Name	ESPNcricinfo
Logo
Url	espncricinfo.com
Alexa	141 ()
Commercial	Yes
Type	Cricket related website
Language	English
Registration	Optional
Owner	ESPN
Launch date	1993
Current status	Active
Content license	All content is copyrighted

ESPNcricinfo is the largest cricket-related website. It includes news and articles, live scorecards, and a comprehensive and queriable database of historical matches and players from the 18th century to the present. On 11 June 2007, ESPN announced that it had bought Cricinfo from Wisden group.

History

Conception

ESPNcricinfo (originally CricInfo) was launched in 1993 by Dr. Simon King, a British researcher at the University of Minnesota with help from students and researchers at universities around the world. It initially operated as a volunteer-based collective, and started life as a simple IRC bot. It was soon made available via Gopher as well, and with the advent of the Mosaic web browser in April 1993 became one of the earliest content web sites on the Internet.

While a company, CricInfo Ltd, was formed in 1996, CricInfo remained essentially a volunteer run operation until late 1999 and was not fully staffed until late 2000. The site was entirely reliant on contributions from avid fans around the world who spent many hours compiling electronic scorecards and contributing them to CricInfo's comprehensive archive, as well as keying in live scores from games around the world using CricInfo's scoring software, "dougie". In 2006, ESPNcricinfo estimated worth was $150 million.

Growth and success

ESPNcricinfo's extraordinary growth in the 1990s made it an attractive site for investors during the peak of the dotcom boom, and in 2000 it received $37 million worth of Satyam Computer Services Ltd. shares in exchange for a 25 per cent stake in the company (a valuation of around £100 million). It used around $22m worth of the paper to pay off initial investors but only raised about £6 million by selling the remaining stock. While the site continued to attract more and more users and operated on a very low cost base, its income was not enough to support a peak staff of 130 in nine countries, forcing redundancies.

By late 2002 the company was making a monthly operating profit and was one of very few independent sports sites to avoid collapse (such as Sports.com and Sportal). However, the business was still servicing a large loan. A merger with the better capitalised The John Wisden Group (then owned by Sir Paul Getty) took place, and the company was renamed Wisden Cricinfo. Soon after, the existing wisden.com website was closed and gradually the Wisden brand was also removed from the site. In ten years ESPNcricinfo had effectively established primacy (at least in the electronic sphere) over Wisden, one of the oldest brands in sports publishing.

In June 2007, ESPN Networks announced that they had acquired Cricinfo from Wisden Group, though the brand name and identity will still remain in use. Currently Cricinfo receives over 7 million hits daily on average. Cricinfo records in excess of 250 million pageviews per month. and the ever rising popularity of ESPNcricinfo as the main website for latest cricket news.

ESPNcricinfo magazine

In 2006, the Cricinfo Magazine was established, targeted mainly at cricket fans in India. However, the magazine struggled to gain sufficient readership and ceased publication in 2008.

See also

Cricinfo Magazine

The Wisden Cricketer

Cricket Archive

References

External links

Cricinfo

Wisden Group

Cricinfo ups tempo on turning clicks into cash (The Guardian, 16 February 2006)

History of Cricinfo

Category:Cricket websites Category:ESPN Category:Internet Gopher Category:Sports media in India

Playername	Wasim Akram
Country	Pakistan
Fullname	Wasim Akram Chaudhry
Nickname	Sultan of Swing, The Two W's (with Waqar Younis), King Of Swing
Living	true
Dayofbirth	3
Monthofbirth	6
Yearofbirth	1966
Placeofbirth	Lahore, Punjab
Countryofbirth	Pakistan
Heightft	6
Heightinch	2
Heightm	1.88
Batting	Left hand bat
Bowling	Left arm fast
Role	(All-rounder) bowler and batsman
International	true
Testdebutdate	25 January
Testdebutyear	1985
Testdebutagainst	New Zealand
Testcap	102
Lasttestdate	9 January
Lasttestyear	2002
Lasttestagainst	Bangladesh
Odidebutdate	23 November
Odidebutyear	1984
Odidebutagainst	New Zealand
Odicap	53
Lastodidate	4 March
Lastodiyear	2003
Lastodiagainst	Zimbabwe
Odishirt	3
Club1	Hampshire
Year1	2003
Club2	Lahore
Year2	2000-2001
Club3	Lahore
Year3	1997-1998
Club4	Pakistan International Airlines
Year4	1992-2002
Club5	Lancashire
Year5	1988-1998
Club6	Lahore
Year6	1986-1987
Club7	Lahore
Year7	1985-1986
Club8	Pakistan Automobiles Corporation
Year8	1984-1986
| columns	4
Column1	Test
Matches1	104
Runs1	2898
Bat avg1	22.64
100s/50s1	3/7
Top score1	257*
Deliveries1	22627
Wickets1	414
Bowl avg1	23.62
Fivefor1	25
Tenfor1	5
Best bowling1	7/119
Catches/stumpings1	44/0
Column2	ODI
Matches2	356
Runs2	3717
Bat avg2	16.52
100s/50s2	0/6
Top score2	86
Deliveries2	18186
Wickets2	502
Bowl avg2	23.52
Fivefor2	6
Tenfor2	0
Best bowling2	5/15
Catches/stumpings2	88/0
Column3	FC
Matches3	257
Runs3	7161
Bat avg3	22.73
100s/50s3	7/24
Top score3	257*
Deliveries3	50278
Wickets3	1042
Bowl avg3	21.64
Fivefor3	70
Tenfor3	16
Best bowling3	8/30
Catches/stumpings3	97/0
Column4	LA
Matches4	594
Runs4	6993
Bat avg4	18.90
100s/50s4	0/17
Top score4	89*
Deliveries4	29719
Wickets4	881
Bowl avg4	21.91
Fivefor4	12
Tenfor4	0
Best bowling4	5/10
Catches/stumpings4	147/0
Date	11 January
Year	2008
Source	http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1774/1774.html CricketArchive

Wasim Akram (}}) born 3 June 1966 is a former Pakistani left arm fast bowler and left-handed batsman in cricket, who represented the Pakistan national cricket team in Test cricket and One Day International matches.

Akram is regarded as one of the best fast bowlers in the history of cricket. He holds the world record for most wickets in List A cricket with 881 and is second only to Sri Lankan off-spin bowler, Muttiah Muralitharan in terms of One Day International wickets with 502. He is considered to be one of the founders and perhaps the finest exponent of reverse swing bowling. The revolutionary nature of reverse swing initially resulted in accusations of ball tampering by cricket critics, although the skill of the reverse swing delivery has now been accepted as a legitimate ability in cricket. Akram's later career was also tarnished with accusations of match fixing by critics, although these remain unproven.

On 30 September 2009, Akram was one of five new members inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

Early and personal life

Akram was born in Lahore, Pakistan on June 3, 1966, to a moderately affluent middle-class family. He was educated at Islamia College in Lahore, where he played as an opening bowler and batsman.

Akram was diagnosed with diabetes at the peak of his career but despite the initial psychological blow, he managed to regain his form and went on to produce fine cricketing performances. Since then he has actively sought to be involved in various awareness-raising campaigns for diabetes.

He was married to Huma Mufti in 1995. They had two sons Taimur and Akbar from their marriage of fifteen years. Huma died of multiple organ failure at Apollo Hospital in Chennai, India on 25 October 2009.

International career

First-class cricket

In 1988 he signed for Lancashire County Cricket Club in England and went on to become their most successful overseas players. From 1988 to 1998, he opened their bowling attack in their ECB Trophy, Benson & Hedges Cup and National League tournaments. He was a favourite of the local British fans who used to sing a song called "Wasim for England" at Lancashire's matches. In 1998, with Akram as captain, Lancashire won the ECB Trophy and Axa League and finished second in the championship tournament despite losing only five matches in all competitions throughout the season. Apart from the National League second division title in 2003, this was the last time Lancashire won a trophy.

Test cricket

Akram made his Test cricket debut for Pakistan against New Zealand in 1985 and in only his second Test match, he claimed 10 wickets. A few weeks prior to his selection into the Pakistan team, he was an unknown club cricketer who had failed to make it even to his college team. He came to the trials at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore in Pakistan, but for the first two days he did not get a chance to bowl. On the third day he got a chance; his performance convincing Javed Miandad to insist upon his inclusion in the national team. Akram was hence given an opportunity to play for Pakistan, without any significant domestic experience. Later that season he opened the bowling attack with Imran Khan, who became his mentor at and after the World Championship of Cricket in Australia.

In the 1987 Cricket World Cup, when Pakistan played against the West Indies, Akram bowled to Viv Richards in the late overs of the innings but Richards, who is regarded as the best batsman during that period, struggled against Akram's bowling performances.

Akram's rise in international cricket was rapid during the late 1980s. When Pakistan toured the West Indies in 1988, he looked to be the fastest bowler between the two sides. However, a groin injury impeded his career in the late 1980s. Following two surgeries, he re-emerged in the 1990s as a fast bowler who focused more on swing and accurate bowling.

One Day International

Akram was a significant figure in the 1992 Cricket World Cup held in Australia, when Pakistan won the tournament. In the final against England, his batting performance during his innings of 33 runs off 19 balls, pushed Pakistan to a respectable score of 249 runs for 6 wickets. Akram then took the important wicket of Ian Botham early on the English batting innings and when brought back into the bowling attack later on, with the ball reverse swinging, he produced a devastating spell of bowling which led to Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis being bowled in successive deliveries in one over. His excellent performances earned him the Man of the Match award for the final.

He also captained Pakistan with some success. The high points of his captaincy was the 1996-1997 victory in the World Series Cricket in Australia, two Test match wins in India in 1998-1999 and in 1999, when Pakistan reached the 1999 Cricket World Cup final. The low point was the 1996 Cricket World Cup in Pakistan and India, when he had to pull out of the quarter final match against India, citing injury. After Pakistan's defeat, there were angry protests outside his home and riots across the country from angry fans who accused the team of throwing the match and a government inquiry was launched into the failure.

In 1999, he led Pakistan to the brink of victory in the World Cup before they capitulated and was defeated by Australia in the final, by eight wickets with almost 30 overs to spare. This was the start of the match fixing controversies, as critics believed Akram had set up the match for Australia. However, none of the allegations could be proved.

He was Pakistan's best bowler in the 2003 Cricket World Cup taking 19 wickets in 7 matches. However, Pakistan failed to reach the "Super Six" phase of the tournament and Akram was one of the eight players to be sacked by the Pakistan Cricket Board as a result.

Retirement

On May 18, 2003, at the age of 36, Akram abruptly announced his retirement from international cricket, ending a career which spanned 19 years. He had suggested that he was ready to quit several times towards the end of his career, but Pakistan's sub-par performance in the World Cup proved to be the deciding factor.

Prior to his retirement, he was one of eight senior players dropped for the Sharjah Cup in April 2003, and was then omitted from the Pakistan squad for the subsequent Bank Alfalah Cup triangular series. Due to his omission from the team, he did not participate in a farewell match.

Akram fulfilled his contract play for Hampshire until the end of the English season.

Post retirement

Media career

Since retiring from cricket, Akram has worked and taken up commentary for television networks and can currently be seen as a sports commentator for ESPN Star Sports and ARY Digital among others. He did commentary on a variety of sporting tournaments including the 2009 Women's Cricket World Cup in Australia, the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 in England, the 2009 ICC ChampionsTrophy in South Africa, and the 2011 ICC World Cup in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Coaching career

In 2010, Akram was appointed the bowling coach consultant of Kolkata Knight Riders, the Indian Premier League team for Kolkata. Sourav Ganguly was always keen to have Akram as the bowling coach for India, during the former's stint as Indian captain. Although this never happened, his dreams were realised to some extent, when Akram was appointed as the bowling coach for the franchise. While working for the Kolkata Knight Riders, he was also responsible for the signing of Pakistani domestic left-arm fast-bowler Mohammad Irfan. Akram has also been coaching in Pakistan fast bowling camps; his most notable discovery being the teenage Pakistani international, Mohammad Aamer.

Skills in cricket

During his professional career he bowled with genuine speed and hostility. Akram was a man possessed of accurate control of line and length, accompanied by seam and swing bowling skills, extended to both inswingers and outswingers. With a very quick bowling action, he could bowl equally well from both sides of the wicket. His mastery of reverse swing with the cricket ball meant he was at his most dangerous towards a bowling innings, and earned him the nickname of one of the "Sultans of Swing", the other one being Waqar Younis.

As well as often being able to find the edge of the bat, Akram would also focus his bowling attack on the stumps and had a particularly lethal inswinging yorker. Of his 414 Test wickets, 193 were taken caught, 119 were taken leg before wicket and 102 were bowled. In partnership with Waqar Younis, he intimidated international batsmen in the 1990s. Together Wasim and Waqar, known as "the two Ws" of the Pakistani team, were one of the most successful bowling partnerships in cricket.

Akram was also skilled with the bat and was regarded as a bowling all-rounder. He was especially effective against spin bowlers. However, he liked to slog and was criticised for his lack of high scores and giving away his wicket too cheaply for a player of his talent. He did silence his critics and the media in October 1996 when he scored 257 runs not out, of the team's total of 553 against Zimbabwe at Sheikhupura. He also achieved good scores for the Pakistan team such as his scores of 123 and 45* against Australia to take Pakistan to victory in a low scoring match. His batting was also valuable to the Pakistan ODI side, such as his match winning performance in the Nehru Cup, when needing six runs and two balls to win the match; he hit the first delivery he faced for six runs and secured the cup.

Award and records

Akram was awarded Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1993 for his sporting achievements.

In his Test career, Akram took 414 wickets in 104 matches, a Pakistani record, at an average of 23.62 and scored 2,898 runs, at an average of 22.64.

In One Day Internationals, Akram took 502 wickets in 356 appearances, at an average of 23.52 and scored 3,717 runs, at an average of 16.52. On passing Wasim's record, McGrath said, "Wasim Akram, to me, is one of the greatest bowlers of all time. Left-armer, swung it both ways with the new ball and he was so dangerous with the old ball. To go past him is something I will always remember. Probably the other side of the coin is that if you play long enough, you're going to break records here and there."

Akram took four hat-tricks in international cricket, two each in Tests matches and One Day Internationals. He is the only bowler in cricket to have achieved four hat-tricks. He was the third of only three bowlers to have taken two Test cricket hat-tricks, the others being Hugh Trumble and Jimmy Matthews. Akram was also the first of only five bowlers to have taken two One Day International cricket hat-tricks, the others being Pakistan offspin bowler, Saqlain Mushtaq and Sri Lankan fast bowlers Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga and Kemar Roach. Akram's Test hat-tricks are significant, since they were taken in consecutive Test matches in the same series, a game played against Sri Lanka in the 1998-99 Asian Test Championship. Akram is also one of only two bowlers to have taken both a Test match and One Day International hat-trick, the other being Pakistan fast bowler, Mohammad Sami.

Playing in a Test series against the West Indies at Lahore in 1990-1991, he became one of only six players to have taken four wickets in an over during a Test match. In Akram's case, these achievement was not part of a hat-trick, the third ball he delivered to the batting opposition was a dropped catch, which allowed a single run.

Akram has also achieved the highest score by a number eight batsman in Test cricket when he scored 257 runs not out from 363 balls against Zimbabwe at Sheikhupura. The innings contained 12 sixes which is also a world record for Test cricket.

He also has the third highest number of Man of the Match awards in Test cricket, with seventeen.

He has scored the record number of runs in One Day International matches by a player who has never scored a One Day International hundred. His highest score was 86 runs.

Cricket controversies

In 1992, after he had been successful against the English batsmen, accusations of ball tampering began to appear in the English media, though no video evidence of foul play was ever found. Akram and Younis had been able to obtain prodigious amounts of movement from both new and old cricket balls. The skill of the reverse swing delivery was relatively unknown in England and around the cricketing world during that period.

A far larger controversy was created when critics alleged that he was involved in match fixing. An inquiry commission was set up by the Pakistan Cricket Board headed by a Pakistan high court judge, Malik Mohammad Qayyum. The judge wrote in his report that:

References

External links

Category:Pakistan One Day International cricketers Category:Pakistan Test cricketers Category:Pakistani cricket captains Category:Hampshire cricketers Category:Lahore cricketers Category:People from Lahore Category:Lancashire cricketers Category:Lancashire cricket captains Category:Pakistan Automobiles Corporation cricketers Category:Pakistan International Airlines cricketers Category:Wisden Cricketers of the Year Category:Wisden Leading Cricketers in the World Category:Test cricket hat-trick takers Category:One Day International hat-trick takers Category:Cricket commentators Category:Cricketers at the 1987 Cricket World Cup Category:Cricketers at the 1992 Cricket World Cup Category:Cricketers at the 1996 Cricket World Cup Category:Cricketers at the 1999 Cricket World Cup Category:Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup Category:1966 births Category:Living people Category:Pakistani Muslims Category:Pakistani Sunni Muslims Category:Punjabi people Category:International Cricket Council Hall of Fame inductees

Playername	Sachin Tendulkar
Country	India
Fullname	Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar
Nickname	Little Master, Tendlya, Master Blaster, The Master, The Little Champion, He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket. In 2002, just 12 years into his career, Wisden ranked him the second greatest Test batsman of all time, behind Donald Bradman, and the second greatest one-day-international (ODI) batsman of all time, behind Viv Richards. In September 2007, the Australian leg spinner Shane Warne rated Tendulkar as the greatest player he has played with or against. Tendulkar was an integral part of the 2011 Cricket World Cup winning Indian team at the later part of his career, his first such win in six World Cup appearances with India.

ICC Award-Sir Garfield Sobers trophy for cricketer of the year 2010

Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award, 2008.

ICC World ODI XI: 2004, 2007

Rajiv Gandhi Awards – Sports: 2005

Player of the tournament in 2003 Cricket World Cup

Maharashtra Bhushan Award, Maharashtra State's highest Civilian Award in 2001 Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award, 1999 Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, India's highest honour given for achievement in sports, 1997–98.

Wisden Cricketer of the Year: 1997

Arjuna Award, by the Government of India in recognition of his outstanding achievement in sports, 1994. In October 2010 he was awarded for Outstanding Achievement in Sport and the Peoples Choice Award at The Asian Awards in London On 28 January 2011, he won the 'Castrol Indian Cricketer of the Year' award. 'BCCI Cricketer of the Year' award on 1 June 2011

On 3 September 2010 he was made a Honorary Group captain by the Indian Air Force

See also

List of International cricket centuries by Sachin Tendulkar

Indian cricket team

Indian national cricket captains

Wisden Cricketers of the Year

List of One-day International records

Notes

References

Further reading

External links

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Category:1973 births Category:Living people Category:Indian cricket captains Category:India One Day International cricketers Category:Indian Test captains Category:India Twenty20 International cricketers Category:Indian cricketers Category:India Test cricketers Category:Wisden Cricketers of the Year Category:Wisden Leading Cricketers in the World Category:West Zone cricketers Category:Mumbai cricketers Category:Yorkshire cricketers Category:World Cup cricketers of India Category:Cricketers at the 1992 Cricket World Cup Category:Cricketers at the 1996 Cricket World Cup Category:Cricketers at the 1999 Cricket World Cup Category:Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup Category:Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup Category:Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup Category:Cricketers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri Category:Recipients of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Category:Marathi people Category:People from Mumbai Category:Indian Hindus Category:Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan Category:Mumbai (Indian Premier League) cricketers Category:Recipients of the Arjuna Award Category:Recipients of the Maharashtra Bhushan Award