The World Cup Cricket is one of the most prestigious sporting events in the world. In fact, during this year’s competition, teams from over 200 countries participated. What do you know about this event? You might be surprised to learn some of these fun facts!
12 Interesting Facts About World Cup Cricket
The first cricket match between two countries was played in 1844 between England and Scotland. Cricket is now played in many parts of the world. Here are some interesting facts about cricket.
- 1 The International Cricket Council (ICC) has 191 members including 6 Associate Members, 15 Affiliates, and 186 Full Members. In addition, there are 10 ICC Development Members that do not have full voting rights but still support the ICC financially.
- 2 The most common cricket ball is made of crumb rubber, polyester and jute or gut. It is filled with cork, either cork-filled polystyrene or cork pellets. The thickness of the cricket ball depends upon its use. A tennis ball has a thickness varying between 7mm and 15mm.
- 3 In 1844, there were only 50 teams in England with 10 players each. In 1845, there were 60 clubs in England but they could not play on Sundays due to stricter rules being enforced. In 1856, there were 80 clubs but they could not play on Sundays. In 1865, there were 120 clubs and not all of them fielded teams on Sundays. By 1866, the number of teams had reached 600. The first match between England and Australia was played in 1877.
- 4 In 2018, Cricket Australia introduced a technology called ‘Ball Tracking’. The system uses high-speed cameras to track the ball’s movement during the game.#5 India had 11 wickets in hand when they won the first Test match in England in 1952. In 2013, India had 13 wickets in hand when they won the first Test in England.
- 6 Between 1884-1901, there were 134 Tests played between England and Australia.
- 7 India has won more World Cup than any other team. They have been crowned world champions 5 times (1962, 1965, 1983, 2011 and 2015)
- 8 When Mahendra Singh Dhoni took over as the captain of India from MS Dhoni, he became the first captain to have played in all three formats of the game.
- 9 Only five batsmen have scored more centuries in Tests than Sachin Tendulkar – Sir Don Bradman (12), Brian Lara (11), Sir Vivian Richards (10), Rahul Dravid and Sunil Gavaskar (each 9).
- 10 Sachin Tendulkar is the only cricketer to reach 10 international centuries after scoring his 100th century against Australia.
- 11 The most runs scored in an ODI innings by a batsman is 343 by Kumar Sangakkara against South Africa in 2004.
- 12 In the 1996 World Cup final, India lost to Pakistan by 6 runs.
- 13 No cricketer has scored more than fifty international centuries, with Sachin Tendulkar from India having scored 100 centuries in Test and One-Day International matches. Sachin Tendulkar also holds the record for being the leading run-scorer for his team in both Tests and ODIs. He made over 20,000 runs at an average of 49.88 and with a highest score of 365 not out.
- 14 Over the years, no cricketer has scored more than 4 double hundreds in international matches. In fact, this is the only format in which a player hasn’t scored two hundreds in an innings.(Tendulkar: 4; Lara: 2; Gilchrist: 2)
- 15 The most wickets taken by a bowler is 405 by Shane Warne against Pakistan at Karachi.
- 16 Former Indian captain, Sunil Gavaskar holds the record for scoring the most number of fifty-plus scores in international cricket. He has scored 6 centuries and 4 fifties.
- 17 Sachin Tendulkar is the first batsman to score a double century on his home soil. This happens against West Indies in Kolkata.
- 18 Shane Warne has the highest bowling average in Test cricket at 27.58.
- 19 In an ODI, only once was there more than one double hundred being played by two batsmen – this happened against Zimbabwe at Harare.
- 20 The most number of fours scored by a batsman in an innings is 10 by Waqar Younis against Australia on the 1993 tour of India.
- 21 It is a myth that cricket bat used in Test match are made up of wood, mainly due to the fact that it weighs about 2.6 kg as compared to one pound for a wooden bat.
- 22 After Greg Chappell’s retirement, only two players have captained more teams than him – Imran Khan and Ray Illingworth.
- 23 Australia led the Test series 1-0 against Pakistan during their tour in 1989 when a wooden twig was buried into the pitch at Adelaide.
- 24 West Indies (1) and India (2) have won the most number of Test series by 0-1 margins.
- 25 The first time in history that there were three teams tied with five points each in the same year was during World War II, when South Africa and New Zealand both had 5 pts each. However, South Africa won the war and retained their points.
The History of World Cup Cricket
Cricket has been played since the 17th century in England. However, it wasn’t until after World War I that the game was introduced to the rest of the world. Cricket has been a part of World Cups since its inception, and it is played at almost every level from local clubs to international tournaments.
Evolution of the sport
Cricket is a sport that has been around since the 1300s in England. Originally, it was only played by the lower class people and required very little equipment. Over time, the sport became more popular and eventually evolved into what we know today.
