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Cricket Bat-and-ball game played between two teams, each consisting of 11 players. The game is played with a small solid ball and long flat-sided wooden bats on a round or oval field at the centre of which is a 22 yards finely mown pitch. At each end of the pitch is a wicket made up of three upright wooden sticks (stumps) surmounted by two smaller sticks (bails). In cricket, each team tries to score more runs, that is, the number of times a batsman exchanges ends with his partner after striking the ball and before it is returned by the fielders. The fielding side, in contrast, strives to make counter batsman 'out' in any of the following ways: bowled, caught, run out, stumped or leg-before-wicket (lbw). Players of the fielding side in a match are positioned as a bowler, a wicket keeper and fielders in slip, gully, third man, cover, silly mid off, silly mid on, square leg and long leg positions. Players of a team are designated as bowlers, batsmen, wicket keeper, and all rounder. Three umpires, two in the field and one outside, and a match referee are appointed for conducting the match. A cricket match is held either as a 50-over one-day match or a match of three, four or five days. In a five-day match, known internationally as a test match, each team plays two innings unless any team itself decides not two play the second after making very high score in the first The origin of cricket dates back to the 16th century but it became popular in southern England only in the late 18th century. The first mention of the game was inscribed in one of two books written during the reign of Edward the 5th. Rules were drawn up in 1774 and modified following the formation of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in 1787. The first test match in the history of cricket was held in Melbourne in March 1877. Australia became the winner of the first test match defeating England by 45 runs. Between 1894 and 1914, cricket spread far and wide and the period is also marked by colossal modifications in the game's rules and norms. In 1909, the International Cricket Council (ICC) was established with three primary members England, Australia and South Africa. West Indies joined ICC in 1928, New Zealand in 1931, India in 1932, Pakistan in 1952, Sri Lanka in 1981, Zimbabwe in 1992, and Bangladesh in 2000. Australia is also the winner of the first one-day international cricket match held in 1970-71. A meeting held in Lords on 25 - 26 June 1973 resolved to organise a World Cup cricket match on regular basis. Accordingly, the first World cup match was held in 1975 in England. Since then the World Cup cricket match has been taking place once in every four years. Cricket commenced in India soon after the British arrived in the sub-continent. The first match in the region took place between Itneyan civil servants and other officials of the company on 18 - 19 January 1808. In 1848, the Oriental Cricket Club was established under the tutelage of the Parsis, a religious sect of India. In 1938, the Ranji Trophy commenced. It was named after the famous Indian cricket player Ranjit Singhji. After the partition of bengal in 1947, matches of domestic cricket in Pakistan were conducted in four leagues. The Bangladesh Cricket Control Board was established in 1972. Soon after, a cricket league commenced in dhaka and chittagong. A national level cricket tournament begun in the country in 1974-75. During this time the cricket league started at the districts level. Other tournaments that were organised included National Youth Cricket, Inter-university Cricket, College & School Cricket, Shahid Smriti Cricket, Damal Summer Cricket and Star Summer Cricket.
Bangladesh first appeared in the ICC trophy in 1979,
when it won matches against Fiji and Malaysia. In 1986, it played its
first ever one-day international match without becoming a full member
of ICC. Cricket has gradually become very popular in urban areas of the
country. Although football was the most popular game for a long time,
cricket gained a momentum and soon surpassed football, especially after
Bangladesh won the ICC trophy in Malaysia in 1996. Bangladesh also performed
well in the 7th World Cup held in 1999 in England, where, in a group match
it defeated Pakistan. In 1997, Bangladesh became a regular ICC member
with the right to play one-day internationals. It attained the status
of a test playing country on 26 June 2000.
[Gofran Faroqi]
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