1.
International Cricket Council
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The International Cricket Council is the international governing body of cricket. The ICC has 105 members,10 Full Members that play Test matches,39 Associate Members, the ICC is responsible for the organisation and governance of crickets major international tournaments, most notably the Cricket World Cup. It also appoints the umpires and referees that officiate at all sanctioned Test matches, One Day International, the Chairman heads the board of directors and on 26 June 2014, N. Srinivasan, the former president of BCCI, was announced as the first chairman of the council. The role of ICC president has become an honorary position since the establishment of the chairman role. It has been claimed that the 2014 changes have handed control to the so-called Big Three nations of England, the current ICC president is Zaheer Abbas, who was appointed in June 2015 following the resignation of Mustafa Kamal in April 2015. Kamal, the president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, resigned shortly after the 2015 World Cup. The current CEO is David Richardson, who succeeded Haroon Lorgat, on 15 June 1909 representatives from England, Australia and South Africa met at Lords and founded the Imperial Cricket Conference. Membership was confined to the bodies of cricket within the British Empire where Test cricket was played. West Indies, New Zealand and India were elected as Full Members in 1926, however the United States did not meet these criteria and was not made a member. After the formation of Pakistan in 1947, it was given Test status in 1952, in May 1961 South Africa left the Commonwealth and therefore lost membership. In 1965, it was renamed as the International Cricket Conference and this led to the expansion of the Conference, with the admission of Associate Members. Associates were each entitled to one vote, while the Foundation, Foundation Members retained a right of veto. Sri Lanka was admitted as a Full Member in 1981, returning the number of Test-playing nations to seven, in 1989, new rules were adopted and the current name, the International Cricket Council came into existence. South Africa was re-elected as a Full Member of the ICC in 1991, after the end of apartheid, then, in the year 2000 Bangladesh received test status. From its formation the ICC had Lords Cricket Ground as its home, the independent ICC was funded initially by commercial exploitation of the rights to the World Cup of One Day International cricket. This was established in January 1994 and was based in Monaco, for the remainder of the nineties, the administration of IDI was a modest affair. But with the negotiation of a bundle of rights to all ICC events from 2001–2008, revenues available to International cricket and this led to a growth in the number of commercial staff employed by IDI in Monaco. It also had the disadvantage that the Councils cricket administrators, who remained at Lords, were separated from their colleagues in Monaco
2.
Test cricket
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Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket and is considered its highest standard. Test matches are played between national teams with Test status, as determined by the International Cricket Council. The two teams of 11 players play a match, which may last up to five days. It is generally considered the most complete examination of teams playing ability, the name Test stems from the long, gruelling match being a test of the relative strengths of the two sides. A Test match to celebrate 100 years of Test cricket was held in Melbourne from 12 to 17 March 1977, in October 2012, the International Cricket Council recast the playing conditions for Test matches, permitting day/night Test matches. The first day/night game took place between Australia and New Zealand at the Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, on 27 November 2015, Test matches are the highest level of cricket although, statistically, their data forms part of first-class cricket. Matches are played between national teams with Test status, as determined by the International Cricket Council. As of December 2014, ten teams have Test status. Zimbabwes Test status was suspended, because of poor performances between 2006 and 2011, it returned to competition in August 2011. If the Associate team defeats the test nation, then they could be added as the new test country, a list of matches, defined as Tests, was first drawn up by Australian Clarence Moody in the mid-1890s. Representative matches played by simultaneous England touring sides of 1891–92 and 1929–30 are deemed to have Test status, in 1970, a series of five Test matches was played in England between England and a Rest of the World XI. These matches, originally scheduled between England and South Africa, were amended after South Africa was suspended from international cricket because of their governments policy of apartheid. Although initially given Test status, this was withdrawn and a principle was established that official Test matches can only be between nations. Despite this, in 2005, the ICC ruled that the six-day Super Series match that took place in October 2005, some cricket writers and statisticians, including Bill Frindall, ignored the ICCs ruling and excluded the 2005 match from their records. The series of Test matches played in Australia between Australia and a World XI in 1971/72 do not have Test status, there are currently ten Test-playing teams, representing individual nations except for England and the West Indies. Test status is conferred upon a country or group of countries by the International Cricket Council, teams that do not have Test status can play in the ICC Intercontinental Cup, specifically designed to allow non-Test teams to play under conditions similar to Tests. In May 2016, ICC announced that it is contemplating the idea of two-tiers in Test match cricket, ICC hopes that this will help them draw more crowd and generate more revenue from the matches played between top tier teams. Promotion and relegation could be introduced into Test cricket as early as 2019 and this will give opportunities to more countries like Afghanistan and Ireland to play test cricket
3.
One Day International
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A One Day International is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, usually 50. The Cricket World Cup is played in this format, One Day International matches are also called Limited Overs Internationals, although this generic term may also refer to Twenty20 International matches. They are major matches and considered the highest standard of limited overs competition, the international one-day game is a late twentieth-century development. The first ODI was played on 5 January 1971 between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. When the first three days of the third Test were washed out officials decided to abandon the match and, instead, Australia won the game by 5 wickets. ODIs were played in kits with a red ball. The first of the matches with coloured uniforms was the WSC Australians in wattle gold versus WSC West Indians in coral pink, played at VFL Park in Melbourne on 17 January 1979. Matches played with coloured kits and a white ball became more commonplace over time, and the use of white flannels, in the main the Laws of cricket apply. However, in ODIs, each team bats for a number of overs. In the early days of ODI cricket, the number of overs was generally 60 overs per side, and matches were played with 40,45 or 55 overs per side. Simply stated, the works as follows, An ODI is contested by 2 teams of 11 players each. The Captain of the winning the toss chooses to either bat or bowl first. The team batting first sets the score in a single innings. The innings lasts until the side is all out or all of the first sides allotted overs are completed. Each bowler is restricted to bowling a maximum of 10 overs, therefore, each team must comprise at least five competent bowlers. The team batting second tries to score more than the score in order to win the match. Similarly, the side bowling second tries to out the second team or make them exhaust their overs before they reach the target score in order to win. If the number of runs scored by both teams is equal when the team loses all of its wickets or exhausts all its overs
4.
Australia national cricket team
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The Australia national cricket team, represents the country of Australia in international cricket. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, having played in the first ever Test match in 1877, the team draws its players from teams playing in the Australian domestic competitions – the Sheffield Shield, the Australian domestic limited-overs cricket tournament and the Big Bash League. The national team has played 801 Test matches, winning 377, losing 215, drawing 207, Australia is ranked the number-one team overall in Test cricket in terms of overall wins, win-loss ratio and wins percentage. As of 29 March 2017, Australia is ranked third in the ICC Test Championship on 108 rating points, the Australian cricket team has played 898 ODI matches, winning 554, losing 303, tying 9 and with 32 ending in no-result. They currently lead the ICC ODI Championship, having done so for 130 of 161 months since its introduction in 2002. Australia have made a record seven World Cup final appearances and have won the World Cup a record five times in total,1987,1999,2003,2007 and 2015 and it is also the second team to win a World Cup on home soil, after India. The team was undefeated in 34 consecutive World Cup matches until 19 March at the 2011 Cricket World Cup where Pakistan beat them by 4 wickets. Australia have also won the ICC Champions Trophy twice – in 2006 and in 2009 – making them the first and the only team to become back to back winners in the Champions Trophy tournaments. Test cricket, which occurred between Australia and England at the time, was limited by the long distance between the two countries, which would take several months by sea. Most cricketers at the time were either from New South Wales or Victoria, with the exception of George Giffen. A highlight of Australias early history was the 1882 Test match against England at The Oval, in this match Fred Spofforth took 7/44 in the games fourth innings to save the match by preventing England from making their 85-run target. This was the start of the famous Ashes series in which Australia, to this day, the contest is one of the fiercest rivalries in sport. It participated in between the 1897–98 English tour of Australia and the 1910–11 South African tour of Australia, Victor Trumper became one of Australias first sporting heroes, and was widely considered Australias greatest batsman before Bradman and one of the most popular players. He played a number of Tests at 49 and scored 3163 runs at a high for the time average of 39.04. His early death in 1915 at the age of 37 from kidney disease caused national mourning, the Wisden Cricketers Almanack, in its obituary for him, called him Australias greatest batsman, Of all the great Australian batsmen Victor Trumper was by general consent the best and most brilliant. Led by Peter McAlister, who was attempting to gain control of tours from the players. This led to six leading players walking out on the 1912 Triangular Tournament in England and this was the last series before the war, and no more cricket was played by Australia for eight years, with Tibby Cotter being killed in Palestine during the war. Test cricket resumed in the 1920/21 season in Australia with a touring English team, captained by Johnny Douglas losing all five Tests to Australia, the team continued its success on the 1921 Tour of England, winning three out of the five Tests in Warwick Armstrongs last series
5.
Australia
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
6.
Adam Gilchrist
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Adam Craig Gilchrist, AM, nicknamed Gilly or Churchy, is a former Australian cricketer. He was the captain of Australia, and Middlesex and he is an attacking left-handed batsman and record-breaking wicket-keeper, who redefined the role for the Australia national cricket team through his aggressive batting. He is widely regarded as the greatest wicket-keeper–batsman in the history of the game and he held the world record for the most dismissals by a wicket-keeper in One Day International cricket until it was surpassed by Kumar Sangakkara in 2015 and the most by an Australian in Test cricket. His strike rate is amongst the highest in the history of both ODI and Test cricket, his century against England at Perth in December 2006 is the fourth-fastest century in all Test cricket and he is the first player to have hit 100 sixes in Test cricket. His 17 Test and 16 ODI centuries are the second most by a wicket-keeper and he holds the unique record of scoring at least 50 runs in successive World Cup finals. His 149 off 104 balls against Sri Lanka in the 2007 World Cup final is rated one of the greatest World Cup innings of all time and he is one of only three players to have won three titles. Gilchrist is also the first player to reach 1000 runs in the Indian Premier League, Gilchrist is renowned for walking when he considers himself to be out, sometimes contrary to the decision of the umpire. He made his first-class debut in 1992, his first One-Day International appearance in 1996 in India, during his career, he played for Australia in 96 Test matches and over 270 One-day internationals. He was Australias vice-captain in both forms of the game, captaining the team when regular captains Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting were unavailable and he retired from international cricket in March 2008. In March 2013, he announced that he would join the Caribbean Premier League, Adam Gilchrist was born in 1971 at Bellingen Hospital, in Bellingen, New South Wales, the youngest of four children. He and his family lived in Dorrigo, Junee and then Deniliquin where, playing for his school, Deniliquin South Public School, at the age of 13, his parents, Satvik and June, moved the family to Lismore where Gilchrist captained the Kadina High School cricket team. Gilchrist was selected for the state team, and in 1989 he was offered a scholarship by London-based Richmond Cricket Club. During his year at Richmond, he played junior cricket for Old Actonians Cricket Clubs under 17 team, with whom he won the Middlesex League. He moved to Sydney and joined the Gordon Club in Sydney Grade Cricket, Gilchrist is married to his high school sweetheart Melinda Gilchrist, a dietitian, and they have three sons, Harrison, Archie and Ted, and a daughter, Annie Jean. In 1991, Gilchrist was selected for the Australia Young Cricketers, Gilchrist scored a century and a fifty in the three Tests. Upon his return to Australia late in the year, Gilchrist was accepted into the Australian Cricket Academy, over the next year, Gilchrist represented the ACA as they played matches against the Second XI of Australias state teams, and toured South Africa to play provincial youth teams. In his first season, the won the Sheffield Shield. Gilchrist made 274 runs at an average of 30.44 in his debut season and he also made his debut in Mercantile Mutual limited overs competition
7.
Stuart MacGill
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Stuart Charles Glyndwr MacGill is a former right-arm leg spin bowler of the Australian cricket team, with a domestic career at Western Australia, New South Wales, Nottinghamshire, Devon and Somerset. His bowling was slightly slower through the air than Warnes, and he was brought back in 2007 after the retirement of Warne, as spinner for the first Test against the Sri Lankan cricket team. He announced his retirement from international cricket during the second Test of Australias 2008 tour of the West Indies, moving into commentary, MacGill co-hosted the 2009 Ashes series on SBS with Damien Martyn and Greg Matthews. MacGill was a radio co-host on the Triple M Sydney breakfast program The Grill Team, MacGill was born in the Perth suburb of Mount Lawley and began his first-class career in the 1993/94 season playing for Western Australia. Both his father, Terry MacGill, and his grandfather, Charlie MacGill, had played cricket for Western Australia. He was an AIS Australian Cricket Academy scholarship holder in 1990–1991 and he managed just one game, against New South Wales at the SCG but did not take a wicket and did not play again for over two years. When he returned in 1996/97 it was for New South Wales and he took 6 wickets in the match and he finished the season with 16 wickets at 37.00. He spent the English summer playing club cricket for Heathcoat CC in Tiverton, Devon, 1997/98 was the breakthrough season for MacGill, he made his Test debut and finished with 35 wickets at 28.14 in the Sheffield Shield. In the 3rd Test against South Africa at Adelaide in January 1998, MacGill was selected as Australias second spinner and he next appeared in October of that year for a tour of Pakistan, finishing the series as Australias top wicket taker with 15 victims at 27.46. MacGill kept his spot in the side when they returned home for an Ashes series and his tally included his then career best innings figures of 7 for 50, made in the 5th Test at Sydney. He took a total of 12 wickets in that match and had enough to convince the selectors to use two spinners for their tour of the West Indies. After taking just 12 wickets from the four Tests he was dropped from the side, in a series whitewash, all the Australian bowlers bar MacGill, who took 16 wickets at 31.31, managed to average under 20 with the ball. He played his next Test in January 2002 against South Africa, with Warne unavailable for the 4th and 5th Tests of the 2002/03 Ashes series, MacGill came in and despite taking 12 wickets he averaged over 40. With Shane Warne serving a ban, MacGill returned to the Caribbean in 2003. In the 11 Tests that he played, including the Caribbean tour and he played series against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and India. Sri Lanka toured Australia in 2004 and despite Warne returning to the side MacGill kept his spot and he struggled throughout the Test series and took just 5 wickets at 46.40. He lost his spot in the side and over the next year, the first was against Pakistan and his 8 wickets earned him the Man of the Match award. The second was against the ICC World XI and he managed 9 wickets and he was called up as part of Australias 2005 Ashes squad but was not used throughout the series
8.
Johnnie Walker
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Johnnie Walker is a brand of Scotch whisky owned by Diageo that originated in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland. It is the most widely distributed brand of blended Scotch whisky in the world, sold in almost every country, with annual sales of the equivalent of over 226.2 million 750 ml bottles in 2015. Originally known as Walkers Kilmarnock Whisky, the Johnnie Walker brand is a left by John Johnnie Walker after he started to sell whisky in his grocers shop in Ayrshire. The brand became popular, but after Walkers death in 1857 it was his son Alexander Walker, in Britain prior to 1860, it was illegal to sell blended whisky. During that time John Walker sold a number of single malt whiskies—notably his own Walkers Kilmarnock, in 1867, he launched Johnnie Walker’s first commercial blend and called it Old Highland Whisky. He then made the move of engaging ships’ captains as his agents to carry his whisky wherever ships could sail. Before long, his unique blend was available around the globe, Alexander Walker introduced the iconic square bottle in 1860. This meant more bottles fitting the same space and resulted in fewer broken bottles, the other identifying characteristic of the Johnnie Walker bottle is the label, which is applied at an angle of 24 degrees and allows text to be made larger and more visible. From 1906 to 1909, Johns grandsons George and Alexander II expanded the line, Johnnie Walker White was dropped during World War I. In 1932, Alexander II added Johnnie Walker Swing to the line, the originating from the unusual shape of the bottle. The company joined Distillers Company in 1925, Distillers was acquired by Guinness in 1986, and Guinness merged with Grand Metropolitan to form Diageo in 1997. On 1 July 2009, Bryan Donaghey, Diageo Managing Director for Global Supply Scotland, under a restructuring programme across Scotland, production would be moved from the brands original home to Diageo plants in Leven, Fife, and Shieldhall, Glasgow. News of the closure had widespread media attention and condemnation. Following the decision, a campaign was waged to try to persuade Diageo to reverse this decision. However, on 9 September 2009 Diageo stated that intended to press ahead with the move away from Kilmarnock. The Johnnie Walker plant, the largest employer in the town of Kilmarnock, for most of its history Johnnie Walker only offered a few blends. In recent years there have been special and limited bottlings. Red Label, an 80 proof blend of 35 grain and malt whiskies and it is intended for making mixed drinks
9.
Cricket 07
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Cricket 07 is a cricket simulation computer game developed by HB Studios and published by Electronic Arts under the label of EA Sports. It is available for Windows and PlayStation 2, the game was released in the United Kingdom on 24 November 2006 and in Australia on 14 November 2006. The cover art for Cricket 07 features England and Lancashire cricketer Andrew Flintoff, and this is the most recent cricket game published by EA Sports. Several international venues are available, including the Eden Gardens in India or Lords in England, the venues vary in conditions and pitch type, and these can be changed by the player. Expanded features of Cricket 07 include improved player control and easy stroke play, there was also an addition on commentary as Mark Nicholas joined Richie Benaud. World Series, Control three to five teams playing in a tournament in venues around Australia. Knockout Cup, Control eight teams playing in a limited over tournament to win the trophy, Test Series, Choose two teams to contest a series of one to six Test matches. Tour, Select a team and engage in a series of Tour, One Day, pura Cup, Australias four-day, two-innings tournament. One Day Domestic Series, Australias 50-over One Day competition, KFC Twenty20 Big Bash, Australias Twenty20 competition, where teams are divided into two pools of three. County Season, The 18 county teams play a season of first-class cricket featuring all four competitions. Liverpool Victoria County Championship, Englands four-day, two-innings, divisional tournament, natWest Pro40, Englands 40-over, One Day tournament between two divisions. C&G Trophy, A Limited Overs tournament with the winners of the North and South divisions playing for the trophy, Players can compete for The Ashes between England and Australia. The following options are available, Ashes 2005 scenarios, Players choose a team, on completing challenges, players are able to watch highlights videos in the Extras section. 2006-073 Mobile Ashes Series, Players choose either England or Australia and take them all the warm up matches, ODIs. This is created as a balance in the form of an Australia-hosted tournament, EA Sports lost the licensing for most of the teams for Cricket 07. Only Australia, England, South Africa and New Zealand licensed player names, all other team names are generic, however can be edited in the Team Management option or with a roster. Also, Australian players are blended into World squads of 2005 ICC Super Series, but all the names are generic
10.
Junction Oval
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Junction Oval is an historic sports ground in the suburb of St Kilda in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its location near the St Kilda Junction gave rise to its nickname and it is located approximately five kilometres from the centre of Melbourne and is in the southernmost part of the large Albert Park sporting precinct. In July 2015, the oval began undergoing a $25–$40 million redevelopment designed to make it the headquarters of Cricket Victoria. Junction Oval was established on its present site in 1856, the first grandstand at the ground was purchased from the old Elsternwick racecourse and erected in 1892 at the southern end of the ground. A new grandstand was built in 1925-6 at a cost of £7000, designed by the architect E J Clark and it was originally called the G P Newman Stand but has been renamed the Kevin Murray Stand after one of the Fitzroy Football Clubs most famous footballers. A second brick stand designed by E J Clark to complement the Murray Stand was built by H H Eilenberg in 1933-4 at a cost of £7500 and it was named the Don Blackie-Bert Ironmonger Stand in honour of the St Kilda Cricket Club and Test cricketers. It still functions as a public pavilion, a new £6000 manual scoreboard and kiosk at the northern end of the ground was built in 1956-7, the cricket clubs centenary year. It is unknown what the fate of these facilities is in the 2015–2017 redevelopment, the current capacity of the ground is around 8,000. The scoreboard is a landmark of the St Kilda Junction area, there are two main heritage grandstands, the Blackie-Ironmonger stand built by the St Kilda Cricket Club, and the Kevin Murray grandstand. The remainder of the ground is terraced asphalt, with grass embankments at the rear, older structures were demolished during a rationalisation of the ground, after they were declared a fire hazard by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade in 1988. It is a picturesque venue, with a top-quality turf playing area. Due to these connections, the club began discussions in 2010 to rename the ground the Shane Warne Oval, though such a change never occurred, Warne has previously spoken on behalf of the campaign to preserve the grounds suitability as a venue for first-class cricket. Although the ground was built for cricket, it is also known as the original home ground of the St Kilda Football Club. St Kilda first began playing matches at the oval in 1873, the Saints played home games at the venue until 1964. St Kilda played 564 VFL home matches for premiership points at the ground between 1897 and 1964. The Saints final home game at the venue was on the 22 August 1964 – a 12-point win against the Geelong –12.18 to 11.12 – in front of an attendance of 37,100. The club also played 16 away games at the venue –13 against the Fitzroy Lions, the first ever womens footy match was played there in 1921. Before the 1944 season, the military vacated the Junction Oval, because it was closer to South Melbourne’s still-occupied home base of the Lake Oval than Princes Park, the Swans started playing their home games at the venue
11.
Melbourne
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Melbourne is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in Australia and Oceania. The name Melbourne refers to an urban agglomeration spanning 9,900 km2, the metropolis is located on the large natural bay of Port Phillip and expands into the hinterlands towards the Dandenong and Macedon mountain ranges, Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley. It has a population of 4,641,636 as of 2016, and its inhabitants are called Melburnians. Founded by free settlers from the British Crown colony of Van Diemens Land on 30 August 1835, in what was then the colony of New South Wales, it was incorporated as a Crown settlement in 1837. It was named Melbourne by the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Richard Bourke, in honour of the British Prime Minister of the day, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne. It was officially declared a city by Queen Victoria, to whom Lord Melbourne was close, in 1847, during the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s, it was transformed into one of the worlds largest and wealthiest cities. After the federation of Australia in 1901, it served as the interim seat of government until 1927. It is a financial centre in the Asia-Pacific region. It is recognised as a UNESCO City of Literature and a centre for street art, music. It was the host city of the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games, the main passenger airport serving the metropolis and the state is Melbourne Airport, the second busiest in Australia. The Port of Melbourne is Australias busiest seaport for containerised and general cargo, Melbourne has an extensive transport network. The main metropolitan train terminus is Flinders Street Station, and the regional train. Melbourne is also home to Australias most extensive network and has the worlds largest urban tram network. Before the arrival of settlers, humans had occupied the area for an estimated 31,000 to 40,000 years. At the time of European settlement, it was inhabited by under 2000 hunter-gatherers from three indigenous tribes, the Wurundjeri, Boonwurrung and Wathaurong. The area was an important meeting place for the clans of the Kulin nation alliance and it would be 30 years before another settlement was attempted. Batman selected a site on the bank of the Yarra River. Batman then returned to Launceston in Tasmania, in early August 1835 a different group of settlers, including John Pascoe Fawkner, left Launceston on the ship Enterprize
12.
Victoria (Australia)
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Victoria is a state in southeast Australia. Victoria is Australias most densely populated state and its second-most populous state overall, most of its population is concentrated in the area surrounding Port Phillip Bay, which includes the metropolitan area of its state capital and largest city, Melbourne, Australias second-largest city. Prior to British European settlement, the area now constituting Victoria was inhabited by a number of Aboriginal peoples. With Great Britain having claimed the entire Australian continent east of the 135th meridian east in 1788, Victoria was included in the wider colony of New South Wales. The first settlement in the area occurred in 1803 at Sullivan Bay, and much of what is now Victoria was included in the Port Phillip District in 1836, Victoria was officially created as a separate colony in 1851, and achieved self-government in 1855. Politically, Victoria has 37 seats in the Australian House of Representatives and 12 seats in the Australian Senate, at state level, the Parliament of Victoria consists of the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council. Victoria is currently governed by the Labor Party, with Daniel Andrews the current Premier, the personal representative of the Queen of Australia in the state is the Governor of Victoria, currently Linda Dessau. Local government is concentrated in 79 municipal districts, including 33 cities, although a number of unincorporated areas still exist, Victorias total gross state product is ranked second in Australia, although Victoria is ranked fourth in terms of GSP per capita because of its limited mining activity. Culturally, Melbourne is home to a number of museums, art galleries and theatres and is described as the sporting capital of Australia. The Melbourne Cricket Ground is the largest stadium in Australia, and the host of the 1956 Summer Olympics, Victoria has eight public universities, with the oldest, the University of Melbourne, having been founded in 1853. Victoria, like Queensland, was named after Queen Victoria, who had been on the British throne for 14 years when the colony was established in 1851. The first British settlement in the later known as Victoria was established in October 1803 under Lieutenant-Governor David Collins at Sullivan Bay on Port Phillip. In the year 1826 Colonel Stewart, Captain S. Wright, fly and the brigs Dragon and Amity, took a number of convicts and a small force composed of detachments of the 3rd and 93rd regiments. Victorias next settlement was at Portland, on the south west coast of what is now Victoria, edward Henty settled Portland Bay in 1834. Melbourne was founded in 1835 by John Batman, who set up a base in Indented Head, from settlement the region around Melbourne was known as the Port Phillip District, a separately administered part of New South Wales. Shortly after the now known as Geelong was surveyed by Assistant Surveyor W. H. Smythe. And in 1838 Geelong was officially declared a town, despite earlier white settlements dating back to 1826, days later, still in 1851 gold was discovered near Ballarat, and subsequently at Bendigo. Later discoveries occurred at sites across Victoria
13.
Victoria cricket team
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The Victoria cricket team, currently named Victorian Bushrangers, is an Australian first class cricket team based in Melbourne, Victoria. The Victoria cricket team, which first played in 1851, represents the state of Victoria in the Sheffield Shield first-class competition, the teams primary home ground is the MCG, but Junction Oval is used as its home ground if the MCG is not available. The team is administered by Cricket Victoria and draws its players from Victorias Premier Cricket competition, Victoria also played in the now-defunct Twenty20 competition, the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash, which has been replaced by the current Big Bash League. In recent years, Victoria has won the Sheffield Shield in the 2009/10, 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons and it also won the first three KFC Twenty20 Big Bash finals. The Bushrangers captain is Matthew Wade, who replaced the decade-long captain Cameron White, however, the first official inter-colonial game was contested between Victoria and Tasmania in 1851, in Launceston. The first game between the great rivals Victoria and New South Wales was played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1856, the annual Sheffield Shield tournament first began in the 1892/93 season, contested by Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia. Victoria won that tournament by defeating both opponents twice each, during the history of the Shield, Victoria has won the competition 30 times, most recently in the 2015/16 season. The Victorian Cricket Association, now Cricket Victoria, was founded in 1895 and is located in Melbourne, Victoria has been a powerful force in Australian cricket and the Australian cricket team has, at least until recent decades, never been short of Victorians in the line up. The tradition of starting a match at the MCG on Boxing Day also featured Victoria when they played New South Wales in 1965. Throughout its history, Victoria has worn a blue cap. The team logo features the famous Australian bushranger Ned Kelly, wielding a cricket bat, the logo changes slightly every few seasons with the change of official sponsors. The current major sponsor of the team is the Commonwealth Bank, squad for the 2016/17 domestic season. Players with international caps are listed in bold
14.
Docklands Stadium
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Docklands Stadium is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment stadium in the Docklands precinct of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Construction started in October 1997 under the name, Victoria Stadium. Also headquartered in the precinct is Seven Networks digital broadcast centre. The stadium was announced on 31 October 1996 as a replacement for the much larger Waverley Park as a headquarters for the Australian Football League. Under the terms of the agreement governing construction and operation of the venue, Docklands Stadium, like Waverley Park, was built primarily for Australian rules football, unlike most grounds of a similar size in Australia which were originally designed for cricket. The first match to be played at the ground was between Essendon and Port Adelaide, before a crowd of 43,012, in Round 1 of the 2000 AFL season, Essendon won the match by 94 points. The stadium was the first stadium in Australia to have movable seating, all four level-one tiers of the stadium can be moved up to 18 metres forward into a rectangular configuration. It was first used for a Melbourne Storm game in July 2001, despite the seating being a key feature of the stadium, it has rarely been used, citing damage to turf, time to deploy the seats and a reduced capacity. Docklands Stadium first featured rugby league football when it was used as the Melbourne Storms home ground for one season in 2001, the Storm continued to play home games at the ground sporadically in the following years. Docklands was also the venue for the third and deciding game of the 2006 State of Origin series, in 2015, LED electronic advertising was added around the perimeter of the ground on level 1 and 2. It was the first time Australia had hosted a round of the SGP event since the round of the 2002 season in Sydney. With stadium capacity capped at 42,000 for the event,26,609 fans saw 45 year old American rider Greg Hancock take out his 20th SGP Final, danish rider Niels-Kristian Iversen finished second with Polands Maciej Janowski finishing third. Reigning Australian Champion Jason Doyle qualified for the final but was outed in a crash in the first turn in which he suffered neck, a fully conscious Doyle was then transported to the Royal Melbourne Hospital for observation. The plan was rejected by the AFL, prior to the start of the 2016 AFL season the seats in the Medallion Club were replaced. The old seats in the Medallion Club section were relocated to areas in the ground. On 7 October 2016, the AFL Commission announced that the league had acquired ownership of the stadium. On 16 August 2000, the first indoor One Day International was held when the Australian cricket team played South Africa in the Super Challenge, the following table summarises the ODI centuries scored at Docklands. Events that have held at the Docklands Stadium include concerts by many famous artists
15.
Sydney Cricket Ground
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The Sydney Cricket Ground is a sports stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, One Day International cricket, Twenty20 cricket and Australian rules football, as well as rugby league football. It is the ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team, the Sydney Sixers of the Big Bash League. It is owned and operated by the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust that also manages the Sydney Football Stadium located next door, until the 44,000 seat Football Stadium opened in 1988, the Sydney Cricket Ground was the major rugby league venue in Sydney. Part sandhills, part swamp and situated on the fringe of the city, it was used as a rubbish dump in the 1850s. In 1851, part of the Sydney Common south of Victoria Barracks was granted to the British Army for use as a garden and its first user was the 11th North Devonshire Regiment which flattened and graded the southern part of the rifle range adjacent to the Barracks. In the next couple of years, the teams from Victoria Barracks combined themselves into a permanent organisation. The ground therefore became known as the Garrison Ground when it was first opened in February 1854, in the late 1860s another part of the Sydney Common, the area west of the Garrison Ground to the then Dowling Street, was opened for public recreation. It was named Moore Park after the Mayor of Sydney, Charles Moore, as well as the location of Sydneys first zoo, Moore Park was a regular venue for games between Sydney rugby clubs Sydney University and the Wallaroos. Sydney at the time was a small, dense city and best navigated on foot and it was not liked so much by cricketers because it was too far from the city. When the commander of the Sydney garrison, Lieutenant-Colonel John Richardson, aligned his soldiers to the East Sydney Cricket Club, in 1870 British troops left Victoria barracks and the future of the Civil and Military Ground became uncertain. However, with the closure of the Albert Ground in the 1870s, in 1875 the NSW Government began to upgrade the ground. In 1876, the ground was dedicated by Governor Sir Hercules Robinson, Driver himself was a prominent MP and solicitor for the City of Sydney Council. The Minister for Lands, Thomas Garrett, was also supportive, two trustees were appointed by the government and one by the NSWCA. The close relationship between the Trust and the NSWCA is evidenced by the fact that they pooled funds for the six years. The militarys link with the ground was finally severed when John Richardson, One conflict in 1904, over the Trusts plan to hold a cycling event which clashed with a cricket match, ended up in court. The NSWCAs influence was reduced even further over the years due to changes in the way the State Government appointed trustees. On opposite sides of the ground to the stands two spectator mounds were built and they became known as The Hill and the Paddington Hill
16.
Sydney
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Sydney /ˈsɪdni/ is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Located on Australias east coast, the metropolis surrounds the worlds largest natural harbour, residents of Sydney are known as Sydneysiders. The Sydney area has been inhabited by indigenous Australians for at least 30,000 years, the first British settlers, led by Captain Arthur Phillip, arrived in 1788 to found Sydney as a penal colony, the first European settlement in Australia. Since convict transportation ended in the century, the city has transformed from a colonial outpost into a major global cultural. As at June 2016 Sydneys estimated population was 5,005,358, in the 2011 census,34 percent of the population reported having been born overseas, representing many different nationalities and making Sydney one of the most multicultural cities in the world. There are more than 250 different languages spoken in Sydney and about one-third of residents speak a language other than English at home and it is classified as an Alpha+ World City by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, indicating its influence in the region and throughout the world. Ranked eleventh in the world for economic opportunity, Sydney has a market economy with strengths in finance, manufacturing. Its gross regional product was $337 billion in 2013, the largest in Australia, there is a significant concentration of foreign banks and multinational corporations in Sydney and the city is promoted as one of Asia Pacifics leading financial hubs. Its natural features include Sydney Harbour, the Royal National Park, man-made attractions such as the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Tower and the Sydney Harbour Bridge are also well known to international visitors. The first people to inhabit the now known as Sydney were indigenous Australians having migrated from northern Australia. Radiocarbon dating suggests human activity first started to occur in the Sydney area from around 30,735 years ago, the earliest British settlers called them Eora people. Eora is the term the indigenous used to explain their origins upon first contact with the British. Its literal meaning is from this place, prior to the arrival of the British there were 4,000 to 8,000 native people in Sydney from as many as 29 different clans. Sydney Cove from Port Jackson to Petersham was inhabited by the Cadigal clan, the principal language groups were Darug, Guringai, and Dharawal. The earliest Europeans to visit the area noted that the people were conducting activities such as camping and fishing, using trees for bark and food, collecting shells. Development has destroyed much of the citys history including that of the first inhabitants, there continues to be examples of rock art and engravings located in the protected Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. The first meeting between the people and the British occurred on 29 April 1770 when Lieutenant James Cook landed at Botany Bay on the Kurnell Peninsula. He noted in his journal that they were confused and somewhat hostile towards the foreign visitors, Cook was on a mission of exploration and was not commissioned to start a settlement
17.
New South Wales
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New South Wales is a state on the east coast of Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south and it has a coast line with the Tasman Sea on its east side. The Australian Capital Territory is an enclave within the state, New South Wales state capital is Sydney, which is also Australias most populous city. In March 2014, the population of New South Wales was 7.5 million. Just under two-thirds of the population,4.67 million. Inhabitants of New South Wales are referred to as New South Welshmen, the Colony of New South Wales was founded as a penal colony in 1788. It originally comprised a more than half of the Australian mainland with its western boundary set at 129th meridian east in 1825, in addition, the colony also included the island territories of New Zealand, Van Diemens Land, Lord Howe Island, and Norfolk Island. During the 19th century, most of the area was detached to form separate British colonies that eventually became New Zealand. However, the Swan River Colony has never administered as part of New South Wales. Lord Howe Island remains part of New South Wales, while Norfolk Island has become a federal Territory, as have the now known as the Australian Capital Territory. The prior inhabitants of New South Wales were the Aboriginal tribes who arrived in Australia about 40,000 to 60,000 years ago, before European settlement there were an estimated 250,000 Aboriginal people in the region. The Wodi Wodi people are the custodians of the Illawarra region of South Sydney. The Bundjalung people are the custodians of parts of the northern coastal areas. The European discovery of New South Wales was made by Captain James Cook during his 1770 survey along the eastern coast of the Dutch-named continent of New Holland. In his original journal covering the survey, in triplicate to satisfy Admiralty Orders, Cook first named the land New Wales, however, in the copy held by the Admiralty, he revised the wording to New South Wales. After years of chaos and anarchy after the overthrow of Governor William Bligh, macquaries legacy is still evident today. During the 19th century, large areas were separated to form the British colonies of Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria. Responsible government was granted to the New South Wales colony in 1855, following the Treaty of Waitangi, William Hobson declared British sovereignty over New Zealand in 1840
18.
2005 Ashes series
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The 2005 Ashes series was that years edition of the long-standing cricket rivalry between England and Australia. Starting on 21 July 2005, England and Australia played five Tests, the final result was a 2–1 series win for England, who succeeded in their biennial attempt to win the urn. In March, Australias captain, Ricky Ponting, said that this Ashes series would be the closest since Australias dominance began in 1989 and they reached a low point in 1999 with a series loss to New Zealand leaving them bottom of the unofficial Wisden Cricketers Almanack rankings. However, since the series in 2002–03, England had improved on their fifth place in the official rankings. Australia were still top-ranked, but England had won 14 and drawn three of their 18 previous Test matches since March 2004, and had won six successive series. Nonetheless, before the First Test some Australians, including fast bowler Glenn McGrath, were suggesting that a 5–0 win in the series for Australia was a serious possibility, the BBC reported on the day after the series that it was hailed as the most thrilling series ever. Individual matches were closely fought, with one match decided by a two-run margin, one match drawn with only one wicket remaining. The outcome of the contest was not decided until the very last day of the series, Australia won the first Test comfortably, but the second Test saw England level the series with a two-run victory, the narrowest win in Ashes history. The fifth and final Test started on 8 September, at the Oval in London and it entered its final day with England batting in their second innings,40 runs ahead with nine wickets in hand. Australia needed a win to force a 2–2 series draw and retain the Ashes, any other result would give the Ashes to England and end 16 years, a) Collingwood was added on 1 August for the second Test, but sent back to his county Durham on 3 August. Collingwood was also called up again, c) Clark was called up as cover for pace bowlers McGrath and Lee before the third Test. The first day of cricket at Lords saw 17 of the total of 40 wickets fall, and though Australia lost ten of them, the BBC saw it as advantage Australia. The pitch offered bounce and swing from the start, while Matthew Hoggard got a ball on line to swing between Matthew Haydens bat and pad and into his off stump. Hayden was gone for 12, having, according to the BBC report, Australia still scored at a rate above 4. Harmison, coming back for a spell, was wicketless in his first two overs but after drinks he took four wickets for seven runs in 2.2 overs as Australia were all out for 190. He finished with five for 43, Glenn McGrath was the not out batsman, ending with 10 runs, and he also opened the bowling with Brett Lee. England batted for six overs until tea without losing a wicket, scoring 10 runs, but McGrath, Marcus Trescothick fell first ball after tea, edging to slip to become McGraths 500th victim in Test cricket, and Strauss fell in similar fashion three balls later. Michael Vaughan and Ian Bell survived six overs, adding seven runs before McGrath had them bowled in the 13th and 15th over respectively
19.
Damien Martyn
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Damien Richard Martyn is a former Australian cricketer. He played for the national team sporadically in 1992–1994 before becoming a regular ODI player in 1999–2000 and he was primarily a right-handed middle-order batsman with a classical technique, known in particular for his elegant strokemaking square of the wicket on the off-side and through the covers. Martyn was also an occasional medium-pacer and distinguished fieldsman primarily in the covers who was capable of creating spectacular run-outs and he also very occasionally kept wicket at first-class level. He made his first class debut for Western Australia the following season, noted for his daring and sometimes cavalier strokeplay, Martyn was selected to make his Test debut against the West Indies in November,1992 at the Gabba, a surprise replacement for Dean Jones. He batted in the middle-order, scoring 36 and 15 and he played in all Tests in that season, apart from the Fourth Test at the Adelaide Oval where he was replaced by fellow Western Australian Justin Langer after sustaining an injury before the match. However, his performances were unconvincing, totalling 168 runs at 28.16 for the series, Martyn was also a member of the ODI squad in that season, playing less regularly in only four of eleven matches, and aggregating 45 runs at 22.5. Martyn was subsequently dropped from the Test team in the early 1993 tour to New Zealand, until being recalled for the Third Test at Eden Park, Auckland after Mark Waugh was dropped, scoring 74. Waugh was third in the Test batting averages, confining Martyn to playing in matches against county teams. Martyn was given another chance in the 1993–94 Australian season when Steve Waugh tore a hamstring and Martyn played in the Boxing Day and New Years Tests at the MCG and SCG respectively. Although he managed 59 in the first innings of a low scoring match in Sydney and he then attempted an airborne cover-drive off Allan Donald and was caught, and Australia lost the Test. Martyn was heavily criticised by the media who blamed him for the defeat and he played three more ODIs in that season, before being dropped upon Waughs return from injury. Although Waugh would have reprised his position in any case, Martyn lost his position as the batsman and was dropped from subsequent national squads altogether. He would not play ODI cricket again until 1997 and Tests until 2000, after returning to the domestic arena Martyn was appointed as captain of Western Australia in the 1994/95 season at the age of 23, the youngest player to have been given the honour. He also captained Australia A in the international ODI tournament of the same season, the following season, he relinquished the captaincy to Tom Moody, in order to concentrate on his batting. He re-appeared at the start of the millennium when he replaced an injured Ricky Ponting on the tour to New Zealand in early 2000, despite topping the averages in New Zealand he made way for Ponting for the home series against the West Indies in 2000/01. He played one test during that summer, replacing an injured Steve Waugh for Australias victory at Adelaide where he remained not out in both innings and he was selected on Australias tour to India in 2001 and was considered unlucky not to replace a struggling Ponting. His chance to consolidate a permanent position in the side came during the 2001 Ashes tour where he replaced fellow West Australian Justin Langer in the first test and he posted his maiden test century in the first test at Edgbaston. He was chosen as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year as a result of his performances in The Ashes in the summer of 2001
20.
Brad Hodge
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Bradley John Hodge is an Australian and Victorian cricketer. He attended St. Bedes College in Mentone, Victoria and he is a right-handed batsman who bats in the middle order, as well as a part-time right-arm off-spin bowler. Hodge was a prolific run-scorer in domestic cricket, holding the records for the most runs and he is also Victorias highest ever run-scorer in the Sheffield Shield. However, his opportunities to represent Australia were limited to six Tests and 25 one-day internationals, Hodge debuted for the Victorian Bushrangers as a 19-year-old, and was nicknamed Glovelick by Dean Jones for the fact that he shared a bunkbed with his brother at the time of his debut. He was also called Bunkie for the same reason, Hodge played Lancashire League Cricket for Ramsbottom in 2000 and 2001, breaking the clubs batting record in 2001. Hodge has played with County Cricket teams Durham, Lancashire, Hodge had actually completed the catch cleanly, before running over to the crowd to celebrate. He has argued he was the victim of New South Wales selection bias, on 21 November 2007, playing for Victoria against Queensland, Hodge made his highest Pura Cup score of 286*. He and Nick Jewell had batted undefeated for the third day of the game. During the match against Queensland at the MCG on 7 March 2009, during this innings, he became the 6th batsman to pass 10,000 Sheffield Shield runs. He also became the first to score a century in Australian domestic Twenty20, scoring 106 off 54 deliveries for Victoria against New South Wales at North Sydney, in December 2009, Hodge announced his retirement from first-class cricket to focus on the one-day and Twenty20 versions of the game. Hodge finished his domestic first-class career as Victorias all-time leading run scorer, in January 2012, he retired from one-day cricket to focus exclusively on the Twenty20 game. At the time, he was the leading run-scorer in the 2011–12 Ryobi One-Day Cup, Hodge was called up as part of Australias 2005 Ashes squad but was not used throughout the series. He did however make a number of catches in the third test as a fielder to get out Kevin Pietersen. Hodge scored his maiden Test century for Australia against South Africa in Perth on 19 December 2005 and this innings was criticised by some Australian fans who felt that captain Ricky Ponting declared too late in allowing Hodge to chase his double century. This criticism came after Australia did not bowl out South Africa in the 4th innings, Hodge later made his One-day International debut, and, after two initial modest scores, he scored a half-century. This earned him a recall for some games against South Africa in the VB Series, Hodge was dropped after only five tests in the team, and only three tests after scoring his double century against South Africa. The selectors stated that the decision was made on the back of a poor Pura Cup season by Hodge, the decision was unpopular amongst Victorian fans, particularly since his replacement, Damien Martyn, had averaged only 23.7 in the same Pura Cup season. He did get back, however, albeit more than two years later, when included in Australias squad that toured the West Indies in May/June 2008, on 22 May, in what proved to be his final test, he made 67 and 27 with the bat
21.
Shane Watson
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Shane Robert Watson is a former Australian professional cricketer and captain. He played as a batsman and a right-handed fast-medium swing bowler. He debuted in 2002 in a One Day International and retired in 2016 as world No.1 T20I all-rounder and he is the last player to retire from Australias golden era of early 2000s. Watson holds several records in T20Is and he held the world No.1 position for a record 150 weeks, including a record 120 consecutive weeks in T20I all-rounder rankings.80, while taking 11 wickets with the ball. He is the player to win four consecutive Player of the Match Awards in ICC event history. Shane Watson was an AIS Australian Cricket Academy scholarship holder in 2000 and he started his first-class cricketing career for Tasmania after leaving his home state of Queensland, but returned to play for his native Queensland as his international career was beginning. He has also played for Hampshire in the English County Championship in 2005 and he regards Terry Alderman as one of his mentors. Australian captain at the time Steve Waugh stated that Watson would possibly be Australias first genuine all rounder since Keith Miller, Watson expressed joy at being selected in an Australian team with Waugh, whom he cited as his idol. Watson scored a century on his debut in a tour match. Watson did make his ODI debut on tour, ironically replacing Waugh, Watson continued as a regular member of the ODI team until he suffered three stress fractures in his back, at the start of 2003, missing the 2003 Cricket World Cup. He was replaced by his Queensland teammate Andrew Symonds, who proceeded to establish his position as the all rounder after scoring 143*, Watson returned to regular ODI duty in the 2004–05 season, as a bowling all rounder. He also made his test debut in the Third Test against Pakistan as the fifth bowler, Australian selectors included Watson as the fifth bowler and all rounder in all Test matches following the 2005 Ashes series. Watson played against the ICC World XI in the role, but he dislocated his shoulder in just his second Test in that role against the West Indies. Watson was again replaced by Symonds and was unable to represent Australia for the remainder of the summer and he was recalled for the one day squad for the 2006 tour of South Africa but was dropped when all-rounder Andrew Symonds returned from injury. Watson was looking to establish a place in the Test side when he got injured and this changed when Watson opened the batting for Australia at the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy, alongside wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist, instead of Simon Katich. Australian captain Ricky Ponting suggested that Watson would bat at the number 6 position in the 2006–07 Ashes series against England, and he was named in the squad. However, he came off the ground in a domestic game the week before the first Test with a suspected hamstring tear. Michael Clarke was called up in Watsons place, and responded with a half-century, however, another injury setback in a match for Queensland ruled Watson out for the rest of the Ashes series
22.
Jason Gillespie
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His primary role was as a right-arm fast bowler, but he was also a competent lower-order batsman with a Test double century, an unbeaten 201. He was an AIS Australian Cricket Academy scholarship holder in 1995 and he made his Test debut against the West Indies at Sydney in 1996 and his One Day International debut against Sri Lanka at Colombo in the Singer World Series in 1996. On 29 February 2008, Gillespie announced his retirement from cricket in Australia. At the end of the 2008 English domestic season he retired from all first-class cricket, as Yorkshire County Cricket Clubs first team coach from 2012 to 2016, he guided them to two County Championship titles. Jason Gillespie is a descendant on his fathers side of the Kamilaroi people of Indigenous Australians and he attended Cabra Dominican College in Adelaide, South Australia. The couple have four children, Jackson, Brandon Kingston and a daughter, Delaney, Gillespie has another daughter, Sapphire from a previous relationship. Gillespie took 259 wickets in 71 Tests making him Australias sixth-highest wicket-taker, in terms of pace, he bowled in the mid 140s-150 km/h mark in his early career up to about 2001. When he made his comeback in the 2000/01 season, he bowled more consistently, consistent injuries forced Gillespie to operate from a shorter run-up and therefore reduce his pace. Gillespie seldom dominated a Test series, but he was a support bowler over several years for his more famous teammates Glenn McGrath. However, Gillespies career suffered a sharp decline. In early 2005, there were signs that he was struggling, with somewhat poor displays against New Zealand. This poor form continued into the 2005 Ashes series where he struggled badly, after the Ashes series Gillespie took 40 wickets for South Australia during the 2005/06 Pura Cup Season. He was the fourth-highest wicket taker in the competition, with an average far below the leading wicket takers. His best figures came against Victoria where he took 7-35 and these performances saw him make a return to the Australian Test side against Bangladesh after injury problems to the first choice attack. Gillespie was named man of the series after taking 8 wickets, Gillespie occasionally proved his worth with the bat, with a highest Test score of 201 not out and an average of 18.73. He is the player in Test cricket with a career batting average of less than 20 to reach 200 runs in an innings. Also, given his low back lift, he could defend or deflect shots from spin bowlers more readily and he has a one-day international high score of 44 not out and he averages 12.56 in one-day internationals with an impressive strike rate of 78.53. In the second Test match against Bangladesh at Chittagong on 19 April 2006 and this was Gillespies maiden first-class century
23.
Michael Kasprowicz
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Michael Scott Kasprowicz is a former Australian international cricketer. He is a right arm fast bowler and lower order batsman and he represented Queensland and played in the English county scene at first class level. He made his debut for Queensland as a seventeen-year-old in the 1989–1990 domestic season and he was an AIS Australian Cricket Academy scholarship holder in 1990-1991. In 1991, Kasprowicz played for the Australian Under 19 team which was captained by Damien Martyn, by the 1991/92 season, Kasprowicz became the youngest Australia to take 50 first class wickets. His solid performances for Queensland earned him a Test debut against West Indies in his native Brisbane in November 1996, however, he would go through his first two Test matches for Australia wicketless. After being in and out of the side since his debut, to highlight his return to the team, Kasprowicz enjoyed a successful 2004, capturing an impressive 47 Test wickets for the calendar year. In the 2005 Ashes Kasprowicz almost pulled off a escape for the Australian team in the second test at Edgbaston, on the final day England needed one last wicket with Kasprowicz and Brett Lee at the crease. However the two batsmen had edged Australia to within two runs of England, but then Kasprowicz gloved a Steve Harmison ball to Geraint Jones and England won. Though TV replays showed the dismissal should not have given as Kasprowicz took his lower hand off the bat before ball hit glove. After the 2005 Ashes loss to England, Kasprowicz was dropped from the Australian team, however, he had a successful 2005/06 domestic season with Queensland, taking 44 wickets. This effort earned him a recall to the national side to replace Glenn McGrath as Brett Lees new ball partner. Kasprowicz represents Mumbai Champs in the Indian Cricket League, Kasprowicz played in all the Tests on the tours of Sri Lanka and India in 2004, which were won 3–0 and 2–1. Kasprowicz was a director at Cricket Australia from 2011 to 2016 before becoming interim CEO of Queensland Cricket, cricinfo profile on Michael Kasprowicz HowSTAT
24.
James Hopes
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James Redfern Hopes is a former Australian cricketer. Hopes played domestic cricket for Queensland, and had represented Australia in One Day International, Hopes has played for Australias Under-19s side as a batsman but as his career has progressed he has become more of a bowling all-rounder. Hopes, who made his debut in 2001, is the Bulls leading wicket-taker in the one-day competition and he has five Pura Cup centuries for Queensland and two one-day hundreds, but is also a successful bowler. He had opened innings for Queensland in 2006/07 scoring 553 runs and taking 21 wickets in the Pura Cup, and capturing a season-high 20 victims, in 2010/11, he was handed the state captaincy replacing Chris Simpson. He was named Sheffield Shield Player of the Series for the 2010/11 series and he became 49th captain of the state. In November 2010, Hopes picked up 3 for 40 and then top scored with 73 as the Bulls pushed well past Tasmanias disappointing 196 on the day at Bellerive Oval. In Big Bash match against Tasmania, he scored unbeaten 65 runs and also affected a run-out and took a one-handed catch to dismiss Ryan ten Doeschate was declared the Man-of-the-Match. In Big Bash match against New South Wales, he scored unbeaten 62 runs 38 balls, in 2011, an allround performance from Hopes led Queensland to a comfortable six-wicket victory against New South Wales in Ryobi Cup. Hopes provided a start with 41 off 56 deliveries before this he took 4 wickets for 16 runs. Hopes took six-wicket haul and ensured that Queensland finished in place on the 2010/11 Sheffield Shield table with victory by an innings. Hopes was named the Sheffield Shield Player of the Series for 2010/11 at the State Cricket Awards in Hobart, Hopes finished season with averaged of 58.70 with the bat and 20.11 with the ball winning 23 votes won the award ahead of Tasmania allrounder Luke Butterworth. In 2011 Big Bash League, Hopes was signed with the Brisbane Heat, in IPL2012, he signed Sahara Pune Warriors from Delhi Daredevils. Hopes was the foreigner to be contracted by Warriors in the transfer window. But Pune Warriors had suffered a setback to their IPL preparations with an injury ruling out the Hopes. Hopes led from the front with a half-century in the first innings, at the end of Queenslands 2016/17 Australian domestic season, Hopes retired from all cricket. He made eight ODI appearances in 2004/05 and he did not take more than a wicket in a match although his batting showed promise with a top score of 43 against Sri Lanka. Despite the late-season promotion, Hopes was cut from the national contract list, when another Watson injury occurred Hopes was put on World Cup standby before regaining his Cricket Australia deal. Hopes most productive day at elite level came in 2010 when his 5 for 14 ensured Australia would not be embarrassed by Ireland in an ODI in Dublin, the career-best figures were a deserved reward for a low-key player who pops in to deliver handy overs or scramble late runs
25.
Sunil Gavaskar
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Sunil Manohar Sunny Gavaskar pronunciation is an Indian former cricketer who played during the 1970s and 1980s for the Bombay cricket team and Indian national team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest opening batsmen in history, Gavaskar set world records during his career for the most Test runs. He held the record of 34 Test centuries for almost two decades before it was broken by Sachin Tendulkar in December 2005. He was the first person to score centuries in both innings of a Test match three times, but unlike Ricky Ponting and David Warner after him, none of his games yielded a win. He was the first Test batsman to score 10,000 Test Runs in a Career and his captaincy of the Indian team, however, was less successful. Gavaskar is a recipient of the Indian civilian honours of the Padma Shri, in 2012, he was awarded the Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award for Cricket in India. On 28 March 2014, Supreme Court of India, appointed Gavaskar as the Interim BCCI President primarily to oversee 7th Season of Indian Premier League, the Court also directed him to relinquish his job as a Cricket Commentator. Born in Bombay and growing up in the city, young Sunil was named Indias Best Schoolboy Cricketer of the year in 1966 and he scored 246*,222 and 85 in school cricket in his final year of secondary education, before striking a century against the touring London schoolboys. He made his first-class debut for Vazir Sultan Colts XI against an XI from Dungarpur, in 1966/67, an alumnus of Bombays renowned St. He responded with 114 against Rajasthan in his match. He followed this with his first century,116 and 64* in the third Test in Georgetown, Guyana, and 1 and 117* in the Fourth Test in Bridgetown, Barbados. He returned to Trinidad for the fifth Test and scored 124 and 220 to help India to its first ever victory over the West Indies. His performance in the Test made him the player after Doug Walters to score a century. He was the first Indian to aggregate more than 700 runs in a series, Trinidad Calypso singer Lord Relator wrote a song in Gavaskars honour, the Gavaskar Calypso. Gavaskars arrival in England in 1971 for a three-Test series generated substantial publicity in light of his debut series and he was unable to maintain his performance, making only two half centuries. He was involved in controversy when taking a single from the bowling of John Snow. They collided and Gavaskar fell over, Snow was charged with deliberately barging into Gavaskar and was suspended. Gavaskars 144 runs at the low average of 24, led some to question Gavaskars worthiness in international cricket, in 1972–73, England toured India for a five-Test series, Gavaskars first on home soil
26.
India national cricket team
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The Indian cricket team, also known as Team India and Men in Blue, represents India in international cricket. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, it is a member of the International Cricket Council with Test, One Day International. In its first fifty years of cricket, India was one of the weaker teams. From 1932 India had to wait until 1952, almost 20 years for its first Test victory. Traditionally much stronger at home than abroad, the Indian team has improved its overseas form since the start of the 21st century, winning Test matches in Australia, England and South Africa. It has won the Cricket World Cup twice – in 1983 under the captaincy of Kapil Dev and in 2011 under the captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. After winning the 2011 World Cup, India became only the team after West Indies and Australia to have won the World Cup more than once. It has won the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 and 2013 ICC Champions Trophy and it was also the joint champions of 2002 ICC Champions Trophy, along with Sri Lanka. As of 7th March 2017, India is ranked first in Tests, fourth in ODIs, Virat Kohli is the current captain of the team across all formats, while former Test captain Anil Kumble is the head coach. The Indian cricket team has rivalries with other Test-playing nations, most notably with Pakistan, however, in recent times, rivalries with nations like Australia, England and Bangladesh and have also gained prominence. The British brought cricket to India in the early 1700s, with the first cricket match played in 1721, in 1848, the Parsi community in Bombay formed the Oriental Cricket Club, the first cricket club to be established by India Ltdns. After slow beginnings, the Europeans eventually invited the Parsis to play a match in 1877, by 1912, the Parsis, Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims of Bombay played a quadrangular tournament with the Europeans every year. In the early 1900s, some Indians went on to play for the England cricket team, in 1911, an Indian team went on their first official tour of the British Isles, but only played English county teams and not the England cricket team. The one-off Test match between the two sides was played at Lords in London, the team was not strong in their batting at this point and went on to lose by 158 runs. In 1933, the first Test series in India was played between India and England with matches in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras, the Indian team continued to improve throughout the 1930s and 40s but did not achieve an international victory during this period. In the early 1940s, India didnt play any Test cricket due to the Second World War, the teams first series as an independent country was in late 1947 against Sir Donald Bradmans Invincibles. It was also the first Test series India played which was not against England, Australia won the five-match series 4–0, with Bradman tormenting the Indian bowling in his final Australian summer. India subsequently played their first Test series at home not against England against the West Indies in 1948, West Indies won the 5-Test series 1–0
27.
Michael Atherton
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Michael Andrew Atherton OBE is a broadcaster, journalist and retired England international cricketer. A right-handed opening batsman for Lancashire and England, and occasional bowler, he achieved the captaincy of England at the age of 25. Atherton often played the role at a time when England batting performances lacked consistency. Often hampered by a chronic back complaint which was to contribute to the end of his career, following retirement he became a journalist and is currently a cricket commentator with Sky Sports, and cricket correspondent of The London Times. Atherton was born in Failsworth, Lancashire, England and his family includes several lesser known sportspersons, such as his father Alan, a former Manchester United goalkeeper in the 1960s. During 1st test of India tour of England 2014, he added that his dad played only in the reserves. As a youth, he captained the Manchester Grammar School cricket team for whom he scored almost 3,500 runs and his performances led to selection for the England under-19 team, which he captained aged 16. He also represented Lancashire Schools from 1982 to 1986, in 1983 he won the Jack Hobbs Memorial Award as the Outstanding Schoolboy Cricketer at under-15 level. In a match against the Marylebone Cricket Club in 1984 he took 6–27, entering Downing College, Cambridge, to read history, he was selected at 18 to play for Cambridge University Cricket Club and awarded a blue. A year later he made 73 on his county debut for Lancashire, during this time he represented both his university, the Combined Universities cricket team and his county. This early rise through the ranks, and extensive leadership experience earned him the nickname FEC, which is thought to have stood for future England captain. In his autobiography Opening Up, Atherton is candid about the fact there are more colourful alternatives for FEC. Athertons heady rise continued when he made his debut for England in the fifth test against Australia at Trent Bridge, Athertons chance came when several England players had just announced their decision to go on a rebel tour to South Africa and so were banned from the Test team. However, despite these defections, he was selected as vice-captain of the 1989–90 A team tour to Zimbabwe rather than for the West Indies tour. Atherton returned to the England side in the summer of 1990, partnering Graham Gooch at the top of the order, in his first innings after recall, and his first opening the batting for England, he scored 151 against New Zealand. During the winter of 1990–91, Atherton faced a sterner test on the Ashes tour of Australia, although he made a century in the third Test at Sydney, he averaged just 31 for his 279 runs, and England lost 3–0. When Australia arrived for the 1993 Ashes series, Athertons place in the team was not assured, however, a consistent summer when he scored six 50s in six Tests cemented his place in the side at a fortunate time. Graham Gooch, frustrated by continual losses against Australia, resigned as captain after the fourth Test and Atherton, aged just 25, replaced him
28.
England cricket team
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The England cricket team is the team that represents England and Wales in international cricket. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board, England and Australia were the first teams to play a Test match, and these two countries together with South Africa formed the Imperial Cricket Conference on 15 June 1909. England and Australia also played the first One Day International on 5 January 1971, Englands first Twenty20 International was played on 13 June 2005, once more against Australia. As of 9 March 2017, England has played 983 Test matches, winning 351, the team has won The Ashes on 32 occasions, the same number as their opponents Australia. England has played 683 ODIs, winning 332, and its record in major ODI tournaments includes finishing as runners-up in three Cricket World Cups, and also in two ICC Champions Trophys, England has also played 89 T20Is, winning 43. They won the ICC World Twenty20 in 2010, and were runners-up in 2016, England are currently ranked fourth in Tests, fifth in ODIs and fifth in T20Is by the ICC. England currently holds the record for the highest ever ODI total of 444, such matches were repeated on numerous occasions for the best part of a century. In 1846 William Clarke formed the All-England Eleven and this team would eventually compete against a United All-England Eleven with annual matches occurring between 1847 and 1856. These matches were arguably the most important contest of the English season if judged by the quality of the players, the first overseas tour occurred in September 1859 with England touring North America. This team had six players from the All-England Eleven, six from the United All-England Eleven and was captained by George Parr, with the outbreak of the American Civil War, attention turned elsewhere. English tourists visited Australia in 1861-62 with this first tour organised as a venture by Messrs Spiers and Pond. Most matches played during tours prior to 1877 were against odds and this first Australian tour were mostly against odds of at least 18/11. The tour was so successful that George Parr led a tour in 1863–64. James Lillywhite led a subsequent England team which sailed on the P&O steamship Poonah on 21 September 1876 and they would play a combined Australian XI, for once on even terms of 11 a side. The match, starting on 15 March 1877 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground came to be regarded as the inaugural Test match, the combined Australian XI won this Test match by 45 runs with Charles Bannerman of Australia scoring the first Test century. At the time, the match was promoted as James Lillywhites XI v Combined Victoria, the teams played a return match on the same ground at Easter,1877, when Lillywhites team avenged their loss with a victory by four wickets. The first Test match on English soil occurred in 1880 with England victorious, – The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia. As a result of loss the tour of 1882–83 was dubbed by England captain Ivo Bligh as the quest to regain the ashes
29.
Richard Hadlee
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Sir Richard John Hadlee MBE is a former New Zealand cricketer, regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers and all-rounders in cricketing history. Hadlee was appointed MBE in 1980 and knighted in 1990 for services to cricket and he is a former chairman of the New Zealand board of selectors. In December 2002, he was chosen by Wisden as the second greatest Test bowler of all time, in March 2009, Hadlee was commemorated as one of the Twelve Local Heroes, and a bronze bust of him was unveiled outside the Christchurch Arts Centre. On 3 April 2009, Sir Richard Hadlee was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame, Sir Richard is the most prominent member of the Hadlee cricket playing family. After which, he became a selector, Richard is the son of Walter Hadlee, and the brother of Dayle and Barry Hadlee. His former wife Karen also played cricket for New Zealand.29. Hadlee is rated by experts as the greatest exponent of bowling with the new ball. He was the master of swing and was the original Sultan of Swing, born in Christchurch, Hadlee made his first class debut for Canterbury in 1971/72 and his test match debut in 1973 – on both occasions, his first delivery was dispatched to the boundary. In 1978, Hadlee helped New Zealand to a historic first win over England by taking 6 for 26 in Englands second innings, in 1979/80, New Zealand faced the West Indies in a home test series at a time when the West Indies were a formidable world cricket power. In the first test in Dunedin New Zealand achieved a shock 1-wicket win, in the second test of the series, Hadlee recorded his maiden test century, helping New Zealand draw the test and win the series 1–0. The result was the start of a 12-year unbeaten home record for New Zealand in test match series and he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1980 Queens Birthday Honours. A tour to England in 1983 saw New Zealand register their first ever test win on English soil, the match was remarkable for Hadlees match return of 0 for 89, a very unusual occurrence in a New Zealand victory during his career. England eventually won the 4 test series 3–1, however, Hadlee topped both batting and bowling averages for New Zealand in the series, and took his 200th test wicket in the final test at Nottingham. The match was notable for Hadlees superb all-round performance – he took 8 wickets in the match. 1985/86 was the beginning of a period in which Hadlee developed from a good fast bowler to a truly great one. A batting effort of 54 combined with 6 more wickets in Australias second innings, in the first test of the return series in New Zealand, Hadlee took his 300th test wicket by trapping Australian captain Allan Border LBW. The series was eventually won 1–0 by New Zealand by way of a victory in the third test at Eden Park, in 1986 Hadlee helped New Zealand to a 1–0 series win in England, their first over that country in England. Hadlees outstanding personal performance in the second test at Nottingham where he took 10 wickets, in this test Hadlee, often a controversial character, added to this side of his reputation when he felled England wicketkeeper and Nottinghampshire teammate Bruce French with a nasty bouncer
30.
New Zealand national cricket team
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The New Zealand cricket team, nicknamed the Black Caps, are the national cricket team representing New Zealand. They played their first Test in 1930 against England in Christchurch, New Zealand, from 1930 New Zealand had to wait until 1956, more than 26 years, for its first test victory, 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, One-day and Twenty20 captain is Kane Williamson, who replaced Brendon McCullum who announced his retirement in late December,2015. The national team is organised by New Zealand Cricket, 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. Official New Zealand Cricket sources typeset the nickname as BLACKCAPS and this is one of many national team nicknames related to the All Blacks. As of February 2017, New Zealand have played 419 Test matches, winning 89, losing 169, as of February 2017, the New Zealand cricket team is ranked 5th in Tests, 3rd in ODIs and 1st in T20Is by the ICC. New Zealand reached the final match in the ICC Cricket World Cup for the first time in its history, darwin in The Voyage of the Beagle wrote, several young men redeemed by the missionaires from slavery were employed on the farm. In the evening I saw a party of them at cricket, the first recorded game of cricket in New Zealand took place in Wellington in December 1842. The Wellington Spectator reports a game on 28 December 1842 played by a Red team, the first fully recorded match was reported by the Examiner in Nelson between the Surveyors and Nelson in March 1844. The first team to tour New Zealand was Parrs all England XI in 1863–64, between 1864 and 1914,22 foreign teams toured New Zealand. England sent 6 teams, Australia 15 and one from Fiji, on 15–17 February 1894 the first team representing New Zealand played New South Wales at Lancaster Park in Christchurch. New South Wales won by 160 runs, New South Wales returned again in 1895–96 and New Zealand won the solitary game by 142 runs, its first victory. The New Zealand Cricket Council was formed towards the end of 1894, New Zealand played its first two internationals in 1904–05 against a star-studded Australia team containing such players as Victor Trumper, Warwick Armstrong and Clem Hill. They played 26 first class matches, mostly against county sides and they managed to beat Worcestershire, Glamorgan, Somerset, and Derbyshire. On the strength of the performances of this tour New Zealand was granted Test status, in 1929/30 the M. C. C toured NZ and played 4 Tests all of 3 days in duration. New Zealand lost its first Test match but drew the next 3, in the second Test Stewie Dempster and Jackie Mills put on 276 for the first wicket. This is still the highest partnership for New Zealand against England, New Zealands first Test after the war was against Australia in 1945/46. This game was not considered a Test at the time but it was granted Test status retrospectively by the International Cricket Council in March 1948
31.
Clive Lloyd
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Clive Hubert Lloyd CBE AO is a former West Indies cricketer. In 1971 he was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year and he captained the West Indies between 1974 and 1985 and oversaw their rise to become the dominant Test-playing nation, a position that was only relinquished in the latter half of the 1990s. He is one of the most successful Test captains of all time, during his captaincy the side had a run of 27 matches without defeat and he was the first West Indian player to earn 100 international caps. Lloyd captained the West Indies in three World Cups, winning in 1975 and 1979 while losing the 1983 final to India, Lloyd was a tall, powerful middle-order batsman and occasional medium-pace bowler. In his youth he was also a cover point fielder. He wore his famous glasses as a result of being poked in the eye with a ruler and his Test match debut came in 1966. Lloyd scored 7,515 runs at Test level, at an average of 46.67 and he hit 70 sixes in his Test career, which is the 14th highest number of any player. He played for his nation of Guyana in West Indies domestic cricket. He is a cousin of spin bowler Lance Gibbs, since retiring as a player, Lloyd has remained heavily involved in cricket, managing the West Indies in the late 1990s, and coaching and commentating. He was an ICC match referee from 2001–2006, in 1971–72 Lloyd suffered a back injury while playing for a Rest of the World team at the Adelaide Oval. He was fielding in the covers when Ashley Mallett hit a drive towards his area. He made an effort to take the catch but it bounced out of his hands when he hit the ground awkwardly. When he went to get up, he felt a pain in his back. He spent the few weeks in an Adelaide hospital flat on his back. In the 1975 Cricket World Cup Final against Australia, the West Indies were deep in trouble at 3/50 when Lloyd strode to the crease and he duly made 102 from 88 balls, the only limited overs international century of his career. With Rohan Kanhai he added 149 for the West Indies to win by 17 runs, play ended at 8, 40pm London time and was the longest days play ever at Lords. In 2005, Lloyd offered his patronage to Major League Cricket for their inaugural Interstate Cricket Cup in the United States and his son, Jason Clive Lloyd, is a goalkeeper for the Guyana national football team. In 2007, Lloyds authorised biography, Supercat, was published and it was written by the cricket journalist, Simon Lister
32.
West Indies cricket team
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From the mid-to-late 1970s to the early 1990s, the West Indies team was the strongest in the world in both Test and One Day International cricket. The West Indies were the first team to win back-to-back World Cups, as of 5 October 2016, the West Indian cricket team is ranked eighth in Tests, ninth in ODIs and fourth in T20Is by the ICC. West Indies has hosted the 2007 Cricket World Cup and the 2010 ICC World Twenty20, the Leeward Islands Cricket Association consists of associations of one sovereign state, the two entities of Saint Kitts and Nevis, three British Overseas Territories and two other dependencies. The Windward Islands Cricket Board of Control consists of associations of four sovereign states, currently, Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands, other historical parts of the former West Indies Federation and now British Overseas Territories, have their own teams. National teams also exist for the islands, which, as they are all separate countries, very much keep their local identities. These national teams take part in the West Indian first-class competition and it is also common for other international teams to play the island teams for warm-up games before they take on the combined West Indies team. The official population number for those countries and dependencies is estimated to around 6 million, which is larger than Scotland, Kitts Cricket Association St. Lucia Cricket Association St. In their early days in the 1930s, the side represented the British colonies that would form the West Indies Federation plus British Guiana. The last series the West Indies played before the outbreak of the Second World War was against England in 1939, there followed a hiatus that lasted until January 1948 when the MCC toured the West Indies. Of the West Indies players in that first match after the war only Gerry Gomez, George Headley, Jeffrey Stollmeyer, and Foffie Williams had previously played Test cricket. The West Indies defeated England for the first time at Lords on 29 June 1950 and, on 16 August 1950, by the late 1970s, the West Indies led by Clive Lloyd had a side recognised as unofficial world champions, a reputation they retained throughout the 1980s. During these glory years, the West Indies were noted for their four-man fast bowling attack, in 1976, fast bowler Michael Holding took 14/149 in a Test against England, setting a record which still stands for best bowling figures in a Test by a West Indies bowler. The 1980s saw the set a then-record streak of 11 consecutive Test victories in 1984. West Indies would not play a One Day International after World Cup 2015 until after 30 September, a scheduled Triangular series with Zimbabwe and Pakistan was cancelled after the Pakistan Cricket Board refused to risk their hard-earned spot in the same competition. West Indies first game after World Cup was against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka whitewashed West Indies in both Test and ODI series as 2-0 and 3-0 respectively, which cause them to fall down the rankings. But in 2-match T20 series, West Indies were able to draw it by winning the last match of the tour. With this win, West Indies moved higher in T20I team rankings up to third place, most cricketing nations use their own national flags for cricketing purposes. However, as the West Indies represent a number of independent states and dependencies, the WICB has, therefore, developed an insignia showing a palm tree and cricket stumps on a small sunny island
33.
Jonty Rhodes
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Jonathan Neil Jonty Rhodes is a former South African Test and One Day International cricketer who played for the South African cricket team between 1992 and 2003. Rhodes was born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal Province, South Africa and he is commonly regarded as the greatest fielder in the modern era of cricket, if not all time. During his career he played club cricket for the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg and first-class cricket for Gloucestershire County Cricket Club. Rhodes retired from Test cricket in 2000, and from one day cricket in 2003 after an injury during the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Rhodes also represented South Africa at hockey, and was chosen as part of the 1992 Olympic Games squad to go to Barcelona, however and he was also called up for trials to play in the 1996 Olympics but was ruled out by a hamstring injury. Rhodes scored his first Test century during the first Test of a three series against Sri Lanka at Moratuwa during the 1993–1994 season. Batting on the last day, Rhodes scored 101 not out, South Africa went on to win the series 1–0 by winning the second match and drawing the third. Rhodes announced his retirement from Test match cricket in 2001 in order to him to continue playing until the 2003 Cricket World Cup in South Africa. His last Test match was on 6 August 2000 at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Rhodes made scores of 21 and 54 in the two innings. Sri Lanka went on to win the match by six wickets, Rhodes made his One Day International début against Australia in South Africas opening match of the 1992 Cricket World Cup at the Sydney Cricket Ground on 26 February 1992. Australia batted first, scoring 170, and Rhodes dismissed Craig McDermott via a run out, South Africa scored 171 to win the match by nine wickets, Rhodes was not required to bat. Rhodes shot to fame after South Africas fifth game of the World Cup, South Africa batted first, scoring 211 off 50 overs. Pakistans innings was reduced to 36 overs because of rain interruptions, inzamam-ul-Haq and Pakistan captain Imran Khan resumed the innings when play was restarted. With the score at 135/2 Inzamam, who was at the time on 48, the ball had rolled out towards Rhodes who ran in from backward point, gathered the ball and raced the retreating Inzamam to the wicket. Rhodes, with ball in hand, dived full length to break the stumps, the run out, the subject of a famous photograph, is still considered one of the more spectacular feats of that World Cup and the defining moment of Rhodes career. Pakistans innings faltered from then on, eventually finishing on 173/8 with South Africa winning by twenty runs, on 14 November 1993 Rhodes took a world record of five catches, to achieve the most dismissals by a fielder against the West Indies at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai. Rhodes announced that he planned to retire from One-Day International cricket after the 2003 Cricket World Cup in South Africa, however, his tournament was cut short when he got injured in a match against Kenya. In Kenyas innings, Maurice Odumbe hit the ball in the air toward Rhodes, Rhodes dropped the catch and in the process broke his hand
34.
South Africa national cricket team
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The South African national cricket team, nicknamed the Proteas, represents South Africa in international cricket. It is administered by Cricket South Africa, South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status. As of 27 November 2016, South Africa has played 405 Test matches, winning 148, the team has played 564 ODIs, winning 348, losing 194 and tying six, with 16 no-results. Finally, it has played 91 Twenty20 Internationals, winning 54 and losing 36, on 20 August 2012, South Africa became the top ranked team in test cricket for the first time. 8 days later, on 28 August 2012, it became the first team to top the rankings in all three formats of the game, South Africa is currently ranked third in Tests, first in ODIs and third in T20Is by the ICC. South Africa first played cricket in 1889, though the players participating at the time were not aware of the fact. The South African cricket team toured England in 1947, at Trent Bridge, Captain Alan Melville and vice-captain, Dudley Nourse achieved a Test match record for a third wicket partnership of 319. The following year Nourse, 38-year-old captain of Natal, was appointed Captain for the 1948 MCC Test matches in South Africa and they continued to play regularly series of matches against England, Australia and New Zealand until 1970. The membership rules of the Imperial Cricket Conference meant that when South Africa left the Commonwealth in May 1961, despite the rules being changed in 1964 to allow other nations to be Associate members, South Africa did not reapply. Due to South African apartheid laws, which introduced legal racial segregation to the country in 1948, the anti-apartheid movement led the ICC to impose a moratorium on tours in 1970. This decision excluded players such as Graeme Pollock, Barry Richards, World class cricketers of their day like Clive Rice, Vintcent van der Bijl also never played Test Cricket despite their first class records. The ICC reinstated South Africa as a Test nation in 1991, South Africas first Test match after re-admission was played against the West Indies in April 1992. The match was played in Bridgetown, Barbados and South Africa lost by 52 runs, since South Africa have been reinstated they have achieved mixed success, and hosted the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup in 2003. In 2003, South Africa were one of the favourites but were eliminated by one run in the stages after they had mistakenly counted the number of runs they needed. They have also had bad press for failing in vital matches in tournaments including the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy. With Donald retiring, Cronje banned for match-fixing and later killed in a crash, and Pollock also retiring from international cricket. Graeme Smith was made captain, although following injuries to Smith and Jacques Kallis, at the age of 29, he became the first non-white man to captain the once all-white South African cricket team. Due to a racial policy, the side was once required to contain black players
35.
Aravinda de Silva
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Deshabandu Pinnaduwage Aravinda de Silva is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and former captain. To date, Aravinda is the player to make a hundred. De Silva had his education at Isipathana College, Colombo before attending D. S. Senanayake College. A successful season playing cricket for the English county Kent in 1995 marked a turning point in his career. The season proved to be a mix of disappointment and success for Kent and their form in the 40-overs National Cricket League was much better, and they finished on top of the league table with 12 wins, four losses and one abandoned match. In addition, Kent reached the final of Benson & Hedges Cup, personally for de Silva, the time spent with Kent marked the turning point in his career. He was also called to perform as fifth or sixth bowler. De Silva did not play in Kents two last County Championship matches having left to join the Sri Lankan squad on their tour of Pakistan, on 28 July 2007 he made a one-off appearance for a friend for Dorset county league side Sherborne. He made his Test match debut in 1984 at Lords against England, during the early part of his career he was known as a dashing but inconsistent batsman – he was given the nickname Mad Max for his tendency to get out to rash shots. He later commented on his batting style, Thats my natural game – I dont want to change because I feel confident playing that way. If someone is capable of dominating the bowling, they should do it and its the way Ive been playing since I was a youngster. De Silva was instrumental in Sri Lankas triumph in the 1996 Cricket World Cup where his unbeaten century and his other notable achievements include scoring a century in each innings of a Test match on two separate occasions. One of these doubles was 138 and 105, both unbeaten, against Pakistan at Colombos Sinhalese Sports Club in April 1997 and this made him the first, and so far only, player to score two not out centuries in the same Test match. As he had scored 168 in the innings of the previous Test. He finished the year with 1,220 runs at 76.25, Sri Lanka had embarrassingly lost a first-class match against Pakistan Cricket Board Patrons XI and the following first Test against Pakistan both by an innings. Sri Lanka went on to win the third Test and clinch the Test series against Pakistan 2–1.80, in the final Sri Lanka proved victorious by 50 runs. De Silva ended up with a modest 117 runs at an average of 29.25 in five matches.33, in the third test he acted as captain after the regular captain Arjuna Ranatunga pulled out due to finger injury. Concurrently with the Test series Sri Lanka also participated in three-nation ODI series with Australia, in the seventh match of the tournament against West Indies Muralitharan was again called for throwing and did not play again in the ODI series
36.
Sri Lanka national cricket team
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The team first played international cricket in 1926–27, and were later awarded Test status in 1982, which made Sri Lanka the eighth Test cricket playing nation. The team is administered by Sri Lanka Cricket, Angelo Mathews is the current captain of all formats of the game. Sri Lankas national cricket team achieved considerable success beginning in the 1990s, since then, the team has continued to be a force in international cricket. The Sri Lankan cricket team reached the finals of the 2007 and 2011 Cricket World Cups consecutively, but they ended up being runners up in both those occasions. Sri Lanka have won the Cricket World Cup in 1996, the ICC Champions Trophy in 2002 and they have been consecutive runners up in the 2007 and 2011 Cricket World Cups, and have been runners up in the ICC World Twenty20 in 2009 and 2012. The Sri Lankan cricket team currently holds world records, including the world record for highest team total in Tests. The ODI total was broken by England on 30 August 2016, the Sri Lanka national cricket team began with the formation of the Colombo Cricket Club in 1832. By the 1880s a national team, the Ceylon national cricket team, was formed which began playing cricket by the 1920s. The Ceylon national cricket team had achieved associate member status of the International Cricket Council in 1965 and they have also won the 2001-02 Asian Test Championship, defeating Pakistan in the final by an innings and 175 runs. Sri Lanka registered their first ODI win against India at Manchester, England and they also won the 1996 Cricket World Cup, co-champions in 2002 ICC Champions Trophy and also became five times Asian champions in 1986,1997,2004,2008 and 2014. Sri Lanka played their first Twenty20 International match at the Rose Bowl, on 15 June 2006, against England, in 2014, they won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, defeating India by 6 wickets. As of January 2016, Sri Lanka have faced all nine teams in Test cricket, with their most frequent opponent being Pakistan, Sri Lanka have registered more wins against Pakistan and Bangladesh than any other team, with 14. In ODI matches, Sri Lanka have played against 17 teams, they have played against India most frequently, within usual major ODI nations, Sri Lanka have defeated England on 34 occasions, which is their best record in ODIs. The team have competed against 13 countries in T20Is, and have played 15 matches against New Zealand, Sri Lanka have defeated Australia and West Indies 6 occasions each. Sri Lanka was the best T20I team in the world, where they ranked number one in more than 32 months, as of 14 January 2017, Sri Lanka have played 256 Test matches, they have won 80 matches, lost 95 matches, and 81 matches were drawn. As of 10 February 2017, Sri Lanka have played 787 ODI matches, winning 368 matches and losing 379, they also tied 5 matches, whilst 35 had no result. As of 19 February 2017, Sri Lanka have played 92 T20I matches, Sri Lanka were awarded Test cricket status in 1981, by the International Cricket Council. They played their first Test match against England at P. Saravanamuttu Stadium, B. Warnapura was the captain for Sri Lanka in that watch, which England was victorious by 7 wickets
37.
Andrew Flintoff
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Andrew Freddie Flintoff MBE is an English professional cricketer. A former England Test international, he has played for Lancashire, Chennai Super Kings in the IPL. Flintoff also competed once as a boxer in 2012. A tall fast bowler, batsman and slip fielder, Flintoff was consistently rated by the ICC as being among the top international all-rounders in both ODI and Test cricket. Following his debut in 1998, he became a player for England. However, he suffered injuries throughout his international career, often due to his heavy frame. During the period 2007–09 he played in only 13 of Englands 36 Test matches and he then had one professional boxing engagement on 30 November 2012 in Manchester, beating American Richard Dawson on a points decision. After a poor season with the Heat, he announced his final retirement, on 15 March 2015, Flintoff won the first series of the Australian version of Im a Celebrity. Get Me Out of Here. Flintoff also hosted the 2015 series Special Forces – Ultimate Hell Week, Flintoffs father Colin was a plumber and factory maintenance worker and the captain of Dutton Forshaw second XI cricket team. As a boy he played cricket for the Lancashire Schools under-11s and under-15s teams and he then played for 2½ years in the England under-19 team. Flintoff was captain of the England Under-19 team for their Test match tour to Pakistan in 1996/7, nonetheless, his struggle to make the grade at county level continued, he found form only intermittently, though often explosively when he did so. In 2000, he hit 135 not out in the Quarter-finals of the Natwest Trophy against Surrey, although he lost his England place during 2001, he remodelled his bowling action and gained a place on the 2001–02 tour to India. In 2002, he scored his maiden Test century, by 2003, a newer, fitter Flintoff started to justify the comparisons with Botham. Up to the end of 2002, he had averaged just 19 with the bat and 47 with the ball, from 2003 to the end of the 2005 Ashes series, the corresponding figures were 43 and 28. In early 2004 he was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year and he matched this haul in the Second Test against the West Indies at Edgbaston in July, hitting a first-class best figure of 167. During this innings, watched by a crowd of 20,000, a man stood to claim the catch and dropped it – it was Flintoffs father. Over the course of Englands record-breaking summer, he hit a half-century in all seven victorious Tests against New Zealand and the West Indies. At the end of the season he was named as the winner of the ICC Award for one-day player of the year
38.
Steve Harmison
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Stephen James Harmison, MBE, DL is an English football manager and retired cricketer. Currently manager of Ashington in the Northern Football League, primarily a fast bowler, he represented England in cricket, appearing in 63 Tests,58 ODIs, and 2 T20s. He also played county cricket for Durham and Yorkshire and he made his Test and ODI debut for England in 2002, and achieved modest success in these early stages of his career, showing promise as a capable strike bowler for England. This was borne out during the tour of the West Indies in 2003–04 and he followed it up by playing a vital role in Englands victory in the 2005 Ashes series, and was selected as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 2005. At the time, he was regarded as one of the worlds best fast bowlers, Harmisons performance following the 2005 Ashes victory was inconsistent, and he announced his retirement from ODIs in 2006. His problems were compounded by niggling fitness worries and intense competition for a place in the English team, although he came out of ODI retirement in 2008, his place in the squad was never permanent, ultimately leading to his being dropped since 2009. His last Test for England was the final test of the 2009 Ashes series and he formally announced his retirement from the game in October 2013. However, his lack of consistency often led to lethal spells being mixed up with equally bad bowling, steve Harmison was first selected for an England squad in May 2000 during the tour to England by Zimbabwe, but did not play. As part of an ECB National Academy touring team that also contained Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell and Robert Key, in August 2002, Harmison made his Test match debut at Trent Bridge against India, replacing the injured Simon Jones. Originally lacking somewhat in control, he bowled seven consecutive wides in the first match of the tour of Australia, however, promising performances later in the tour saw him named in the World Cup squad, although he did not take to the field in any of the matches. He was then awarded with a central contract by the ECB. Despite media complaints about his ability, he was named in the England squad for the tour to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Harmison went on to win the Man-of-the-Series award after taking 23 wickets in the four Tests, however, Harmison was outshone by spin bowler Ashley Giles for the first three Tests, before he took 9 wickets in the final Test match. In that final match, he punished the West Indies bowling with the bat. Harmisons bowling performance in this took him to the top of the Pricewaterhousecoopers cricket ratings. In 2004, Harmison took 67 wickets in just 13 matches, Harmison disappointed with the ball on the 2004–05 England tour of South Africa, taking just 9 wickets in the Test series at the extremely high average of 73.22. During this series, he spoke frankly about his homesickness on foreign tours, despite these disappointments, he was still named as one of five cricketers of the year by Wisden Cricketers Almanack in 2005. In summer 2005 Harmison was part of the England team that regained The Ashes from Australia
39.
Michael Vaughan
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Michael Paul Vaughan OBE is a retired cricketer who represented Yorkshire and England. Vaughan was a batsman and forged a successful England partnership with Marcus Trescothick. He was the captain of the England team when they regained the Ashes in 2005, eighteen years after having last won the trophy.95 when not captain, Vaughan announced his retirement from first-class cricket on 30 June 2009. The family moved to Sheffield, when he was nine, however, it was his brother David, older by two years, who got him into the game. He attended Silverdale School, and was enthusiastic about football, later reflecting, but my knees would never have lasted. Despite his many commitments, he has been a supporter of Sheffield Wednesday. As a youngster he played alongside future England international footballer and Manchester United captain Gary Neville, himself a talented youth cricketer and he started playing cricket for the school side and it was here he first caught the eye of Doug Padgett, the Yorkshire coach. He also started playing cricket for Sheffield Collegiate Cricket Club at Abbeydale Park in Sheffield. Vaughan lives with his wife Nichola, a native of Northern Ireland, whom he married on 27 September 2003, in 2006 Vaughan bought a house valued at £1million on a luxury golf course development in Barbados and another on Isla Margarita. In 2012, Vaughan carried the Olympic Torch through Hillingdon for the London Olympic Games on 24 July, Vaughan, then living in Derbyshire, turned up as a child to watch Yorkshire playing at Sheffield. During the tea break, he was playing on the outfield with his friends when Yorkshire head coach Doug Padgett spotted him, and approached him about joining the County. However, Vaughan was born in Eccles, near Manchester, years later, when the rule was removed, Doug Padgett re-investigated the young player, and offered him a place at the Yorkshire academy. He made his Test debut for England in South Africa in November 1999 and he came to the crease for his first Test innings with England in the perilous state of two wickets down for two runs, within an over this had become four wickets down for two runs. He made a composed 33, and shared a partnership of 56 with Andrew Flintoff, in May 2001 he scored his first Test century against Pakistan at Old Trafford. In 2002, Vaughan scored 900 runs in seven Tests against Sri Lanka and this included 115 against Sri Lanka at Lords during the first Test. Later that year the English cricket team travelled to Australia for the 2002–03 Ashes series and it was here that Vaughans career seemed to launch. He started poorly in the first Test at Brisbane with scores of 33 and 0, during the fourth Test at Melbourne he made an aggressive 145. This run of form made Vaughan the number one batsman in the according to the ICC rankings
40.
Rahul Dravid
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Rahul Dravid is a former Indian cricketer and captain, widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. Born in a Marathi family and brought up in Bangalore, he started playing cricket at the age of 12 and later represented Karnataka at the under-15, under-17, in December 2011, he became the first non-Australian cricketer to deliver the Bradman Oration in Canberra. In 2004, after completing his century against Bangladesh in Chittagong, he became the first, as of October 2012, he holds the record for the most number of catches taken by a player in Test cricket, with 210. Dravid holds a record of never getting out for a Golden duck in the 286 Test innings which he has played. He appeared in the 2012 Indian Premier League as captain of the Rajasthan Royals, Rahul Dravid, along with Glenn McGrath were honoured during the seventh annual Bradman Awards function in Sydney on 1 November 2012. Dravid has also honoured with the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan award, Indias fourth. In 2014, Rahul Dravid joined the GoSports Foundation, Bangalore as a member of their board of advisors, in collaboration with GoSports Foundation he is mentoring Indias future Olympians and Paralympians as part of the Rahul Dravid Athlete Mentorship Programme. Indian badminton player Prannoy Kumar, Para-swimmer Sharath Gayakwad and young Golfer Chikkarangappa S. was part of the group of athletes to be mentored by Rahul Dravid. Dravid was born in a Marathi family in Indore, Madhya Pradesh and his family later moved to Bangalore, Karnataka, where he was raised. Dravids father worked for a company that makes jams and preserves and his mother, Pushpa, was a professor of Architecture at the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering, Bangalore. Dravid has a brother named Vijay. He did his schooling at St. Josephs Boys High School, Bangalore and earned a degree in commerce from St. Josephs College of Commerce, former cricketer Keki Tarapore first noticed Dravids talent while coaching at a summer camp in the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Dravid scored a century for his school team, Dravid made his Ranji Trophy debut in February 1991, while he was still attending college. Playing alongside future Indian teammates Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath against Maharashtra in Pune, he scored 82 runs in the match, which ended in a draw. His first full season was in 1991–92, when he scored two centuries and finished up with 380 runs at an average of 63.3, getting selected for the South Zone cricket team in the Duleep Trophy. Dravid made his debut on 3 April 1996 in an ODI against Sri Lanka in the Singer Cup held in Singapore immediately after the 1996 World Cup replacing Vinod Kambli. He wasnt particularly impressive with the bat scoring just three runs before being dismissed by Muttiah Muralitharan but took two catches in the match and he followed it up with another failure in the next ODI of the series scoring just 4 runs before getting run out against Pakistan. In contrast to his ODI debut, his Test debut was successful one
41.
Virender Sehwag
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Virender Sehwag pronunciation is a former Indian cricketer, and a former captain of India. Often considered as one of the most destructive batsman of the game, Sehwag is an aggressive right-handed opening batsman and he played his first One Day International in 1999 and joined the Indian test side in 2001. In March 2009, Sehwag smashed what was then the fastest century ever scored by an Indian in ODI cricket. On 8 December 2011, he hit his maiden century in ODI cricket, against West Indies. His score became the highest individual score in ODI cricket –219 off 149 balls which was bettered by Rohit Sharma –264 off 173 balls on 13 November 2014. He is one of two players in the world to score a double hundred in ODI and a triple hundred in Test Cricket. Sehwag was appointed as vice-captain of the Indian team under Rahul Dravid in October 2005 but due to poor form, in January 2007, Sehwag was dropped from the ODI team and later from the Test team as well. During his term as vice-captain, Sehwag skippered the team in place of injured Dravid in 2 ODIs and 1 Test, following his return to form in 2008 and the retirement of Anil Kumble, Sehwag was reappointed as the vice-captain for both Tests and ODIs. By early 2009, Sehwag had reestablished himself as one of the best performing batsmen in ODI cricket, Sehwag retired from all forms of International cricket on October 20,2015. Sehwag is currently well praised throughout the country for his witty humor-filled tweets on the micro-blogging site Twitter relating to current affairs, Sehwag was born in the family of a grain merchant. He spent his childhood in a joint family with siblings, uncles, aunts, though now settled in New Delhi, the Sehwag family hails from Haryana. Sehwag was the third of four born to father Krishan and mother Krishna Sehwag. His father attributes his interest in cricket to a toy bat which he was given when he was seven months old and he attended Arora Vidya School in Delhi, and pestered his parents to let him play cricket, on the basis that he was not academically gifted. Early in his career he had a reputation for being an attacking batsman and his father tried to end his career when he broke a tooth as a child in 1990, but Sehwag evaded the ban with the help of his mother. Later he attended Jamia Milia Islamia for graduation, Sehwag made his debut for Delhi cricket team in first class cricket in the 1997–98 season. He was selected to the North Zone cricket team for the Duleep Trophy the following 1998–99 season, the following year he was fourth on the Duleep Trophy run scoring list, including a 274, the highest score of the competition. This was attained against South Zone at Agartala in just 327 balls and he was then selected for the U-19 team which toured South Africa. He was seventh in the 2000–01 season with two centuries, but his consistency earned the attention of selectors and he became a member of the national team in mid-2001
42.
Sachin Tendulkar
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Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is a former Indian cricketer and captain, widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time. Later in his career, Tendulkar was a part of the Indian team that won the 2011 World Cup and he had previously been named Player of the Tournament at the 2003 edition of the tournament, held in South Africa. In 2013, he was the only Indian cricketer included in an all-time Test World XI named to mark the 150th anniversary of Wisden Cricketers Almanack. After a few hours of his match on 16 November 2013. He is the youngest recipient to date and the first ever sportsperson to receive the award and he also won the 2010 Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for cricketer of the year at the ICC awards. In 2012, Tendulkar was nominated to the Rajya Sabha, the house of the Parliament of India. He was also the first sportsperson and the first person without a background to be awarded the honorary rank of group captain by the Indian Air Force. In 2012, he was named an Honorary Member of the Order of Australia, in December 2012, Tendulkar announced his retirement from ODIs. Tendulkar played 664 international cricket matches in total, scoring 34,357 runs, Tendulkar was born at Nirmal Nursing Home in Dadar, Bombay on 24 April 1973 in a Maharashtrian family. His father, Ramesh Tendulkar, was a well-known Marathi novelist and his mother, Rajni, Ramesh named Tendulkar after his favourite music director, Sachin Dev Burman. Tendulkar has three siblings, two half-brothers Nitin and Ajit, and a half-sister Savita. They were Rameshs children from his first marriage, although, Sachin has not mentioned this even in his autobiography. He spent his years in the Sahitya Sahawas Cooperative Housing Society in Bandra. As a young boy, Tendulkar was considered a bully, and he also showed an interest in tennis, idolising John McEnroe. To help curb his mischievous and bullying tendencies, Ajit introduced him to cricket in 1984 and he introduced the young Sachin to Ramakant Achrekar, a famous cricket coach and a club cricketer of repute, at Shivaji Park, Dadar. In the first meeting, the young Sachin did not play his best, Ajit told Achrekar that he was feeling self-conscious due to the coach observing him, and was not displaying his natural game. Ajit requested the coach to give him another chance at playing and this time, Sachin, apparently unobserved, played much better and was accepted at Achrekars academy. Ajit is ten years elder and is credited by Sachin for playing a role in his life
43.
Anil Kumble
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Anil Radhakrishna Kumble (Kannada, ಅನಿಲ್ ಕುಂಬ್ಳೆ is the current head coach of the Indian cricket team, and a former Indian cricketer and captain. A right-arm leg spin bowler, he took 619 wickets in Test cricket, unlike his contemporaries, Kumble was not a big turner of the ball, but relied primarily on pace, bounce, and accuracy. Kumble was selected as the Indian Cricket Cricketer of the Year in 1993, born in Bengaluru, Karnataka, to a Kannada family, Kumble developed an early interest in cricket as he grew up watching players like B. S. Chandrasekhar before becoming a full-fledged cricketer. He made his First-class debut at the age of 19 while representing Karnataka, soon he was picked up for the Austral-Asia Cup in 1990 before making his Test debut against England later that year. Since then he has represented the Indian Test team on more than 132 Test matches and was responsible for many of Indias victories. Kumble became a part of the regular ODI team during the early 1990s and held some of the best performances during this time, Kumble was awarded the Padma Shri, Indias fourth highest civilian honour in 2005. After having played for 18 years, he announced his retirement from cricket in November 2008. In October 2012, Kumble was appointed the chairman of International Cricket Council s cricket committee, between 2012 and 2015, Kumble held positions as a chief mentor for the teams Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League. In February 2015, he became the fourth Indian cricketer to be inducted into ICC Hall of Fame, Kumble was born in Bengaluru, Karnataka to Krishna Swamy and Saroja. Kumble has a brother named Dinesh Kumble and he is married to Chethana Kumble, and has two children – son Mayas Kumble and daughter Svasti Kumble. He also has a daughter Aaruni Kumble, Kumbles primary school was Holy Saint English School. He began playing cricket on the streets of Bengaluru and joined a club called Young Cricketers at the age of 13 and he completed his pre-university college education from National College Basavanagudi. Kumble graduated B. E from Rashtreeya Vidyalaya College of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering in 1991–92. He is nicknamed Jumbo not only because his deliveries, for a spinner, are as fast as a jumbo jet, recently one of the Main Road to Govt Hospital was renamed as ANIL KUMBLE Road by cricketer Kumble himself in a recent function conducted by Kumbla Panchayat. Kumble made his first-class debut for Karnataka against Hyderabad on 30 November 1989, taking 4 wickets and he was then selected for India Under-19s against Pakistan Under-19s, scoring 113 in the first test and 76 in the second. He made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka at Sharjah in the Austral-Asia Cup on 25 April 1990 and he played one more game in the series against Pakistan and picked up ended up with two wickets. His Test debut came in the year when India toured England for a three-test series. He did not play any Tests until 1992, Kumble picked up 13/138 in Irani Trophy against Delhi for Rest of India which ensured the latters victory
44.
Brendon McCullum
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He previously captained New Zealand in all three forms of the international game. A big hitting legend in limited over cricket, McCullum took quick scoring to Test matches as well and he is considered as one of the most successful captains of New Zealand cricket. His brother Nathan McCullum was also a first-class and international cricketer, both Brendon and Nathan attended Kings High School in Dunedin. He played for the Kolkata Knight Riders from 2008–2010 and again from 2012–2013 and he played the 2014 and 2015 seasons for the Chennai Super Kings. McCullum was a wicket-keeper until 2013 and he became the first New Zealander to score a triple hundred in a Test,302 runs against India on 18 February 2014. In 2014, he became the first New Zealander to score 1000 test runs in a calendar year. The record was bettered by Kane Williamson with 1172 runs in 2015 and he is also the highest runs scorer by the captain in his farewell test and first captain to score a century in his farewell test. He formally retired from all international cricket on 24 February 2016, after retirement, he has confirmed to return to Brisbane Heat for BBL06. He is also acting presently as a Mentor and Captain for Lahore Qalandars franchise cricket team in Pakistan Super League, state Shield, including 14 fours and 5 sixes. When he got to 135, he scored the highest individual runs for an Otago Volts player, when he got to 162, he scored the highest score by any player in a domestic one-day match overtaking Blair Hartlands previous record. He went on to score 170 runs, including 19 fours and 7 sixes, McCullum played for Glamorgan in 2006 and he scored 160 opening the batting against Leicestershire in the County Championship. On 24 January 2009, he lined up for New South Wales in the final of Australias KFC Twenty20 Big Bash and this was an exercise to allow him to be eligible to play for them in the Twenty20 Champions League. This sparked criticism however despite opinion States are permitted to have one player in their squad. McCullum also donated his fee from the game to Otago Junior Cricket. McCullum reached his 50 off 32 deliveries and his century off 65 deliveries, following his announcement to retire from international cricket in 2015, he signed with Middlesex for NatWest T20 Blast. His commitment would be for half a season after his stint at IPL, in September 2016 he signed with the Lahore Qalandars for the 2017 season of the Pakistan Super League and will be the teams captain. In 2004, he played in a Test series against England and scored what was then his highest score and his maiden Test century came several months later when he scored 143 against Bangladesh. He fell just short of his second Test hundred in a game against Sri Lanka when dismissed one short of his hundred and his second century would later come with a run a ball 111 against Zimbabwe
45.
Daniel Vettori
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Daniel Luca Vettori, ONZM is a former New Zealand cricketer who played for the New Zealand cricket team in all formats and a former captain in all formats. He was the captain of New Zealand between 2007 and 2011, Vettori is the eighth player in Test history to take 300 wickets and score 3,000 runs. Vettori was a bowling all-rounder who bowled slow left-arm orthodox spin and he is known for his accuracy, flight and guile rather than prodigious turn, and also his speed variation. He has a Test batting average of around 30 which made him one of the more consistent batsmen in the New Zealand cricket team, in the fourth season of Indian Premier League, he was contracted by Royal Challengers Bangalore for US$550,000. He is currently the coach of the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL. Vettori announced his retirement from all forms of cricket following the 2015 Cricket World Cup. On April 2,2015, Vettori signed a 3-year contract to head coach of Brisbane Heat. He is currently the coach of the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL. He was born in Auckland and brought up in Hamilton, attending Marian School, when available, he plays provincial cricket for Northern Districts and is also an international member of Indian Premier League team the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Vettori also represents the Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League and he took his 300th Test wicket in Sri Lanka in 2009, becoming only the second New Zealand bowler to pass that mark and he is currently New Zealands leading ODI wicket-taker. Vettori has three 10 wicket hauls in Test cricket, against Sri Lanka, Australia and Bangladesh and his best innings figures were achieved at Auckland in 1999–2000 against Australia where he took 7/87. He finished with career best match figures in game, taking 12/149. They are the second best ever by a New Zealander, with only Richard Hadlee having taken more in a match, with another 12 wicket effort, against Bangladesh in Chittagong, he became the only New Zealander to have taken a dozen wickets in a Test on two occasions. Vettori is the first left arm spinner in cricket history to take 300+ wickets in both ODIs and Tests and he was also the first left arm spinner in test history to capture 350 test wickets. He is the bowler to have most frequently dismissed Shane Warne in Tests, getting him out nine times, ironically, in the 1st Test against Pakistan in 2009–10 season, Vettori was himself dismissed for 99, while chasing a world record in centuries batting from position number 8. As of the end of 2006, he had led New Zealand in 11 games and he captained New Zealand at the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa. Subsequently, it was announced that Vettori would captain the Black Caps in all forms of the game, Twenty20s, ODIs, initially, he was announced to be captain only of the former two. Vettoris captaincy had a start, losing a Test series in England first up
46.
Shoaib Akhtar
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Shoaib Akhtar is a former Pakistani cricketer. He is known as the fastest bowler ever in the history of cricket and has bowled the fastest delivery officially recorded at a top speed of 161. 3km/h, Akhtar was nicknamed as Rawalpindi Express, as a tribute to his hometown and fast bowling. He is widely acknowledged as a legend in cricket history & one of the greatest fast bowlers ever, Akhtar made his Test debut in November 1997 as an opening fast bowler and played his first One Day International 3 months later. Akhtar has been involved in controversies during his career, often accused of not being a team player. Akhtar was sent home during a Test match series in Australia in 2005 for alleged poor attitude, a year later, he was embroiled in a drug scandal after testing positive for the performance-enhancing substance nandrolone. However, the ban imposed on him was lifted on appeal, in September 2007, he was banned for an indefinite period for his fight with Pakistan team mate and fast bowler Mohammad Asif. On 1 April 2008, Akhtar was banned for 5 years for publicly criticising the Pakistan Cricket Board, in October 2008, the Lahore High Court in Pakistan suspended the five-year ban and Akhtar was selected in the 15-man squad for the Twenty20 Quadrangular Tournament in Canada. Pakistani judge Rana Bhagwandas once stated that Akhtar is a legend of Pakistan cricket, Akhtar retired from international cricket after the 2011 World Cup. Akhtar was born in a small town Morgha near Rawalpindi, Punjab in Pakistan in a Gujjar family and his father was a plant operator at the Attock Refinery. Considering his subsequent high profile in cricket, Akhtars test career started rather modestly and he was first picked to play on his home ground in Rawalpindi during the 2nd Test of the West Indies 1997/98 tour of Pakistan. He was subsequently included in the tour of South Africa during the winter of 1998, subsequently, after 8 tests and 16 innings, Akhtar had accumulated only 18 wickets to his name. Akhtars run of impressive performances started in 1999, during a pre-World Cup series against India and it was followed by outstanding bowling performances in Sharjah and later in 1999 Cricket World Cup. It was the first ball he bowled to Tendulkar. In 2002, he was selected for the Pakistan team against Australia, however he performed poorly during the 2003 Cricket World Cup and after the tournament he was dropped from the Pakistan squad. He was selected back into the Pakistan squad in the 2004 Test match series against New Zealand, the series ended with a controversy when he left the field citing an injury leading to suspicions by former Pakistan captain, Inzamam-ul-Haq, about his commitment to the team. As a result, his relationship with Inzamam-ul-Haq and former Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer deteriorated, a medical panel was set up by the Pakistan Cricket Board to investigate the nature of his injury, however Pakistan officials dispelled all suspicions. In 2005, Akhtar regained his reputation as a fast bowler for his side, playing in a three Test home series against England, he made a series of impressive bowling performances. His effective use of slower deliveries proved to be unplayable by the English batsmen, Akhtar emerged as the highest wicket taker of the series with seventeen wickets
47.
Inzamam-ul-Haq
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Inzamam-ul-Haq, also known as Inzy, is a former Pakistani cricketer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsman in the history of cricket and he is the leading run scorer for Pakistan in One-Day Cricket and the third-highest run scorer for Pakistan in Test cricket, after Younis Khan and Javed Miandad. He was the captain of the Pakistan national cricket team from 2003–07 and is considered to be one of the best leaders in Pakistan Cricket history, Inzamam is currently serving as the chief selector of Pakistan cricket team. Inzamam rose to fame in the semi-final of the 1992 Cricket World Cup and he remained one of the teams leading batsmen throughout the decade in both Test and ODI cricket. In 2003, he was appointed captain of the team and his tenure as captain ended after Pakistans early exit from the 2007 Cricket World Cup. Following his retirement, he joined the Indian Cricket League, captaining the Hyderabad Heroes in the edition of the Twenty20 competition. In the ICLs second edition, he captained the Lahore Badshahs, inzamam-ul-Haq is a prominent member of the Tablighi Jamaat, an Islamic missionary organisation, and remains an influential personality in Pakistan cricket. Inzamam made his debut in a series against West Indies in 1991. This was followed by 48,60,101, and 117 runs against Sri Lanka, handpicked by former Pakistan captain Imran Khan for the 1992 Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, 22-year-old Inzamam was relatively unheard of before the tournament. To the surprise of many he was persevered with throughout the tournament, coming in at various positions in the batting line-up, yet it was his performances at the most crucial stage of the competition that made fans and summarisers take note. Inzamam rose to fame in Pakistans dramatic semi-final against New Zealand at Auckland. With his side in a position, chasing 262 against an impressive New Zealand side. The innings was regarded as one of the finest World Cup performances and he hit a massive six in that match which was described by David Lloyd as the shot of the tournament. Inzamam made a vital contribution in the final of the World Cup, scoring 42 runs off just 35 balls. These innings established Inzamams billing as a player, although he was unable to replicate his World Cup success in later tournaments. Inzamam regard his best least highlighted innings of 90 not out against West Indies when Pakistan won their first ODI in the West Indies on 27 March 1993. In total, Inzamam set a record for scoring the most half centuries in One Day Internationals,83 – though this is now surpassed by Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis and Kumar Sangakkara. He also became the second batsman to score 10,000 runs in One-day Internationals and was named in the ICC World XI for both Tests and One-day Internationals in the 2005 ICC Awards
Australia (both Test and ODI)
Mark Boucher (wicket-keeper)
Rahul Dravid
Andrew Flintoff
Inzamam-ul-Haq
Brian Lara
Muttiah Muralitharan
Daniel Vettori
TAS
WA
NSW
QLD
VIC