Friday, January 7, 2011

Limited overs cricket

Limited overs cricket

Limited overs cricket, also known as one-day cricket and in

a slightly different context as List A cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed in one day, whereas Test and first-class matches can take up to five days to complete. The name reflects the rule that in the match each team bowls a set maximum number of overs, usually between 20 and 50, although shorter and longer forms of limited overs cricket have been played. Important one-day matches, international and domestic, often have two days set aside, the second day being a "reserve" day to allow more chance of the game being completed if a result is not possible on the first day (for instance if play is prevented or interrupted by rain).

Structure

Each team bats only once, and each innings is limited to a set number of overs, usually fifty in a One Day International and between forty and sixty in a List A. List A is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of cricket, technically as the domestic level One-day cricket is popular with spectators as it can encourage aggressive, risky, entertaining batting, often results in cliffhanger endings, and ensures that a spectator can watch an entire match without committing to five days of continuous attendance. However, many devotees of Test match cricket belie the relative skills of the teams. In modern one-day tactics, batsmen take few risks outside the first and last few overs, thus diminishing the claimed excitement.

Bowling restrictions

As mentioned above, in almost all competitive one-day games, a restriction

is placed on the number of overs that may be bowled by any one bowler. This is to prevent a side playing two top-class bowlers with extremely good stamina who can bowl throughout their opponents' innings. The usual limitation is set so that a side must include at least five players who bowl. For example, the usual limit for twenty-over cricket is four overs per bowler, for forty-over cricket eight per bowler and for fifty-over cricket ten per bowler. There are exceptions: Pro Cricket in the United States restricts bowlers to five overs each, thus leaving a side requiring only four bowlers.

History

One-day cricket began between English county teams on 2 May 1962. Leicestershire beat Derbyshire and Northamptonshire beat Nottinghamshire over 65 overs in the "Midlands Knock-Out Cup", which Northamptonshire went on to win a week later. The following year, the first full-scale one-day competition between first-class teams was played, the knock-out Gillette Cup, won by Sussex. League one-day cricket also began in England, when the John Player Sunday League was started in 1969. Both these competitions have continued every season since inauguration, though the sponsorship has changed. The knock-out cup is now the Friends Provident Trophy. The league is not exclusive to Sundays, with the competition now over 40 overs. It is now called the Natwest Pro40.

The first Limited Overs International (LOI) or One-Day International (ODI) match was played in Melbourne in 1971, and the quadrennial cricket World Cup began in 1975. Many of the "packaging" innovations, such as coloured clothing, were as a result of World Series Cricket, a "rebel" series set up outside the cricketing establishment by Australian entrepreneur Kerry Packer. For more details, see History of cricket.

Twenty20, a curtailed form of one-day cricket with 20 overs per side, was first played in England in 2003. It has proven very popular, and several Twenty20 matches have been played between national teams. It makes several changes to the usual laws of cricket, including the addition of a "bowl-out" (similar to a penalty shoot-out in football) to decide the result of tied matches, which was subsequently dispensed in favour of a Super Over.


One Day Internationals

One Day International matches are usually played in brightly coloured clothing often in a "day-night" format where the first innings of the day occurs in the afternoon and the second occurs under stadium lights.

One Day International tournaments

Every four years, the Cricket World Cup involves all the Test-playing nations and other national sides who qualify through the ICC World Cup Qualifier. It usually consists of round-robin stages, followed by semi-finals and a final. The International Cricket Council (ICC) determines the venue far in advance.

Players like Javed Miandad, Viv Richards, Dean Jones, Wasim Akram, Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara are the heros of limited over game of the period 1971-2000.

The ICC Champions Trophy also involves all the Test-playing nations, and is held between World Cups. It usually consists of a round-robin group stage, semifinals, and a final.

Each Test-playing country often hosts triangular tournaments, between the host nation and two touring sides. There is usually a round-robin group stage, and then the leading two teams play each other in a final, or sometimes a best-of-three final. When there is only one touring side, there is still often a best-of-five or best-of-seven series of limited overs matches.


Domestic one-day competitions

Domestic one-day competitions exist in almost every country where cricket is played.

List A status

List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket. Much as domestic first-class cricket is the level below international Test match cricket, so List A cricket is the domestic level of one-day cricket below One Day Internationals. Twenty20 matches do not qualify for the present.

Most cricketing nations have some form of domestic List A competition. The number of overs in List A cricket ranges from forty to sixty overs per side.

The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians created this category for the purpose of providing an equivalent to first-class cricket, to allow the generation of career records and statistics for comparable one-day matches. Only the more important one-day competitions in each country, plus matches against a touring Test team, are included. The categorization of cricket matches as "List A" was not officially endorsed by the International Cricket Council until 2006, when the ICC announced that it and its member associations would be determining this classification in a manner similar to that done for first class matches.


  Matches that qualify as List A:
     * One Day Internationals (ODIs)
     * Other international matches
     *  Premier one-day tournaments in each country
     * Official matches of a touring Test team against main first-class teams
Matches that do not qualify as List A:
     * World Cup warm-up matches
     * Other Tourist matches (for example, against first-class teams that are not part of the main domestic first-        class competition, such as universities)
     * Festival and friendly matches

Australia

The Ryobi One Day Cup. The sides that compete are the following:

* New South Wales Blues, representing New South Wales
* Victorian Bushrangers, representing Victoria
* Southern Redbacks, representing South Australia
* Tasmanian Tigers, representing Tasmania
* Queensland Bulls, representing Queensland
* Western Warriors, representing Western Australia

In 2006 Cricket Australia introduced the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash which is amongst the state teams (as above) and are divided into Pool A (Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria) and Pool B (Tasmania, Queensland and New South Wales) and a home and away format is played. Each team plays one home and one away game. The winner of each pool plays against each other to determine the champion.

Bangladesh

The National One Day Cricket League is sponsored by Ispahani Mirzapore Tea. It currently runs from November to March, with each team playing the other home and away once in a round robin format. These six teams compete for the League title:

* Barisal Division
* Chittagong Division
* Dhaka Division
* Khulna Division
* Rajshahi Division
* Sylhet Division

England

  • The Friends Provident Trophy As of 2008, a new format has been introduced for the competition. The 18 first-class counties, plus Scotland and Ireland, are split into 4 groups of 5. Each team plays the other in the group home once and away once, with the top 2 counties in the group going into the quarter finals. Previously (2006-07) the competition had a first round consisting of 2 divisions of 10 teams - 9 counties plus Scotland in the North and 9 counties in the South plus Ireland. The top 2 of each division proceeded to the semi-finals. Prior to that, the tournament had existed as a straight knock-out competition since beginning in 1963. This format of the tournament was played in whites and included minor counties in the early stages. Friends Provident Trophy matches have List A status.
  • The Nat West Pro 40 - played annually in two divisions contained the 18 first class counties and a team representing Scotland. The first division had 9 teams and the second 10 teams. Each division was played as a double round-robin (home and away). The 3 bottom-ranked teams in the first division were relegated to the second, with the top 3 teams in the second replacing them. Games were played to ODI rules over 45 overs, with 4 points awarded for a win, 2 for a tie or no result, and 0 for a loss. Most games were played as day games, although there were a number of day-night matches. The league was replaced in 2006 by the Pro 40 League, with the major differences being the matches reverted to one innings of 40 overs per side, and each division consisted of nine teams (the Scottish Saltires no longer taking part). Pro 40 games have List A status.
  • The Twenty20 Cup - introduced in 2003 and played annually in three equal regional divisions. Each division is played as a single round-robin (so each team plays 5 matches before the knockout stage), with 2 points awarded for a win, 1 point for a tie or no result, and 0 points for a loss. Played over only 20 overs, but using normal ODI rules, with the only amendment being that players are 'timed out' if they are not ready to face a delivery within 90 seconds of the previous player being dismissed. In 2003, the top team in each division plus the best-rated runner-up qualified for the knockout stage (semi-final and final). In 2004, the top two teams in each division plus the two best-rated third-placed teams qualified for the knockout stage (quarter-final, semi-final and final). The 20 overs a side format has proved very popular with the public, with many games being sold out, which is highly unusual for any English county game that isn't a final.

India
  • Ranji Trophy onedays - The teams in the five zones play each other and the zonal winners play in a round-robin format.
  • Deodhar Trophy - Played amongst the five zones: East Zone, West Zone, North Zone, South Zone and Central Zone
  • NKP Salve Challenger Trophy - Three teams are involved - each team comprising a motley of players picked from across the country. The three teams are named India seniors, India A and India B or India Reds, India Greens and India Blues.
  • Indian Cricket League - A Twenty20 league bankrolled by billionaire Subhash Chandra and run independently of the country's governing body, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Launched in 2007 with teams in Mumbai, Chennai, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Delhi.
  • Indian Premier League - The BCCI's response to the Indian Cricket League, this Twenty20 league launched in 2008 with teams in Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mohali and Mumbai, and in its first season had the second-highest average per-game attendance of any domestic professional sports league in the world, trailing only the National Football League of American football. The league is explicitly designed to operate on a North American model of privately owned franchises.

New Zealand

  • Men's: The State Shield (formerly the Shell Cup) - played annually between six teams based upon the first class associations: The Northern Knights, Auckland Aces, Central Stags, Wellington Firebirds, Canterbury Wizards and Otago Volts. Currently played as a double round-robin (home and away) with team 1 gaining direct entry to the final and teams 2 and 3 contesting a semi-final. Games played to ODI rules with many day-night matches. The winners in the 2008-09 season were the Northern Districts Knights.
  • Women's: The State League - played annually between six teams based upon the first-class associations: Northern Spirit, Auckland Hearts, Central Hinds, Wellington Blaze, Canterbury Magicians, Otago Sparks. The format is a double-round-robin with the winner determined by points. The winners in the 2003-04 season were the Canterbury Magicians.

Pakistan

The Pakistani domestic competition changes regularly, but for 2005-06 there are plans for three one-day tournaments for men:

  • NATIONAL BANK Cup: A two-week tournament in February and March between city teams, divided into the Gold League (with seven teams) and Silver League (with six teams). The teams play each other once, with the top two teams qualifying for the final in each individual League, so no team from the Gold League will meet a Silver League team.
  • Gold League teams:
  • Faisalabad Wolves
  • Karachi Dolphins
  • Lahore Lions
  • Multan Tigers
  • Peshawar Panthers
  • Sialkot Stallions
  • Rawalpindi Rams
  • Silver League teams:
  • Abbottabad Rhinos
  • Hyderabad Hawks
  • Islamabad Leopards
  • Karachi Zebras
  • Lahore Eagles
  • Quetta Bears
  • NATIONAL BANK Patron's Cup: A two-week tournament running just before the NATIONAL BANK Cup, with one group of five teams and another group of six teams. The top two teams from each group proceed to the semi-final. The teams that compete are:
  • Allied Bank Limited
  • Pakistan Customs
  • Habib Bank Limited
  • Khan Research Laboratories
  • National Bank of Pakistan
  • Pakistan International Airlines
  • Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited
  • Service Industries
  • Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited
  • Water and Power Development Authority
  • Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited
  • NATIONAL BANK Twenty20 Cup: A tournament running one week in mid-March. The same groups apply as in the NATIONAL BANK Cup, and there will be two semi-finals and a final following the group stages. The tournament will be held in Karachi and Lahore.

South Africa

The local competition in South Africa is the Standard Bank Cup (formerly Benson & Hedges Series) played between 6 teams:

  • Dolphins (Durban, KwaZulu-Natal)
  • Eagles (Bloemfontein, Free State)
  • Lions (Johannesburg, Gauteng)
  • Titans (Pretoria, Gauteng)
  • Warriors (Port Elizabeth and East London, Eastern Cape)
  • Cape Cobras (Cape Town and Paarl, Western Cape)

The games are 45-overs, and based on a home-and-away round-robin match system (each team plays ten matches) with semi-finals and a final. The Eagles were the winners of the 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 competitions.

Sri Lanka

20 teams compete in the Premier Limited-Overs Tournament, which is an expansion from 16 in the last season. Games are played over 50 overs per side, and the teams are divided into two groups, where each team meets the other once over a period of a month. The four top teams from each group qualify for the quarter-finals, and there is then a direct knock-out system until a winner is found after three knock-out stages. The competing teams are:

  • Badureliya Sports Club
  • Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club
  • Burgher Recreation Club
  • Chilaw Marians Cricket Club
  • Colombo Cricket Club
  • Colts Cricket Club
  • Galle Cricket Club
  • Kurunegala Youth Cricket Club
  • Lankan Cricket Club
  • Moors Sports Club
  • Nondescripts Cricket Club
  • Panadura Sports Club
  • Police Sports Club
  • Ragama Cricket Club
  • Saracens Sports Club
  • Sebastianites Cricket and Athletic Club
  • Singha Sports Club
  • Sinhalese Sports Club
  • Sri Lanka Air Force Sports Club
  • Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club

West Indies

The KFC Cup is the main regional one-day competition in the West Indies, named after its chief sponsor, the fast food chain KFC. In recent years, it has been run over a week's time as a group stage followed by knock-out stages. Guyana are the current holders, after they beat Barbados in the final, and they are also the team to have won it most, with nine titles, although two of them have been shared. Trinidad and Tobago are second in that history, having won seven titles.

In the 2005–06 edition of the KFC Cup, the six permanent first class regions of the West Indies contested the tournament:

Barbados
Guyana
Jamaica
Leeward Islands
Trinidad and Tobago
Windward Islands

Zimbabwe

With Zimbabwe Cricket, the organising body of the sport, in leadership turmoil and undergoing frequent player strikes, no schedule has been announced for the 2005-06 season. In the Inter-Provincial One Day competition for 2004-05, however, five teams took part, including the separate country of Namibia. The five teams played each other once, and the winner of the round robin league won the competition. The competing teams were:

  • Manicaland
  • Mashonaland
  • Matabeleland (current holders)
  • Midlands
  • Namibia

One-day records

The world record for the highest innings total in any List A limited overs match is 496 for 4 by Surrey against Gloucestershire in their Friends Provident Trophy 50-overs match at the Oval, London on April 29th, 2007. That surpassed the 443 for nine by Sri Lanka against the Netherlands in their One Day International 50-overs match at Amstelveen on July 4th, 2006, which is currently the highest ODI score. The lowest ever total is 23 by Yorkshire against Middlesex at Headingley in 1974 in a 40-overs match.

The most runs scored by both sides in any List A limited overs match is 872: Australia, batting first, scored 434 for four in 50 overs, and yet were beaten by South Africa who scored 438 for nine with a ball to spare during their One Day International at Johannesburg in 2006.

The highest individual innings is 268 by Ali Brown for Surrey against Glamorgan in a 50-overs match at The Oval in 2002. The best bowling figures are eight for 15 by Rahul Sanghvi for Delhi against Himachal Pradesh in a 50-overs match at Una in 1997.

The highest score in any formal limited overs match is believed to be United's 630 for five against Bay Area in a 45 overs match at Richmond, California in August 2006.

The most runs in an over was scored by Herschelle Gibbs of the South African cricket team when, in the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the West Indies, he hit 6 sixes in one over bowled by Daan van Bunge of the Netherlands.

This record is shared by Yuvraj Singh of India who achieved this feat in the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa, he hit 6 sixes in an over bowled by Stuart Broad of England.

Sachin Tendulkar holds the record of being the first male cricketer to score a double century in ODIs (200 not out). He achieved this feat against South Africa on February 24, 2010, at Gwalior, India.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

One Day International

One Day International

This article is about the ruleset for men's cricket. For the similar ruleset for women's cricket, see Women's One-day International cricket.

One Day International (ODI) is a form of cricket, in which 50 overs
are played per side between two national cricket teams. The Cricket World Cup is played in this format. One Day International matches are also called "Limited Overs Internationals (LOI)", because they are limited overs cricket matches between national sides, and if the weather interferes they are not always completed in one day. Important one-day matches, international and domestic, often have two days set aside, the second day being a "reserve" day to allow more chance of the game being completed if a result is not possible on the first day (for instance if play is prevented or interrupted by rain).
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, play a one-off one day game consisting of 40 eight-ball overs per side. Australia won the game by 5 wickets.

In the late 1970s, Kerry Packer established the rival World Series Cricket(WSC) competition, and it introduced many of the features of One Day International cricket that are now commonplace, including coloured uniforms, matches played at night under floodlights with a white ball and dark sight screens, and, for television broadcasts, multiple camera angles, effects microphones to capture sounds from the players on the pitch, and on-screen graphics. 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. It was credited with making cricket a more professional sport.

Rules

In the main the Laws of cricket apply. However, in ODIs, each team gets to bat only a fixed number of overs. In the early days of ODI cricket, the number of overs was generally 60 overs per side but now it has been uniformly fixed at 50 overs.

Simply stated the game works as follows:

  • An ODI is contested by 2 teams of 11 players each.
  • The Captain of the side winning the toss chooses to either bat or bowl (field) first.
  • The team batting first sets the target score in a single innings. The innings lasts until the batting side is "all out" (i.e., 10 of the 11 batting players are "out") or all of the first side's allotted overs are used up.
  • Each bowler is restricted to bowling a maximum of 10 overs (fewer in the case of rain-reduced matches and in any event generally no more than one fifth or 20% of the total overs per innings).
  • The team batting second tries to score more than the target score in order to win the match. Similarly, the side bowling second tries to bowl out the second team for less than the target score in order to win.
  • If the number of runs scored by both teams are equal when the second team loses all of its wickets or exhausts all its overs, then the game is declared as a 'tie' (regardless of the number of wickets lost by either team).
Where a number of overs are lost, for example, due to inclement weather conditions, then the number of overs may be reduced. Where the number of overs available for the team batting second is perforce different from the number of overs faced by the team that batted first, the result may be determined by the Duckworth-Lewis method.

The floodlights would be positioned in such a way that it would not interfere with fielding teams and captains would be allowed a cloth on field should the ball become moist.

Powerplay

The bowling team is subject to fielding restrictions stipulating that nine fielders, including two fielders in catching positions, must be inside the

fielding circle for a set number of overs. Traditionally, the fielding restrictions applied for the first 15 overs of each innings.

In a 10 month trial period starting 30 July 2005, the ICC introduced the Powerplays rule as part of a series of new ODI regulations. Under the Powerplays rule, fielding restrictions apply for the first 10 overs, plus two blocks of five overs (called Powerplay Fives). From October 2008 the batting side decides when one of the remaining two blocks occur, the fielding side decides when to begin the other Powerplay. In the first Powerplay, no more than two fielders can be positioned outside 30 yard circle (this is increased to three for the second and third Powerplay blocks). In the first 10 overs, it is also required that at least two fielders are in close catching positions.

The ICC have announced, as of 1 October 2007, with regard to Powerplays, that the captain of the fielding side may elect to position 3 fielders outside the 30 yard circle in one of the two 5-over Powerplays. The rule was first invoked in a match between Sri Lanka and England at Dambulla Stadium on 1 October 2007. Sri Lanka won the match by 119 runs. Currently both 2nd and 3rd powerplay will have 3 fielders outside 30 yard circle, and one powerplay is chosen by batting team.

Trial regulations

The trial regulations also introduced a substitution rule that allowed the introduction of a replacement player at any stage in the match. Teams nominated their replacement player, called a Supersub, before the toss. The Supersub could bat, bowl, field or keep wicket; the replaced player took no further part in the game. Over the six months it was in operation, it became very clear that the Supersub was of far more benefit to the side that won the toss, unbalancing the game. Several international captains reached "gentleman's agreements" to discontinue this rule late in 2005. They continued to name supersubs, as required, but simply did not field them. On 15 February 2006, the ICC announced their intention to discontinue the Supersub rule on 21 March 2006.

Teams with ODI status

The International Cricket Council (ICC) determines which teams have ODI status (meaning that any match played between two such teams under standard one-day rules is classified as an ODI).

The ten Test-playing nations (which are also the ten full members of the ICC) have permanent ODI status. The nations are listed below with the date of each nation's ODI dates shown in brackets


















Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands and Scotland earned this status as a result of their performance at the 2005 ICC Trophy. The ICC followed this precedent in 2009 and used the results of the 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier (the new name of the ICC Trophy) to award ODI status for the following four years. During the tournament Afghanistan capped a remarkable year by finishing 5th and qualifying for ODI status.

At one point, the ICC occasionally granted associate members permanent ODI status without granting them full membership and Test status. This was originally introduced to allow the best associate members to gain regular experience in internationals before making the step up to full membership. First Bangladesh and then Kenya received this status. Bangladesh have since made the step up to Test status and full membership; but as a result of Kenya's poor performance the ICC have since decided to end their permanent ODI status.

In addition, the ICC reserves the right to grant special ODI status to all matches within certain high profile tournaments, with the result being that the following countries have also participated in full ODIs:








In 2005 the ICC controversially gave ODI status, for the first time, to several matches involving teams composed of players from more than one country. These were the Asia XI vs ICC World XI game played in January 2005 as part of the World Cricket Tsunami Appeal in aid of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami relief effort and three commercially sponsored "Australia vs ICC World XI" ICC Super Series games which took place in Melbourne in October 2005. The latter matches were poorly attended, heavily one-sided and generated little interest in the cricketing world. It was an experiment which many feel should not be repeated and many cricket statisticians (e.g. Bill Frindall) agree that the matches should not be incorporated into the official ODI records.


Tournaments

Generally ODI series between 2 teams or tri-series are played. Most popular tournaments of ODI are:

  • Cricket World Cup
  • ICC Champions Trophy

One Day International records

Sachin Tendulkar of India holds record of the most 100s and 50s in One Day International. He also has the most runs in One Day International and is the only male player to score a double century in a One Day International, which he achieved on 24 February, 2010.

The record for the highest innings total in any List A limited overs match is 443 for nine by Sri Lanka against Netherlands in their One Day International 50-overs match at Amstelveen on July 4, 2006. The lowest team total is 35 all out by Zimbabwe against Sri Lanka in Harare, 2004.

The most runs scored by both sides in any List A limited overs match is 872: Australia, batting first, scored 434 for four in 50 overs, and yet were beaten by South Africa who scored 438 for nine with a ball to spare during their One Day International at Johannesburg in 2006.

The best bowling figures are 8-19 by Chaminda Vaas for Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe in Colombo, 2001-02 - he is the only player to take eight wickets in a One Day international.

Players who have played for more than one teamAs there are residency and/or nationality requirements that need to be met to represent a team at international level, usually a player will only represent one team in ODIs in his career. Several have, however, played for more than one team.

Kepler Wessels (Australia and South Africa) Tests and One Day Internationals
Clayton Lambert (West Indies and United States of America)
Dougie Brown (England and Scotland)
Anderson Cummins (West Indies and Canada)
Eoin Morgan (Ireland and England)
Additionally, John Traicos played Tests for South Africa and Zimbabwe, but ODIs just for Zimbabwe, and Gavin Hamilton has only played ODIs for Scotland and represented England in one Test match. Dirk Nannes has represented Netherlands in T20s for the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 held in England but played for Australia in an ODI vs Scotland. He has since played more T20s for Australia.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

History of women's cricket

The history of women's cricket can be traced back to a report in The Reading Mercury on 26 July 1745 and a match that took place between the villages of Bramley and Hambledon near Guildford in Surrey.



The Mercury reported:

"The greatest cricket match that was played in this part of England was on Friday, the 26th of last month, on Gosden Common, near Guildford, between eleven maids of Bramley and eleven maids of Hambledon, all dressed in white. The Bramley maids had blue ribbons and the Hambledon maids red ribbons on their heads. The Bramley girls got 119 notches and the Hambledon girls 127. There was of bothe sexes the greatest number that ever was seen on such an occasion. The girls bowled, batted, ran and catches as well as most men could do in that game."
Early matches were not necessarily genteel affairs. Another match, on 13 July 1747, held at the Artillery Ground between a team from Charlton and another from Westdean and Chilgrove in Sussex spilled over into the following day after it was interrupted by crowd trouble. Contemporary records show that women's matches were played on many occasions between villages in Sussex, Hampshire and Surrey. Other matches, often held in front of large crowds with heavy betting on the side, pitted single women against their married counterparts. Prizes ranged from barrels of ale to pairs of lace gloves. The first county match was held in 1811 between Surrey and Hampshire at Ball's Pond in Middlesex. Two noblemen underwrote the game with 1,000 guineas and its participants ranged in age from 14 to 60.

Originally, cricket deliveries were bowled underarm. Legend has it that the roundarm bowling action was pioneered in the early 19th century by Christina Willes, sister of John Willes, to avoid becoming ensnared in her skirts. In fact, roundarm was devised by Tom Walker in the 1790s.


The Original English Lady Cricketers 1890The first women's cricket club was formed in 1887 at Nun Appleton in Yorkshire and named the White Heather Club. In 1890, a team known as the Original English Lady Cricketers, toured England, playing in exhibition matches to large crowds. The team was highly successful until its manager absconded with the profits, forcing the ladies to disband.James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual for 1890 has a photograph of the team and short article on women's cricket. "As an exercise, cricket is probably not so severe as lawn tennis, and it is certainly not so dangerous as hunting or skating; and if, therefore, the outcome of the present movement is to induce ladies more generally to play cricket, we shall consider that a good result has been attained."


Pioneers Cricket Club, South Africa, 1902The Women's Cricket Association was founded in 1926. The England team first played against The Rest at Leicester in 1933 and undertook the first international tour to Australia in 1934–5, playing the first Women's Test match between England and Australia in December 1934. After winning two tests and drawing one. England travelled on to New Zealand where Betty Snowball scored 189 in the first Test in Christchurch.

In Australia, the Victoria Women's Cricket Association had been founded in 1905 and the Australian Women's Cricket Association in 1931. The current competition is run by the Women's National Cricket League. Pre-dating this, a women's league was formed in 1894 in southern Tasmania by, amongst other people, Lily Poulett-Harris, a young school teacher who both founded and went onto captain the Oyster Cove team. Lily's obituary, from her death a few years later, in 1897, states that her team was believed to be the first such to be formed in the colonies.

The International Women's Cricket Council was formed in 1958 to coordinate women's cricket which was now being played regularly in Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, the West Indies, Denmark and the Netherlands. Test cricket has now been played by Australia, England, India, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies. 131 women's Test matches have been played to date, the majority featuring England or Australia. Originally these were three day matches, but since 1985 most have been played over four days. England have played 87 Test matches since their first in 1934, winning 19, losing 11 and drawing 57. Australia have played 67 in the same period, winning 18, losing 9 and drawing 40.

The highest total is Australia's 569 for 6 declared against England Women in 1998 and the highest individual score is the 242 recorded by Kiran Baluch for Pakistan Women against West Indies Women at the National Stadium, Karachi in 2003/04. 5 other women have scored double centuries. Neetu David of India took 8 wickets in an innings against England in 1995/56 and 7 wickets have fallen to the same bowler on 10 occasions. The best match figures, 13 for 226 were recorded by Shaiza Khan for Pakistan Women against West Indies Women in Karachi in 2003/04. Three English batsmen, Janet Brittin with 1935 runs at 49.61, Rachel Heyhoe-Flint with 1594 at 45.54 and Charlotte Edwards, 1317 at 45.41, head the all time run scoring lists while 6 other women have scored more than 1,000 Test runs. Mary Duggan of England took 77 Test wickets at 13.49 while Australia's Betty Wilson took 68 at 11.8. 7 other women have 50 or more victims to their name.

Betty Wilson was the first player, male or female, to record a century and 10 wickets in a Test match, against England at the MCG in 1958. In a remarkable match Australia were bowled out for 38 but gained a first innings lead of 3 in dismissing England for 35 in reply, with Wilson taking 7 for 7. 35 remains the lowest total ever recorded in a women's Test. Australia, thanks to Wilson's century, set England 206 to win but the visitors held on for a draw. In 1985, Australia's Under-21 National Women's Cricket Championship was renamed the Betty Wilson Shield in her honour. Another phenomenal club performance saw right-hander Jan Molyneaux make a record 298 for Olympic v Northcote in Melbourne's A grade final in 1967.

Club and county cricket in England has undergone constant evolution. There is currently a National Knock-Out Cup and a league structure culminating in a Northern and Southern Premier league. The major county competition is the LV Women's County Championship, while Super Fours, featuring teams named after precious stones, bridges the gap for the elite players between domestic and international competition.

In April 1970, MCC's traditional Easter coaching classes at Lord's were attended by Sian Davies and Sally Slowe of Cheltenham Ladies' College (see photo in Wisden at Lord's, page 129) breaking the 'gender barrier'. The first Women's Cricket World Cup was held in England in 1973, funded in part by businessman Jack Hayward, and won by the hosts at Lords in front of Princess Anne. Enid Bakewell and Lynne Thomas, making their international debuts for England, scored unbeaten hundreds against an International XI in Brighton in a stand of 246, a record which stood for a quarter of a century. Lord's staged its first women's Test match in 1979, between England and Australia.

One Day International cricket has been played by Australia, Denmark, England, India, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand. Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies while Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and International XIs have played in World Cups. 707 ODIs have been played up to the end of the 2009 World Cup. The 455 for 5 smashed by New Zealand Women against Pakistan Women at Hagley Oval, Christchurch in 1996/97 remains the highest team score while the Netherlands Women were bowled out for just 22 against West Indies Women at Sportpark Het Schootsveld in Deventer in 2008.


The Women's Cricket Association handed over the running of women's cricket in England to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 1998. In 2005, after the eighth Women's World Cup, the International Women's Cricket Council was officially integrated under the umbrella of the International Cricket Council, and an ICC Women's Cricket Committee was formed to consider all matters relating to women's cricket.The 2009 World Cup, the first held under the auspices of the ICC was won by England, the first English team of either sex to win an ICC competition.

Women have beaten male teams to several milestones in one day cricket. They were the first to play an international Twenty/20 match, England taking on New Zealand at Hove in 2004. The first tie in a one day international was also between Women's teams, hosts New Zealand tying the first match of the World Cup in 1982 against England, who went on to record another tie against Australia in the same competition. Female wicket keepers were the first to record 6 dismissals in a one day international, New Zealand's Sarah Illingworth and India's Venkatacher Kalpana both accounting for 6 batsman on the same day in the 1993 World Cup and Belinda Clark, the former Australian captain, is the only female player to have scored a double hundred in an ODI, recording an unbeaten 229 in the 1997 World Cup against Denmark. She also holds the record for the most runs in a one day career with 4844. Pakistan's Sajjida Shah is the youngest player to appear in international cricket, playing against Ireland four months after her 12th birthday. She also holds the record for the best bowling figures in a one day international, taking 7 wickets for just 4 runs against Japan Women at the Sportpark Drieburg in Amsterdam in 2003. Fast bowler Cathryn Fitzpatrick of Australia took 180 wickets in her one day international career.

In 2009 England batsman Claire Taylor was named one of Wisden's five cricketers of the year , the first woman to be honoured with the award in its 120 year history.

Early cricket

Early cricket
Origin

No one knows when or where cricket began but there is a body of evidence, much of it circumstantial, that strongly suggests the game was devised during Saxon or Norman times by children living in the Weald, an area of dense woodlands and clearings in south-east England that lies across Kent and Sussex. In medieval times, the Weald was populated by small farming and metal-working communities. It is generally believed that cricket survived as a children's game for many centuries before it was increasingly taken up by adults around the beginning of the 17th century.

It is quite likely that cricket was devised by children and survived for many generations as essentially a children’s game. Adult participation is unknown before the early 17th century. Possibly cricket was derived from bowls, assuming bowls is the older sport, by the intervention of a batsman trying to stop the ball from reaching its target by hitting it away. Playing on sheep-grazed land or in clearings, the original implements may have been a matted lump of sheep’s wool (or even a stone or a small lump of wood) as the ball; a stick or a crook or another farm tool as the bat; and a stool or a tree stump or a gate (e.g., a wicket gate) as the wicket.


Derivation of the name of "cricket"
A number of words are thought to be possible sources for the term "cricket". In the earliest known reference to the sport in 1598 (see below), it is called creckett. The name may have been derived from the Middle Dutch krick(-e), meaning a stick; or the Old English cricc or cryce meaning a crutch or staff. Another possible source is the Middle Dutch word krickstoel, meaning a long low stool used for kneeling in church and which resembled the long low wicket with two stumps used in early cricket.
According to Heiner Gillmeister, a European language expert of Bonn University, "cricket" derives from the Middle Dutch met de (krik ket)sen (i.e., "with the stick chase"), which also suggests a Dutch connection in the game's origin. It is more likely that the terminology of cricket was based on words in use in south east England at the time and, given trade connections with the County of Flanders, especially in the 15th century when it belonged to the Duchy of Burgundy, many Middle Dutch words found their way into southern English dialects.

First definite reference

John Derrick played creckett at The Royal Grammar School in GuildfordDespite many prior suggested references, the first definite reference to the game is found in a 1598 court case concerning dispute over a school's ownership of a plot of land. A 59-year old coroner, John Derrick, testified that he and his school friends had played creckett on the site fifty years earlier. The school was the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, and Mr Derrick's account proves beyond reasonable doubt that the game was being played in Surrey c.1550.

The first reference to it being played as an adult sport was in 1611, when two men in Sussex were prosecuted for playing cricket on Sunday instead of going to church. In the same year, a dictionary defines cricket as a boys' game and this suggests that adult participation was a recent development.

Early 17th century

A number of references occur up to the English Civil War and these indicate that cricket had become an adult game contested by parish teams, but there is no evidence of county strength teams at this time. Equally, there is little evidence of the rampant gambling that characterised the game throughout the 18th century. It is generally believed, therefore, that village cricket had developed by the middle of the 17th century but that county cricket had not and that investment in the game had not begun.

The Commonwealth

After the Civil War ended in 1648, the new Puritan government clamped down on "unlawful assemblies", in particular the more raucous sports such as football. Their laws also demanded a stricter observance of the Sabbath than there had been previously. As the Sabbath was the only free time available to the lower classes, cricket's popularity may have waned during the Commonwealth. Having said that, it did flourish in public fee-paying schools such as Winchester and St Paul's. There is no actual evidence that Oliver Cromwell's regime banned cricket specifically and there are references to it during the interregnum that suggest it was acceptable to the authorities providing it did not cause any "breach of the Sabbath". It is believed that the nobility in general adopted cricket at this time through involvement in village games.

Gambling and press coverage

Cricket certainly thrived after the Restoration in 1660 and is believed to have first attracted gamblers making large bets at this time. In 1664, the "Cavalier" Parliament passed the Gaming Act 1664 which limited stakes to £100, although that was still a fortune at the time,equivalent to about £12 thousand in present day terms. Cricket had certainly become a significant gambling sport by the end of the 17th century. There is a newspaper report of a "great match" played in Sussex in 1697 which was 11-a-side and played for high stakes of 50 guineas a side.
With freedom of the press having been granted in 1696, cricket for the first time could be reported in the newspapers. But it was a long time before the newspaper industry adapted sufficiently to provide frequent, let alone comprehensive, coverage of the game. During the first half of the 18th century, press reports tended to focus on the betting rather than on the play.

18th-century cricket

See also: 1697 to 1725 English cricket seasons and Overview of English cricket 1726 - 1815

Patronage and players

Gambling introduced the first patrons because some of the gamblers decided to strengthen their bets by forming their own teams and it is believed the first "county teams" were formed in the aftermath of the Restoration in 1660, especially as members of the nobility were employing "local experts" from village cricket as the earliest professionals. The first known game in which the teams use county names is in 1709 but there can be little doubt that these sort of fixtures were being arranged long before that. The match in 1697 was probably Sussex versus another county.
The most notable of the early patrons were a group of aristocrats and businessmen who were active from about 1725, which is the time that press coverage became more regular, perhaps as a result of the patrons' influence. These men included the 2nd Duke of Richmond, Sir William Gage, Alan Brodrick and Edward Stead. For the first time, the press mentions individual players like Thomas Waymark.

Cricket moves out of England

Cricket was introduced to North America via the English colonies in the 17th century, probably before it had even reached the north of England. In the 18th century it arrived in other parts of the globe. It was introduced to the West Indies by colonists and to India by British East India Company mariners in the first half of the century. It arrived in Australia almost as soon as colonization began in 1788. New Zealand and South Africa followed in the early years of the 19th century.

Development of the Laws

See also: Laws of Cricket
The basic rules of cricket such as bat and ball, the wicket, pitch dimensions, overs, how out, etc. have existed since time immemorial. In 1728, the Duke of Richmond and Alan Brodick drew up "Articles of Agreement" to determine the code of practice in a particular game and this became a common feature, especially around payment of stake money and distributing the winnings given the importance of gambling.
In 1744, the Laws of Cricket were codified for the first time and then amended in 1774, when innovations such as lbw, middle stump and maximum bat width were added. These laws stated that the principals shall choose from amongst the gentlemen present two umpires who shall absolutely decide all disputes. The codes were drawn up by the so-called "Star and Garter Club" whose members ultimately founded MCC at Lord's in 1787. MCC immediately became the custodian of the Laws and has made periodic revisions and recodifications subsequently.

Continued growth in England
The game continued to spread throughout England and, in 1751, Yorkshire is first mentioned as a venue.The original form of bowling (i.e., rolling the ball along the ground as in bowls) was superseded sometime after 1760 when bowlers began to pitch the ball and study variations in line, length and pace.Scorecards began to be kept on a regular basis from 1772 and since then an increasingly clear picture has emerged of the sport's development.

An artwork depicting the history of the cricket batThe first famous clubs were London and Dartford in the early 18th century. London played its matches on the Artillery Ground, which still exists. Others followed, particularly Slindon in Sussex which was backed by the Duke of Richmond and featured the star player Richard Newland. There were other prominent clubs at Maidenhead, Hornchurch, Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Bromley, Addington, Hadlow and Chertsey.

But far and away the most famous of the early clubs was Hambledon in Hampshire. It started as a parish organisation that first achieved prominence in 1756. The club itself was founded in the 1760s and was well patronised to the extent that it was the focal point of the game for about thirty years until the formation of MCC and the opening of Lord's Cricket Ground in 1787. Hambledon produced several outstanding players including the master batsman John Small and the first great fast bowler Thomas Brett. Their most notable opponent was the Chertsey and Surrey bowler Edward "Lumpy" Stevens, who is believed to have been the main proponent of the flighted delivery.

It was in answer to the flighted, or pitched, delivery that the straight bat was introduced. The old "hockey stick" style of bat was only really effective against the ball being trundled or skimmed along the ground.

Cricket and crisis

Cricket faced its first real crisis during the 18th century when major matches virtually ceased during the Seven Years War. This was largely due to shortage of players and lack of investment. But the game survived and the "Hambledon Era" proper began in the mid-1760s.

Cricket faced another major crisis at the beginning of the 19th century when a cessation of major matches occurred during the culminating period of the Napoleonic Wars. Again, the causes were shortage of players and lack of investment. But, as in the 1760s, the game survived and a slow recovery began in 1815.

MCC was itself the centre of controversy in the Regency period, largely on account of the enmity between Lord Frederick Beauclerk and George Osbaldeston. In 1817, their intrigues and jealousies exploded into a match-fixing scandal with the top player William Lambert being banned from playing at Lord's Cricket Ground for life. Gambling scandals in cricket have been going on since the 17th century.

In the 1820s, cricket faced a major crisis of its own making as the campaign to allow roundarm bowling gathered pace.

19th-century cricket

Main article: Overview of English cricket from 1816 to 1863

View of Geneva's Plaine de Plainpalais with cricket's players, 1817The

game also underwent a fundamental change of organisation with the formation for the first time of county clubs. All the modern county clubs, starting with Sussex in 1839, were founded during the 19th century.

A cricket match at Darnall, Sheffield in the 1820s.No sooner had the first
county clubs established themselves than they faced what amounted to "player action" as William Clarke created the travelling All-England Eleven in 1846. Though a commercial venture, this team did much to popularise the game in districts which had never previously been visited by high-class cricketers. Other similar teams were created and this vogue lasted for about thirty years. But the counties and MCC prevailed.

The growth of cricket in the mid and late 19th century was assisted by the development of the railway network. For the first time, teams from a long distance apart could play one other without a prohibitively time-consuming journey. Spectators could travel longer distances to matches, increasing the size of crowds.

In 1864, another bowling revolution resulted in the legalisation of overarm and in the same year Wisden Cricketers' Almanack was first published.

The "Great Cricketer", W G Grace, made his first-class debut in 1865. His feats did much to increase the game's popularity and he introduced technical innovations which revolutionised the game, particularly in batting.

International cricket begins

The first Australian touring team (1878) pictured at Niagara FallsThe first ever international cricket game was between the USA and Canada in 1844. The match was played at the grounds of the St George's Cricket Club in New York.

In 1859, a team of leading English professionals set off to North America on the first-ever overseas tour and, in 1862, the first English team toured Australia.

Between May and October 1868, a team of Australian Aborigines toured England in what was the first Australian cricket team to travel overseas.
In 1877, an England touring team in Australia played two matches against full Australian XIs that are now regarded as the inaugural Test matches. The following year, the Australians toured England for the first time and were a spectacular success. No Tests were played on that tour but more soon followed and, at The Oval in 1882, arguably the most famous match of all time gave rise to The Ashes. South Africa became the third Test nation in 1889.

National championships

A major watershed occurred in 1890 when the official County Championship was constituted in England. This organisational initiative has been repeated in other countries. Australia established the Sheffield Shield in 1892–93. Other national competitions to be established were the Currie Cup in South Africa, the Plunkett Shield in New Zealand and the Ranji Trophy in India.

The period from 1890 to the outbreak of the First World War has become an object of nostalgia, ostensibly because the teams played cricket according to "the spirit of the game", but more realistically because it was a peacetime period that was shattered by the First World War. The era has been called The Golden Age of cricket and it featured numerous great names such as Grace, Wilfred Rhodes, C B Fry, K S Ranjitsinhji and Victor Trumper.

Balls per over

In 1889 the immemorial four ball over was replaced by a five ball over and then this was changed to the current six balls an over in 1900. Subsequently, some countries experimented with eight balls an over. In 1922, the number of balls per over was changed from six to eight in Australia only. In 1924 the eight ball over was extended to New Zealand and in 1937 to South Africa. In England, the eight ball over was adopted experimentally for the 1939 season; the intention was to continue the experiment in 1940, but first-class cricket was suspended for the Second World War and when it resumed, English cricket reverted to the six ball over. The 1947 Laws of Cricket allowed six or eight balls depending on the conditions of play. Since the 1979/80 Australian and New Zealand seasons, the six ball over has been used worldwide and the most recent version of the Laws in 2000 only permits six ball overs.

20th-century cricket

Growth of Test cricket
Sid Barnes, traps Lala Amarnath lbw in the first official Test between Australia and India at the MCG in 1948When the Imperial Cricket Conference (as it was originally called) was founded in 1909, only England, Australia and South Africa were members. India, West Indies and New Zealand became Test nations before the Second World War and Pakistan soon afterwards. The international game grew with several "affiliate nations" getting involved and, in the closing years of the 20th century, three of those became Test nations also: Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.

Test cricket remained the sport's highest level of standard throughout the 20th century but it had its problems, notably in the infamous "Bodyline Series" of 1932–33 when Douglas Jardine's England used so-called "leg theory" to try and neutralise the run-scoring brilliance of Australia's Don Bradman.

Suspension of South Africa (1970–91)

See also: International cricket in South Africa from 1971 to 1981

The greatest crisis to hit international cricket was brought about by apartheid, the South African policy of racial segregation. The situation began to crystallise after 1961 when South Africa left the Commonwealth of Nations and so, under the rules of the day, its cricket board had to leave the International Cricket Conference (ICC). Cricket's opposition to apartheid intensified in 1968 with the cancellation of England's tour to South Africa by the South African authorities, due to the inclusion of "coloured" cricketer Basil D'Oliveira in the England team. In 1970, the ICC members voted to suspend South Africa indefinitely from international cricket competition. Ironically, the South African team at that time was probably the strongest in the world.

Starved of top-level competition for its best players, the South African Cricket Board began funding so-called "rebel tours", offering large sums of money for international players to form teams and tour South Africa. The ICC's response was to blacklist any rebel players who agreed to tour South Africa, banning them from officially sanctioned international cricket. As players were poorly remunerated during the 1970s, several accepted the offer to tour South Africa, particularly players getting towards the end of their careers for whom a blacklisting would have little effect.

The rebel tours continued into the 1980s but then progress was made in South African politics and it became clear that apartheid was ending. South Africa, now a "Rainbow Nation" under Nelson Mandela, was welcomed back into international sport in 1991.

World Series Cricket

See also: World Series Cricket

The money problems of top cricketers were also the root cause of another cricketing crisis that arose in 1977 when the Australian media magnate Kerry Packer fell out with the Australian Cricket Board over TV rights. Taking advantage of the low remuneration paid to players, Packer retaliated by signing several of the best players in the world to a privately run cricket league outside the structure of international cricket. World Series Cricket hired some of the banned South African players and allowed them to show off their skills in an international arena against other world-class players. The schism lasted only until 1979 and the "rebel" players were allowed back into established international cricket, though many found that their national teams had moved on without them. Long-term results of World Series Cricket have included the introduction of significantly higher player salaries and innovations such as coloured kit and night games.

Limited-overs cricket

In the 1960s, English county teams began playing a version of cricket with games of only one innings each and a maximum number of overs per innings. Starting in 1963 as a knockout competition only, limited overs grew in popularity and in 1969 a national league was created which consequently caused a reduction in the number of matches in the County Championship.
Although many "traditional" cricket fans objected to the shorter form of the game, limited overs cricket did have the advantage of delivering a result to spectators within a single day; it did improve cricket's appeal to younger or busier people; and it did prove commercially successful.
The first limited overs international match took place at Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1971 as a time-filler after a Test match had been abandoned because of heavy rain on the opening days. It was tried simply as an experiment and to give the players some exercise, but turned out to be immensely popular. Limited overs internationals (LOIs or ODIs, after One-day Internationals) have since grown to become a massively popular form of the game, especially for busy people who want to be able to see a whole match. The International Cricket Council reacted to this development by organising the first Cricket World Cup in England in 1975, with all the Test playing nations taking part.

Increasing use of technology

Limited overs cricket increased television ratings for cricket coverage. Innovative techniques that were originally introduced for coverage of LOI matches was soon adopted for Test coverage. The innovations included presentation of in-depth statistics and graphical analysis, placing miniature cameras in the stumps, multiple usage of cameras to provide shots from several locations around the ground, high speed photography and computer graphics technology enabling television viewers to study the course of a delivery and help them understand an umpire's decision.
In 1992, the use of a third umpire to adjudicate runout appeals with television replays was introduced in the Test series between South Africa and India. The third umpire's duties have subsequently expanded to include decisions on other aspects of play such as stumpings, catches and boundaries. As yet, the third umpire is not called upon to adjudicate lbw appeals, although there is a virtual reality tracking technology (i.e., Hawk-Eye) that is approaching perfection in predicting the course of a delivery.

21st-century cricket

Cricket remains a major world sport in terms of participants, spectators and media interest.

The ICC has expanded its development program with the goal of producing more national teams capable of competing at Test level. Development efforts are focused on African and Asian nations; and on the United States. In 2004, the ICC Intercontinental Cup brought first-class cricket to 12 nations, mostly for the first time.

In June 2001, the ICC introduced a "Test Championship Table" and, in October 2002, a "One-day International Championship Table". Australia has consistently topped both these tables in the 2000s.
Cricket's newest innovation is Twenty20, essentially an evening entertainment. It has so far enjoyed enormous popularity and has attracted large attendances at matches as well as good TV audience ratings. The inaugural ICC Twenty20 World Cup tournament was held in 2007 with a follow-up event in 2009. The formation of Twenty20 leagues in India – the unofficial Indian Cricket League, which started in 2007, and the official Indian Premier League, starting in 2008 – raised much speculation in the cricketing press about their effect on the future of cricket.

 
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