Cricket and England

England is well known for its sporting traditions. When you say Cricket, the first thing that comes to mind is definitely England. Cricket is world’s third largest and most viewed sporting event and it’s an honour that England is the founder behind all forms of crickets including test matches, one day internationals and the various T20 matches played all over the world. Documentaries and predictions say cricket originated from different games like Kreckett, Stoolball, baseball and some other ball games. Some say 13^th, some 15^th, while others say it has grown from the 15^th century and was successful as a complete game only in the eighteenth century.

England being the home to Cricket plays its part in different cricket tournaments played all over the world.

International Cricket

England, the Mother of Cricket, takes part in different international matches and tournaments. When it comes to international cricket, the most important competitions include

Cricket World Cup

The Cricket World Cup is organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for every four years since 1975. England has hosted the Cricket World Cup 4 times since 1975 in the years 1975, 1979, 1983 and 1999 and is the host for 2019 Cricket World Cup as well. England was the only nation in the early years of Cricket with resources for hosting big games. England has played the finals 3 times, but wasn’t able to win any.

ICC Championship Trophy

ICC Championship Trophy commonly called Championship Trophy was inaugurated in 1998 and is held every 2 years. It follows the same format as the Cricket World Cup. It’s a knock out tournament where a single loss could eliminate the team from the rest of the tournament. All test playing nations take part in the ICC Championship Trophy. England has hosted the trophy once in 2004 and became the runners up for the year. The last tournament was held in 2009 and the format is expected to change as World Test Championship from 2013.

The Ashes

The Ashes is a legendary test series taking place between England and Australia since 1882. This event takes place on a biannual basis and is hosted alternatively in the two countries. It is fight between the countries for years to gain world supremacy in the game of cricket. The whole world anticipates this event as new records are set each time by the players.

Cricket in the UK

Twenty 20

Twenty 20 was introduced in England in 2003 to limit the match to 3 hours of play with 20 overs for each team. The initial matches were between the British Counties. The popularity of the game spread worldwide and the World T20 championship tournament was inaugurated in South Africa in 2007.

County Championship

The County Championship takes place in the UK since 1890. It’s UK’s domestic championship tournament and attracts the local crowd. The game is interesting and follows the same rules as international cricket and takes place in two divisions.

National League

Since 1999, The National League Tournament is hosted in UK between the top counties in England and Wales. The game is slightly different as it includes 40 overs per innings. This tournament includes two divisions and local crowd enjoy this tournament.

As long as cricket is played, England will have its name and set records!