Bangadesh Vs. Zimbabwe ODI series in Bangladesh.

Today is the 3rd ODI match between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

Match will be start at 14:30 local time and 7:30 GMT. This match will take place in Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka. Bangladesh Television (BTV) will Live broadcast the match.

                                            Sakib al hasan, all-rounder and captain of bangladesh

Bangladesh bit Zimbabwe in the 2nd ODI. 4th and 5th ODI will be held in Chittagong Divisional Stadium on 3rd November and 5th November respectively.

                                              Abdur Razzak, key bowler of bangladesh

Tiger climbs third in the Presidents Cup 2009.

Tiger Woods, winning all five of his matches at the biennial competition, carried the U.S. to a third straight victory in golf’s Presidents Cup. In San Francisco, The Americans led the International team throughout the four-day event at Harding Park Golf Course and finished with a five-point win at 19 1/2 to 14 1/2.

Woods became just the third golfer in Presidents Cup history to go 5-0, winning his first four matches with partner Steve Stricker before a dominating victory over Y.E. Yang in yesterday’s singles matches. “We played great as a team,” Woods said during a news conference. Captain Fred Couples “did some great pairings, put us together with some guys that we knew we could play really well with.”

The U.S. has an overall 6-1 lead in the competition against players from outside of Europe, with one series of matches drawn.

The Winning shot of the Juan Martin Del Potro in US OPEN 2009.

WATCH IT............................

Carolin Wozniacki A new DANISH star in the Tennis.

Caroline Wozniacki (July 11, 1990) is a Danish tennis player. She achieved her career-high singles ranking of World No. 8 on August 3, 2009. She is the only Danish woman currently in the Top 300 on the WTA Tour. Wozniacki is the daughter of Polish parents, father Piotr and mother Anna. Piotr Wozniacki acts as her coach.

Asked about her hobbies, she told, "I like handball (it's very popular in Europe), soccer, swimming, playing the piano, and all kinds of different things. She speaks fluent Danish, Polish, and English, and understands Russian.

On her 19th birthday she lost in the final of the Swedish Open 7–5, 6–4 to Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain. In her first hard-court tournament in preparation for the US Open, after receiving a bye in the first round of the LA Women's Tennis Championships she lost in the second round to Sorana Cîrstea 1–6, 6–4, 7–6(5). At the Cincinnati Masters, Wozniacki advanced to the quarterfinals, falling to Elena Dementieva 6–2, 6–1. In Toronto she lost in the second round to Zheng Jie 7–5, 6–3. She then went to defend her title at the Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven. In the first round she had her first ever double bagel win, 6–0, 6–0 over Edina Gallovits in 41 minutes. In the final of the tournament she beat Russian challenger Elena Vesnina 6–2, 6–4 to win her third title of the season.

Wozniacki is the 9th seed at the US Open. She easily won her first three matches, 6–4, 6–1 over Galina Voskoboeva, 6–1, 6–0 over Petra Martić, and 6–3, 6–2 over her doubles partner Sorana Cîrstea. In the fourth round against reigning French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, Wozniacki rallied from 3–1 down in the third set to win 2–6, 7–6(5), 7–6(3). She defeated giant-killer Melanie Oudin 6–2, 6–2 in the quarterfinals, and followed that up with a 6-3 6-3 win over fellow 19-year old Yanina Wickmayer in the semifinals. She is the first Danish woman to reach a Grand Slam final, where she will face unseeded Kim Clijsters. The runner-up showing will allow her to reach a career high ranking of No. 6, and if she wins the title she will rise to No. 4 in the world.

Carolin Wozniacki go for the final of US OPEN 2009

Caroline Wozniacki, the ninth-seeded 19-year-old from Denmark, continued her dominant run through the women's field Saturday night at the U.S. Open with a 6-3, 6-3 win to Yanina Wickmayer, earning a final with Kim Clijsters in tonight's women's final.

"I mean, I am in the U.S. Open final - I cannot describe it with words, I am so excited," Wozniacki said. "I am so happy, I pulled through today. I am really looking forward to it, it's a dream come true to play in the finals of the Grand Slam."

NASCAR Racer Erin Crocker got married?????

Ray Evernham, ESPN NASCAR analyst, has married racing car driver Erin Crocker, racer Jeff Gordon's former crew chief.

According to reports, Ray Evernham and Erin Crocker have married and thrilled to be married. A representative for the couple says the wedding was small and intimate.

Eric Crocker and Ray Evernham married on Wednesday at the Southpoint Hotel.

Rafael Nadal - A Hot Spanish Tennis Player.

Rafael "Rafa" Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a former World No. 1 Spanish professional tennis player, currently ranked #3. Nadal has won six Grand Slam singles titles, and the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles. Nadal was ranked World Number #1 from 18 August 2008 to 5 July 2009. In 2009, he became the first player to simultaneously hold Grand Slam titles on clay, grass, and hardcourt. His success on clay has earned him the nickname The King of Clay.

Nadal was ranked World No. 2, behind Roger Federer for a record 160 weeks before earning the top spot. He has subsequently lost this position again to Federer following the Swiss player's triumph at the 2009 Madrid Masters (where Federer beat him in the final), French Open and Wimbledon. In 2008, he was given the Prince of Asturias Award for Sports, in recognition of his achievements in tennis.

Nadal generally plays an aggressive behind-the-baseline game founded on heavy topspin groundstrokes, consistency, speedy footwork, and tenacious court coverage. Known for his athleticism and speed around the court, Nadal is a capable defender who hits well on the run, constructing winning plays from seemingly defensive positions. He also plays very fine dropshots, which work especially well because his heavy topspin often forces opponents to the back of the court. Nadal is primarily a baseliner and seldom volleys but when Nadal does come to the net he is a capable volleyer.

Nadal and Federer have been playing against each other since 2004, and this rivalry is a significant part of both men's careers:

* They are the only men in the open era who have played each other in 7 Grand Slam finals, with Nadal winning 5 of the 7 finals. Three of these 5 wins were on Nadal's best surface (clay), and he has beaten Federer twice in non-clay major finals: Wimbledon 2008 and the Australian Open 2009.
* Their 2008 Wimbledon final has been lauded as the greatest match of all time by many long-time tennis critics.
* Many critics consider their rivalry to be the greatest in tennis history.
* Nine of Nadal's 13 wins over Federer have come on clay courts, Nadal's best surface. Nadal leads their overall head-to-head series 13-7 (Nadal leads 9-2 on clay, Federer leads 2-1 on grass, nobody leads (3-3) on hard courts).

Maria Sharapova is hot Hot hOt hoT HoT

History of bord game - CHESS

Chess is a recreational and competitive board game played between two players. The current form of the game emerged in Southern Europe during the second half of the 15th century after evolving from similar, much older games of Indian and Persian origin. Today, chess is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.

The game is played on a square chequered chessboard with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. At the start, each player (one controlling the white pieces, the other controlling the black pieces) controls sixteen pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king, whereby the king is under immediate attack (in "check") and there is no way to remove it from attack on the next move.

The tradition of organized competitive chess started in the 16th century and has developed extensively. Chess today is a recognized sport of the International Olympic Committee. The first official World Chess Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, claimed his title in 1886; Viswanathan Anand is the current World Champion.

Chess is commonly believed to have originated in India during the Gupta empire, where its early form in the 6th century was known as catura?ga, which translates as "four divisions [of the military]" – infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariotry, represented by the pieces that would evolve into the modern pawn, knight, bishop, and rook, respectively. Both the Persians and Arabs attribute the game of chess to the Indians. In Sassanid Persia around 600 the name became shatranj and the rules were developed further. Shatranj was taken up by the Muslim world after the Islamic conquest of Persia, with the pieces largely retaining their Persian names. In Spanish "shatranj" was rendered as ajedrez, in Portuguese as xadrez, and in Greek as zatrikion, but in the rest of Europe it was replaced by versions of the Persian shah ("king"), which was familiar as an exclamation and became our words "check and chess". Murray theorized that this change happened from Muslim traders coming to European seaports with ornamental chess kings as curios before they brought the game of chess.

The game reached Western Europe and Russia by at least three routes, the earliest being in the 9th century. By the year 1000 it had spread throughout Europe. Introduced into the Iberian Peninsula by the Moors in the 10th century, it was described in a famous 13th-century manuscript covering shatranj, backgammon, and dice named the Libro de los juegos.

Another theory contends that chess arose from the game xiangqi (Chinese Chess) or one of its predecessors. Around 1200, rules of shatranj started to be modified in southern Europe, and around 1475, several major changes made the game essentially as it is known today. These modern rules for the basic moves had been adopted in Italy and Spain. Pawns gained the option of advancing two squares on their first move, while bishops and queens acquired their modern abilities. The queen replaced the earlier vizier chess piece towards the end of the 10th century and by the 15th century, had become the most powerful piece; consequently modern chess was referred to as "Queen's Chess" or "Mad Queen Chess". These new rules quickly spread throughout western Europe, with the exception of the rules about stalemate, which were finalized in the early 19th century. To distinguish it from its predecessors, this version of the rules is sometimes referred to as western chess or international chess.

Writings about the theory of how to play chess began to appear in the 15th century. The oldest surviving printed chess book, Repetición de Amores y Arte de Ajedrez (Repetition of Love and the Art of Playing Chess) by Spanish churchman Luis Ramirez de Lucena was published in Salamanca in 1497. Lucena and later masters like Portuguese Pedro Damiano, Italians Giovanni Leonardo Di Bona, Giulio Cesare Polerio and Gioachino Greco or Spanish bishop Ruy López de Segura developed elements of openings and started to analyze simple endgames.

In the 18th century the center of European chess life moved from the Southern European countries to France. The two most important French masters were François-André Danican Philidor, a musician by profession, who discovered the importance of pawns for chess strategy, and later Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais who won a famous series of matches with the Irish master Alexander McDonnell in 1834. Centers of chess life in this period were coffee houses in big European cities like Café de la Régence in Paris and Simpson's Divan in London.

As the 19th century progressed, chess organization developed quickly. Many chess clubs, chess books and chess journals appeared. There were correspondence matches between cities; for example the London Chess Club played against the Edinburgh Chess Club in 1824. Chess problems became a regular part of 19th-century newspapers; Bernhard Horwitz, Josef Kling and Samuel Loyd composed some of the most influential problems. In 1843, von der Lasa published his and Bilguer's Handbuch des Schachspiels (Handbook of Chess), the first comprehensive manual of chess theory.

T20 World Cup 2009, 1st semi final. South Africa vs. Pakistan. HIGHLIGHT.

Kobe Bryant's shoot against Raptors. Watch the video.

Watch it first how Kobe shoot Raptor.

Kobe Bryant back in his business.

The facade finally cracked, 10 days and 4 games after the quest began. In his interview session of the N.B.A. finals, Kobe Bryant smiled and chuckled and made a joke. His chin and jaw were back in their normal moves.


“I’m just really happy to be in this moment right now,” Bryant said Saturday, his mood clearly enhanced by the proximity of a fourth championship.

West Indies Vs. South Africa - Women's T20 World Cup, 2009. HIGHTLIGHT

England Vs. India - Women's T20 World Cup, 2009. HIGHLIGHT.

West Indies vs India T20 World Cup, 2009. HIGHLIGHT.

Freanch Open Final 2009 highlight. Svetlana Kuznetsova Vs Dinara Safina.

Highlight of T20 World Cup. Bangladesh Vs. Ireland.

England bits Pakistan by 48 runs. View the detailes score.

England 185/5 (20/20 ov)

Pakistan 137/7 (20.0/20 ov)

England won by 48 runs

England innings (20 overs maximum) R B 4s 6s SR
RS Bopara c Shoaib Malik b Mohammad Aamer
5 6 1 0 83.33

LJ Wright b Umar Gul 34 16 6 1 212.50

KP Pietersen c Umar Gul b Saeed Ajmal
58 38 5 3 152.63

OA Shah b Umar Gul 33 32 3 1 103.12

PD Collingwood* c Shahid Afridi b Saeed Ajmal
15 11 2 0 136.36

AD Mascarenhas not out 16 12 1 0 133.33

JS Foster† not out 14 8 0 1 175.00

Extras (lb 3, w 4, nb 3) 10

Total (5 wickets; 20 overs) 185 (9.25 runs per over)

Did not bat AU Rashid, GP Swann, SCJ Broad, JM Anderson

Fall of wickets1-9 (Bopara, 1.2 ov), 2-62 (Wright, 5.3 ov), 3-128 (Shah, 13.2 ov), 4-152 (Collingwood, 16.1 ov), 5-156 (Pietersen, 16.5 ov)


Bowling O M R W Econ

Yasir Arafat 4 0 42 0 10.50 (1nb)
Mohammad Aamer 3 0 31 1 10.33
Umar Gul 4 0 37 2 9.25 (1nb, 2w)
Shoaib Malik 1 0 13 0 13.00 (1nb, 1w)
Shahid Afridi 4 0 36 0 9.00
Saeed Ajmal 4 0 23 2 5.75 (1w)




Pakistan innings (target: 186 runs from 20 overs) R B 4s 6s SR
Ahmed Shehzad c Collingwood b Mascarenhas 4 7 0 0 57.14
Salman Butt c Bopara b Broad 28 23 5 0 121.73
Kamran Akmal† c Wright b Broad 6 6 0 0 100.00
Shoaib Malik c †Foster b Wright 20 21 1 0 95.23

Younis Khan* not out 46 31 5 0 148.38

Shahid Afridi c sub (EJG Morgan) b Swann 5 12 0 0 41.66
Misbah-ul-Haq c sub (EJG Morgan) b Anderson 10 8 0 1 125.00
Yasir Arafat c Wright b Broad 4 6 0 0 66.66

Umar Gul not out 8 6 1 0 133.33

Extras (lb 1, w 5) 6

Total (7 wickets; 20 overs) 137 (6.85 runs per over)

Did not bat Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Aamer


Fall of wickets1-13 (Ahmed Shehzad, 2.1 ov), 2-41 (Kamran Akmal, 5.5 ov), 3-41 (Salman Butt, 5.6 ov), 4-87 (Shoaib Malik, 12.2 ov), 5-102 (Shahid Afridi, 15.1 ov), 6-117 (Misbah-ul-Haq, 17.1 ov), 7-129 (Yasir Arafat, 18.6 ov)

Bowling O M R W Econ

AD Mascarenhas 2 0 14 1 7.00
JM Anderson 4 0 30 1 7.50 (3w)
SCJ Broad 3 0 17 3 5.66
AU Rashid 4 0 24 0 6.00
GP Swann 4 0 27 1 6.75
LJ Wright 3 0 24 1 8.00 (2w)

Tournament Fixtures of T20 World Cup of 2009

Fri Jun 5 Day and Night
17:30 local | 16:30 GMT 1st Match, Group B - England v Netherlands
Lord's, London

Sat Jun 6
10:00 local | 09:00 GMT 2nd Match, Group D - New Zealand v Scotland
Kennington Oval, London

Sat Jun 6
14:00 local | 13:00 GMT 3rd Match, Group C - Australia v West Indies
Kennington Oval, London

Sat Jun 6 Day and Night
18:00 local | 17:00 GMT 4th Match, Group A - Bangladesh v India
Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Sun Jun 7
13:30 local | 12:30 GMT 5th Match, Group D - Scotland v South Africa
Kennington Oval, London

Sun Jun 7 Day and Night
17:30 local | 16:30 GMT 6th Match, Group B - England v Pakistan
Kennington Oval, London

Mon Jun 8
13:30 local | 12:30 GMT 7th Match, Group A - Bangladesh v Ireland
Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Mon Jun 8 Day and Night
17:30 local | 16:30 GMT 8th Match, Group C - Australia v Sri Lanka
Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Tue Jun 9
13:30 local | 12:30 GMT 9th Match, Group B - Netherlands v Pakistan
Lord's, London

Tue Jun 9 Day and Night
17:30 local | 16:30 GMT 10th Match, Group D - New Zealand v South Africa
Lord's, London

Wed Jun 10
13:30 local | 12:30 GMT 11th Match, Group C - Sri Lanka v West Indies
Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Wed Jun 10 Day and Night
17:30 local | 16:30 GMT 12th Match, Group A - India v Ireland
Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Thu Jun 11
13:30 local | 12:30 GMT 13th Match, Group F - TBC v TBC (D1 v A2)
Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Thu Jun 11 Day and Night
17:30 local | 16:30 GMT 14th Match, Group E - TBC v TBC (B2 v D2)
Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Fri Jun 12
13:30 local | 12:30 GMT 15th Match, Group F - TBC v TBC (B1 v C2)
Lord's, London

Fri Jun 12 Day and Night
17:30 local | 16:30 GMT 16th Match, Group E - TBC v TBC (A1 v C1)
Lord's, London

Sat Jun 13
13:30 local | 12:30 GMT 17th Match, Group E - TBC v TBC (C1 v D2)
Kennington Oval, London

Sat Jun 13 Day and Night
17:30 local | 16:30 GMT 18th Match, Group F - TBC v TBC (D1 v B1)
Kennington Oval, London

Sun Jun 14
13:30 local | 12:30 GMT 19th Match, Group F - TBC v TBC (A2 v C2)
Lord's, London

Sun Jun 14 Day and Night
17:30 local | 16:30 GMT 20th Match, Group E - TBC v TBC (A1 v B2)
Lord's, London

Mon Jun 15
13:30 local | 12:30 GMT 21st Match, Group E - TBC v TBC (B2 v C1)
Kennington Oval, London

Mon Jun 15 Day and Night
17:30 local | 16:30 GMT 22nd Match, Group F - TBC v TBC (B1 v A2)
Kennington Oval, London

Tue Jun 16
13:30 local | 12:30 GMT 23rd Match, Group F - TBC v TBC (D1 v C2)
Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Tue Jun 16 Day and Night
17:30 local | 16:30 GMT 24th Match, Group E - TBC v TBC (D2 v A1)
Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Thu Jun 18 Day and Night
17:30 local | 16:30 GMT 1st Semi-Final - TBC v TBC
Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Fri Jun 19 Day and Night
17:30 local | 16:30 GMT 2nd Semi-Final - TBC v TBC
Kennington Oval, London

Sun Jun 21
15:00 local | 14:00 GMT Final - TBC v TBC
Lord's, London

Match statistics between Dinara Safina and Svetlana Kuznetsova

Dinara Safina, Russia (1), vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia (7) They played on clay in a final in Rome on May 10, and Safina won.



They played on clay in a final in Stuttgart on May 3, and Kuznetsova won. They played a French Open semifinal in 2008, and Safina won.


They played a French Open quarterfinal in 2006, and Kuznetsova won. They've played eight times on clay, and each has won four.


They've played 13 times overall, and Safina has won eight.

History of TENNIS.. The development of modern Lawn Tennis.

Tennis as the modern sport can be dated to two separate roots. Between 1859 and 1865, Major Harry Gem and his friend Augurio Perera developed a game that combined elements of rackets and the Basque ball game pelota, which they played on Perera's croquet lawn in Birmingham, United Kingdom. In 1872, along with two local doctors, they founded the world's first tennis club in Leamington Spa. The Courier of July 23, 1884 recorded one of the first tennis tournaments, held in the grounds of Shrubland Hall.


In December 1873, Major Walter Clopton Wingfield designed a similar game — which he called sphairistike (Greek: σφάίρίστική, meaning "skill at playing at ball"), and was soon known simply as "sticky" — for the amusement of his guests at a garden party on his estate of Nantclwyd, in Llanelidan, Wales. He based the game on the newer sport of outdoor tennis or real tennis. According to most tennis historians, modern tennis terminology also derives from this period, as Wingfield borrowed both the name and much of the French vocabulary of real tennis and applied them to his new game.


The first championships at Wimbledon in London were played in 1877. On May 21, 1881, the United States National Lawn Tennis Association (now the United States Tennis Association) was formed to standardize the rules and organize competitions. The U.S. National Men's Singles Championship, now the US Open, was first held in 1881 at Newport, Rhode Island. The U.S. National Women's Singles Championships were first held in 1887. Tennis was also popular in France, where the French Open dates to 1891. Thus, Wimbledon, the US Open, the French Open, and the Australian Open (dating to 1905) became and have remained the most prestigious events in tennis. Together these four events are called the Grand Slam (a term borrowed from bridge).


The comprehensive International Lawn Tennis Federation, now known as the International Tennis Federation, rules promulgated in 1924 have remained remarkably stable in the ensuing eighty years, the one major change being the addition of the tiebreaker system designed by James Van Alen. The Davis Cup, an annual competition between national teams, dates to 1900.


In 1926, promoter C.C. Pyle established the first professional tennis tour with a group of American and French tennis players playing exhibition matches to paying audiences. The most notable of these early professionals were the American Vinnie Richards and the Frenchwoman Suzanne Lenglen. Once a player turned pro he or she could not compete in the major (amateur) tournaments.


In 1968, commercial pressures and rumors of some amateurs taking money under the table led to the abandonment of this distinction, inaugurating the open era, in which all players could compete in all tournaments, and top players were able to make their living from tennis. With the beginning of the open era, the establishment of an international professional tennis circuit, and revenues from the sale of television rights, tennis's popularity has spread worldwide, and the sport has shed its upper/middle-class English-speaking image (although it is acknowledged that this stereotype still exists).


In 1954, Van Alen founded the International Tennis Hall of Fame, a non-profit museum in Newport, Rhode Island. The building contains a large collection of tennis memorabilia as well as a hall of fame honoring prominent members and tennis players from all over the world. Each year, a grass-court tournament and an induction ceremony honoring new Hall of Fame members are hosted on its grounds

Anne Mäkinen - Women footballer of Finland. Anne Mäkinen's brief story

Anne Mäkinen (born February 1, 1976) is a Finnish footballer. Her game is a true middle ground. Club level, she represents the Swedish AIK's, which he joined in October 2007. Before that Anne played Balingen IF in and Umea IK in the number of years the first Finnish professional, the United States. Before a professional career, she graduated from Notre Dame University and played yliopistosarjaa varsity.

Early national team Mäkinen started already 15 years old. June 1991 against the Soviet Union played the game. She achieved the first Finnish 100 international9 March 2006 Algarve Cup match played against Germany. He announced the end of her career in the national teams at the end of 2007 the family reasons. Anne had played 108 test match and made the 15 goals. In May 2008 Mäkinen returned to national team training match in Iceland against.

Clubs

* Smth Laajasalo, Helsinki (kasvattajaseura)
* FC Kontu, Helsinki, Finland
* Helsinki Helsinki Football Club, Helsinki, Finland
* Ore Palloseura, Helsinki, Finland
* University of Notre Dame, USA
* Washington Freedom, United States
* Philadelphia Charge, United States
* New Jersey Wild Cats, United States
* Umea IK, Sweden
* Balingen IF, Sweden
* AIK, Sweden



Achievements

* 109 test match (4 May 2008.)
* 15 international match goals (3 May 2008.)
* European Championship semifinal in 2005
* Swedish championship in 2005 and 2006
* Finnish championship 1994 MPS
* Finland's HJK cup 1993
* The girl player in 1992
* Naispelaaja years 1993 and 2004
* The entrant to the United States yliopistosarjassa 1997
* The player of America's yliopistosarjassa 2000
* All-Stars, the U.S. player's yliopistosarjassa 1997-2000
* The Finnish Football for Erik von Frenckell Medal in recognition of
the important work of the Finnish football promotion

History of CRICKET. The development of Cricket game.

Early cricket was at some time or another described as "a club striking a ball (like) the ancient games of club-ball, stool-ball, trap-ball, stob-ball". Cricket can definitely be traced back to Tudor times in early 16th-century England. Written evidence exists of a game known as creag being played by Prince Edward, the son of Edward I (Longshanks), at Newenden, Kent in 1301 and there has been speculation, but no evidence, that this was a form of cricket.

A number of other words have been suggested as sources for the term "cricket". In the earliest definite reference to the sport in 1598, it is called creckett. Given the strong medieval trade connections between south-east England and the County of Flanders when the latter belonged to the Duchy of Burgundy, the name may have been derived from the Middle Dutch krick(-e), meaning a stick (crook); or the Old English cricc or cryce meaning a crutch or staff. In Old French, the word criquet seems to have meant a kind of club or stick. In Samuel Johnson's Dictionary, he derived cricket from "cryce, Saxon, a stick". 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 phrase for hockey, met de (krik ket)sen (i.e., "with the stick chase"). Herr Gillmeister believes that not only the name but the sport itself is of Flemish origin, given an apparent reference found in a 1533 poem called The Image of Ipocrisie, attributed to John Skelton, which suggests a Flemish connection in early cricket.

In 1598, a court case referred to a sport called creckett being played by boys at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford around 1550. This is the sport's earliest definite mention. It is believed that it was originally a children's game but references around 1610 indicate that adults had started playing it and the earliest reference to inter-parish or village cricket occurs soon afterwards. In 1624, a player called Jasper Vinall was killed when he was struck on the head during a match between two parish teams in Sussex.


Royal Grammar School, Guildford

During the 17th century, numerous references indicate the growth of cricket in the south-east of England. By the end of the century, it had become an organised activity being played for high stakes and it is believed that the first professionals appeared in the years following the Restoration in 1660. A newspaper report survives of "a great cricket match" with eleven players a side that was played for high stakes in Sussex in 1697 and this is the earliest known reference to a cricket match of such importance.

The game underwent major development in the 18th century and became the national sport of England. Betting played a major part in that development with rich patrons forming their own "select XIs". Cricket was prominent in London as early as 1707 and large crowds flocked to matches on the Artillery Ground in Finsbury. The single wicket form of the sport attracted huge crowds and wagers to match. Bowling evolved around 1760 when bowlers began to pitch the ball instead of rolling or skimming it towards the batsman. This caused a revolution in bat design because, to deal with the bouncing ball, it was necessary to introduce the modern straight bat in place of the old "hockey stick" shape. The Hambledon Club was founded in the 1760s and, for the next 20 years until the formation of MCC and the opening of Lord's Old Ground in 1787, Hambledon was both the game's greatest club and its focal point. MCC quickly became the sport's premier club and the custodian of the Laws of Cricket. New Laws introduced in the latter part of the 18th century included the three stump wicket and leg before wicket (lbw).


The 19th century saw underarm bowling replaced by first roundarm and then overarm bowling. Both developments were controversial. Organisation of the game at county level led to the creation of the county clubs, starting with Sussex CCC in 1839, which ultimately formed the official County Championship in 1890. Meanwhile, the British Empire had been instrumental in spreading the game overseas and by the middle of the 19th century it had become well established in India, North America, the Caribbean, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. In 1844, the first ever international cricket match took place between the United States and Canada (although neither has ever been ranked as a Test-playing nation).


In 1859, a team of England players went on the first overseas tour (to North America) and in 1862, an English team made the first tour of Australia. In 1876-77, an England team took part in the first-ever Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground against Australia.

W G Grace started his long career in 1865; his career is often said to have revolutionised the sport. The rivalry between England and Australia gave birth to The Ashes in 1882 and this has remained Test cricket's most famous contest. Test cricket began to expand in 1888-89 when South Africa played England. The last two decades before the First World War have been called the "Golden Age of Cricket". It is a nostalgic name prompted by the collective sense of loss resulting from the war, but the period did produce some great players and memorable matches, especially as organised competition at county and Test level developed.


The inter-war years were dominated by one player: Don Bradman, statistically the greatest batsman of all time. It was the determination of the England team to overcome his skill that brought about the infamous Bodyline series in 1932/33 particularly from the accurate short pitched bowling of Harold Larwood. Test cricket continued to expand during the 20th century with the addition of West Indies, India and New Zealand before the Second World War and then Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the post-war period. However, South Africa was banned from international cricket from 1970 to 1992 because of its government's apartheid policy.

Cricket entered a new era in 1963, when English counties introduced the limited overs variant. As it was sure to produce a result, limited overs cricket was lucrative and the number of matches increased. The first Limited Overs International was played in 1971. The governing International Cricket Council saw its potential and staged the first limited overs Cricket World Cup in 1975. In the 21st century, a new limited overs form, Twenty20, has made an immediate impact.