Burgess 50 Jeremy Coney 2668 John R. Reid 85 Ken Rutherford 32 Jeff Crowe 6

* Only Allan Border (93) has more tests as captain than Stephen Fleming.
* Only Mark Waugh (181) has more catches than Stephen Fleming. Rahul Dravid also has 166.

[edit] Batting Records

[edit] Most Runs in an Innings

[edit] Home

* 299 Martin Crowe vs Sri Lanka, in Wellington, 1990-1991
* 267* Bryan Young vs Sri Lanka, in Dunedin, 1996-1997
* 239 Graham Dowling vs India, in Christchurch, 1967-1968
* 224 Lou Vincent vs Sri Lanka, in Wellington, 2004-2005
* 222 Nathan Astle vs England, in Christchurch, 2001-2002

[edit] Away

* 274* Stephen Fleming vs Sri Lanka, in Colombo, 2003
* 262 Stephen Fleming vs South Africa, in Cape Town, 2005-2006
* 259 Glenn Turner vs West Indies, in Georgetown, 1971-1972
* 230 Bert Sutcliffe vs India, in New Delhi, 1955-1956
* 223* Glenn Turner vs West Indies, in Kingstown, 1971-1972

[edit] Most Runs in an Innings by Batting Position
Position Runs
1 or 2 267 B.A. Young vs Sri Lanka, at Dunedin, 1996/97
3 274* S.P. Fleming vs Sri Lanka, at Colombo, 2003
4 299 M.D.Crowe vs Sri Lanka, at Wellington, 1990/91
5 222 N.J. Astle vs England, at Christchurch, 2001/02
6 174* J.V. Coney vs England, at Wellington, 1983/84
7 158 C.L. Cairns vs South Africa, at Auckland, 2003/04
8 127 D.L. Vettori vs Zimbabwe, at Harare, 2005
9 173 I.D.S. Smith vs India, at Auckland, 1989/86
10 83* J.G. Bracewell vs Australia, at Sydney, 1985/86
11 68* R.O. Collinge vs Pakistan, at Auckland,1972/73

[edit] Centuries
Most Centuries On Test Debut 2 Centuries in a Test
17 Martin Crowe 117 J.E. Mills v England 1929/30 101 & 110* G.M. Turner v Australia 1973/74
12 John Wright 105 B.R. Taylor v India 1964/65 122 & 102 G.P. Howarth v England 1977/78
11 Nathan Astle 107 R.E. Redmond v Pakistan 1972/73 122 & 100* A.H. Jones v Sri Lanka 1990/91
9 Stephen Fleming 107* M.J. Greatbatch v England 1987/88
7 Bevan Congdon 214 M.S. Sinclair v West Indies 1999/00
7 Glenn Turner 104 L. Vincent v Australia 2001/02
7 Andrew Jones 107 S.B. Styris v West Indies 2001/02

[edit] Highest Batting Averages
Batsman Matches Innings Not Outs Runs Average
Charles Dempster 10 15 4 723 65.73
Martin Donnelly 7 12 1 582 52.91
John Fulton Reid 19 31 3 1296 46.28
Martin Crowe 77 131 11 5444 45.36
Mark Richardson 38 65 3 2776 44.77
Glenn Turner 41 73 6 2991 44.64
Andrew Jones 39 74 8 2922 44.27

Qualification 12 innings

[edit] Highest Partnerships
Wicket Total Batsman vs Venue Year
1st 387 Terrence Jarvis / Glenn Turner West Indies Georgetown 1971-1972
2nd 241 John Wright /Andrew Jones England Wellington 1991-1992
3rd 467 Andrew Jones / Martin Crowe Sri Lanka Wellington 1990-1991
4th 243 Nathan Astle / Matthew Horne Zimbabwe Auckland 1997-1998
5th 222 Craig McMillan / Nathan Astle Zimbabwe Wellington 2000-2001
6th 246* Jeff Crowe / Richard Hadlee Sri Lanka Colombo 1986-1987
7th 225 Chris Cairns / Jacob Oram South Africa Auckland 2003-2004
8th 256 Stephen Fleming / James Franklin South Africa Cape Town 2005-2006
9th 136 Martin Snedden / Ian Smith India Auckland 1989-1990
10th § 151 Brian Hastings / Richard Collinge Pakistan Auckland 1972-1973

§ The highest wicket stand for all Test nations. Equalled by Mushtaq Ahmed & Azhar Mahmood, Pakistan v South Africa, Rawalpindi, 1997/98.

[edit] Bowling Records

[edit] Best Bowling in a Match

* 15-123 Richard Hadlee v Australia at Brisbane 1985/86
* 12-149 Daniel Vettori v Australia at Auckland 1999/00
* 12-170 Daniel Vettori v Bangladesh at Chittagong 2004/05
* 11-58 Richard Hadlee v India at Wellington 1975/76
* 11-102 Richard Hadlee v West Indies at Dunedin 1979/80

[edit] Ten wickets in a match most times

* Richard Hadlee 9
* Daniel Vettori 2

[edit] Best Bowling in an Innings

* 9-52 Richard Hadlee v Australia at Brisbane 1985/86
* 7-23 Richard Hadlee v India at Wellington 1975/76
* 7-27 Chris Cairns v West Indies at Hamilton 1999/00
* 7-52 Chris Pringle v Pakistan at Faisalabad 1990/91
* 7-53 Chris Cairns v Bangladesh at Hamilton 2001/02

[edit] Hat Tricks

* P.J. Petherick v Pakistan at Lahore 1976/77
* J.E.C. Franklin v Bangldesh at Dhaka 2004/05

[edit] Five wickets in an innings most times

* Richard Hadlee 36
* Chris Cairns 13
* Daniel Vettori 13
* Danny Morrison 10
* Chris Martin 8

[edit] Best Bowling Averages
Bowler Matches Wickets Runs Average
Jack Cowie 9 45 969 21.53
Shane Bond 16 74 1635 22.10
Richard Hadlee 86 431 9611 22.29
Bruce Taylor 30 111 2953 26.60
James Franklin 21 76 2142 28.19
Dion Nash 32 93 2649 28.48
Kyle Mills 9 23 665 28.91
Richard Collinge 35 116 3393 29.25

Qualification 9 Matches

[edit] All Rounders' Records

[edit] All rounders

New Zealand is one of only two Test playing countries (the other is South Africa) to have two players who have achieved the allrounder’s double of 3000 Test runs and 200 Test wickets. The current (2007) list is:
Player Country Runs Wickets
Shane Warne Australia 3154 708
Gary Sobers West Indies 8032 235
Kapil Dev India 5248 434
Ian Botham England 5200 383
Richard Hadlee New Zealand 3124 431
Imran Khan Pakistan 3807 362
Shaun Pollock South Africa 3781 420
Chris Cairns New Zealand 3320 218
Jacques Kallis South Africa 9414 224

Two other NZ players have scored more than 1000 runs and taken 100 wickets. Daniel Vettori has 2454 runs and 238 wickets. John Bracewell scored 1001 runs and took 102 wickets.

[edit] A Century and 10 wickets in a match

No New Zealand player has ever achieved this. Only Imran Khan and Ian Botham (once each) have scored a century and taken 10 wickets in the same match.

[edit] A Fifty and 10 wickets in a match

* Richard Hadlee 51 & 17 and 5-34 & 6-68 v West Indies at Dunedin 1979/80
* Richard Hadlee 54 and 9-52 & 6-71 v Australia at Brisbane 1985/86
* Richard Hadlee 68 and 6-80 & 4-60 v England at Nottingham 1986
* Dion Nash 56 and 6-76 & 5-93 v England at Lord's 1994
* Chris Cairns 72 and 3-73 & 7-27 v West Indies at Hamilton 1999/00

[edit] A Century and 5 wickets in an innings in a match

Bruce Taylor 105 & 5-86 vs India at Calcutta 1964/65 (on his debut)

[edit] A Fifty and 5 wickets in an innings in a match

12 instances

[edit] Wicketkeeping Records

[edit] Most Dismissals
Played Catches Stumpings Total
Adam Parore 78 194 7 201
Ian Smith 63 168 8 176
Ken Wadsworth 33 92 4 96
Brendon McCullum 28 81 6 87

[edit] Most Dismissals in a Match

* 8 Warren Lees v Sri Lanka at Wellington (all caught) 1983/83
* 8 Ian Smith v Sri Lanka at Hamilton (all caught) 1990/91
* 7 (6 instances)

[edit] Most Dismissals in an Innings

* 7 Ian Smith v Sri Lanka at Hamilton (all caught) 1990/91 (world record held with 3 other players)
* 5 (9 instances)

[edit] Fielding Records

[edit] Most Catches in a Match

* 7 Stephen Fleming v Zimbabwe at Harare 1997 (world record held with 4 other players)
* 6 (3 instances)

[edit] Most Catches in an Innings

* 5 Stephen Fleming v Zimbabwe at Harare 1997 (world record held with 4 other players)
* 4 (5 instances)

[edit] World Records

* Richard Hadlee, one of New Zealand and the world's best all-rounders, took the world record for most Test wickets (374) vs India at Bangalore in 1988. He lost the record to Kapil Dev. Hadlee was the first bowler to reach 400 Test wickets vs India at Christchurch in 1990
* Andrew Jones and Martin Crowe held the highest ever 3rd-wicket partnership in Tests which at the time was the highest partnership for any wicket. [4].
* Brian Hastings and Richard Collinge together scored 151 runs for the highest ever 10th-wicket partnership against Pakistan in 1973. [5].
* Nathan Astle scored Test cricket's fastest ever double century versus England Christchurch 2002 [6]. He scored 200 off 153 balls with the second hundred coming off just 39 deliveries. He was eventually out for 222 — the dreaded double Nelson. He knocked the first hundred off 114 balls. Astle smashed the record by 59 balls, previously held by Adam Gilchrist Australia vs South Africa Johannesburg 2002).
* Geoff Allott holds the record for the longest time taken to score a duck [7]. South Africa Auckland 1999. He faced 77 balls in 101 minutes for his zero score.
* Danny Morrison held another "unwanted" record for the most ducks in Test cricket — (24). He lost the record to Courtney Walsh.
* Chris Cairns and his father Lance Cairns are one of the two father-son combination to each claim 100 Test wickets, South Africa's Peter and Shaun Pollock being the other.
* Chris Cairns held the record for the most Test sixes [8]. He passed Viv Richards record of 84 (vs England, Lord's, London, 2004) and retired from Test cricket with 87. He has since been passed by both Adam Gilchrist (the current record holder) and Brian Lara.
* Chris Harris is the only New Zealand cricketer to have taken 200 wickets in ODIs. (vs England, Lord's, London, 2004). He is only the second player in ODIs to complete the 4000 run / 200 wicket double. (The other is Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya). He holds the record for the most ODI caught and bowled dismissals, with 29.[2]
* Fast bowler Shane Bond holds the best strike rate in the history of One Day International cricket of 26.5 (one player out for every 26.5 balls bowled) [9].
* John Bracewell became the first - and so far only - substitute fielder to take four catches in a One-Day International, vs Australia in Adelaide on 23 November 1980.
* The New Zealand team holds the dubious honour of the record for the most consecutive Test series played without a win - 30 series between 1929-30 and 1969-70 (40 years), comfortably ahead of Bangladesh on 16 series. [10]
* Another unenviable distinction is the largest margin defeat in the Cricket World Cup, by 215 runs, by Australia. (April 2007).

[edit] Notable

* New Zealand dismissed Zimbabwe (Harare 2005) twice in the same day for totals of 59 and 99. Zimbabwe became only the second team (after India Manchester 1952) to be dismissed twice in the same day. The whole Test was completed inside two days.
* Daniel Vettori scored NZ's fastest Test century. (vs Zimbabwe Harare 2005). Vettori needed only 82 balls to reach the 100 mark.
* In the same match, he became the third NZ cricketer (after Richard Hadlee and Chris Cairns) to take more than 200 Test wickets.
* Lou Vincent holds the record for the highest one-day cricket innings by a New Zealander of 172 (vs Zimbabwe Bulawayo 2005). The previous best was Glenn Turner 171 not out (vs East Africa Birmingham 1975). Vincent and captain Stephen Fleming broke the New Zealand one-day opening partnership record against all countries. Their total of 204 beat Fleming and Nathan Astle's 193 (vs Pakistan Dunedin 2000-2001). The team total of 397 was just one run short of the then record one-day total of 398 (Sri Lanka vs Kenya Kandy 1996).
* Brendon McCullum scored the fastest World Cup (2007) fifty (off 20 balls) for New Zealand against Canada, beating Mark Boucher's 21-ball record set against the Netherlands six days earlier.
* In a match for the New Zealanders (i.e., the New Zealand national team playing a tour match against non-test opposition) at Scarborough, Yorkshire, in 1986 vs the D.B. Close XI, Ken Rutherford scored 317 runs off just 245 balls, including 228 runs in boundary fours and sixes. In terms of balls faced, this is almost certainly one of the four fastest first-class triple-centuries ever recorded [3].

[edit] See also
Cricket Portal

* List of New Zealand cricketers
* New Zealand national cricket captains
* New Zealand women's cricket team
* Beige Brigade Blackcaps Supporters

[edit] References

1. ^ Cricinfo Test Team Records page retrieved on November 3, 2007
2. ^ Winning without losing a wicket, and Kumble's record. Cricinfo (January 12, 2004). Retrieved on 2007-02-21.

India national cricket team

India national cricket team
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
v • d • e
India
Test status granted 1932
First Test match v England at Lord's, London, 25-28th June 1932
Captain M.S Dhoni- ODI & T20
Anil Kumble- Test
Coach Gary Kirsten
Official ICC Test and ODI ranking 3rd (Test), 4th (ODI) [1],[2]
Test matches
- this year 414
2
Last Test match v Australia at WACA Ground, Perth,
January 16-19 2008in Adelaide at Adelaide oval
Wins/losses
- this year 93/133
1/1
As of January 19, 2007

The Indian cricket team is an international cricket team representing India. It is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the cricket governing body in India. The Indian Cricket Team is currently the highest paid national sports team in the world (in terms of sponsorship).[1]

Though the first match in India was recorded in 1721, when a group of sailors gathered to play in Western India, India's national cricket team didn't play their first Test match until 25 June 1932 at Lord's. They became the sixth team to play Test cricket. Traditionally much stronger at home than abroad, India proved weaker than Australia and England, winning only 35 of the 196 matches they played in their first fifty years.[2] The team gained strength near the end of the 50-year period with the emergence of players such as Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev and the Indian spin quartet. The Indian team has continued to be highly ranked since then in Test cricket and One Day Internationals. The team won the Cricket World Cup in 1983 and was runners-up in 2003. It also won the first World Twenty20 in 2007. The current team contains many of the world's leading players, including Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble, who hold numerous cricketing world records.[1][3]

As of January 2008, the Indian team has played 414 Test matches, winning 22.46%, losing 32.13% and drawing 45.41% of its games.[4] The team is ranked third in the ICC Test Championship rankings and fourth in the ICC ODI Championship rankings[5]
Contents
[hide]

* 1 History
* 2 Governing body
o 2.1 Selection Committee
* 3 Tournament History
* 4 Team colours
* 5 Test cricket grounds
* 6 Indian women's cricket team
* 7 National records
* 8 Current squad
o 8.1 Coaching Staff
* 9 Captains
* 10 Fan following
* 11 See also
* 12 References
* 13 External links

History

Main article: History of the Indian cricket team

Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji was an Indian who played for the English cricket team
Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji was an Indian who played for the English cricket team

The British brought cricket to India in the early 1700s, with the first cricket match being played in 1721.[6] In 1848, the Parsi community in Mumbai formed the Oriental Cricket Club, the first cricket club to be established by Indians. After slow beginnings, the Europeans eventually invited the Parsis to play a match in 1877.[7] By 1912, the Parsis, Hindus, and Muslims of Bombay played a quadrangular tournament with the Europeans every year.[7] In the early 1900s, some Indians went on to play for the English cricket team. Some of these, such as Ranjitsinhji and KS Duleepsinhji were greatly appreciated by the British and their names went on to be used for the Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy-two of the major domestic tournaments in India. In 1911, an Indian team went on their first official tour of England, but only played English county teams and not the English cricket team.[8] India was invited into The Imperial Cricket Council in 1926 and made its debut as a Test-cricket-playing-nation in 1932 led by CK Nayudu.[9] The match was given Test status despite being only 3 days in length. The team was not strong in its batting at this point and went on to lose by 158 runs.[10] The Indian team continued to improve throughout the 1930s and '40s but did not achieve an international victory during this period. The team's first series as an independent country was in 1948 against Sir Donald Bradman's Invincibles (a name given to the Australian cricket team of that time). Australia won the five-match series, 4-0.[11]

India recorded their first Test victory against England at Madras in 1952.[12] Later in the year, they won their first Test series, which was against Pakistan. They continued their improvement throughout the early 1950s with a series win against New Zealand in 1956. However, they did not win again in the remainder of the decade and lost badly to strong Australian and English sides. The next decade developed India's reputation as a team considered to be strong at home. Although they only won two series (both against New Zealand), they managed to draw home series against Pakistan, England and Australia.

The key to India's bowling in the 1970s were the Indian spin quartet - Bishen Bedi, E.A.S. Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Srinivas Venkataraghavan. This period also saw the emergence of two of India's best ever batsmen, Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath. Indian pitches have had tendency to support spin and the spin quartet exploited this to create collapses in opposing batting lineups. These players were responsible for the back-to-back series wins in 1971 in the West Indies and in England, under the captaincy of Ajit Wadekar. Gavaskar scored 774 runs in the West Indian series while Dilip Sardesai's 112 played a big part in their one Test win.

The advent of One-Day International cricket in 1971 created a new dimension in the cricket world. However, India was not considerably strong in ODIs at this point and batsmen such as the captain Gavaskar were known for their defence-based approaches to batting. India began as a weak team in ODIs and did not manage to qualify for the second round in the first two editions of the Cricket World Cup. Gavaskar famously blocked his way to 36 not out off 174 balls against England in the first World Cup in 1975, India scored just 132 for 3 and lost by 202 runs.

In contrast, India fielded a strong team in Test matches and were particularly strong at home where their combination of stylish batsman and beguiling spinners where seen at their best. India set a then test record in the third Test against the West Indies at Port-of-Spain in 1976 when they chased 403 to win thanks to 112 from Vishwanath. This West Indian defeat is considered to be a watershed in the history of their cricket because it led to captain Clive Lloyd dispensing with spin altogether and relying entirely on a four man pace attack. In November 1976 the team established another record by scoring 524 for 9 declared against New Zealand at Kanpur without an individual scoring a century. There were six fifties, the highest being 70 by Mohinder Amarnath. The innings was the eighth instance in Test cricket where all eleven batsmen reached double figures.

During the 1980s, India developed a more attack minded batting line-up with stroke makers such as the wristy Mohammed Azharuddin, Dilip Vengsarkar and all-rounder Ravi Shastri prominent during this time. India won the Cricket World Cup in 1983, defeating the then favourites West Indies in the final, owing to a strong bowling performance. In spite of this the team performed poorly in the Test arena, including 28 consecutive Test matches without a victory. In 1984, India won the Asia Cup and in 1985, won the World Championship of Cricket in Australia. Apart from this, India remained a very weak team outside the Indian subcontinent. India's Test series victory in 1986 against England remained the last Test series win by India outside the subcontinent for the next 19 years. The 1987 Cricket World Cup was held in India. The 1980s saw Gavaskar and Kapil Dev (India's best all rounder to this date) at the pinnacle of their careers. Gavaskar made a Test record 34 centuries as he became the first man to reach the 10,000 run mark. Kapil Dev later became the highest wicket taker in Test cricket with 434 wickets. The period was also marked by an unstable leadership, with Gavaskar and Kapil exchanging the captaincy several times.
A graph showing India's Test match results against all Test match teams from 1932 to September 2006
A graph showing India's Test match results against all Test match teams from 1932 to September 2006

The addition of Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble to the national side in 1989 and 1990 further improved the team. The following year, Javagal Srinath, India's fastest bowler since Amar Singh made his debut. Despite this, during the 1990s, India did not win any of its 33 Tests outside the subcontinent while it won 17 out of its 30 Tests at home. After being eliminated by neighbours Sri Lanka on home soil at the 1996 Cricket World Cup, the team underwent a year of change as Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly, later to be become captains of the team, made their debut in the same Test at Lord's. Tendulkar replaced Azharuddin as captain in late 1996, but after a personal and team form slump, Tendulkar relinquished the captaincy and Azharuddin was reinstalled at the beginning of 1998. With the captaincy burden removed, Tendulkar was the world's leading run-scorer in both Tests and ODIs, as India enjoyed a home Test series win over Australia, the best ranked team in the world. After failing to reach the semifinals at the 1999 Cricket World Cup, Tendulkar was again made captain, and had another poor run, losing 3-0 on a tour of Australia and then 2-0 at home to South Africa. Tendulkar resigned, vowing never to captain the team again, with Sourav Ganguly appointed the new captain. The team was further damaged in 2000 when former captain Azharuddin and fellow batsman Ajay Jadeja were implicated in a match-fixing scandal and given life bans.
The Indian cricket team in action in the Wankhede Stadium
The Indian cricket team in action in the Wankhede Stadium

Since 2000, the Indian team underwent major improvements with the appointment of John Wright as India's first ever foreign coach. India maintained their unbeaten home record against Australia in Test series after defeating them in 2001. The series was famous for the Kolkata Test match, in which India became only the third team in the history of Test cricket to win a Test match after following on. Australian captain Steve Waugh labelled India as the "Final Frontier" as a result of his side's inability to win a Test series in India.[13] Victory in 2001 against the Australians marked the beginning of a dream run for India under their captain Sourav Ganguly, winning Test matches in Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, West Indies and England. The England series is also known for India's highest ODI run-chase of 325 runs at Lord's which came in the Natwest ODI Series final against England. In the same year, India were joint winners of the ICC Champions Trophy with Sri Lanka, and then went to the 2003 Cricket World Cup in South Africa where they reached the final only to be beaten by Australia. The 2003-2004 season also saw India play out a Test series in Australia where they drew 1-1 with world champions, and then win a Test and ODI series in Pakistan.

At the end of the 2004 season, India suffered from lack of form and fitness from its older players. A defeat in a following home Test series against Australia was followed by an ODI home series defeat against Pakistan followed by a Test series levelled 1-1. Greg Chappell took over from John Wright as the new coach of the Indian cricket team following the series, and his methods proved to be controversial during the beginning of his tenure. The tension resulted in a fallout between Chappell and Ganguly, resulting in Rahul Dravid being made captain. This triggered a revival in the team's fortunes, following the emergence of players like Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Suresh Raina, and the coming of age of players like Irfan Pathan and Yuvraj Singh. A thumping home series victory over Sri Lanka in 2005 and a level series with South Africa put India at 2nd place in the ICC ODI rankings. This was followed by a convincing ODI series win in Pakistan in early 2006 following a loss in the Test series, which gave India the world record of 17 successive ODI victories while batting second.[14] Towards the middle of 2006 however, a 4-1 series loss in the West Indies gave rise to a slump in India's ODI form, while they achieved a 1-0 victory in the Test series that followed, giving them their first Test series victory in the Caribbean since 1971. India's ODI form, however, slumped further with a disappointing performance in the 2006 Champions Trophy and a drubbing in the ODI series in South Africa. This was followed yet again by an initial good performance in the Tests, giving India its first Test match win in South Africa, although they went on to lose the series 2-1. This Test series was marked by Ganguly's comeback to the Indian team.[15]

The beginning of 2007 had seen a revival in the Indian team's ODI fortunes before the 2007 Cricket World Cup. Series victories against the West Indies and Sri Lanka, marked by the comeback of Ganguly, and strong form by Tendulkar, and the emergence of young attacking players like Robin Uthappa saw many pundits to tip India as a real chance to do well at the 2007 Cricket World Cup. However, defeats to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka saw India fail to reach the final eight.
Current Indian cricketers Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag (left to right)
Current Indian cricketers Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag (left to right)

India's traditional strengths have always been its line-up of spin bowlers and batsmen.[16] Recently, it has a very strong batting lineup with Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag all being selected to play for the ICC World XI in the 2005 "SuperTest" against Australia. In previous times, India was unique in that it was the only country to regularly field three spinners in one team, whereas one is the norm, and of the fifteen players to have taken more than 100 wickets, only four were pace bowlers from the last 20 years.[17] However in recent years, Indian pace bowling has improved, with the emerging talents of Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel and Sreesanth and many more playing in the national team.

In December 2006, it played and won its first ever Twenty20 international in South Africa, becoming the most recent Test team to play Twenty20 cricket. After winning the Test series against England in August 2007, Rahul Dravid stepped down as the captain of the team following which Mahendra Singh Dhoni was made the captain of the Twenty20 and ODI team. In September 2007, it won the first ever World Twenty20 held in South Africa, beating Pakistan by 5 runs in a thrilling final. India now is the most successful 20-20 team, measured by the winning percentage.[18]

See also: India at the Cricket World Cup, List of Indian Test cricketers, and List of Indian ODI cricketers

Governing body

Main article: Board of Control for Cricket in India

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the governing body over the Indian cricket team. The Board has been operating since 1929 and represents India with the International Cricket Council. It is amongst the richest sporting organizations in the world, it sold media rights to for India's matches in the next 4 years for 612 million US dollars.[19] It negotiates India's sponsorships, its future tours and the selection of its players.

The International Cricket Council determines India's upcoming matches through its future tours program. However, the BCCI, with its influential financial position in the cricketing world, has often challenged the ICC's program and called for more tours between India, Australia, Pakistan and England which are more likely to earn more revenue as opposed to tours with Bangladesh or Zimbabwe.[20] In the past, the BCCI has also come into conflict with the ICC in relation to sponsorships[21] and the legitimacy of the ICC Champions Trophy.

Selection Committee

Main article: Indian national cricket selectors

Selection for the Indian cricket team occurs through the BCCI's zonal selection policy, where each of the five zones is represented with one selector and one of the members nominated by BCCI as the Chairman of the Selection Committee. This has sometimes led to controversy as to whether these selectors are biased towards their zones.[22]

The current chairman of Selection Committee is Dilip Vengsarkar. Bhupinder Singh Sr., Sanjay Jagdale, Ranjib Biswal and Venkatapathy Raju are the other members of the selection committee whose terms started in October 2006 and end in September 2008 with BCCI holding the rights for a one-year extension.

Tournament History
ODI World Cup Twenty20 World Cup ICC Champions Trophy Commonwealth Games Asia Cup

* 1975: Round 1
* 1979: Round 1
* 1983: Champions
* 1987: Semi Finals
* 1992: Round 1
* 1996: Semi Finals
* 1999: Super 6 (6th Place)
* 2003: Runners Up
* 2007: Round 1



* 2007: Champions



* 1998: Semi Finals
* 2000: Runners Up
* 2002: Joint Winner with Sri Lanka
* 2004: Round 1
* 2006: Group stage



* 1998: Round 1



* 1984: Champions
* 1986: Boycott
* 1988: Champions
* 1990/1991: Champions
* 1995: Champions
* 1997: Runners Up
* 2000: 3rd Place
* 2004: Runners Up

Team colours

When playing one-day cricket, the Indian cricket team has in recent years worn a sky blue shirt and pants. At present, the shirt also contains a diagonal tricolour design which reflects the Flag of India and the name of their main sponsor, Sahara. The one-day cap is also sky blue with the BCCI logo on the front, with a similar tricolour design on the brim of the cap.

With the advent of the World Series Cup in the 1970s, each team was to don a primary and secondary colour on their uniforms. The Indian team elected to wear light-blue as their primary colour and yellow as their secondary colour. Even during the 1999 Cricket World Cup the secondary colour on the Indian cricket team's clothing has been yellow. However, this has since been removed and replaced with the tricolour. However, in the past the Indian ODI outfits were changed to different shades of blue, mostly darker than the current, and the team donned dark blue during 1992, the current sky blue colour is more similar to that worn in the World Series Cup.

When playing first-class cricket, in addition to their cricket whites, Indian fielders sometimes wear a sunhat, which is dark blue and has a wide brim, with the BCCI logo in the middle of the front of the hat. Helmets are coloured similarly. Some players sport the Indian flag on their helmet. The current kit sponsor for the Indian team is Nike, Inc..

Test cricket grounds

Barabati
Wankhede
Brabourne/Gymkhana
Eden Gardens
Feroz Shah Kotla
Gandhi
Green Park
KDSB/University
LB Shastri
M Chinnaswamy
MAC
Nehru
PCA
Sardar Patel
Sawai Mansingh
Sector 16
Vidarbha CA
Locations of all stadiums which have hosted a Test match within India

There are a number of world-renowned cricket stadiums located in India. Most grounds are under the administration of various State Cricket Boards as opposed to being under the control of the BCCI. The Bombay Gymkhana was the first ground in India to host a full-scale cricket match featuring an Indian cricket team. This was between the Parsis and the Europeans in 1877. Suitably therefore, the first stadium to host a Test match in India was the Gymkhana Ground in Mumbai in 1933, the only Test it ever hosted. The second and third Tests in the 1933 series were hosted at Eden Gardens and Chepauk. The Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi was the first stadium to host a Test match after independence, being a draw against the West Indies in 1948, the first of a 5-Test series. Nineteen stadiums in India have hosted official Test matches. In recent times the building of world-class cricket grounds has increased in India, with multiple Test grounds occurring in the cities of Lucknow, Chandigarh, Chennai and Mumbai.

Eden Gardens in Kolkata has hosted the most Tests (34), and also has the largest capacity of any cricket stadium in the world, being capable of holding more than 100,000 spectators.[23] Founded in 1864, it is one of the most historical stadiums in India, having hosted numerous controversial and historical matches.[24] Other major stadiums in India include the Feroz Shah Kotla, which was established in 1883 and hosted memorable matches including Anil Kumble's ten wickets in an innings haul against Pakistan. For the last two years, the ground has been undergoing renovation.[25]

The Wankhede Stadium is one of the newest world-class Indian cricket stadiums. Established in 1974 with a capacity of near 50,000. It has hosted 21 Test matches in its relatively short 32-year history. It was the unofficial successor of the Brabourne Stadium, which is also located in Mumbai. Mumbai is often considered the cricketing capital of India because of its fans and the talent it produces (see Mumbai cricket team) and thus the stadium regularly hosts major Test matches.[26] The M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk is also considered to be an important historical Indian cricket ground, established in the early 1900s it was the site of India's first Test victory.[27]

The remainder of the Test stadiums are considered lesser compared to these major stadiums. The Gymkhana and Brabourne Stadiums are not used any more and have been replaced by the Wankhede. Similarly, the Barabati Stadium, Gandhi Stadium, K. D. Singh Babu Stadium, Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, Nehru Stadium, Sector 16 Stadium and University Ground have not hosted a Test match in the last 10 years.
Stadium City Test matches
Eden Gardens Kolkata 35
Feroz Shah Kotla Delhi 29
M. A. Chidambaram Stadium Chepauk, Chennai 28
Wankhede Stadium Mumbai 21
Green Park (now Modi Stadium) Kanpur 19
Brabourne Stadium Mumbai 17
M. Chinnaswamy Stadium Bangalore 17
Nehru Stadium Chennai 9
Vidarbha C.A. Ground Nagpur 9
Sardar Patel Stadium (Gujarat) Naranpura, Ahmedabad 8
Punjab Cricket Association Stadium Mohali, Punjab 7
Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium Hyderabad 3
Barabati Stadium Cuttack 2
Bombay Gymkhana Mumbai 1
Gandhi Stadium Jalandhar 1
K. D. Singh Babu Stadium Lucknow 1
Sawai Mansingh Stadium Jaipur 1
Sector 16 Stadium Chandigarh 1
University Ground Lucknow 1

Indian women's cricket team

Main article: Indian women's cricket team

The Indian women's cricket team has a much lower profile than the men's team. For all national women's cricket teams, the female players are paid much less their male counterparts, and the women's teams do not receive as much popular support or recognition as the men's team. The women's teams also have a less packed schedule compared to men's teams and play fewer matches. The Indian women's cricket team played its first Test match in 1976/7, when they drew with the West Indies in a six-match series.

The Women's Cricket World Cup was held in India in 1978 and featured 4 teams. Despite this, India failed to win either of their two matches. Their next appearance in the Test and ODI circuit was against Australia in 1984, in which the Test series was tied but the ODI series was lost in a humiliating whitewash.

The Indian women's cricket team has since picked up some form, reaching the finals in the last World Cup, but then losing to Australia. The Women's Asia Cup of 2005-06 was won by India, who beat Sri Lanka in the final. They also beat the West Indies in the 2004-05 season, winning the 5 ODI series 5-0. This year the Indian women's team lost to English women's team 4-0 in an ODI Series but beat them in the Twenty20 International and 1-0 in the Test series.

National records

Main article: Indian cricket team records

Sachin Tendulkar, India's most capped player and leading run-scorer and century maker in both Tests and ODIs.
Sachin Tendulkar, India's most capped player and leading run-scorer and century maker in both Tests and ODIs.

Sachin Tendulkar is easily the batsman with the most national achievements. He holds the record of most appearances in both Tests and ODIs, most runs in both Tests and ODIs and most centuries in Tests and ODIs. The highest score by an Indian is the 309 scored by Virender Sehwag in Multan. It is the only triple century in Test cricket by an Indian. The team's highest ever score was a 705/7 against Australia in Sydney, 2004, while its lowest was 42 against England in 1974. In ODIs, the team's highest is 413/5 against Bermuda in the 2007 Cricket World Cup. In the same match, India set a world record of the highest winning margin of 257 runs in a ODI match.

India also has very strong bowling figures, with spin bowler Anil Kumble being a member of the elite group of 5 bowlers who have taken 500 wickets. In 1999, Anil Kumble emulated Jim Laker to become the second bowler to take all ten wickets in a Test match innings when he took 10 wickets for 74 runs against Pakistan at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi. India's strength has traditionally been with its spin bowlers, which explains the records achieved by Anil Kumble and Bishen Singh Bedi.

Many of the Indian cricket team's records are also world records, for example Sachin Tendulkar's century tally (in Tests and ODIs) and run tally (in ODIs). Mahendra Singh Dhoni's 183 not out against Sri Lanka in 2005 is the world record score by a wicketkeeper in ODIs. Pankaj Roy and Vinoo Mankad's first wicket partnership of 413 is a world record for the first wicket, although it was close to being broken by Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid in 2006.[28] The Indian cricket team also holds the record of 17 successful run-chases in ODIs,[29] which ended in a dramatic match against the West Indies in May 2006, which India lost by just 1 run.

Current squad
Name Batting Style Bowling Style Domestic team Zone Contract grade[30] Shirt Numbers
Twenty20 and ODI Captain and Wicket Keeper
Mahendra Singh Dhoni Right Hand Bat - Jharkhand East A 7
Test Captain and Spin Bowler
Anil Kumble Right Hand Bat Leg Break, Leg Break Googly Karnataka South A Test Only
Wicket-keepers
Dinesh Karthik Right Hand Bat - Tamil Nadu South B 1
Opening batsmen
Sachin Tendulkar Right Hand Bat Leg Break, Leg Break Googly, Off Break Mumbai West A 10
Sourav Ganguly Left Hand Bat Right Medium Bengal East A 21
Virender Sehwag Right Hand Bat Off Break Delhi North B 2
Wasim Jaffer Right Hand Bat Off Break Mumbai West B 14
Gautam Gambhir Left Hand Bat Leg Break Delhi North B 5
Robin Uthappa Right Hand Bat Right Medium Karnataka South C 77
Specialist middle-order batsmen
Rahul Dravid Right Hand Bat Off Break Karnataka South A 19
V. V. S. Laxman Right Hand Bat Off Break Hyderabad South B 22
Suresh Raina Left Hand Bat Off Break Uttar Pradesh Central C -
Yuvraj Singh Left Hand Bat Slow Left Arm Punjab North A 12
Rohit Sharma Right Hand Bat Off Break Mumbai West D 45
Manoj Tiwary Right Hand Bat Off Break Bengal East D -
All-rounders
Irfan Pathan Left Hand Bat Left Medium Fast Baroda West C 63
Yusuf Pathan Right Hand Bat Off Break Baroda West D 27
Seamers
Ajit Agarkar Right Hand Bat Right Fast Medium Mumbai West C 68
Joginder Sharma Right Hand Bat Right Medium Fast Haryana North D 23
R. P. Singh Right Hand Bat Left Medium Fast Uttar Pradesh Central B 9
Shanthakumaran Sreesanth Right Hand Bat Right Fast Medium Kerala South B 58
Munaf Patel Right Hand Bat Right Medium Fast Maharashtra West C 48
Zaheer Khan Right Hand Bat Left Medium Fast Mumbai West A 34
Ishant Sharma Right Hand Bat Right Fast Medium Delhi North D N/A
Praveen Kumar Right Hand Bat Right Medium Uttar Pradesh Central D N/A
Spin Bowlers
Harbhajan Singh Right Hand Bat Off Break Punjab North B 35
Ramesh Powar Right Hand Bat Off Break Mumbai West C 32
Piyush Chawla Left Hand Bat Leg Break Uttar Pradesh Central C 11
Murali Kartik Left Hand Bat Slow Left Arm Railways Central D 25

Coaching Staff

* Head Coach:Gary Kirsten
* Assistant Coach:Lalchand Rajput
* Bowling Coach: Venkatesh Prasad
* Fielding Coach: Robin Singh
* Fitness Trainer: Gregory King
* Physiotherapist: John Gloster
* Masseur: Ramesh Mane
* Computer Analyst: Subramanian Ramakrishnan

Captains

Main article: Indian national cricket captains

Twenty-eight men have captained the Indian cricket team in at least 1 Test match, although only 6 have led the team in more than 25 matches, and 5 have captained the team in ODIs but not Tests. India's first captain was CK Nayudu, who led the team in four matches against England, one in England in 1932 and a series of 3 matches at home in 1933/4. Lala Amarnath, India's fourth captain, led the team in its first Test match after Indian independence. He also captained the side to its first Test victory and first series win, both in a 3-match series at home against Pakistan in 1952/3. The Nawab of Pataudi was captain for 36 matches from 1961/2 to 1969/70, returning for a final 4 matches against West Indies in 1974/5.

India played its first ODI in 1974, under the captaincy of Ajit Wadekar. India won its first ODI under the captaincy of Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan in the 1975 Cricket World Cup, against East Africa.

Sunil Gavaskar took over as Test and ODI captain in the late 1979s and early 1980s, leading India in 47 Test matches and 38 ODIs, winning 9 Tests and 14 ODIs. He was succeeded by Kapil Dev in the 1980s, who continued for 34 Test matches, including 4 victories. Kapil Dev led India to victory in 40 of his 74 ODIs in charge, including the 1983 Cricket World Cup.

India has had only four regular Test captains since Mohammad Azharuddin took charge in 1989. Azharuddin led the team in 47 Test matches from 1989/90 to 1998/9, winning 14, and in 173 ODIs, winning 89. He was followed by Sachin Tendulkar, who captained India in 25 Test matches and 73 ODIs in the late 1990s; Tendulkar was relatively unsuccessful as a captain, winning only 4 Test matches and 23 ODIs. He was replaced as ODI captain by Ajay Jadeja and then Sourav Ganguly; Ganguly became the regular captain in both forms of cricket in 2000. Ganguly remained captain for the first 5 years of the 2000s and was much more successful, winning 21 of his 49 Test matches in charge and 73 of his 141 ODIs. Rahul Dravid took over as Test captain in 2005. In his fourth full series in charge, he led India to victory in the West Indies, the first instance of India winning in the Caribbean in over 30 years. In September 2007, Mahendra Singh Dhoni was named as the new captain of the Twenty20 and ODI team after Dravid stepped down from the post. The current test captain is Anil Kumble.

Fan following

Main article: Cricket in India

Cricket is the de facto national sport of India and has a very wide following among the population of India.[31] As a result, stadiums are generally filled to capacity at matches on home soil. Due to large Indian diaspora in nations like Australia, South Africa, and England, a large Indian fan turnout is expected whenever India plays in each of these nations.

There have been a number of official fan groups that have been formed over the years, including the Swami Army or Bharat Army, the Indian equivalent of the Barmy Army, that were very active in their support when India toured Australia in 2003/2004. They are known to attribute a number of popular Indian songs to the cricket team.[32]

Fan rivalry and cross-border tension has created a strong rivalry between the Indian cricket team and the Pakistani cricket team. This has made matches between these two nations the subcontinental above the Ashes. In tours between these two nations, cricket visas are often employed to accommodate for the tens of thousands of fans wishing to cross the border to watch cricket. This intense fan dedication is one of the major causes of the Indian Cricket Board's (BCCI) financial success.[33]

However, there are downsides to having such a cricket-loving population. Many Indians hold cricket very close to their hearts and losses are not received well by the Indian population. In some cases, particularly after losses to Pakistan or after a long string of weak performances, there have been reports of player effigies being burnt in the streets and vandalism of player homes.[34] In many cases, players have come under intense attention from the media for negative reasons, this has been considered as one of the reasons for Sourav Ganguly being left out of the Indian team. At times, when a match is surrounded by controversy, it has resulted in a debacle. For example, when India slid to defeat against Australia at Brabourne Stadium in 1969, fans began throwing stones and bottles onto the field as well as setting fire to the stands.[35] A similar event occurred during the Cricket World Cup in 1996, where India were losing the semi-final to Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens. In this case, the fan behaviour was directed at the Indian team in disappointment at their lacklustre performance. An armed guard had to be placed at the home of captain Mohammad Azharuddin to ensure his safety.[35] Indian fans have also been passionate in their following of Sachin Tendulkar, who has been commonly thought of as one of the best batsmen in the world. Glorified for the bulk of his career, a riot occurred in early 1999 in a Test against Pakistan at Eden Gardens after a collision with Pakistani paceman Shoaib Akhtar saw him run out, forcing police to eject spectators and the game to be played in an empty stadium. In more recent times, a string of low scores has resulted in continued impatience amongst fans. In front of his home crowd, against England, Tendulkar was booed by the crowd when he got out.[36]

Often, fans quickly come to the defense of players who have been accused of wrongdoings or dropped from the team. In 2005, when Sourav Ganguly was dropped due to lack of form, Ganguly's home state of West Bengal erupted in protests.[37] India later played a match against South Africa in Kolkata, West Bengal. The Indian team was booed by the crowd who supported South Africa instead of India in response to Ganguly's dropping. Similar regional divisions in India regarding selection have also caused protests against the team, with political activists from the regional Kalinga Kamgar Sena party in Orissa disrupting the arrival of the team in Cuttack for an ODI over the lack of an Orissan player in the team, with one player manhandling coach Greg Chappell.[38] Similar treatment was handed to India's Marathi captain Sunil Gavaskar in the 1980s by Bengali crowds, with consecutive Tests in Calcutta requiring police intervention due to crowd rioting.[36]

However, it should be noted that a successful string of results, victories against arch-rivals Pakistan or victory in major tournaments such as the World Cup are greeted with particular ecstasy from the Indian fans.[39] In 2007 crowds at the One Day Series at Vadodara, Nagpur and Mumbai were seen to racially abuse Australian cricketer Andrew Symonds with monkey chants. After the BBCI initially denied the incident at Vadodara took place [40], further incidents at other grounds in the series proved the allegations correct. [41]

See also
Cricket Portal

* Indian cricketers
* Indian women's cricket team
* Cricket in India
* Indian cricket team records

References

1. ^ a b Indian Cricket Team Profile. Travour - Cricket World Cup 2007 Teams. Retrieved on September 20, 2006.
2. ^ India - Results Summary from 1932 - 1982. Cricinfo - Stats Guru. Retrieved on October 14, 2006.
3. ^ Cricket records. Cricinfo. Retrieved on October 14, 2006.
4. ^ Cricinfo Test Team Records page retrieved on November 3, 2007
5. ^ ICC - Test Cricket. ICC. Retrieved on December 2, 2007.
6. ^ Downing, Clement (1737). in William Foster: A History of the Indian Wars.
7. ^ a b Cricket and Politics in Colonial India. Ramachandra Guha. Retrieved on September 20, 2006.
8. ^ India in England, 1911. Cricket Archive. Retrieved on September 21, 2006.
9. ^ History of the Imperial Cricket Conference. ICC. Retrieved on September 21, 2006.
10. ^ India in England, 1932. Cricinfo. Retrieved on September 20, 2006.
11. ^ India in Australia, 1948. Cricinfo. Retrieved on September 20, 2006.
12. ^ England in India, 1951-52. Cricinfo. Retrieved on September 20, 2006.
13. ^ Steve Waugh Column. Steve Waugh. Retrieved on September 21, 2006.
14. ^ TWI gets production rights for India-Pakistan series. The Hindu - Sport. Retrieved on October 14, 2006.
15. ^ India can find right balance before World Cup. Jamie Alter. Retrieved on October 14, 2006.
16. ^ India can find the right balance before the world cup. Jamie Alter. Retrieved on October 14, 2006. Gavaskar: I would imagine that the spinners have always been our strength
17. ^ India - Test Career Bowling - Most Wickets. Cricinfo. Retrieved on October 26, 2006.
18. ^ The result percentage Cricinfo
19. ^ Nimbus Bags Cricket Rights for $612 m. The Hindu. Retrieved on 11 January 2007.
20. ^ ICC faces threat from India. Cricinfo. Retrieved on 11 January 2007.
21. ^ India challenge ICC. TVNZ. Retrieved on 11 January 2007.
22. ^ Selection Policy not Zonal: Pawar. The Tribune. Retrieved on 11 January 2007.
23. ^ Cricket: India's Passion. Sachin Chitta. Retrieved on September 21, 2006.
24. ^ Cricinfo - Grounds Cricinfo - Grounds: Eden Gardens. Cricinfo. Retrieved on September 21, 2006.
25. ^ Cricinfo - Grounds: Feroz Shah Kotla. Cricinfo. Retrieved on September 21, 2006.
26. ^ Cricinfo - Grounds: Wankhede Stadium. Cricinfo. Retrieved on September 21, 2006.
27. ^ Cricinfo - Grounds: M.A. Chidambaram Stadium. Cricinfo. Retrieved on September 21, 2006.
28. ^ India in Pakistan, 2005-06. Cricinfo. Retrieved on September 21, 2006.
29. ^ Dravid rues faulty execution. Cricinfo Staff. Retrieved on September 21, 2006.
30. ^ Cricinfo - Zaheer Khan upgraded to top grade
31. ^ India: Sports and Games. Experience Festival. Retrieved on September 21, 2006.
32. ^ Swami Army Roars to Full Battle Cry. The Age Newspaper. Retrieved on September 21, 2006.
33. ^ 10,000 Visas for Pak Cricket Fans. The Tribune, Chandigarh. Retrieved on September 21, 2006.
34. ^ Ganguly's Debt of Gratitude. BBC News. Retrieved on September 21, 2006.
35. ^ a b I predict a riot. Andrew Miller and Martin Williamson. Retrieved on September 22, 2006.
36. ^ a b Sachin Tendulkar booed by Wankhede Crowd. India Daily. India Daily. Retrieved on January 15, 2006.
37. ^ Protests rock Kolkata over Ganguly's exclusion. Rediff. Retrieved on October 14, 2006.
38. ^ "Security concerns over Barabati Stadium's future", Cricinfo, 2007-01-24. Retrieved on 2007-01-25.
39. ^ The Entire Nation Erupts with Joy. The Tribune, Chandigarh. Retrieved on September 20, 2006.
40. ^ India makes monkey of racism row. The Australian. Retrieved on October 18, 2007.
41. ^ Symonds subjected to 'monkey chants'. CrinInfo. Retrieved on October 12, 2007.

England cricket team

England cricket team
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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v • d • e
England
Test status granted 1877
First Test match v Australia at Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, 15-19th March 1877
Captain Tests: Michael Vaughan
ODIs: Paul Collingwood
Coach Peter Moores
Official ICC Test and ODI ranking 5th (Test), 7th (ODI) [1],[2]
Test matches
- this year 867
0
Last Test match v Sri Lanka at Galle International Stadium, Galle 18-22nd December 2007in Adelaide at Adelaide oval
Wins/losses
- this year 301/252
0/0
As of January 19th 2008
The logo of the England Cricket Team which shows the three Lions of England below a five-pointed crown
The logo of the England Cricket Team which shows the three Lions of England below a five-pointed crown

The England cricket team is the national cricket team which represents England and Wales. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) having been previously governed by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) from 1903 until the end of 1996.[1][2]

England, along with Australia, were the first team to be granted Test status on 15 March 1877 and gained full membership to the International Cricket Council (ICC) on 15 June 1909. They also took part in the first ever One Day International (ODI) against Australia on 5 January 1971, while their first Twenty20 match occurred on 13 June 2005 with their opponents being Australia.

As of 3 February 2008 the England team have won 301 of the 867 Test matches they have played [3] and are ranked fifth in the ICC Test Championship [4]. They have finished runners-up in three Cricket World Cups (1979, 1987 and 1992) and are currently ranked seventh in the ICC ODI rankings [5].

Peter Moores was given the job of Head Coach on 1 May 2007 following the resignation of Duncan Fletcher after a poor 2007 Cricket World Cup campaign. He subsequently employed Andy Flower as assistant coach.
Contents
[hide]

* 1 History
* 2 Recent form
* 3 Upcoming fixtures
* 4 Performances
* 5 Governing body
* 6 Team colours
* 7 International grounds
o 7.1 Test and ODI
o 7.2 ODI only
* 8 Statistics and records
* 9 Tournament History
o 9.1 World Cup
o 9.2 ICC Champions Trophy
o 9.3 ICC World Twenty20
* 10 England Record in Test Matches
o 10.1 Team records
o 10.2 Individual records
o 10.3 Batting
o 10.4 Bowling
o 10.5 Fielding
* 11 England Record in One Day Internationals
o 11.1 Team records
o 11.2 Individual records
o 11.3 Batting
o 11.4 Bowling
o 11.5 Fielding
* 12 Most England Test Caps
* 13 Current Squad
o 13.1 Coaching Staff
* 14 Eligibility of players
* 15 England Facts and Feats
* 16 See also
* 17 References
* 18 External links

[edit] History

For more details on this topic, see History of the England Cricket Team pre 1939 and History of the England Cricket Team since 1945.

The first England team to tour Australia.
The first England team to tour Australia.

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 eleven gentlemen from any part of England, exclusive of Kent. This team played against 'the Unconquerable County' of Kent and lost by a 'very few notches'. Such matches were repeated on numerous occasions for the best part of the 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 1857 to 1866. These matches were arguably the most important contest of the English season, if judged by the quality of the players.

The first overseas tour occurred in September 1859 with England going to North America. This team comprised of six players from the All-England Eleven and six from the United All-England Eleven, and was captained by George Parr. With the outbreak of the American Civil War, attention turned to Australia and New Zealand with the inaugural tour of Australia taking place in 1861-2. England would visit New Zealand in 1863–64 with the tour being the first to be organised by the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC). Most tours prior to 1877 were played "against odds", meaning the opposing team was permitted to have more than 11 players (usually 22) in order to make for a more even contest.[6] As a result these matches were not considered first-class matches and were organised purely for commercial reasons.[7]

James Lillywhite led the 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 first 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 this match carried little significance and was classed as another tour match and was labelled as the James Lillywhite's XI v South Australia and New South Wales.[8] The first Test match on English soil occurred in 1880 with England winning this series 1–0. The series was also the first for England to field a fully representative side with W.G. Grace being present in the team.[9] England would lose their first home series 1–0 in 1882 with the Sporting Times famously printing an obituary on English cricket:
“ In Affectionate Remembrance of ENGLISH CRICKET, which died at the Oval on 29th 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.[10] ”

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.[11] 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.[12][13] England would dominate many of these early contests with England winning the Ashes series 10 times between 1884–98.[14] During this period England also played their first Test match against South Africa in 1889 at Port Elizabeth.[15]

The 1899 Ashes series was the first tour where the MCC and the counties appointed a selection committee. It comprised of three active players: Lord Hawke, W.G. Grace and HW 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 turn of the century saw mixed results for England as they lost four of the eight Ashes series between 1900 and 1914.[16] During this period England would lose their first series against South Africa in the 1905/06 season 4–1 as their batting faltered.[17] 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:[18]
“ Nine Tests provide a surfeit of cricket, and contests between Australia and South Africa are not a great attraction to the British public. ”

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.[19] England would go on one more tour against South Africa before the outbreak of World War I.

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.
Bill Woodfull evades a Bodyline ball. Note the number of leg-side fielders.
Bill Woodfull evades a Bodyline ball. Note the number of leg-side fielders.

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:
“ Bodyline bowling assumed such proportions as to menace best interests of game, making protection of body by batsmen the main consideration. Causing intensely bitter feeling between players as well as injury. In our opinion is unsportsmanlike. Unless stopped at once likely to upset friendly relations existing between Australia and England. ”

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 were 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 1981 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 the World War II, although a team for an MCC tour of India was selected more in hope than expectation of the matches being played.

After World War II, England fell under difficult times suffering a heavy defeat 3–0 to Australia. This followed by a 4–0 loss to Bradman's 'invincibles' and a stunning 2–0 loss to the West Indies. These loses 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 for five years and secured famous victories in the 1954–55 and 1956 Ashes series. 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 1960's were poor periods for English cricket. Despite England's strength on paper, Australia held the Ashes for the entire decade and the West Indies dominated England in the early part of the decade. England would the end the 60's on a high however regaining the Wisden Trophy in 1968 and drawing the Ashes series in the same year 1–1.

England carried their good form from the late 60's into the 70's regaining the Ashes in 1970 but then suffered a loss of form losing to India and a rising West Indian side. This culminated in a 4–1 defeat in the 1974 Ashes series. The inaugural 1975 Cricket World Cup saw England reach the semi-finals and was to be the turning point in England's fortunes. The results of the Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket were felt in Test cricket with Australia and Pakistan losing many of its star players. England replaced captain Tony Greig who had joined the league with Mike Brearley while Geoffrey Boycott returned from his England exile. England would defeat a divided Australian side 3–1 in the centenary Ashes series. This was followed by a comfortable 4–0 win against Pakistan and a World Cup final appearance against the West Indies.

With Ian Botham and Bob Willis at their peak with the ball, Boycott and Graham Gooch opening the batting, and a young David Gower in the middle order, England were a formidable team. Their results were initially promising narrowly losing to the West Indies who were the unofficial champions at the time. England would then fight back to win the 1981 Ashes series, often referred to as "Botham's Ashes" 2–1. The third Test at Headingley saw a revitalised Botham perform well with bat and ball taking 6/95 and then scoring a unbeaten 149. England won by 18 runs after following-on, only the second time in the history of England v Australia Tests that this has been achieved. England suffered their second whitewash series against the West Indies in 1984 but continued to produce good results defeating India 2–1 and regained the Ashes in the 1984–85 season with a comfortable 4–1 victory. Hopes that this victory could see a challenge mounted on the 1985–86 tour of the West Indies were dashed as England were soundly defeated 5–0. A shocked England team never really recovered from this defeat, and although England managed to retain the 1986–87 Ashes they would only win one further Test series in the 80’s against a relatively weak Sri Lankan team and suffered heavy defeats to Australia and the West Indies.

England continued their decline during the 1990s. This was not helped by squabbles between key players and the chairman of selectors, Raymond Illingworth. Another reason for their poor performances were the demands of County Cricket teams on their players, meaning that England could rarely lead 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.

In the early 90's players such as Botham, Gower and Allan Lamb all came to the end of their international careers and specifically in the case of Botham, England had trouble replacing these players. This lead to a string of disappointing results as England did not win a Test match for two and half years. England’s performance in ODI cricket was still good however as they defeated Australia, the West Indies and South Africa to reach the final of the 1992 Cricket World Cup. Shortly after the world cup Mike Atherton replaced Gooch as England captain but his captaincy was regarded as a failure with England winning only one Test series under his captaincy. A win against South Africa in 1998 was England’s first five series since 1986–87 this would be a false dawn as they were eliminated in the first round of the 1999 Cricket World Cup and lost a Test series against New Zealand 2–1 resulting in England being officially ranked as the worst Test nation.[20]

With the appointment of Duncan Fletcher as coach and Nasser Hussain as captain England began to rebuild their team. They won four consecutive Test series which included impressive wins against West Indies (a first in 32 years) and Pakistan. England were still left wanting against Australia however and lost the 2001 Ashes 4–1. Promising results against India and Sri Lanka gave England some positive sentiments towards their chances against Australia in 2002-2003, yet a 4–1 defeat showed that they were still falling short. This setback did not stop England’s resurgence however as they defeated the West Indies 3–0 and followed this up by whitewashes over New Zealand and the West Indies at home. A victory in the first Test against South Africa at Port Elizabeth meant England had won their eighth successive Test, their best sequence of Test match wins for 75 years. In 2005 England, under Michael Vaughan's captaincy and aided by Kevin Pietersen's batting contributions in his maiden series (most notably 158 at the Oval), and Andrew Flintoff's superb allround performances, defeated Australia 2–1 to regain the Ashes for the first time in 18 years.

[edit] Recent form

Since the historic Ashes win, the team has suffered from a serious and ongoing spate of injuries to key players. Andrew Flintoff, Michael Vaughan, Simon Jones and Ashley Giles all suffered serious injuries. Jones and Vaughan have both returned to cricket, although Jones has not been involved in the England set up. Some have also claimed that they seemed to suffer from a lack of focus and 'killer instinct'. This can be seen in their 22 run loss to Pakistan at Multan in November 2005 (a match which they had dominated before the last day), and their failure to wrap up victory against Sri Lanka at Lord's in May 2006 after securing a first-innings lead of 359 and enforcing the follow-on. However, especially in the recent series victory against Pakistan in July-August 2006, several new players have emerged who have performed well and promise much for the future, leading to suggestions that even when the injured players recover, they may struggle to get back into the team. Most notable has been the left-arm orthodox spin bowler Monty Panesar, the first Sikh to play Test cricket for England. He has impressed with the excellence of his bowling (including match figures of 8/93 in the innings victory over Pakistan at Old Trafford in July 2006, and match figures of 10/187 against the West Indies at Old Trafford in June 2007) and has also become a crowd favourite. He was one of the favourites to win BBC Sports Personality of the Year, but did not receive the award. Other new players of note include left-handed batsman Alastair Cook and fast bowler Sajid Mahmood. The injury crisis has also allowed previously marginal players Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell to consolidate their places. The outstanding recent performances of the team, albeit against a Pakistan side which was also weakened by injuries, mean that the 2006/07 Ashes series was one of the most keenly anticipated of recent years, and was expected to provide a level of competition comparable to the 2005 series. In the event, England lost all five Tests, the first Ashes whitewash in 86 years. In the summer of 2007, England played home Test series' against the West Indies and India, winning a 4 test series 3-0 against a weak West Indian team but losing the three test series with India 1-0. At the end of 2007, England toured Sri Lanka where they lost the 3 test series 1-0 and never really looked like challenging the hosts.

The team's form in ODIs had been consistently poor, they are currently ranked 7th the world and have won only 38% of their matches against major test nations since 1992. They only narrowly avoided the ignominy of having the play in the qualifying rounds of the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy, and were humiliatingly defeated 5–0 by Sri Lanka in June-July 2006. Steve Harmison now holds the unwanted record of the worst bowling figures for England in ODI history (0/97 in the match at Headingley) and retired from ODIs during the 2006/7 Ashes tour. There was some improvement in the latest one-day series against Pakistan in England, when England won the last two matches to record a 2–2 draw. A similar story unveiled in the one-day triangular in Australia, where England lost Kevin Pietersen to injury, and had won one and lost five of their first six games. Then, England won their next four games, scraping into the finals series before winning both finals and their first ODI tournament overseas since 1997. In the English summer of 2007, England lost to the West Indies 2-1 in a three match series despite outclassing them in the Test matches, whilst they beat India 4-3 in a seven game series after being outplayed in the Test matches. The ODI tour of October saw England beat Sri Lanka 3-2 away, in a series in which they were expected to struggle.

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. However, the unimpressive nature of most of their victories in the tournament, combined with their heavy defeats to New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, left many commentators criticising the manner in which the England team approached the one day game[21][22][23]
HOME AWAY
Test One Day International Twenty20 Test One Day International Twenty20
Last match won 4th Test v West Indies 2007 7th ODI v India 2007 2nd Twenty20 v West Indies 2007 3rd Test v India 2006 3rd ODI v New Zealand 2008 2nd Twenty20 v New Zealand 2008
Last match lost 2nd Test v India 2007 6th ODI v India 2007 1st Twenty20 v West Indies 2007 1st Test v Sri Lanka 2007 2nd ODI v New Zealand 2008 1st Twenty20 v New Zealand
Last series won Wisden Trophy 2007 NatWest Challenge v India 2007 - South Africa 2005 Sri Lanka 2007 -
Last series lost npower Test series vs India 2007 NatWest Challenge v West Indies 2007 - Ashes 2006 ICC Champions Trophy 2006 2007 ICC World Twenty20
- Source: Cricinfo.com. Last updated: 13 August 2007. Source:Cricinfo.com. Last updated: 8 September 2007. Source:Cricinfo.com. Last updated: 29 June 2007. Source:Cricinfo.com. Last updated: 5 January 2007. Source:Cricinfo.com. Last updated: 16 February 2008. Source:Cricinfo.com. Last updated: 16 February 2008.

[edit] Upcoming fixtures

England will tour New Zealand from February to April 2008. There will be three Test matches and five ODI matches.

England will host New Zealand for three Test matches and five ODI matches from May until June 2008.

England will travel to Scotland to play a one-off ODI match in June 2008.

England will host South Africa for four Test matches and five ODI matches from July until September 2008.

England will tour India from November to December 2008. There will be three Test matches and seven ODI matches.

England will tour the West Indies from February to March 2009. There will be four Test matches and five ODI matches.

England are scheduled to host Zimbabwe from May to June 2009. Two Test matches and three ODI matches are scheduled although it is doubtful that Zimbabwe will have returned to playing Test cricket by then and the tour may be cancelled due to political reasons.

England will host Australia from June till September 2009. The teams will contest the five match Ashes Test series and also play seven ODI matches.

[edit] Performances

England has traditionally been one of the stronger teams in international cricket, fielding a competitive side for most of cricket's history. Up to the end of 2007 England had played 867 test matches, winning 301 (34.72%), losing 252 (29.06%), and drawing 314 (36.22%) 639 players had been capped for their country. Up to the Super 8 World Cup match against Australia on April 8, 2007, England had played 464 ODIs, winning 224 (48.28%), losing 221 (47.63%), tying 4 (0.86%) and having 15 (3.23%) with no result. 203 players had played for England in ODIs up to that date.

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 seventy 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 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 recently ranked second behind Australia in the Test rankings, but ODI performances have been very poor with England falling to 7th place in the ICC rankings.

In the 2006/07 tour of Australia The Ashes were lost in a 0–5 "whitewash" (see 2006-07 Ashes series) 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.

[edit] Governing body

Main article: England and Wales Cricket Board

The (ECB) is the governing body over the England cricket team. The Board has been operating since 1 January 1997 and represents England with 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 £77.0 million.[24]

Prior to 1997 the MCC was the governing body of England and outside of Test matches the touring England team officially played as MCC up to and including the 1976-77 tour of Australia. The last time the England touring team wore the bacon-and-egg colours of the Marylebone Cricket Club was on the 1996-97 tour of New Zealand.

[edit] Team colours

When playing Test match cricket, England’s cricket whites contain blue piping across the front and sleeves while the three lion badge is on the left and the sponsor Vodafone on the right. English fielders may wear a navy cap or sun hat with the ECB logo in the middle of the cap/sun hat. Helmets are coloured similarly.

England's ODI team wears a union blue shirt and trousers. The shirt sleeves are red with the three lion badge on the left and the kit sponsor admiral on the right. The name and logo of their main sponsor Vodafone is at the centre of the shirt. The one-day cap is also union blue with the ECB logo on the front. In Twenty20 cricket England wear the same colour union blue pants but their shirt is red with blue stripes on the sleeves. This kit is not sponsored by Vodafone: the centre of the shirt simply reads 'England'.

[edit] International grounds

Main article: List of cricket grounds in England and Wales

[edit] Test and ODI

* Lord's
* Old Trafford
* Edgbaston
* The Oval
* Headingley
* Trent Bridge
* Riverside

[edit] ODI only

* Sophia Gardens
* Bristol
* Rose Bowl

[edit] Statistics and records

[edit] Tournament History

[edit] World Cup

* 1975: Semi-Finals
* 1979: Runners up
* 1983: Semi-Finals
* 1987: Runners up
* 1992: Runners up
* 1996: Quarter-Finals
* 1999: First round
* 2003: First round
* 2007: Super-8 stage (5th Place)

[edit] ICC Champions Trophy

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

* 1998: Quarter-Finals
* 2000: Quarter-Finals
* 2002: Pool Stage
* 2004: Runners up
* 2006: Pool Stage

[edit] ICC World Twenty20

* 2007: Super-8 stage (7th place)

[edit] England Record in Test Matches

Table correct December 22, 2007.
Won Tied Lost Drawn Total
v Australia home 43 - 46 62 151
away 54 - 85 26 165
total 97 - 131 88 316
v Bangladesh home 2 - - - 2
away 2 - - - 2
total 4 - - - 4
v India home 23 - 5 20 48
away 11 - 13 25 49
total 34 - 18 45 97
v New Zealand home 25 - 4 18 47
away 16 - 3 22 41
total 41 - 7 40 88
v Pakistan home 17 - 8 18 43
away 2 - 4 18 24
total 19 - 12 36 67
v South Africa home 26 - 9 22 57
away 28 - 17 28 73
total 54 - 26 50 130
v Sri Lanka home 5 - 2 3 10
away 3 - 4 4 11
total 8 - 6 7 21
v West Indies home 28 - 29 21 78
away 13 - 23 24 60
total 41 - 52 45 138
v Zimbabwe home 3 - - 1 4
away - - - 2 2
total 3 - - 3 6

Home 172 - 103 165 440
Away 129 - 149 149 427
Overall 301 - 252 314 867
% Breakdown 34.72% 0% 29.06% 36.22% 100%

Main article: List of England Test cricket records

[edit] 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

[edit] Individual records

* Most matches: 133 - Alec Stewart
* Longest Serving Captain: 54 tests - Michael Atherton

[edit] Batting

* Most runs: 8900 - Graham Gooch
* 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: 22 - Wally Hammond, Colin Cowdrey and Geoffrey Boycott
* 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.

[edit] Bowling

* Most wickets: 383 - Sir Ian Botham
* 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
* 5 England bowlers have taken 4 wickets in an over, 3 of these at Headingley. Maurice Allom for England v New Zealand at Christchurch in 1929-30, Kenneth Cranston for England v South Africa at Headingley in 1947, Fred Titmus for England v New Zealand at Headingley in 1965, Chris Old for England v Pakistan at Edgbaston in 1978 and Andy Caddick for England v West Indies at Headingley in 2000.

[edit] Fielding

* Most dismissals: 277 - Alec Stewart
* 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

[edit] England Record in One Day Internationals

Correct up to February 20, 2008.
Won Tied Lost No Result Total
v Australia home 16 2 17 1 36
away 19 - 30 1 50
neutral 2 - 5 - 7
total 37 2 52 2 93
v Bangladesh home 3 - - - 3
away 3 - - - 3
neutral 2 - - - 2
total 8 - - - 8
v Canada home 1 - - - 1
neutral 1 - - - 1
total 2 - - - 2
v East Africa home 1 - - - 1
v India home 15 - 11 2 28
away 13 - 16 - 29
neutral 2 - 6 - 8
total 30 - 33 2 65
v Ireland away 1 - - - 1
neutral 1 - - - 1
total 2 - - - 2
v Kenya home 1 - - - 1
neutral 1 - - - 1
total 2 - - - 2
v Namibia neutral 1 - - - 1
v Netherlands neutral 2 - - - 2
v New Zealand home 9 - 5 1 15
away 13 2 16 2 32
neutral 6 - 9 - 15
total 28 1 30 3 62
v Pakistan home 19 - 11 1 31
away 9 - 10 - 19
neutral 7 - 5 1 13
total 35 - 26 2 63
v South Africa home 6 - 5 - 11
away 3 1 13 1 18
neutral 2 - 4 - 6
total 11 1 22 1 35
v Sri Lanka home 8 - 7 - 15
away 4 - 9 - 13
neutral 10 - 5 - 15
total 22 - 21 - 43
v United Arab Emirates neutral 1 - - - 1
v West Indies home 14 - 15 1 30
away 7 - 18 3 28
neutral 11 - 6 - 17
total 32 - 39 4 75
v Zimbabwe home 6 - 2 1 9
away 12 - 3 - 15
neutral 3 - 3 - 6
total 21 - 8 1 30

Home 98 2 73 7 181
Away 74 3 115 7 208
Neutral 52 - 43 1 96
Overall 235 5 231 15 485

Main article: List of England One-Day International cricket records

[edit] Team records

* Highest team total: 391-4 (50 overs) v Bangladesh at Nottingham in 2005
* Lowest team total: 86-10 (32.4 overs) v Australia at Manchester in 2001

[edit] Individual records

* Most matches: 170 - Alec Stewart
* England is one of only two Test-playing nations (the other being Bangladesh) to have no players over the 200-cap milestone in ODIs
* Longest Serving Captain: 56 matches - Nasser Hussain

[edit] Batting

* Most runs: 4677 - Alec Stewart
* Best average: 59.05 - Kevin Pietersen (as of 12 June 2007)
* Highest individual score: 167* - Robin Smith v Australia at Birmingham in 1993
* Record partnership: 226 - Andrew Flintoff and Andrew Strauss v West Indies at Lord's in 2004
* Most centuries: 12 - Marcus Trescothick

[edit] Bowling

* Most wickets: 234 - Darren Gough
* Best average: 19.45 - Mike Hendrick
* Best bowling: 6/31 - Paul Collingwood v Bangladesh at Nottingham in 2005
* Best strike rate: 32.2 - James Anderson
* Best economy rate: 3.27 - Mike Hendrick

[edit] Fielding

* Most dismissals: 184 - Alec Stewart
* Most dismissals in a match: 6 - Alec Stewart v Zimbabwe at Manchester in 2000

[edit] Most England Test Caps

Main article: List of English Test cricketers

* 133 Alec Stewart

* 118 Graham Gooch

* 117 David Gower

* 115 Mike Atherton

* 114 Colin Cowdrey

* 108 Geoff Boycott

* 102 Ian Botham

* 100 Graham Thorpe

* 96 Nasser Hussain

* 95 Alan Knott

* 91 Godfrey Evans

* 90 Bob Willis

* 86 Derek Underwood

* 85 Wally Hammond

* 82 Ken Barrington

* 79 Mike Gatting

* 79 Allan Lamb

* 79 Tom Graveney

* 79 Len Hutton

* 78 Denis Compton

* 77 John Edrich

* 76 Marcus Trescothick

[edit] Current Squad

This lists all the active players who have played for England in the past year.
Name Batting Style Bowling Style Domestic team Forms Shirt Numbers
ODI and Twenty20 Captain and All-Rounder
Paul Collingwood Right-Handed Bat Right-Arm Medium Durham Test, ODI, Twenty20 5
Test Captain and Opener or Middle-Order Batsman
Michael Vaughan Right-Handed Bat Right-Arm Off-Break Yorkshire Test, ODI 99
Opening Batsmen
Alastair Cook Left-Handed Bat Right-Arm Off-Break Essex Test, ODI, Twenty20 26
Darren Maddy Right-Handed Bat Right-Arm Medium Warwickshire Twenty20 6
Andrew Strauss Left-Handed Bat Left-Arm Medium Middlesex Test, ODI 23
Middle-Order Batsmen
Ian Bell Right-Handed Bat Right-Arm Medium Warwickshire Test, ODI, Twenty20 7
Ed Joyce Left-Handed Bat Right-Arm Medium Middlesex ODI 36
Kevin Pietersen Right-Handed Bat Right-Arm Off-Break Hampshire Test, ODI, Twenty20 24
Owais Shah Right-Handed Bat Right-Arm Off-Break Middlesex Test, ODI, Twenty20 3
Vikram Solanki Right-Handed Bat Right-Arm Off-Break Worcestershire Twenty20 38
Jonathan Trott Right-Handed Bat Right-Arm Medium Warwickshire Twenty20 4
Wicket-keepers
Phil Mustard Left-Handed Bat - Durham ODI, Twenty20 52
Paul Nixon Left-Handed Bat - Leicestershire ODI 47
Matt Prior Right-Handed Bat - Sussex Test, ODI, Twenty20 13
(Vikram Solanki, though not a regular keeper, kept wicket in two Twenty20 World Cup matches.)
All rounders
Ravi Bopara Right-Handed Bat Right-Arm Medium Essex Test, ODI 42
Jamie Dalrymple Right-Handed Bat Right-Arm Off-Break Glamorgan ODI 34
Andrew Flintoff Right-Handed Bat Right-Arm Fast-Medium Lancashire ODI, Twenty20 11
Dimitri Mascarenhas Right-Handed Bat Right-Arm Medium-Fast Hampshire ODI, Twenty20 32
Luke Wright Right-Handed Bat Right-Arm Medium-Fast Sussex ODI, Twenty20 45
Michael Yardy Left-Handed Bat Left-Arm Medium Sussex ODI, Twenty20 40
Pace Bowlers
James Anderson Left-Handed Bat Right-Arm Fast-Medium Lancashire Test, ODI, Twenty20 9
Stuart Broad Left-Handed Bat Right-Arm Fast-Medium Nottinghamshire Test, ODI, Twenty20 39
Steve Harmison Right-Handed Bat Right-Arm Fast Durham Test
Matthew Hoggard Right-Handed Bat Right-Arm Fast-Medium Yorkshire Test 20
James Kirtley Right-Handed Bat Right-Arm Medium-Fast Sussex Twenty20 16
Jon Lewis Right-Handed Bat Right-Arm Medium Gloucestershire ODI 18
Sajid Mahmood Right-Handed Bat Right-Arm Fast-Medium Lancashire ODI 19
Liam Plunkett Right-Handed Bat Right-Arm Fast-Medium Durham Test, ODI 17
Ryan Sidebottom Left-Handed Bat Left-Arm Fast-Medium Nottinghamshire Test, ODI, Twenty20 78
Chris Tremlett Right-Handed Bat Right-Arm Fast-Medium Hampshire Test, ODI, Twenty20 22
Spin Bowlers
Monty Panesar Left-Handed Bat Slow Left-Arm Orthodox Northamptonshire Test, ODI 46
Chris Schofield Left-Handed Bat Right-Arm Legbreak Surrey Twenty20 28
Jeremy Snape Right-Handed Bat Right-Arm Off-Break Leicestershire Twenty20 29
Graeme Swann Right-Handed Bat Right-Arm Off-Break Nottinghamshire ODI, Twenty20 66

[edit] Coaching Staff

* Managing Director England Cricket: Hugh Morris
* Managing Driector Cricket Partnerships: Mike Gatting
* Team Manager: Phil Neale
* England Teams Director: Peter Moores
* Batting/Assistant Coach: Andy Flower
* Fast Bowling Coaches: Kevin Shine (senior coach), Ottis Gibson & Stuart Barnes
* Spin Bowling Coaches: David Parsons (senior coach) & Jeremy Snape
* Fielding Coach: (to be appointed as per Schofield Report recommendation)
* Computer Analyst: Mark Garaway
* Chief Medical Officer: Dr. Mark Peirce
* Team Physiotherapist: Kirk Russell
* Team Physiologist: Nigel Stockhill
* Team Psychologists: Dr. Steve Bull & Jeremy Snape
* Masseur: Mark Saxby

[edit] Eligibility of players

The England cricket team represents England and Wales. However, under ICC regulations[3], 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[4] 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 four years. This has led to players of many other nationalities becoming eligible to play for England. England have been captained by a Scot, Mike Denness, and three South Africans, Tony Greig, Allan Lamb and Andrew Strauss. The South African cape coloured, Basil D'Oliveira, famously played for England during the apartheid era. In recent times Graeme Hick (Zimbabwe); Andrew Caddick (New Zealand); Geraint Jones (Australia via Papua New Guinea); and Kevin Pietersen (South Africa) have all played for England. Some players have played for another (non Test-playing) country as well as England, for example Gavin Hamilton who played for Scotland in the 1999 World Cup and later played one Test match for England, while Ed Joyce played for Ireland in the ICC Trophy before making his England ODI debut in June 2006 against his former team.

[edit] England Facts and Feats

Notable Series

* Botham's Ashes, England v. Australia 1981. Ian Botham was sacked as England captain after the second Ashes test. The team were lambasted in the press and Botham mocked for his performances and captaincy. In the third Test at Headingley, after Mike Brearley had replaced Botham as captain, England were forced to follow on 227 runs behind, despite Botham's first-innings contributions of 6 for 95 and 50. Botham came to the crease in the second innings at 105 for 5 and, with the match and series all but over, scored 149 not out. With Bob Willis taking 8 for 43, England won by 18 runs. They went on to win the 6-test series 3-1, with Botham contributing a spell of 5 for 1 to the victory in the fourth test at Edgbaston and an innings of 118 from 102 balls to the fifth test victory at Old Trafford.

* The Bodyline series, Australia v. England 1932-3. In a tactic devised by England captain Douglas Jardine and effected by Nottinghamshire fast bowlers Harold Larwood and Bill Voce to counter a strong Australian batting side, and in particular Donald Bradman, the greatest batsman of all time, England bowled the cricket ball at the body of the Australia batsmen in the hope of creating legside deflections that could be caught by fielders in the quadrant of the field behind square leg. England won the series 4-1, but a number of Australians were injured (though the most sensational injury, Bert Oldfield's fractured skull, was brought about when he ducked into a full ball from Larwood), and the tactic led to a diplomatic incident between the UK and Australia. Larwood in particular was villified, though he would subsequently emigrate to Australia.

Notable Matches

* At the Kennington Oval on 29 August 1882, in the ninth Test ever played, England, set 85 to win a one-off Test, were dismissed for 77 by Australia with 'the Demon' Fred Spofforth taking 7 for 44 (to go with a first-innings haul of 7 for 46). It was after this match that The Sporting Times carried a mock obituary stating that the body of English cricket would be cremated and The Ashes taken to Australia.

* England scored just 45 in their first innings at Sydney in 1886-87. They then bowled the Australians out for 119, scored 194 second time around and skittled the home team for 97 to win by 13 runs. The start of the test had been delayed to allow a state match, New South Wales v Victoria, to finish in the morning and a fresh pitch was used for each innings.

* England won the only Olympic cricket match ever held, at the 1900 Games, in a 12-a-side match at the Velodrome de Vincennes in Paris. England, represented by the Devon County Wanderers, scored 117 and 145 for 5 declared and beat All-Paris (78 and 26) by 163 runs. "All Paris" were largely British Embassy staff although one Frenchman, an M. Roques, was playing. The winners received models of the Eiffel Tower as Olympic medals were not introduced until 1908. The game was part of a 'Great Exposition' which was afforded Olympic status in 1912.

* The highest score in any fourth innings of a Test is England's 654-5 at Durban in 1938-39. Set 696 to win in a 'timeless' match England were just 42 runs short of victory when rain ended play at tea on the 11th day. England had to leave to catch a train to meet their homeward bound boat in Cape Town and the match ended in a draw. Bill Edrich scored 219.

* England beat South Africa at Durban in 1948-49 with a leg-bye off the last possible ball.

* The shortest 'Test' in history came in January 1998 at Sabina Park in Jamaica. Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose reduced England to 17/3 in 1 hour 15 minutes (10.2 overs) on a spiteful pitch before it was deemed unsafe and the match abandoned. Alec Stewart (9 not out) top-scored, the lowest score ever to be the highest in a Test innings. The Lord's Ashes 'Test' of 1902 was similarly short, with play totalling 1 hour 45 minutes (38 overs) due to torrential rain. England recovered from 0/2 to reach 102/2.

Batting Facts

* The first England Test century was W.G. Grace's 152 on his Test debut at The Oval in September 1880 in the first Test to be staged in England.

* KS Ranjitsinhji made 154 not out on his Test debut, against Australia at Old Trafford in 1896, and 175 in his first Test overseas.

* Four England batsmen scored hundreds in one innings against Australia at Trent Bridge in 1938 - Charles Barnett (126), Len Hutton (100), Eddie Paynter (216*) and Denis Compton (102). Wally Hammond scored 905 runs in 5 Ashes Tests in 1928-29. Tip Foster scored 287 in his first Test at Sydney in 1903-04.

* Four England players scored centuries against India at Old Trafford in 1990: Graham Gooch (116), Mike Atherton (131) and Robin Smith (121*) in the first innings, and Alan Lamb (109) in the second.

* Five England players scored centuries against the West Indies at Lord's in May 2007 Alastair Cook (105 from 196 balls), Paul Collingwood (111 from 208), Ian Bell (109 from 190 balls) and Matthew Prior (126 from 128 balls) in the first innings, and Kevin Pietersen (109 from 138 balls) in the second.

* England's 315 against West Indies at Port-of-Spain on 9-11 March 1986 is the highest total in Test cricket in which no batsman scored 50. David Gower scored 47 and extras (59) top-scored for only the seventh time in 1039 matches to that date.

* Herbert Sutcliffe scored hundreds in both innings against Australia at Melbourne in 1924-25 and finished on the losing side, as did Robin Smith after his epic 167* in the Edgebaston ODI against Australia in 1993.

* When Graham Thorpe scored his match winning hundred in Barbados in 2004, the next-highest score off the bat was 17. He scored 21 ODI fifties without ever recording three figures. He and Andrew Strauss once top scored in five test innings in a row.

* When Bobby Abel scored 120 at Cape Town in March 1889 before England dismissed South Africa for 47 and 43, in one innings he had scored more than the entire opposition managed in both of theirs. Len Hutton emulated the feat at The Oval in 1938, scoring a then world record 364 while Australia made only 201 and 123.

* 8 England batsmen have 'carried their bats' - Bobby Abel (132no in 1891-92), Pelham Warner (132no in 1898-99), Len Hutton (202no in 1950 and 156no in 1950-51), Geoff Boycott (99no in 1979-80), Graham Gooch (154no in 1991) and Alec Stewart (69no in 1992) and Mike Atherton (94no in 1997).

* Tom Hayward (1907), AN "Monkey Hornby" (1884), Bobby Peel (1894-95), Cec Parkin (1920-21), Walter Hammond]] (1938-39), Winston Place (1947-48) and Malcolm Hilton (1951-52) andMark Butcher (in 2003) have all been stumped twice in a Test match.

* Mike Atherton make 24 ducks in 212 innings, an unwanted England record, while Bobby Peel in 1894-95 and Pat Pocock in 1984 bagged pairs in consecutive tests. Bob Willis posted a record 55 not outs in his 90 Test matches.

* Andrew Flintoff, Geoff Boycott and Allan Lamb have batted on every day of a test match.

* John Edrich hit a test record 52 boundaries in his triple century against New Zealand at Headingley in 1965.

* 3 players have a top score of 99 for England. Alex Tudor, who remained 99 not out, Martyn Moxon and Norman Yardley. Mike Smith and Mike Atherton both scored 99 on two occasions and were both once run out going for their hundredth run. Frank Woolley made 95 and 93 in a Test against Australia in 1921. Against West Indies at Port-of-Spain in 1973-74, Geoff Boycott was out for 99 in the first innings and scored 112 in the second.

* No England nightwatchman has ever made a century. Alex Tudor (99 not out) in 1999, Harold Larwood (98) in 1932-33, Eddie Hemmings (98) in 1982-83 and Jack Russell (94) in 1988 all came close.

* 8 English batsmen scored Test hundreds in the summer of 2004, Andrew Flintoff, Nasser Hussain, Geraint Jones, Robert Key, Andrew Strauss, Graham Thorpe, Marcus Trescothick and Michael Vaughan.

* John Emburey, with 1713 runs and a best of 75, scored more test runs than any other Englishman without a test century. Fred Trueman scored 981 Test runs in 85 innings without reaching 50.

* Peter Richardson scored England's slowest hundred in 488 minutes against South Africa at Johannesburg in 1956-57. Trevor Bailey took 357 minutes to reach 50 at Brisbane in 1958-59. In all he batted 438 minutes for 68, scoring off only 40 of the 425 balls he received. Godfrey Evans took 97 minute to get off the mark at Adelaide in 1946-47. Bob Taylor faced 4260 balls for his 1156 Test runs, a strike rate of 27.14. Mike Brearley scored at 29.80 and Chris Tavare 30.60.

* Harry Wood (134*), Arthur Hill (124), Jack Sharp (105), Charles Russell (140), Geoffrey Legge (196), Andy Sandham (325), Maurice Leyland (187), Winston Place (107), Raman Subba Row (137), Colin Milburn (139) and Nasser Hussain (103*) all scored hundreds in their last test innings. Clive Radley (117*) and Dennis Amiss (108) scored hundreds in their last ODIs. Amiss had also scored one on his debut, 103 against Australia at Old Trafford in 1972.

Bowling Feats

* Sydney Barnes is rated as the best bowler of all time for any country according to the LG ICC Best Ever Test Bowling rating.

* Arthur Gilligan took 6 for 7 at Edgbaston in 1924 as South Africa were bowled out for 30. Steve Harmison took 7 for 12 for England against West Indies at Kingston in 2004. George Lohmann took 8 for 7 against South Africa at Port Elizabeth in 1895-96, and followed that in the next Test, at Johannesburg, with 9 for 28. He took 35 wickets in the three match series.

* Johnny Briggs bagged 15 for 28 (7 for 17 and 8 for 11) against South Africa at Cape Town in 1888-89.

* Hedley Verity bowled 768 balls in the Timeless Test against South Africa at Durban in March 1939.

* England reduced India to 0 for 4 at Headingley in June 1952. Fred Trueman, on leave from the RAF, dismissed Pankaj Roy, Madhav Mantri and Vijay Manjrekar in eight balls, while Alec Bedser removed Datta Gaekwad. Trueman took a wicket in every one of his 67 tests.

* Mark Ealham took 5 for 15 (all five wickets LBW) for England against Zimbabwe in an ODI in January 2000 at Kimberley.

* Two pairs of bowlers have taken 20 wickets in a Test for England. Colin Blythe (11) and George Hirst (9) against Australia at Edgebaston in 1909 and, famously, Jim Laker (19) and Tony Lock (1) against Australia at Old Trafford in 1956.

* Denis Lillee was caught Peter Willey bowled Graham Dilley at 4.08 p.m. on the fourth day of the Perth test in 1979.

* Alec Bedser claimed 10 wicket hauls in his first two test matches, 11-145 at Lord's and 11-93 at Old Trafford against India in England's first postwar Tests in 1946.

* Bill Bowes took 68 Test wickets but scored only 28 runs. Ken Farnes took 60 wickets and scored 58 while Roy Tattersall claimed 58 scalps and scored 50.

* David Gower is the only bowler to be called for throwing in a test in England. With New Zealand poised to win the Trent Bridge test of 1986 he threw the last ball to Martin Crowe, who hit it for four.

* Andy Caddick and Chris Lewis both took 0 for a hundred or more in 4 Test innings. Geoff Arnold, Bob Willis, Tony Greig, Derek Underwood and Ray Illingworth all went for more than 100 against the West Indies (652 - 8 dec) at Lords in 1973. Andrew Flintoff conceded a hundred with the ball in innings against South Africa at Lord's in 2003 and West Indies at St John's in 2003-04 but also scored centuries with the bat.

* England off-spinner Jim Laker holds the Ashes wicket taking record with 46 in five Tests in 1956. The series record in all Tests is 49 by Sydney Barnes for England on jute matting pitches in South Africa in 1913-14. Barnes missed the final game of the rubber after a management disagreement about his wife's accommodation.

* Andrew Caddick, Colin Blythe, Sydney Barnes, Jim Laker, Frank Tyson and Derek Underwood all took a wicket with their last ball in test cricket.

* John Warr's solitary Test wicket, in the 1950-51 Ashes, cost him 281 runs. Ray Illingworth and Trevor Bailey took 47 tests to reach 100 test wickets.

* Ashley Giles and Andrew Flintoff both completed the 'double' of a hundred test wickets and a thousand test runs on the 3rd day of the Cape Town test of 2004-5. Only Wilfred Rhodes, Maurice Tate, Trevor Bailey, Fred Titmus, Ray Illingworth, Tony Greig, Ian Botham and John Emburey had achieved it before. Flintoff's record included no runs or wickets against Australia, he didn't face them until his 63rd test, in 2005. Maurice Tate's batting strike rate of 74-75 runs per hundred balls is faster than Ian Botham (60.7) and Andrew Flintoff (64.2) and Kevin Pietersen (64.8) as of April 2007.

Captains

* Len Hutton is usually held to be England's first professional captain. However, England's captain in the match latterly recognised as the first official Test match - against Australia at Melbourne in 1876-77 - was James Lillywhite of [Sussex CCC]. Lillywhite was a professional, like all the other players on that privately mounted tour.

* Frank Woolley played under 14 Test captains in 64 Tests from 1909 to 1934 when England appointed various amateur skippers on lesser overseas tours. They were Archie MacLaren (1 match), Shrimp Leveson Gower (3), Frederick Fane (2), Johnny Douglas (18), Charles Fry (6), the Hon. Lionel Tennyson (3), Frank Mann (5), Arthur Gilligan (9), Arthur Carr (6), Percy Chapman (3), Jack White (1), Harold Gilligan (4), Douglas Jardine (2) and Bob Wyatt (1). He had 111 different team mates. Graham Gooch had 113.

* Aubrey Smith who captained England in his only Test, against South Africa at Port Elizabeth in 1888-89, became a Hollywood actor who appeared in over a hundred films as an archetypal English gent.

* The record for consecutive lost tosses by one country is 12 by England (1959-60 in WI (5); 1960 v SA (5); 1961 v A (2)). The captains were Peter May (3) and Colin Cowdrey (9).

* England had 4 captains - Mike Gatting, John Emburey, Chris Cowdrey and Graham Gooch - in the calamitous five-match home series against West Indies in 1988.

* 17 England captains were not born in England. Gubby Allen (Sydney, Australia), Freddie Brown (Lima, Peru), Donald Carr (Wiesbaden, Germany), Colin Cowdrey (Bangalore, India), Mike Denness (Bellshill, Scotland), Ted Dexter (Milan, Italy), Frederick Fane (Curragh Camp, Ireland), Tony Greig (Queenstown, South Africa), Lord Harris (St Anne's, Trinidad), Nasser Hussain (Madras, India), Douglas Jardine (Bombay, India), Allan Lamb (Langebaanweg, South Africa), Tony Lewis (Swansea, Wales), Sir Tim O'Brien (Dublin, Ireland), Cyril Walters (Bedlinog, Wales), Plum Warner (Port-of-Spain, Trinidad) and Andrew Strauss (Johannesburg, South Africa).

* Former England Captain Tony Greig played through his entire 58 match career without being dropped or missing a game through injury.

Wicket-Keepers

* England used 4 wicket-keepers in New Zealand's first innings at Lord's in 1986 when the appointed keeper, Bruce French was injured during England's first innings. Bill Athey kept for the first two overs before veteran Bob Taylor was pulled out of the sponsors tent to keep, immaculately, for overs 3 to 76. Bobby Parks, the Hampshire keeper, was called up for overs 77 to 140 and French returned for the final ball. None of the four keepers effected a dismissal.

* England have twice selected 3 different wicket-keepers in a series. Harry Smith, Harry Elliott and George Duckworth against West Indies in 1928 and Paul Downton, Bob Taylor and Alan Knott against Australia in 1981.

* Surrey wicket-keeper Harry Wood was the first player to score a century (134* against South Africa at Cape Town in 1891-92) in his final Test.

* Alec Stewart holds the highest Test score (173 against New Zealand at Auckland in January 1997) and the highest ODI score (116 against India in December 1997) ever made by an England 'keeper.

* England's most capped 'keeper is Alan Knott with 95. He originally signed with Kent as a batsman who bowled useful leg breaks. Alec Stewart received 133 caps, 82 of them as designated 'keeper.

* Les Ames has the highest Test batting average of any regular England 'keeper, with an average of 40.56. He is also the only regular wicket-keeper in the world ever to have made 100 first-class centuries. He completed the double of 1000 runs and 100 dismissals in three seasons, a feat which has only been achieved on one other occasion.

* When all 11 England players bowled during Australia's 551 at The Oval in 1884 wicket-keeper Alfred Lyttelton took four wickets for eight runs with his lobs. They were his only first-class wickets.

* Matt Prior (126 not out) has the highest score by a wicket-keeper on debut. He is the only wicket-keeper to score a century on Test debut. Paul Gibb (93 & 106) and Billy Griffith (140) both scored centuries on Test debut, being selected as specialist openers despite keeping wicket regularly at county, and subsequently Test, level. Jack Russell scored 94 on debut, having been promoted to no.3 as a nightwatchman.

Fielding

* England ran out 5 Australians in the Sydney Test of 1920-21.

* At 12.31 p.m. on the first day of the Lord's Test in 1990, India keeper Kiran More dropped Graham Gooch off the fourth ball of Sanjeev Sharma's fourth over. Gooch went on to score 333. He scored another century in the second innings, another of his record 6 centuries at Lords. He scored 2015 runs there in 21 Tests overall. Ted Dexter scored his 9 test centuries at 9 different venues.

* Neil Fairbrother was twice caught by the same substitute fielder, Asif Mujtaba, in the 3rd Test against Pakistan at Karachi in 1987-88.

One Test Wonders

* At least 86 players have made a solitary Test match appearance for England.

* Father Marriott took 11 for 96 with his leg-breaks and googlies on his only England appearance, against West Indies at The Oval in August 1933.

* John MacBryan of Somerset did not bat, bowl or take a catch in his only test, against South Africa in 1924 at Old Trafford. Heavy rain allowed less than three hours play over five days. He did play for his country however - at hockey in the Olympic Games.

* Buddy Oldfield scored 80 in his only test, against West Indies at The Oval in August 1939 in the final Test before World War 2.

* Opener Andy Lloyd retired hurt after being hit on the head by Malcolm Marshall when 10* in the first test of 1984. He was hospitalised and never played Test cricket again.

* Audley Miller made his first-class debut in the opening Test of Lord Hawke's first tour of South Africa in February 1896. He is one of the few England cricketers who never appeared for a first-class county.

Family Connections

* Three brothers, E.M., G.F. and W.G. Grace, made their debuts against Australia at The Oval in 1880, the first Test played in England.

* Eleven pairs of fathers and sons have represented England in test matches: Jeff and Simon Jones, Alan and Mark Butcher, Colin and Chris Cowdrey, Joe Hardstaff and his son, also called Joe, Len and Richard Hutton, Frank and George Mann, Jim Parks and his son, also called Jim, Arnie and Ryan Sidebottom, Mickey and Alec Stewart, Fred and Maurice Tate, Charlie and David Townsend. Three pairs have appeared in ODIs - Chris and Stuart Broad, David and Graham Lloyd and Colin and Chris Cowdrey.

* Charles and George Studd played in the four Tests against Australia in 1882-83. Alec and George Hearne appeared at Cape Town in 1891-92 while a third brother, Frank, represented South Africa. The Richardson brothers played at Trent Bridge 65 years later, and Adam and Ben Hollioake made their joint debut against Australia in August 1997.

* Dean Headley's father and grandfather played for West Indies while the senior Nawab of Pataudi, who represented England and India, had a son who captained India.

The Counties

* England have fielded a side consisting of players from 11 different counties on four occasions - 1930-31 v South Africa at Durban, 1950 v West Indies at Nottingham, 1992 v Pakistan at Lord's and 1992-93 v India at Calcutta. Nottinghamshire CCC contributed 6 players, W Barnes, W Flowers, W Gunn, WH Scotton, M Sherwin and A Shrewsbury, to the England team which played against Australia at Sydney in January 1887. Arthur Shrewsbury was the first player to score 1,000 test runs, reaching the landmark during the last of his three centuries for England, against Australia at Lord's on 17 July 1893.

Youngest and Oldest

* Denis Compton is the youngest, and Jack Hobbs the oldest, player to score a Test match century for England. 'Compo' was 20 years 19 days old when he completed his 102 against the 1938 Australians at Trent Bridge. It was his first Test against Australia, and his partnership of 206 in 138 minutes with Eddie Paynter remains the England record in Ashes Tests. Compton was incidentally out 'hit wicket' a record five times in his Test career. 'The Master' was 46 years and 82 days old when he made 142 at Melbourne in March 1929 which remains the record age for any batsman scoring a Test hundred. It was his 15th Test hundred and his 12th against Australia, which is still the England record.

* Wilfred Rhodes, the great Yorkshire all-rounder, was 52 years and 165 days old when he played his final day of Test cricket at Kingston, Jamaica in April 1930. He is the England's, and the world's, oldest Test cricketer. His career spanned 30 years and 315 days. It took Wilfred Rhodes from June 1899 to January 1921 to collect 50 caps, Marcus Trescothick won 50 caps in 1407 days. When England played four tests in the West Indies in 1929-30 their side included both Wilfred Rhodes (born October 29, 1877) and Yorkshire paceman Bill Voce (August 8, 1909), a difference of almost 32 years. Rhodes made his Test debut over a decade before Voce was born. George Gunn and W.G. Grace also played tests aged over 50, Gunn passing 1,000 test runs aged almost 51 against the West Indies in 1929-30.

* Brian Close is England's youngest test cricketer. He made his debut aged 18 years and 149 days and returned to the fray aged 45 against the fearsome West Indian pace attack in 1976, 27 years after his debut. He'd played only 22 matches in between.

* Norman Gifford was only six days short of his 45th birthday when he made his ODI debut at Sharjah in 1984-85 - over 20 years after his Test debut in the 1964 Ashes and almost 12 years after his final Test in 1973.

* James Southerton made his Test debut in the first ever Test in Melbourne in 1877, 23 years after his first class debut for Surrey. At 49 years and 119 days he remains the oldest Test match debutant. Three years later, when landlord of The Cricketer in Mitcham, he became the first Test cricketer to die.

* The longest lived England player is the Mackinnon of Mackinnon whose Test career encompassed just the three days of the Melbourne Test of January 1879. Francis MacKinnon, the 35th Chief of his Clan, died at his Morayshire home, Drumduan in Forres, in 1947 at the age of 98 years 324 days. He appeared in 78 matches for Kent (1875-85) and was the Club's president in 1889.

Series Trivia

* England kept an unchanged side through a five test series in Australia in 1884-85. This was in stark contrast to the Australian team which was completely changed from the first to second Test after a dispute about pay.

* England beat the West Indies by an innings in all three tests of a series, at Lord's, Old Trafford and The Oval, in 1928. England lost 10 tests in a row against the West Indies in 1984 and 1985-86.

* England drew all five tests against India on the tour of 1963-64.

The Long and the Short of it

* The shortest players to have played for England are Tich Freeman (5 ft 2 in), Willie Quaife (5 ft 2 in+) and Bobby Abel (5 ft 4 in).

Lost in War

First World War

* Leonard Moon
* Colin Blythe
* Major Booth
* Kenneth Hutchings



World War 2

* Ken Farnes
* Geoffrey Legge
* George Macaulay
* Maurice Turnbull
* Hedley Verity

[edit] See also
Cricket Portal

* ECB National Academy
* English women's cricket team
* English national cricket captains

[edit] References

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2. ^ MCC History. MCC. Retrieved on 2007-10-07.
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5. ^ ICC Test and ODI rankings, ICC, retrieved 20 January 2008
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8. ^ England v Australia 1861 - 1888. Cricinfo. Retrieved on 2008-02-05.
9. ^ Australia in England 1880. Wisden. Retrieved on 2008-02-05.
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13. ^ Australia v England. Wisden. Retrieved on 2008-02-05.
14. ^ Test matches. Cricinfo. Retrieved on 2008-02-05.
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16. ^ Test matches. Cricinfo. Retrieved on 2008-02-05.
17. ^ Test matches. Cricinfo. Retrieved on 2008-02-05.
18. ^ England v Australia 1890 - 1914. Cricinfo. Retrieved on 2008-02-05.
19. ^ Australia v South Africa. Wisden. Retrieved on 2008-02-05.
20. ^ England now ranked fourth. BBC Sport (2001-03-17). Retrieved on 2007-10-07.
21. ^ BBC | Radio Five Live Sports Extra | Test Match Special blog
22. ^ Cricket World Cup: England out after massive defeat | Cricket World Cup 2007 | Guardian Unlimited Sport
23. ^ BBC SPORT | Cricket | England | Fletcher's legacy
24. ^ ECB Annual Report and Accounts 2006. ECB. Retrieved on 2007-10-07.