Entry last updated: 15/11/24
Introduction
Cricket was an important summer sport in Britain, as far back as the 13th century. The British then introduced this game to the colonies. Cricket is popular in countries such as the West Indies, India, Pakistan, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
Test Cricket, One Day International (ODIs) and Twenty20 (T20) are three of the most popular forms of the cricket played.
History of cricket
The websites below will help you understand where cricket began and how it spread throughout the world, along with statistical information collected over the years.
Britannica School is part of EPIC, which is a collection of reliable databases covering lots of different topics. It’s put together especially for New Zealand school students and helps to answer questions like this.
Type in the search words 'cricket history' in the search box.
Go to the article cricket (sport) for a brief introduction to the history of the game and how the game is played.
Tips: To get to the EPIC resources you will need a password from your school librarian first. Or you can chat with one of our AnyQuestions librarians between 1 and 6 pm Monday to Friday and they will help you online. Some EPIC databases may also be available through your public library.
Tips: Search words, or keywords, are the most important words in our question. Usually it’s better to leave out small words like ‘the’, ‘a’ and ‘of’ and just choose the main ones, eg cricket history. We can always change our keywords or add more if we need to.
International Cricket Council (ICC)
The ICC is the international organisation that promotes cricket, makes rules and holds the events such as the Cricket World Cup, Champions Trophy, World Twenty20 and other international cricketing events.
Select the 3 lines to open the menu and choose About ICC.
Then select the Cricket tab at the top to open up the History of Cricket.
Going to the same menu as before, you can find a link to the Cricket Hall of Fame. This includes biographies of famous cricketers and some videos.
The tab Rankings holds statistical information on team (men and women) and player performance over the years like highest innings, averages, records made and more.
Tips: Websites that have .com or .co in the address can have good information, but you need to assess how reliable it is. Check the About us link on the website, if you can find one. That can tell you what the company’s mission and values are.
Cricket in New Zealand
Cricket became a familiar sport around the 1830s in New Zealand. The New Zealand Cricket Council was formed in December 1894. The websites below have more about the history of cricket in New Zealand.
Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Te Ara is an excellent starting point for all questions about New Zealand Aotearoa. If we scroll down to the bottom of the page we can see that the website belongs to the Ministry for Culture & Heritage, so the information is well-researched and reliable.
Scroll down the page to Sections then select Daily Life, Sport and Recreation.
Under Sports you will find a link to Cricket which is about early cricket in New Zealand including the development of test cricket, one-day cricket and women's cricket.
Te Ara also has a section called Dictionary of New Zealand Biography.
Use the search box to search for biographies of famous cricketers in the past like Charles Stewart Dempster and Ina Mabel Lamason.
For information about New Zealand cricketers who are still alive, try the websites below.
Tips: A website’s address (URL) can give you a hint about how reliable it is. Look for addresses in the results that include .govt or .edu in the URL. These are quality sites from overseas government or educational organisations.
NZC promotes and supports cricket in New Zealand. You will find here up-to-date information about matches played by the Black Caps and White Ferns internationally and community matches played with the country.
Explore each of the tabs Schedules, International and Domestic to check when and where matches are being played by various teams.
The tab Corporate has a link to the New Zealand Cricket Museum. You find historical information in Our Collection and Stories.
Archive has New Zealand's international and domestic statistics on men's and women's cricket.
NZHistory is a great website for information about New Zealand Aotearoa. If we go all the way down the page we can see that the website belongs to the Ministry for Culture & Heritage, so the information is well-researched and reliable.
Go to Culture and Society from the home page, then scroll down to Sport and then find New Zealand cricket.
Also go to Politics and Government, then to Protest and Reform. You will find here a link to the New Zealand Women's Cricket Council.
Tips: Many web pages have links to further information or to other recommended sites. Following these links is a great way to find out more. This searching method is called “pearl growing” because you are picking up pieces of sand to make a beautiful pearl!
Cricket World Cup
The International Cricket Council holds the Cricket World Cup every four years with ten of the best cricket teams in the world.
This is the official website of the Cricket World Cup with current news, videos and photos about the Cricket World Cup matches, teams, and statistics like scores, results and more.
The tab called Matches has information like scores and highlights of matches that have been played.
The tab Standings has information about matches played, won, lost or tied and points gained.
Go to Stats for batting stats and bowling stats.
Tips: Websites that have .com or .co in the address can have good information, but you need to assess how reliable it is. Check the About us link on the website, if you can find one. That can tell you what the company’s mission and values are.
Books
Your school library or public library will have lots of books on cricket.
Here are some suggested titles:
New Zealand test cricket captains by Matthew Appleby
Eric Tindill by Kevin Boon
ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 Kids' Handbook by Clive Gifford
Cricket by Rebecca Hunter.
SCIS no: 1923661
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