Yorkshire () is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform. Throughout these changes, Yorkshire has continued to be recognised as a geographical territory and cultural region. The name is familiar and well understood across the United Kingdom and is in common use in the media and the military, and also features in the titles of current areas of civil administration, such as Yorkshire and the Humber and West Yorkshire.

Within the borders of the historic county of Yorkshire are areas which are widely considered to be among the greenest in England, due to the vast stretches of unspoiled countryside in the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors and to the open aspect of some of the major cities. Yorkshire has sometimes been nicknamed ''God's Own County''. The emblem of Yorkshire is the white rose of the English royal House of York, and the most commonly used flag representative of Yorkshire is the White Rose on a dark blue background, which after years of use, was recognised by the Flag Institute on 29 July 2008. Yorkshire Day, held on 1 August, is a celebration of the general culture of Yorkshire, ranging from its history to its own dialect.

Toponymy

The county of Yorkshire was so named as it is the Shire (administrative area or county) of the City of York (pronounced ) or York's Shire. "York" comes from the Viking name for the city, Jórvík. "Shire" is from Old English, scir, and appears to be allied to shear as it is a division of the land. The "shire" suffix is locally pronounced "shur", or occasionally , a homophone of "sheer".

History

Celtic tribes

Early inhabitants of Yorkshire were Celts, who formed two separate tribes, the Brigantes and the Parisii. The Brigantes controlled territory which later became all of the North Riding of Yorkshire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. The tribe controlled most of Northern England and more territory than any other Celtic tribe in England. That they had the Yorkshire area as their heartland is evident in that ''Isurium Brigantum'' (now known as Aldborough) was the capital town of their ''civitas'' under Roman rule. Six of the nine Brigantian ''poleis'' described by Claudius Ptolemaeus in the ''Geographia'' fall within the historic county. The Parisii who controlled the area that would become the East Riding of Yorkshire, may have been related to the Parisii of ''Lutetia Parisiorum'', Gaul (known today as Paris, France). Their capital was at Petuaria close to the Humber estuary. The Roman conquest of Britain began in 43 AD, however the Brigantes remained in control of their kingdom as a client state of Rome for an extended period, reigned over by the Brigantian monarchs Cartimandua and her husband Venutius. Initially, this situation suited both the Romans and the Brigantes who were known as the most militant tribe in Britain.

Roman Yorkshire

Queen Cartimandua left her husband Venutius for his armour bearer, Vellocatus, setting off a chain of events which changed control of the Yorkshire area. Cartimandua, due to her good relationship with the Romans, was able to keep control of the kingdom; however her former husband staged rebellions against her and her Roman allies. At the second attempt, Venutius seized the kingdom, but the Romans, under general Petillius Cerialis, conquered the Brigantes in 71 AD.

Under Roman rule, the high profile of the area continued. The fortified city of Eboracum (now known as York) was named as capital of ''Britannia Inferior'' and joint-capital of all Roman Britain. During the two years before the death of Emperor Septimus Severus, the Roman Empire was run from Eboracum by him.

Another Emperor, Constantius Chlorus, died in Yorkshire during a visit in 306 AD. This saw his son Constantine the Great proclaimed Emperor in the city, who would become renowned due to his contributions to Christianity. In the early 5th century, the Roman rule ceased with the withdrawal of the last active Roman troops. By this stage, the Empire was in heavy decline.

Second Celtic period and Angles

After the Romans left, small Celtic kingdoms arose in Yorkshire; the Kingdom of Ebrauc around York and more notably the Kingdom of Elmet in West Yorkshire. Elmet remained independent from the Northumbrian Angles until some time in the early 7th Century, when King Edwin of Northumbria expelled its last king, Certic, and annexed the region. At its greatest extent, Northumbria stretched from the Irish Sea to the North Sea and from Edinburgh down to Hallamshire in South Yorkshire.

Kingdom of Jórvík

An army of Danish Vikings, the Great Heathen Army as its enemies often referred to it, invaded Northumbrian territory in 866 AD. The Danes conquered and assumed what is now modern day York and renamed it Jórvík, making it the capital city of a new Danish kingdom under the same name. The area which this kingdom covered included most of Southern Northumbria, roughly equivalent to the borders of Yorkshire extending further West.

The Danes went on to conquer an even larger area of England which afterwards became known as the Danelaw; but whereas most of the Danelaw was still English land, albeit in submission to Viking overlords, it was in the Kingdom of Jórvík that the only truly Viking territory on mainland Britain was ever established. The Kingdom prospered, taking advantage of the vast trading network of the Viking nations, and established commercial ties with the British Isles, North-West Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

Founded by the Dane Halfdan Ragnarsson in 875, ruled for the great part by Danish kings, and populated by the families and subsequent descendants of Danish Vikings, the leadership of the kingdom nonetheless passed into Norwegian hands during its twilight years. Eric Bloodaxe, an ex-king of Norway who was the last independent Viking king of Jórvík, is a particularly noted figure in history, and his bloodthirsty approach towards leadership may have been at least partly responsible for convincing the Danish inhabitants of the region to accept English sovereignty so readily in the years that followed.

After around 100 years of its volatile existence, the Kingdom of Jorvik finally came to an end. The Kingdom of Wessex was now in its ascendant and established its dominance over the North in general, placing Yorkshire again within Northumbria, which retained a certain amount of autonomy as an almost-independent earldom rather than a separate kingdom. The Wessex Kings of England were reputed to have respected the Norse customs in Yorkshire and left law-making in the hands of the local aristocracy.

Norman conquest

In the weeks immediately leading up to the Battle of Hastings in 1066 AD, Harold II of England was distracted by events in Yorkshire. His brother Tostig and Harold Hardrada, King of Norway, attempted a takeover in the north, having won the Battle of Fulford. The King of England marched North where the two armies met at the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Tostig and Hardrada were both killed and their army was defeated decisively. However, Harold Godwinson was forced immediately to march his army back down to the South where William the Conqueror was landing. The King was defeated at Hastings, which led to the Norman conquest of England.

The people of the North rebelled against the Normans in September 1069 AD, enlisting Sweyn II of Denmark. They tried to take back York, but the Normans burnt it before they could. What followed was the Harrying of the North ordered by William. From York to Durham, crops, domestic animals, and farming tools were scorched. Many villages between the towns were burnt and local Northerners were indiscriminately murdered. During the winter that followed, families starved to death and thousands of peasants died of cold and hunger. Orderic Vitalis put the estimation at "more than 100,000" people from the North died from hunger.

In the centuries following, many abbeys and priories were built in Yorkshire. Norman landowners were keen to increase their revenues and established new towns such as Barnsley, Doncaster, Hull, Leeds, Scarborough, Sheffield, and others. Of towns founded before the conquest, only Bridlington, Pocklington, and York continued at a prominent level. The population of Yorkshire boomed until hit by the Great Famine in the years between 1315 and 1322.

In the early 12th century, people of Yorkshire had to contend with the Battle of the Standard at Northallerton with the Scots. Representing the Kingdom of England led by Archbishop Thurstan of York, soldiers from Yorkshire defeated the more numerous Scots.

The Black Death reached Yorkshire by 1349, killing around a third of the population.

Wars of the Roses

When King Richard II was overthrown in 1399, antagonism between the House of York and the House of Lancaster, both branches of the royal House of Plantagenet, began to emerge. Eventually the two houses fought for the throne of England in a series of civil wars, commonly known as the Wars of the Roses. Some of the battles took place in Yorkshire, such as those at Wakefield and Towton, the latter of which is known as the bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil. Richard III was the last Yorkist king.

Henry Tudor of the House of Lancaster, defeated and killed Richard at the Battle of Bosworth Field. He then became King Henry VII and married Elizabeth of York daughter of Yorkist Edward IV, ending the wars. The two roses of white and red, emblems of the Houses of York and Lancaster respectively, were combined to form the Tudor Rose of England. This rivalry between the royal houses of York and Lancaster has passed into popular culture as a rivalry between the counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire, particularly manifested in sport - for example the Roses Match played in County Cricket, or the Roses Tournament between the Universities of York and Lancaster.

Saints, Civil War and textile industry

The wool textile industry which had previously been a cottage industry centred on the old market towns moved to the West Riding where budding entrepreneurs were building mills that took advantage of water power gained by harnessing the rivers and streams flowing from the Pennines. The developing textile industry in general helped Wakefield and Halifax grow.

The English Reformation began under Henry VIII and the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536 led to a popular uprising known as Pilgrimage of Grace, started in Yorkshire as a protest. Some Catholics contingent in Yorkshire continued to practice their religion and those caught were executed during the reign of Elizabeth I. One such person was a York woman named Margaret Clitherow who was later canonised.

During the English Civil War, which started in 1642 between king and parliament, Yorkshire had divided loyalties; Hull famously shut the gates of the city on the king when he came to enter the city a few months before fighting began, while the North Riding of Yorkshire in particular was strongly royalist. York was the base for Royalists, and from there they captured Leeds and Wakefield only to have them recaptured a few months later. The royalists won the Battle of Adwalton Moor meaning they controlled Yorkshire (with the exception of Hull). From their base in Hull the Parliamentarians ("Roundheads") fought back, re-taking Yorkshire town by town, until they won the Battle of Marston Moor and with it control of all of the North of England.

In the 16th and 17th centuries Leeds and other wool industry centred towns continued to grow, along with Huddersfield, Hull and Sheffield, while coal mining first came into prominence in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Canals and turnpike roads were introduced in the late 18th century. In the following century the spa towns of Harrogate and Scarborough also flourished, due to people believing mineral water had curing properties.

Yorkshire today

The 19th century saw Yorkshire's continued growth, with the population growing and the Industrial Revolution continuing with prominent industries in coal, textile and steel (especially in Sheffield). However, despite the booming industry, living conditions declined in the industrial towns due to overcrowding, this saw bouts of cholera in both 1832 and 1848. Fortunately for the county, advances were made by the end of the century with the introduction of modern sewers and water supplies. Several Yorkshire railway networks were introduced as railways spread across the country to reach remote areas. County councils were created for the three ridings in 1889, but their area of control did not include the large towns, which became county boroughs, and included an increasing large part of the population.

During the Second World War, Yorkshire became an important base for RAF Bomber Command and brought the county into the cutting edge of the war. In the 1970s there were major reforms of local government throughout the United Kingdom. Some of the changes were unpopular, and controversially Yorkshire and its ridings lost status in 1974 as part of the Local Government Act 1972. The East Riding was resurrected with reduced boundaries in 1996 with the abolition of Humberside. With slightly different borders, the government office entity which currently contains most of the area of Yorkshire is the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. This region includes a northern slice of Lincolnshire, but omits Saddleworth (now in Greater Manchester); the Forest of Bowland (Lancashire); Sedbergh and Dent (Cumbria); Upper Teesdale (County Durham) as well as Middlesbrough, and Redcar and Cleveland.

Geography

Physical and geological

:''Main articles: Geology of Yorkshire and list of places in Yorkshire'' Historically, the northern boundary of Yorkshire was the River Tees, the eastern boundary was the North Sea coast and the southern boundary was the Humber Estuary and River Don and River Sheaf. The western boundary meandered along the western slopes of the Pennine Hills to again meet the River Tees. It is bordered by several other historic counties in the form of County Durham, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Cheshire, Lancashire and Westmorland. In Yorkshire there is a very close relationship between the major topographical areas and the geological period in which they were formed. The Pennine chain of hills in the west is of Carboniferous origin. The central vale is Permo-Triassic. The North York Moors in the north-east of the county are Jurassic in age while the Yorkshire Wolds to the south east are Cretaceous chalk uplands.

Yorkshire is drained by several rivers. In western and central Yorkshire the many rivers empty their waters into the River Ouse which reaches the North Sea via the Humber Estuary. The most northerly of the rivers in the Ouse system is the River Swale, which drains Swaledale before passing through Richmond and meandering across the Vale of Mowbray. Next, draining Wensleydale, is the River Ure, which joins the Swale east of Boroughbridge. The River Nidd rises on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park and flows along Nidderdale before reaching the Vale of York.

The Ouse is the name given to the river after its confluence with the Ure at Ouse Gill Beck. The River Wharfe, which drains Wharfedale, joins the Ouse upstream of Cawood. The Rivers Aire and Calder are more southerly contributors to the River Ouse and the most southerly Yorkshire tributary is the River Don, which flows northwards to join the main river at Goole. In the far north of the county the River Tees flows eastwards through Teesdale and empties its waters into the North Sea downstream of Middlesbrough. The smaller River Esk flows from west to east at the northern foot of the North York Moors to reach the sea at Whitby. The River Derwent rises on the North York Moors, flows south then westwards through the Vale of Pickering then turns south again to drain the eastern part of the Vale of York. It empties into the River Ouse at Barmby on the Marsh. To the east of the Yorkshire Wolds the River Hull flows southwards to join the Humber Estuary at Kingston upon Hull. The western Pennines are served by the River Ribble which drains westwards into the Irish Sea close to Lytham St Annes.

Natural areas

The countryside of Yorkshire has acquired the common nickname of ''God's Own County''. In recent times, North Yorkshire has displaced Kent to take the title ''Garden of England'' according to ''The Guardian''. Yorkshire includes the North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales National Parks, and part of the Peak District National Park. Nidderdale and the Howardian Hills are designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Spurn Point, Flamborough Head and the coastal North York Moors are designated Heritage Coast areas, and are noted for their scenic views with rugged cliffs such as the jet cliffs at Whitby, the limestone cliffs at Filey and the chalk cliffs at Flamborough Head. Moor House - Upper Teesdale, most of which is part of the former North Riding of Yorkshire, is one of England's largest national nature reserves.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds runs nature reserves such as the one at Bempton Cliffs with coastal wildlife such as the Northern Gannet, Atlantic Puffin and Razorbill. Spurn Point is a narrow, long sand spit. It is a National Nature Reserve owned by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and is noted for its cyclical nature whereby the spit is destroyed and re-created approximately once every 250 years. There are seaside resorts in Yorkshire with sand beaches; Scarborough is Britain's oldest seaside resort dating back to the spa town-era in the 17th century, while Whitby has been voted as the United Kingdom's best beach, with a "postcard-perfect harbour".

Historically, Yorkshire was divided into three ridings and the Ainsty of York. The term 'riding' is of Viking origin and derives from ''Threthingr'' meaning a third part. The three ridings in Yorkshire were named the East Riding, West Riding and North Riding. The East and North Ridings of Yorkshire were separated by the River Derwent and the West and North Ridings were separated by the Ouse and the Ure/Nidd watershed. In 1974 the three ridings of Yorkshire were abolished and York which had been independent of the three ridings, was incorporated into the new county called North Yorkshire. It later became part of York Unitary Authority.

Economy

Yorkshire largely has a mixed economy. City of Leeds is Yorkshire's largest city and the main centre of trade and commerce. Leeds is one of the UK's largest financial centres. Leeds' traditional industries have been mixed between the service-based industries as well as textile manufacturing and coal mining to the south and east of the city. Sheffield traditionally has had heavy industrial manufacturing such as coal mining and the steel industry. Since the decline of such industries Sheffield has attracted tertiary and administrative businesses including a growing retail trade, particularly with the development of Meadowhall. However, whilst Sheffield's heavy industry has declined the region has reinvented itself as a world renowned centre for specialist engineering. A cluster of hi-tech facilities including The Welding Institute, the Boeing partnered Advanced Materials Research Centre have all helped to raise the regions profile and to bring significant investment into Yorkshire. Bradford, Halifax, Keighley and Huddersfield are traditional centres of wool milling. These have since declined, and in areas such as Bradford, Dewsbury and Keighley have suffered a decline in their local economy. North Yorkshire has an established tourist industry with two national parks (Yorkshire Dales National Park, North Yorkshire Moors National Park), Harrogate, York and Scarborough and such an industry is growing in Leeds. Kingston upon Hull is Yorkshire's largest port and has a large manufacturing base, its fishing industry has however declined somewhat in recent years. The North still has an agricultural backdrop, although this is much more diversified than once was the case, with tourism to help support local businesses.

Many large British companies are based in Yorkshire or were founded there. These include; Morrisons (Bradford), Asda (Leeds), Comet, (Hull), Jet2.com (Leeds), Ronseal (Sheffield), Optare (Leeds), Wharfedale (Leeds), Plaxton (Scarborough), Little Chef (Sheffield), Halifax Bank (Halifax), Yorkshire Bank Leeds, Yorkshire Building Society Bradford, GHD (Leeds), Marks and Spencer (Leeds), Burtons (Leeds), Jaeger Ilkley, Magnet Kitchens (Keighley), McCains (Scarborough), First Direct (Leeds), Tetleys (Leeds), Timothy Taylors (Keighley), Bradford and Bingley (Bingley) and Skipton Building Society (Skipton).

Transport

The most prominent road in Yorkshire, historically called the Great North Road, is known as the A1. This trunk road passes through the centre of the county and is the prime route from London to Edinburgh. Another important road is the more easterly A19 road which starts in Doncaster and ends just north of Newcastle-upon-Tyne at Seaton Burn. The M62 motorway crosses the county from east to west from Hull towards Greater Manchester and Merseyside. The M1 carries traffic from London and the south of England to Yorkshire. In 1999 about was added to make it swing east of Leeds and connect to the A1. The East Coast Main Line rail link between Scotland and London runs roughly parallel with the A1 through Yorkshire and the Trans Pennine rail link runs east to west from Hull to Liverpool via Leeds.

Before the advent of rail transport, seaports of Hull and Whitby played an important role in transporting goods. Historically canals were used, including the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, which is the longest canal in England. Nowadays mainland Europe (the Netherlands and Belgium) can be reached from Hull via regular ferry services from P&O; Ferries. Yorkshire also has air transport services from Leeds Bradford International Airport. This airport has experienced significant and rapid growth in both terminal size and passenger facilities since 1996, when improvements began, until the present day. South Yorkshire is served by the Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield, based in Finningley. Sheffield City Airport opened in 1997 after years of Sheffield having no airport, due to a council decision in the 1960s not to develop one because of the city's good rail links with London and the development of airports in other nearby areas. The newly opened airport never managed to compete with larger airports such as Leeds Bradford International Airport and East Midlands Airport and attracted only a few scheduled flights, while the runway was too short to support low cost carriers. The opening of Doncaster Sheffield Airport, effectively made the airport redundant and it officially closed in April 2008.

Culture

The culture of the people of Yorkshire is an accumulated product of various different civilisations who have directly controlled its history, including; the Celts (Brigantes and Parisii), Romans, Angles, Norse Vikings and Normans amongst others. The western part of the historic North Riding had an additional infusion of Breton culture due to the Honour of Richmond being occupied by Alain Le Roux, grandson of Geoffrey I, Duke of Brittany. The people of Yorkshire are immensely proud of their county and local culture and it is sometimes suggested they identify more strongly with their county than they do with their country. Yorkshire people have their own distinctive dialect known as ''Tyke'', which some have argued is a fully fledged language in its own right. The county has also produced a unique set of Yorkshire colloquialisms, which are in use in the county. Among Yorkshire's unique traditions is the Long Sword dance, a traditional dance not found elsewhere in England. The most famous traditional song of Yorkshire is ''On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at'' ("On Ilkley Moor without a hat"), it is considered the unofficial anthem of the county.

Architecture

Throughout Yorkshire many castles were built during the Norman-Breton period, particularly after the Harrying of the North. These included Bowes Castle, Pickering Castle, Richmond Castle, Skipton Castle, York Castle and others. Later medieval castles at Helmsley, Middleham and Scarborough were built as a means of defence against the invading Scots. Middleham is notable because Richard III of England spent his childhood there. The remains of these castles, some being English Heritage sites, are popular tourist destinations. There are several stately homes in Yorkshire which carry the name "castle" in their title, even though they are more akin to a palace. The most notable examples are Allerton Castle and Castle Howard, both linked to the Howard family. Castle Howard and the Earl of Harewood's residence, Harewood House, are included amongst the Treasure Houses of England, a group of nine English stately homes.

There are numerous other Grade I listed buildings within the historic county including public buildings such as Leeds Town Hall, Sheffield Town Hall, Ormesby Hall, the Yorkshire Museum and Guildhall at York. Large estates with significant buildings were constructed at Brodsworth Hall, Temple Newsam and Wentworth Castle. In addition to this there are properties which are conserved and managed by the National Trust, such as Nunnington Hall, the Rievaulx Terrace & Temples and Studley Royal Park. Religious architecture includes extant cathedrals as well as the ruins of monasteries and abbeys. Many of these prominent buildings suffered from the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII; these include Bolton Abbey, Fountains Abbey, Gisborough Priory, Rievaulx Abbey, St Mary's Abbey and Whitby Abbey among others. Notable religious buildings of historic origin still in use include York Minster, the largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe, Beverley Minster, Bradford Cathedral and Ripon Cathedral.

Literature and art

When Yorkshire formed the southern part of the kingdom of Northumbria there were several notable poets, scholars and ecclesiastics, including Alcuin, Cædmon and Wilfrid. The most esteemed literary family from the county are the three Brontë sisters, with part of the county around Haworth being nicknamed Brontë Country in their honour. Their novels, written in the mid-19th century, caused a sensation when they were first published, yet were subsequently accepted into the canon of great English literature. Among the most celebrated novels written by the sisters are Anne Brontë's ''The Tenant of Wildfell Hall'', Charlotte Brontë's ''Jane Eyre'' and Emily Brontë's ''Wuthering Heights''. ''Wuthering Heights'' was almost a source used to depict life in Yorkshire, illustrating the type of people that reside there in its characters, and emphasising the use of the stormy Yorkshire moors. Nowadays, the parsonage which was their former home is now a museum in their honour. Bram Stoker authored ''Dracula'' while living in Whitby and it includes several elements of local folklore including the beaching of the Russian ship ''Dmitri'', which became the basis of Demeter in the book.

The novelist tradition in Yorkshire continued into the 20th century, with authors such as J. B. Priestley, Alan Bennett, A S Byatt, and Barbara Taylor Bradford being prominent examples. Taylor Bradford is noted for ''A Woman of Substance'' which was one of the top-ten best selling novels in history. Another well known author was children's writer Arthur Ransome who penned the ''Swallows and Amazons'' series. James Herriot, the best selling author of over 60 million copies of books about his experiences of some 50 years as a veterinarian in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, the town which he refers to as Darrowby in his books (although born in Sunderland), has been admired for his easy reading style and interesting characters. Poets include Ted Hughes, W. H. Auden, William Empson and Andrew Marvell. Two well known sculptors emerged in the 20th century; contemporaries Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth. Some of their works are available for public viewing at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. There are several art galleries in Yorkshire featuring extensive collections, such as Ferens Art Gallery, Leeds Art Gallery, Millennium Galleries and York Art Gallery. Some of the better known local painters are William Etty and David Hockney; many works by the latter are housed at Salts Mill 1853 Gallery in Saltaire.

Sport

Yorkshire has a long tradition in the field of sports, with participation in football, rugby league, cricket and horse racing being the most established sporting ventures. Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county in the domestic first class cricket County Championship; with a total of 30 championship titles, 12 more than any other county, Yorkshire is the most decorated county cricket club. Some of the most highly regarded figures in the game were born in the county amongst them Geoff Boycott, Len Hutton and Herbert Sutcliffe. England's oldest horse race, which began in 1519, is run each year at Kiplingcotes near Market Weighton. Continuing this tradition in the field of horse racing, there are currently nine established racecourses in the county. Britain's oldest organised fox hunt is the Bilsdale, originally founded in 1668. Yorkshire is officially recognised by FIFA as the birth-place of club football, as Sheffield FC founded in 1857 are certified as the oldest association football club in the world. The world's first inter-club match and local derby was competed in the county, at the world's oldest ground Sandygate Road. The Laws of the Game which are now used worldwide were drafted by Ebenezer Cobb Morley from Hull.

The most successful football clubs founded in Yorkshire are Barnsley, Bradford City, Doncaster Rovers, York City, Huddersfield Town, Hull City, Leeds United, Middlesbrough, Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday, four of which have been the league champions with Huddersfield being the first club to win three consecutive league titles. Middlesbrough F.C. recently came to prominence by reaching the 2006 UEFA Cup Final and winning the 2004 League Cup. Noted players from Yorkshire who have had an impact on the game include World Cup-winning goalkeeper Gordon Banks and two time European Footballer of the Year award winner Kevin Keegan, as well as prominent managers Herbert Chapman, Brian Clough, Bill Nicholson, George Raynor and Don Revie.

The Rugby Football League and with it the sport of rugby league was founded in 1895 at the George Hotel, Huddersfield, after a North-South schism within the Rugby Football Union. The top league is the engage Super League and the most decorated Yorkshire clubs are Huddersfield Giants, Hull FC, Bradford Bulls, Hull KR, Wakefield Trinity Wildcats, Castleford Tigers and Leeds Rhinos. In total six Yorkshiremen have been inducted into the Rugby League Hall of Fame amongst them is Roger Millward, Jonty Parkin and Harold Wagstaff. In the area of boxing "Prince" Naseem Hamed from Sheffield achieved title success and widespread fame, in what the BBC describes as "one of British boxing's most illustrious careers". Yorkshire also has an array of racecourses, in North Yorkshire, there is Catterick, Redcar, Ripon, Thirsk and York in the East Riding of Yorkshire there is Beverley, in West Yorkshire there is Pontefract and Wetherby, while in South Yorkshire there is Doncaster.

The sport of Knurr and Spell was unique to the region, being one of the most popular sports in the area during the 18th and 19th centuries, prior to a decline in the 20th century to virtual obscurity.

Cuisine

The traditional cuisine of Yorkshire, in common with the North of England in general, is known for using rich tasting ingredients, especially with regard to sweet dishes, which were affordable for the majority of people. There are several dishes which originated in Yorkshire or are heavily associated with it. Yorkshire pudding, a savoury batter dish, is by far the best known of Yorkshire foods, and is eaten throughout England. It is commonly served with roast beef and vegetables to form part of the Sunday roast.

Other foods associated with the county include: Yorkshire curd tart, a curd tart recipe with rosewater; Parkin, a sweet ginger cake which is different from standard ginger cakes in that it includes oatmeal and treacle; and Wensleydale cheese, a cheese associated with Wensleydale and often eaten as an accompaniment to sweet foods. The beverage ginger beer, flavoured with ginger, came from Yorkshire and has existed since the mid 18th century. Liquorice sweet was first created by George Dunhill from Pontefract, who in the 1760s thought to mix the liquorice plant with sugar. Yorkshire and in particular the city of York played a prominent role in the confectionery industry, with chocolate factories owned by companies such as Rowntree's, Terry's and Thorntons inventing many of Britain's most popular sweets. Another traditional Yorkshire food is pikelets which are similar to crumpets but much thinner. The Rhubarb Triangle is a location within Yorkshire which supplies most of the rhubarb to locals.

In recent years curries have become popular in the county largely due to the immigration and successful integration of Asian families. There are many famous curry empires with their origins in Yorkshire including the 850-seater Aakash restaurant in Cleckheaton which has been described as "the world's largest curry house".

Beer and brewing

Yorkshire has a number of breweries including Black Sheep, Copper Dragon, Cropton Brewery, John Smith's, Sam Smith's, Tetley's, Kelham Island Brewery, Theakstons and Timothy Taylor. The beer style most associated with the county is bitter. As elsewhere in the North of England, when served through a handpump, a sparkler is used giving a tighter, more solid head.

Brewing has taken place on a large scale since at least the 12th century, for example at the now derelict Fountains Abbey which at its height produced 60 barrels of strong ale every ten days. Most current Yorkshire breweries date from the Industrial Revolution of the late eighteenth and early 19th century.

Music and film

Yorkshire has a rich heritage of folk music and folk dance including particularly Long Sword dance. Yorkshire folk song was chiefly distinguished by the use of dialect, particularly in the West Riding and exemplified by the song 'On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at', probably written in the later 19th century and using a Kent folk tune (almost certainly borrowed via a Methodist hymnal), but often seen as an unofficial Yorkshire anthem. The most famous folk performers from the county are the Watersons from Hull, who began recording Yorkshire versions of folk songs from 1965. Other Yorkshire folk musicians include Heather Wood (born 1945) of the Young Tradition, the short-lived electric folk group Mr Fox (1970–2), The Deighton Family, Julie Matthews, Kathryn Roberts, and Kate Rusby. Yorkshire has a flourishing folk music culture, with over forty folk clubs and thirty annual folk music festivals. In 2007 the Yorkshire Garland Group was formed to make Yorkshire folk songs accessible online and in schools.

In the field of classical music, Yorkshire has produced some major composers, including Frederick Delius, George Dyson, Edward Bairstow, William Baines, Kenneth Leighton, Eric Fenby, Haydn Wood, Arthur Wood, Arnold Cooke, Gavin Bryars, and in the area of TV, film and radio music, John Barry and Wally Stott.

Yorkshire is often called the home of the brass band and the county boasts some of the most famous and successful bands in the world such as Black Dyke, Brighouse & Rastrick, Yorkshire Imperial, Yorkshire Building Society, and Carlton Main Frickley. Historically the bands evolved around the mines, mills and steel works in the county but the demise of these industries has meant that the bands are now professional ensembles in their own right. Although brass is still considered by many in the UK to be a niche form of music, its popularity has increased overseas and UK bands often perform in Europe, Australia, the far east and the USA.

During the 1970s David Bowie, himself of a father from Tadcaster in North Yorkshire, hired three musicians from Hull in the form of Mick Ronson, Trevor Bolder and Mick Woodmansey; together they recorded ''Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars'', an album that went on to become widely considered as one of the greatest and most influential of all time. In the following decade, Def Leppard, from Sheffield achieved worldwide fame, particularly in America. Their 1983 album, Pyromania (album) and 1987 album, Hysteria (Def Leppard album) became one of the most successful albums of all time. Yorkshire had a very strong post-punk scene which went on to achieve wide spread acclaim and success, including; The Sisters of Mercy, The Cult, Vardis, Gang of Four, ABC, The Human League, New Model Army, Soft Cell, Chumbawamba, The Wedding Present and The Mission. Pulp from Sheffield had a massive hit in the form of ''Common People'' during 1995, the song focuses on working-class northern life. The 21st century saw popularity of indie rock and post-punk revival bands from the area with the Kaiser Chiefs, The Cribs and the Arctic Monkeys, the latter of whom hold the record for the fastest-selling debut album in British music history with ''Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not''. Also, the indie rock band One Night Only come from the village Helmsley.

The three most prominent British television shows filmed in (and based on) Yorkshire are the sitcom ''Last of the Summer Wine'', the drama series ''Heartbeat'', and the soap opera ''Emmerdale'', the latter two of which are produced by Yorkshire Television. ''Last of the Summer Wine'' in particular is noted for holding the record of longest-running comedy series in the world, from 1973 until today. Other notable television series set in Yorkshire include ''The Beiderbecke Trilogy'', ''Rising Damp'', ''Fat Friends'' and ''The Royal''. Several noted films are set in Yorkshire, including ''Kes'', ''This Sporting Life'', ''Room at the Top'', ''Brassed Off'', ''Mischief Night'', ''Rita, Sue and Bob Too'' and ''Calendar Girls''. A comedy film set in Sheffield named ''The Full Monty'', won an Academy Award and was voted the second best British film of all-time by ANI. The county is also referenced in ''Monty Python's The Meaning of Life'' during a segment on birth where a title card read, "The Miracle of Birth, Part II—The Third World". The scene opens into a mill town street, subtitled "Yorkshire". Monty Python also performed the Four Yorkshiremen sketch live, which first featured on ''At Last the 1948 Show''.

Governance

Politics

From 1290, Yorkshire was represented by two Members of Parliament of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England. After the union with Scotland two members represented the county in the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. In 1832 the county benefited from the disfranchisement of Grampound by taking an additional two members. Yorkshire was represented at this time as one single, large, county constituency. Like other counties, there were also some county boroughs within Yorkshire, the oldest was the City of York which had existed since the ancient De Montfort's Parliament of 1265. After the Reform Act 1832, Yorkshire's political representation in parliament was drawn from its subdivisions, with Members of Parliament representing each of the three historic Ridings of Yorkshire; East Riding, North Riding and West Riding constituencies.

For the 1865 general elections and onwards, the West Riding was further divided into Northern, Eastern and Southern parliamentary constituencies, though these only lasted until the major Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. This act saw more localisation of government in the United Kingdom, with the introduction of 26 new parliamentary constituencies within Yorkshire, while the Local Government Act 1888 introduced some reforms for the county boroughs, of which there were 8 in Yorkshire by the end of the 19th century.

With the Representation of the People Act 1918 there was some reshuffling on a local level for the 1918 general election, revised again during the 1950s. The most controversial reorganisation of local government in Yorkshire was the Local Government Act 1972, put into practice in 1974. Under the act, the Ridings lost their lieutenancies, shrievalties, administrative counties. County boroughs and their councils were abolished, to be replaced by metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties with vastly changed borders. Although some government officials and Prince Charles have asserted such reform is not meant to alter the ancient boundaries or cultural loyalties, there are pressure groups such as the Yorkshire Ridings Society who want greater recognition for the historic boundaries. In 1996 the East Riding of Yorkshire was reformed as a unitary authority area and a ceremonial county. The Yorkshire and the Humber region of government office covers most, but not all of the historic county.Yorkshire and the Humber is a constituency for European elections, returning six MEPs to the European Parliament.

Monarchy and peerage

When the territory of Yorkshire began to take shape as a result of the invasion of the Danish vikings, they instituted a monarchy based at the settlement of Jórvík, York. The reign of the Viking kings came to an end with the last king Eric Bloodaxe dying in battle in 954 after the invasion and conquest by the Kingdom of England from the south. Jórvík was the last of the independent kingdoms to be taken to form part of the Kingdom of England and thus the local monarchal title became defunct.

Though the monarchal title became defunct, it was succeeded by the creation of the Earl of York title of nobility by king of England Edgar the Peaceful in 960.(The earldom covered the general area of Yorkshire and is sometimes referred to as the ''Earl of Yorkshire'') The title passed through the hands of various nobles, decided upon by the current king of England. The last man to hold the title was William le Gros, however the earldom was abolished by Henry II as a result of a troubled period known as ''The Anarchy''.

The peerage was recreated by Edward III in 1385, this time in the form of the prestigious title of Duke of York which he gave to his son Edmund of Langley. Edmund founded the House of York; later the title would be merged with that of the King of England. Much of the modern day symbolism of Yorkshire, such as the White Rose of York, is derived from the Yorkists, giving the house a special affinity within the culture of Yorkshire. Especially celebrated is the Yorkist king Richard III who spent much of his life at Middleham Castle in Yorkshire. Since that time the title has passed through the hands of many, being merged with the crown and then recreated several times. The title of Duke of York remains prestigious and is given to the second son of the British monarch.

Notable people

See also

Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire

High Sheriff of Yorkshire

1931 Dogger Bank earthquake

List of collieries in Yorkshire 1984-present with dates of closure

List of Commissioners' churches in Yorkshire

Yorkshire Ambulance Service

Yorkshire Building Society

Yorkshire Forward

Yorkshire Regiment

Yorkshire Society

Yorkshire Terrier

Yorkshire Wolds

East Riding of Yorkshire

North Yorkshire

South Yorkshire

West Yorkshire

References

Notes

:Though the Wars of the Roses were fought between royal houses bearing the names of York and Lancaster, the wars took place over a wide area of England. They were a dynastic clash between cadet branches of the House of Plantagenet.The most prominent family in Yorkshire, below the monarchy, the Nevilles of Sheriff Hutton and Middleham fought for the Yorkists, as did the Scropes of Bolton, the Latimers of Danby and Snape, as well as the Mowbrays of Thirsk and Burton in Lonsdale. Yet some fought for the Lancastrians such as the Percies, the Cliffords of Skipton, Ros of Helmsley, Greystock of Henderskelfe, Stafford of Holderness and Talbot of Sheffield.

External links

The History of Yorkshire

Samples of Yorkshire Dialect

Yorkshire Inquisitions 1275–1295

Yorkshire: historical and genealogical information at GENUKI

Welcome to Yorkshire

Category:Counties of England established in antiquity

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Coordinates	12°2′36″N77°1′42″N
County	Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Oneday	Yorkshire Carnegie
Secondteam	Yorkshire Colts
Coach	Martyn Moxon
Captain	Andrew Gale
Overseas	Jacques Rudolph
Founded	1863
Ground	Headingley, Leeds
Capacity	20,000
Fcdebutvs	Surrey
Fcdebutyr	1863
Fcdebutvenue	The Oval
title1	Championship
title1wins	31 (''including 1 shared'')
title2	Pro40
title2wins	1
title3	FP Trophy
title3wins	3
title4	Twenty20 Cup
title4wins	0
Website	YorkshireCCC }}

Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure.

Yorkshire is the most successful team in English cricketing history with 31 County Championship titles, including 1 shared. The club's limited overs team is called the Yorkshire Carnegie (formerly Yorkshire Phoenix), whose current (2010 onwards) kit colours are dark blue, light blue and gold with JCT600 as the main sponsor.

Yorkshire plays most of its home games at the Headingley Stadium, Leeds. The club has another significant venue at North Marine Road, Scarborough, which houses the annual Scarborough Festival. Yorkshire has also played games around the county at various locations, most notably at Bramall Lane, Sheffield, which was the club's original home. Other main venues have been Horton Park Avenue, Bradford; St George's Road Cricket Ground, Harrogate; The Circle, Kingston upon Hull; and Acklam Park, Middlesbrough.

History

Earliest cricket in Yorkshire

:''For information about Yorkshire cricket before the county club was founded, see: Sheffield Cricket Club''

The earliest certain reference to cricket in Yorkshire dates from 1751 when local matches were held in Sheffield and a game took place on or soon after Monday, 5 August at Stanwick, near Richmond, between the Duke of Cleveland’s XI and Earl of Northumberland’s XI; the same teams having earlier played a game at Durham.

Sheffield Cricket Club was probably formed about this time and there are references to Sheffield matches in Derbyshire in 1757 and at Leeds in 1761. A club was formed in York in 1784. Bedale in North Yorkshire was a noted centre in the early 19th century. But cricket in most rural areas was slow to develop. Yorkshire cricket became centred around Sheffield, where it was more organised than in the rest of the county.

From 1771, Sheffield played semi-regular matches against Nottingham Cricket Club. Nottingham was generally the better side and Sheffield sometimes played with more players to give them a greater chance of victory. Nevertheless, the Sheffield player Tom Marsden was regarded as one of the leading players in the country in the 1820s.

Cricket increased in popularity after a trial match was played at the purpose-built Darnall ground in Sheffield to evaluate the new style of roundarm bowling. After this match, many new cricket clubs were formed in the county.

In 1833, a team called "Yorkshire", albeit containing 11 Sheffield players, appeared for the first time, in a game against Norfolk at the Hyde Park Ground in Sheffield. The name may have arisen from a need to match the status of Norfolk, a county rather than a city. There were some differences to the organisation of the Sheffield team as the side contained three amateurs while Sheffield teams were entirely professional. This Yorkshire team played an increasing number of fixtures over the following years, including matches against Sussex, Manchester Cricket Club, Kent and, for the first time in 1849, Lancashire. At this time, Lancashire was an informal name used by the Manchester club. A Yorkshire side continued to play until 1862 but was not organised in any formal way. By 1855, the team was playing at Bramall Lane.

Origin of club

On 7 March 1861, during a meeting at the Adelphi hotel in Sheffield, a Match Fund Committee was established to run Yorkshire county matches. The committee was made up from the management committee of the Bramall Lane ground and representatives from clubs willing to pay £1 to the fund. But the committee was unable to persuade other clubs that it was not seeking to promote Sheffield cricket and a lack of funds prevented some matches being played in 1862.

By this time, there were several cricketers with good reputations and the county team was one of the strongest in England. Consequently, on 8 January 1863, Yorkshire County Cricket Club was formed. Membership was unlimited and cost a minimum of 10s and 6d. Like most first-class cricket clubs of the time, Yorkshire relied on private patronage with administrators "paying to serve" and "moneyed enthusiasts" acting as ready match sponsors. The majority of players were freelance professionals who were paid a usual match fee of £5, from which all travel and accommodation had to be paid. Travel could be arduous, living away from home could be "rough" and sometimes the match fee was not enough to cover expenses, especially if, as was often a problem with early Yorkshire cricketers, "the ale-house was a temptation".

The first club president was T. R. Barker, the mayor of Sheffield, although he probably never attended any meetings. Michael Ellison was the first treasurer and at some point early in Yorkshire's history, he assumed the presidency. However, most official accounts record Ellison as Yorkshire's first president. Joseph B. Wostinholm became the first of four long-serving secretaries in 1864. The first captain was Roger Iddison, a professional cricketer.

The objective of the club was to play matches "either in Sheffield or in any other towns of the county according as arrangements may be made." However, other locations in Yorkshire were unable or unwilling to host fixtures in the first years of the club, and Bradford and York continued to attempt to organise games in competition with Yorkshire, sometimes causing confusion among other counties. Attempts to form an alternative Yorkshire team continued intermittently until 1884, although by 1873, most clubs accepted the authority of the Sheffield-based county club.

1863–1882

Yorkshire played its initial first-class match against Surrey at The Oval on 4, 5 and 6 June 1863. Surrey scored 315 runs, to which Yorkshire replied with 257. Surrey were bowled out for 60 before the match was drawn. The team recorded their first win in the following match against the strong Nottinghamshire team and although they lost the return match, won two and lost only one of the four matches played in their first season. In 1864, the team won two and lost four of seven matches.

In 1865, the club and players became involved in a dispute. Five players — Roger Iddison, George Anderson, George Atkinson, Joseph Rowbotham and Ned Stephenson — refused to play against Surrey. This concerned a controversy that arose in 1862 when Iddison and Anderson played for an All-England team against Surrey at The Oval and the Kent bowler Edgar Willsher was repeatedly no-balled for using an overarm action by an umpire whom, they claimed, had been appointed by Surrey specifically for that purpose. Anderson stated in 1865 that he "would not play against those who have combined to sweep us from the cricket field altogether if they could".

The dispute was about a point of principle and centred on the right of bowlers to use an overarm action, which had been legalised ahead of the 1864 season. Consequently, with several important players missing, Yorkshire did not win a game in 1865 and were forced to cancel some matches for the 1866 season. The Yorkshire committee and the players came to an understanding in early 1867 after the players apologised, but Anderson never represented the county again.

With the player dispute resolved, Yorkshire won all seven of their matches in 1867, defeating Surrey, Lancashire and Cambridgeshire. As a result, the sporting press proclaimed Yorkshire to be the "Champion County" for the first time. The following year, John Thewlis scored the first century for Yorkshire in first-class cricket, against Surrey at The Oval; Yorkshire won four games in both 1868 and 1869; one sports publication regarded Yorkshire as equal champions in the latter year. The team won six out of seven in 1870 to be acclaimed as Champion County again. Much of Yorkshire's success in these years came from the bowling combination of George Freeman and Tom Emmett.

Following Freeman's retirement from regular cricket after 1870, Yorkshire declined, winning fewer games in 1871 and 1872 as Gloucestershire rose to a position of dominance in county cricket, driven by the success of W. G. Grace and his brothers. Conscious of the need to strengthen the club, Yorkshire instituted a Colts team of young players, but replaced Iddison as captain at the end of the 1872 season. Rowbotham, another professional, assumed the position. For the 1873 season, county cricket moved a step closer towards an organised competition when the counties agreed qualification rules for players to be eligible for a team; for many years, this was considered to be start of the County Championship. However, the counties did not organise a formal competition and the "Champion County" was still decided by the press; some publications disagreed.

Despite containing a side with effective players, Yorkshire did not perform as well as expected over the next seasons. The bowling attack was strong, the team contained some experienced players and critics believed Ephraim Lockwood to be the best professional batsman in the country. In 1873, Yorkshire won seven games and lost five and for the following season, Luke Greenwood replaced Rowbotham as captain. The team had an improved record, but although second only to Gloucestershire, Yorkshire lost heavily in both encounters between the teams. Greenwood retired, Rowbotham resumed the captaincy for 1875, and Lockwood took over in 1876. The team did not perform particularly well in either season, but their worst performance came in 1877, winning two games — but none of the last ten — and losing seven. This placed them eighth out of nine counties.

Tom Emmett then took over as captain, but the following two seasons brought mixed results as the team displayed inconsistency, often losing to teams they should comfortably have beaten. Derek Hodgson, in his official county history, suggests a lack of discipline in the team throughout these years was to blame; contemporary reports suggested the team drank too much alcohol to be effective. The players also suffered from public attention, receiving generous hospitality at times which impacted on their performances. In these seasons, the team often began well only to lose form later in the season and the Yorkshire committee was reluctant to replace the experienced cricketers with younger players. However, off the field, Yorkshire became increasingly successful, and the profits made by the club paid for improvements to be made to the Bramall Lane ground and increased player wages through the introduction of travelling expenses and talent money where good performances were financially rewarded. An influx of what proved to be effective new players saw Yorkshire finish second to Lancashire in the unofficial Championship for 1881, but more significant was the debut for the county of Lord Hawke, then aged 21.

The team faded again in 1882 and Hawke, who had refused the captaincy earlier, was appointed club captain at the end of the season, the first amateur to hold the position. Previous captains had all been professionals: Roger Iddison (1863–72), Joseph Rowbotham (1873 and 1875), Luke Greenwood (1874), Ephraim Lockwood (1876–77) and Tom Emmett (1878–82). Hawke remained in charge for 28 seasons until 1910, during which time the team won eight County Championships.

1883–1918

In an obituary tribute, the editor of ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'' said that Lord Hawke's "strength of character was tested" when, as a young man on leaving Cambridge, he undertook the responsibility of captaining the Yorkshire side, composed at that time of "elements that were not entirely harmonious". Owing to Hawke's "tact, judgment and integrity", he moulded the Eleven into "the best and probably the most united county cricket team in England".

Yorkshire to 1883 was widely seen as an idiosyncratic team and, though Hawke's primary task as captain was to lead the team to fulfilment of its potential, his biggest challenge was to unite the club's geographical and social factions. At the end of the 1882 season, in addition to appointing Hawke as captain, the committee agreed to reorganise itself for the first time since the club's foundation and began a process which eventually made the club representative of the whole county and not just Sheffield.

Hawke succeeded Emmett in 1883 and remained as official captain for 27 years, but at first he was careful to take his time and did not make too many changes. Yorkshire improved in 1883 and finished second behind Nottinghamshire in the unofficial County Championship. However, the remainder of the 1880s was disappointing for the team and its supporters. Kilburn said that Yorkshire "continued to be an unreliable side, mingling brilliant achievement with miserable performance". The basic problem was that the older players were past their peak while younger replacements did not make the progress expected. A poor season on the field in 1889 was reflected by reduced income and changes were made with several good new players being introduced. These included Jack Brown, David Hunter and Stanley Jackson, while Bobby Peel was becoming increasingly effective as a bowling all-rounder. They were followed by John Tunnicliffe, David Denton, Ted Wainwright and George Hirst. Hawke worked on fielding practice and the players became specialised and efficient as fielders.

In 1893, the club's initial reorganisation was completed and was finalised after Ellison died in 1898 and Hawke assumed the club presidency as well as captaincy. When Wostinholm died in 1902 after being club secretary for 38 years, the county offices were moved from Sheffield to the more central location of Leeds.

It was in 1893 that the team finally came good and Yorkshire won their first official County Championship. Hodgson wrote that it was "perhaps ... the first confirmation of Hawke's striving for teamwork and discipline". Yorkshire achieved second and third places in 1894 and 1895. The team continued to develop as Brown and Tunnicliffe established an effective opening partnership backed up by Denton and Jackson while Peel, Wainwright and Hirst carried the bowling attack.

Yorkshire historian R.S. Holmes described Yorkshire as "prodigious" in 1896, when they won their second title with some outstanding batting performances including a championship record total of 887 against Warwickshire. Hawke began the practice of paying the professionals over the winter, initially £2 per week; the scheme was later modified to include bonuses. Peel was sacked in 1897 after appearing drunk on the field and was replaced in 1898 by Wilfred Rhodes, who took 141 wickets in his debut season. In the same season, Brown and Tunnicliffe established a record partnership for the first wicket when they scored 554 against Derbyshire at Chesterfield. Yorkshire won their third Championship in 1898 and narrowly failed in 1899 when only a defeat late in the season by Kent prevented the retention of the title.

Between 1900 and 1902, Yorkshire lost only twice in the County Championship, both times to Somerset, and won the County Championship in all three seasons largely thanks to their two outstanding all-rounders Hirst and Rhodes. When Joseph Wolstinholm retired as club secretary after the 1902 season, he was succeeded by Frederick Toone who held the post until his death in June 1930 and formed a successful liaison with Hawke. Toone and Hawke worked together to improve the terms and conditions of professional players' contracts. To 1914, they were paid £5 for a home match and £6 for an away match with a £1 win bonus. Players who had received their county cap were obliged to join the Cricketers' Friendly Society and were paid a winter wage of £2 a week.

Yorkshire remained a strong championship contender through the 1903 to 1914 seasons and won a further three titles in this period, also finishing as runners-up three times. They won their seventh title in 1905 after being third and second in 1903 and 1904 respectively. In 1906, George Hirst achieved a unique "double-double" by scoring 2,385 runs and taking 208 wickets. The 1906 championship was decided on the last day of the season. Yorkshire lost to Gloucestershire by a single run and were overtaken by Kent, who won their last match against Hampshire by an innings. Having finished third in 1907, Yorkshire went through the 1908 season unbeaten and bowled Northamptonshire out for 27 and 15, the aggregate score of 42 being the lowest in English first-class cricket. Yorkshire finished third in 1909 but then dropped to eighth and seventh in the next two seasons before a recovery in 1912 brought their last title before the First World War. While Hirst, Rhodes and Denton continued to excel, Yorkshire gained much in the last four years before the war from two new all-rounders, Major Booth and Alonzo Drake, both of whom were an outstanding success. Another newcomer was Arthur Dolphin, who replaced the retired David Hunter as first-choice wicketkeeper. In 1913 and the unfinished 1914 season, Yorkshire finished second and fourth. Lord Hawke played only a few matches in 1909 and formally resigned as captain in 1910. He was succeeded by Everard Radcliffe, who held the post until the end of the 1911 season; and then by Sir Archibald White, who led the team until the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914.

1919–1945

Yorkshire won the first post-war Championship in 1919, a year which saw the debuts of Herbert Sutcliffe and Emmott Robinson, and remained a dominant force in the County Championship until the Second World War. They won every year from 1922 to 1925 and seven more times in the 1930s. The team won 25 games in 1923, for instance, with Rhodes and Roy Kilner doing the double in these matches alone, while four other batsmen scored 1,000 runs and three other bowlers, including George Macaulay, took 100 wickets.

Wilfred Rhodes retired in 1930, taking 73 wickets and scoring 478 runs in his final season at the age of 53. J.M. Kilburn wrote in the Yorkshire Post: "He had bowled at W.G. Grace, and he bowled at Don Bradman. At 20, at 30, at 40 and at 50 he had shown himself master of his world, and his kingdom was never usurped." Rhodes was replaced by Hedley Verity, another skilful slow left armer. Percy Holmes and Sutcliffe had a record opening stand of 555 against Essex at Leyton in 1932. Len Hutton began his career in the 1930s.

1946–1970

Large crowds flocked to the cricket after the Second World War with 47,000 people attending the 3 days of the Roses Match at Bramall Lane in 1946. Yorkshire won the first post-war Championship. New players after the war included spinner Johnny Wardle, all-rounder Brian Close and fast bowler Fred Trueman. Another newcomer Bob Appleyard became the first bowler to take 200 wickets in his first full season in 1951. The 1950s were dominated by Surrey, who won seven successive championships. Yorkshire had internal problems which were resolved before the 1959 season in which Yorkshire recovered the title under Ronnie Burnet.

The 1960s saw a new Yorkshire team emerge that dominated English cricket. Brian Close was made captain in 1963 and won the Championship in his first season. The team included Fred Trueman, all-rounder Ray Illingworth, wicket-keeper Jimmy Binks and Test batsmen Geoffrey Boycott, Doug Padgett, Phil Sharpe and John Hampshire. The team began to break up after winning a third successive title in 1968 and Close was controversially sacked in 1970.

1971–2000

There followed a long-running current of unrest in the club. There was sadness too in 1973 when Bramall Lane, the first home of Yorkshire CCC, was closed to cricket after over 400 first class matches and was converted into a specialist football stadium.

Geoff Boycott captained Yorkshire for most of the 1970s, but success eluded the team even when Boycott left Test cricket for three years to concentrate on the county game. He was sacked as captain amid much furore after the 1978 season. Ray Illingworth returned from Leicestershire as team manager and, in 1982 at the age of 50, took over the captaincy. Yorkshire finished bottom of the 17-strong County Championship for the first time in 1983 but won the John Player (later National) League for the first time. There was further controversy when Boycott was not offered a new contract. The outcome of this was that the general committee resigned and Boycott, having already been elected to the new committee, was reinstalled as a player. Meanwhile, Brian Close became chairman of the cricket committee. Success continued to elude Yorkshire although Phil Carrick led the team to a Benson and Hedges Cup triumph in 1987.

Yorkshire put themselves at a disadvantage from 1968 until 1992 by insisting that all its players must have been born within the historic county boundaries of Yorkshire while all the other county teams strengthened themselves by signing overseas Test players. In 1992, the birth qualification rule was first modified to include those educated within the county, a dispensation that allowed Michael Vaughan to play; and was then abandoned altogether. Yorkshire's first overseas player that season was 19-year old Sachin Tendulkar.

2001 to present

Yorkshire finally won the County Championship again in 2001 when the captain was David Byas. Yorkshire have had mixed success in the first decade of the 21st century but finished a close third in the 2010 championship under Andrew Gale and their young team appears to have good potential as the 2011 season begins.

There had for many years been a controversial issue about the apparent inability of players from Yorkshire's large ethnic minority population to make their way at the club. Tendulkar was the first Asian player to represent Yorkshire, but he was an overseas player. It was not until 2003 that Dewsbury's Ismail Dawood became the first British-born Asian to play for Yorkshire. He was followed by Ajmal Shahzad and Adil Rashid who have both represented England. In 2007, Azeem Rafiq as a member of Yorkshire's academy team became the first Yorkshire player of an Asian background to captain England at any level when he was appointed U15s captain.

Badge and colours

Lord Hawke, in the early days of his captaincy, designed the white rose badge. Copying the idea from Lancashire, who already had adopted the red rose as a symbol, Hawke designed a rose which, unlike Lancashire's, was not a real flower. He created a rose with eleven petals, to represent the eleven players of the team, based on the hedge rose. Only players who had received their county cap were allowed to wear the badge. It was not until the 1980s it was allowed by the committee to be placed on merchandise as a marketing device.

Yorkshire's club colours are dark blue, light blue and gold. These are knitted in bands forming the v-neck of each player's sweater. The limited overs team, Yorkshire Carnegie, wears the colours in the players' overall uniforms.

Ground history

As with all county cricket clubs, Yorkshire CCC represents the historic county and not any modern or current administrative unit. In Yorkshire's case, this means the three ridings and the City of York, although the club played some home matches outside the historic borders at Sheffield's Abbeydale Park, historically part of Derbyshire, from 1974 to 1996.

Yorkshire first played at North Marine Road, Scarborough in the 1878 season. This remains the venue for the annual Scarborough Festival matches.

The club was founded on 8 January 1863 in the Adelphi Hotel, Sheffield and was initially based at Bramall Lane. Headingley Stadium was first established in 1888 and Test cricket was first played there in 1899, eight years later than it hosted its inaugural first-class match when Yorkshire played Kent in 1891, the year in which the club's headquarters moved there. The "out grounds" in Hull, Sheffield, Bradford, Middlesbrough and Harrogate were used with great success until the 1970s.

On 31 December 2005, Yorkshire County Cricket Club purchased the Headingley cricket ground for £12 million from the ''Leeds Cricket, Football and Athletic Company'', parent company of the Leeds rugby league club, with the help of a £9 million loan from Leeds City Council. This purchase ensures that Test cricket continues at the venue with a 15-year staging agreement. On 11 January 2006, the stadium was officially renamed the Headingley Carnegie Stadium as a result of sponsorship from Leeds Metropolitan University and the club announced plans on 11 January 2006 to rebuild the stand next to the rugby ground with 3,000 extra seats, taking capacity to 20,000. The club also announced plans to redevelop the Winter shed (North) stand on 25 August 2006 providing a £12.5 million pavilion complex.

This following table gives details of every venue at which Yorkshire have hosted a first-class or List A cricket match:

! Name of ground	! Location	! Year	! FCmatches	! LAmatches	! T20matches	! Total
	Leeds	1891–present	392	222	17	631
	Sheffield	1863–1973	391	5		396
	Bradford	1881–1996	306	48	–	354
North Marine Road	Scarborough	1874–present	233	79	–	312
The Circle	Kingston upon Hull	1899–1990	88	19	–	107
St George's Road	Harrogate	1894–2000	91	5	–	96
	Huddersfield	1873–1982	72	9	–	81
Acklam Park	Middlesbrough	1956–1996	45	24	–	69
Abbeydale Park	Sheffield	1974–1996	41	12	–	53
	Dewsbury	1867–1933	43	–	–	43
	Bradford	1863–1874	8	–	–	8
		1888–1897	4	–	–	4
	Barnsley	1975–1978	–	4	–	4
	Holbeck	1968–1986	3	–	–	3
	Middlesbrough	1864–1867	2	–	–	2
	Hunslet	1869	1	–	–	1
	Wakefield	1878	1	–	–	1
Town Cricket Club Ground	Kingston upon Hull	1879	1	–	–	1
	Middlesbrough	1882	1	–	–	1
Hall Park Ground	Horsforth	1885	1	–	–	1
	York	1890	1	–	–	1
	Castleford	1967	–	1	–	1

Support and rivalries

Yorkshire's quintessential rivalry is with Lancashire via the Roses Match. The import of this match reached a peak during the inter-war period when, for many years, Yorkshire and Lancashire were the dominant teams in English cricket. The writings of Neville Cardus at this time were instrumental in emphasising the sense of rivalry between the two teams.

Brand, ownership, finances and sponsorship

Yorkshire County Cricket Club was founded in 1863 and is owned by its members who have elected various officials including the club's General Committee which existed until 2002 when it was replaced by a Board of Management headed by a chief executive. In 2011, Ray Illingworth holds the office of Club President while board members are Colin Graves (chairman), Geoff Boycott, Robin Smith, Gareth Davies and Martin Farrington. Liz Neto acts as PA to the board and there are a number of departmental directors and managers heading such functions as sales, finance, stadium facilities, administration, catering, hospitality, marketing and sponsorship.

The once-influential post of Club Secretary effectively ceased in 2002 although the club did have a company secretary for three years. That function has now disappeared under the broader structure and the present secretary as such is the personal assistant (PA) to the board members.

Like all county clubs, Yorkshire relies heavily on sponsorship and numerous companies have formed deals with the club over many years. Colin Graves is the chairman of Costcutter and this has been one of the main sponsors for several years. Costcutter is an "official partner", as are Leeds Metropolitan University, Aunt Bessie's, Dent Steel, Henderson Insurance Brokers, Gray-Nicolls and JCT600. Other levels of sponsorship are "secondary partner" and player sponsor, both of which have attracted numerous participants.

Players

2011 Squad

Players with international caps are listed in bold.

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%; width:80%;" |- ! No ! Name ! Nat ! Batting Style ! Bowling Style ! width=40%|Notes |- ! colspan="6" | Batsmen |- | 26 || Andrew Gale || || Left-handed || Right-arm leg break || Club captain |- | 5 || Joe Root || || Right-handed || Right-arm medium || England Under-19 international |- | 9 || Adam Lyth || || Left-handed || Right-arm medium || |- | 10 || Anthony McGrath || || Right-handed || Right-arm medium || Former England Test and ODI player |- | 19 || Gary Ballance || || Left-handed || Right-arm leg break || |- | 22 || Joe Sayers || || Left-handed || Right-arm off break || |- | 25 || Gurman Randhawa || || Left-handed || Slow left-arm orthodox || |- | 24 || Jacques Rudolph || || Left-handed || Right-arm leg break || South Africa Test and ODI player |- ! colspan="6" | All-rounders |- | 3 ||Adil Rashid || || Right-handed || Right-arm leg break || England Lions, ODI, & T20I. |- | 4 ||Ajmal Shahzad || || Right-handed || Right-arm fast-medium || England Test, ODI & T20I player |- | 15 || Lee Hodgson || || Right-handed || Right-arm medium-fast || |- | 16 || Tim Bresnan || || Right-handed || Right-arm fast-medium || England Test, ODI & T20I player |- | 27 || Richard Pyrah || || Right-handed || Right-arm medium || |- | 29 || David Wainwright''' || || Left-handed || Slow left-arm orthodox || |- ! colspan="6" | Wicket-keepers |- | 20 ||Gerard Brophy || || Right-handed || — || |- | 21 ||Jonathan Bairstow || || Right-handed || — || |- ! colspan="6" | Bowlers |- | 11 ||Ryan Sidebottom || || Right-handed || Left-arm fast-medium || Former England Test, ODI & T20I player |- | 12 ||Oliver Hannon-Dalby || || Right-handed || Right-arm medium-fast || |- | 17 ||Steven Patterson || || Right-handed || Right-arm medium-fast || |- | 18 ||Ben Sanderson || || Right-handed || Right-arm medium-fast || England Under-19 player |- | 23 || Moin Ashraf || || Right-handed || Right-arm fast-medium || |- | 28 ||James Lee || || Left-handed || Right-arm fast-medium || |- | 30 ||Azeem Rafiq || || Right-handed || Right-arm off break || Captained England Under-15 and England Under-19. On loan to Derbyshire May 2011 |- | 44 ||John Blain || || Right-handed || Right-arm fast-medium || |- |}

Former players

:''For details of former players, see List of Yorkshire County Cricket Club players and :Category:Yorkshire cricketers''.

Club captains

:''For the full list of club captains, see: :Category:Yorkshire cricket captains''

Three Yorkshire players Stanley Jackson, Len Hutton and Michael Vaughan have captained England to success in The Ashes yet none of them was club captain at Yorkshire. Ray Illingworth was playing for Leicestershire CCC when he was captain of England.

From 1883 to 1959 inclusive, Yorkshire always had an amateur club captain. The extent of leadership given by these gentlemen has long been a subject of discussion. Hawke and Sellers are generally held to have been autocratic and decisive, but in fact both relied heavily on sound professional advice. At the other extreme, Wilfred Rhodes is supposed to have been the ''de facto'' captain from 1920 to 1930, but it was Major Arthur Lupton who restored discipline to the side when a row erupted between Yorkshire and Middlesex in 1924.

Lord Hawke famously said at the Yorkshire Annual General Meeting in 1925: "Pray God, no professional shall ever captain England. I love and admire them all, but we have always had an amateur skipper and when the day comes when we shall have no more amateurs captaining England it will be a thousand pities." In view of this, it is perhaps surprising that, when Arthur Lupton retired at the end of the 1927 season, Hawke was one of the sponsors of the suggestion that Herbert Sutcliffe should become Yorkshire captain. In the event, there was sufficient opposition to the idea amongst the Yorkshire committee and players (some of the latter felt that Wilfred Rhodes, as senior professional, had a prior claim), that the proposal was dropped.

In 1960, Vic Wilson became Yorkshire's first professional captain since Tom Emmett when he succeeded Ronnie Burnet. Brian Close, who took over in 1963, has been Yorkshire's most successful professional captain with four County Championships.

Club officials

Coaching staff

Director of Pro Cricket: Martyn Moxon

Director of Cricket Operations: Ian Dews

Batting Coach: Kevin Sharp

Bowling Coach: Steve Oldham

Assistant Bowling Coach: John Blain

Second XI/Colts Coach: Craig White

Strength & Conditioning Coach: Tom Summers

First XI Physiotherapist: Scott McAllister

Second XI Physiotherapist: James Clegg

List of Yorkshire CCC Presidents

Those who have held the office of Yorkshire President are:

! From	! To	! Name
1863	1863	T.R. Barker
1864	1897	Michael Ellison
1898	1938	Lord Hawke
1939	1947	Stanley Jackson
1948	1960
1961	1973	Sir William Worsley
1974	1981	Sir Kenneth Parkinson
1981	1983	Norman Yardley
1984	1989
1989	1990	Len Hutton
1991	1999	Sir Lawrence Byford
1999	2004	R.A. Smith
2004	2006	David Jones
2006	2008	Bob Appleyard
2008	2009	Brian Close
2010	present	Ray Illingworth

List of Yorkshire CCC Secretaries

Those who have held the office of Yorkshire Secretary are:

! From	! To	! Name
1863	1863	George Padley
1864	1902	Joseph B. Wolstinholm
1903	1930	Frederick Toone
1931	1971	John Nash
1972	1991	Joe Lister
1991	2002	D.M. Ryder
2002	2005	B. Bouttell

Honours

First XI honours

Champion County (0) – ; shared (1) – 1883

County Championship (30) – 1893, 1896, 1898, 1900, 1901, 1902, 1905, 1908, 1912, 1919, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1946, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1966, 1967, 1968, 2001; shared (1) – 1949

FP Trophy (3) – 1965, 1969, 2002 National League (1) – 1983

Twenty20 Cup (0) –

Benson & Hedges Cup (1) – 1987

Second XI honours

Second XI Championship (4) – 1977, 1984, 1991, 2003; shared (1) – 1987

Second XI Trophy (1) – 2009

Minor Counties Championship (5) – 1947, 1957, 1958, 1968, 1971

Other honours

Fenner Trophy (3) – 1972, 1974, 1981

Asda Challenge (1) – 1987

Ward Knockout Cup (1) – 1989

Joshua Tetley Festival Trophy (6) – 1991, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998; shared (1) – 1992

Tilcon Trophy (1) – 1988

Under-25 Competition (3) – 1976, 1978, 1987

Bain Clarkson Trophy (1) – 1994

See also

Yorkshire captaincy affair of 1927

Yorkshire County Cricket Club in 2005

Yorkshire County Cricket Club in 2007

Yorkshire County Cricket Club in 2008

List of cricket grounds in England and Wales

List of Test cricket grounds

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

Category:Sports clubs established in 1863 Category:English first-class cricket teams Category:History of Yorkshire Category:Sport in Leeds Category:Sport in Yorkshire Category:Yorkshire County Cricket Club Category:Clubs and societies in England Category:Cricket in Yorkshire Category:1863 establishments in England

fr:Yorkshire County Cricket Club simple:Yorkshire County Cricket Club sv:Yorkshire County Cricket Club

County cricket is the highest level of domestic cricket in England and Wales. For the 2010 season, see 2010 English cricket season.

Teams

First-class counties

The eighteen English first-class counties are the main cricket teams in England. They are all named after (and originally represented) historic English counties. Although Glamorgan is a Welsh county, it is generally included when referring to the English first-class counties.

The English first-class counties are: {| width=50% |- ||

Derbyshire

Durham

Essex

Glamorgan

Gloucestershire

Hampshire

Kent

Lancashire

Leicestershire

||

Middlesex

Northamptonshire

Nottinghamshire

Somerset

Surrey

Sussex

Warwickshire

Worcestershire

Yorkshire

|}

The full name of the cricket team is usually formed from the name of the county followed by the words County Cricket Club, which are often abbreviated to CCC.

Other first-class teams

When the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) plays against one of the first-class counties, the game is granted first-class status. The opening first-class game of an English county cricket season is traditionally played at Lord's between the MCC and the Champion County - the club that won the County Championship the previous year.

Four University Cricketing Centre of Excellence (UCCE) teams are also afforded first-class status when playing against a first-class county. They are:

Cambridge UCCE

Durham UCCE

Loughborough UCCE

Oxford UCCE

Most of the first-class counties play three-day games against university cricket teams in the early part of the English cricket season. This is partly because the start of the cricket season coincides with the end of the university academic year, and partly because the games act as pre-season warm-ups game for the county clubs. The university clubs involved are usually, but not exclusively, the four that are granted first-class status when playing one of the first-class county sides. The other UCCEs, not having first-class status but which sometimes play against county sides, are Cardiff and Leeds/Bradford.

Minor counties

The minor counties are the cricketing counties of England that are not afforded first-class status.

Other teams

Some teams outside of the English counties have been allowed to take part in some English county cricket one-day competitions. They include:

First-class cricket

The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. All of the first-class counties compete in a two-division league format.

One-day cricket

Friends Provident Trophy

The Friends Provident Trophy is a one-day cricket competition in county cricket. In the current format, the 18 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. The top two teams from each league then compete in quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final to decide the winner. The competition is played in the first half of the English cricket season.

Until 2006 , the competition was a straight knock-out competition involving thirty-two teams, including the minor counties. The competition was played through the whole English cricket season.

National League

The National League, currently sponsored as the NatWest Pro40 League, is the second one-day cricket competition in English county cricket. The eighteen first-class counties compete in a two-league structure, where two teams are promoted and relegated each season. Games are 40 overs per side. The competition takes place in the second half of the English cricket season.

Twenty20 cricket

The Twenty20 Cup is a Twenty20 cricket competition contested by the eighteen first-class counties. The game is limited to 20 overs per side, and the emphasis is on fast action.

Minor counties cricket

The minor counties compete in their own separate competitions. The Minor Counties Cricket Championship consists of two leagues, with the minor counties split geographically. The ten sides in each division play each other once in a three day game. The winners of the two leagues then play to decide a champion. The MCCA Knockout Trophy is a one-day knock-out competition, with a final at Lord's.

Category:Cricket in England Category:Cricket in Wales

Coordinates	12°2′36″N77°1′42″N
union	International Cricket Council
nickname	"The Gentleman's game"
first	16th century (modern)
team	11 players per sidesubstitute fielders (only) are permitted in cases of injury or illness
mgender	Single
category	Team, Bat-and-ball
ball	Cricket ball, cricket bat, wicket: stumps, bails
venue	Cricket field
olympic	1900 Summer Olympics only }}

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the runs scored by the batting team. A run is scored by the striking batsman hitting the ball with his bat, running to the opposite end of the pitch and touching the crease there without being dismissed. The teams switch between batting and fielding at the end of an innings.

In professional cricket the length of a game ranges from 20 overs of six bowling deliveries per side to Test cricket played over five days. The Laws of Cricket are maintained by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) with additional Standard Playing Conditions for Test matches and One Day Internationals.

Cricket was first played in southern England in the 16th century. By the end of the 18th century, it had developed into the national sport of England. The expansion of the British Empire led to cricket being played overseas and by the mid-19th century the first international matches were being held. The ICC, the game's governing body, has ten full members.

History

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"). Dr Gillmeister believes that not only the name but the sport itself is of Flemish origin.

The earliest definite reference to cricket being played in England (and hence anywhere) is in evidence given at a 1598 court case which mentions that "creckett" was played on common land in Guildford, Surrey, around 1550. The court in Guildford heard on Monday, 17 January 1597 (Julian date, equating to the year 1598 in the Gregorian calendar) from a 59 year-old coroner, John Derrick, who gave witness that when he was a scholar at the "Free School at Guildford", fifty years earlier, "hee and diverse of his fellows did runne and play [on the common land] at creckett and other plaies." 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.

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 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). The first Australian team to tour overseas was a team of Aboriginal stockmen who travelled to England in 1868 to play matches against county teams. In 1862, an English team made the first tour of Australia and 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: Australia's 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 the 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 (ICC) 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.

Rules and Game-play

Summary

A cricket match is played between two teams of eleven players each on a grassy field, typically in diameter. The Laws of Cricket do not specify the size or shape of the field but it is often oval.

A cricket match consists of multiple periods called ''innings''. During an innings, one team plays defense (the ''fielding'' team) and the other offense (the ''batting'' team). The two teams switch between fielding and batting after each innings. All eleven members of the fielding team take the field, but only two members of the batting team (two batsmen) are on the field at any given time.

The key action takes place in the pitch, a rectangular strip in the centre of the field. The two batsmen face each other at opposite ends of the pitch. The fielding team's eleven members stand outside the pitch, spread out across the field.

Behind each batsman is a target called a ''wicket''. One designated member of the fielding team, called the ''bowler'', is given a ball, and attempts to throw (''bowl'') the ball from one end of the pitch to the wicket behind the batsman on the other side of the pitch. The batsman tries to prevent the ball from hitting the wicket by hitting the ball with a bat. If the bowler succeeds in hitting the wicket, or if the ball, after being hit, is caught by the fielding team before it touches the ground, the batsman is ''dismissed''. A dismissed batsman must leave the field, to be replaced by another batsman from the batting team.

If the batsman is successful in hitting the ball away from the wicket without the ball being caught before it hits the ground, the two batsmen may then try to score points (''runs'') for their team by running across the pitch, switching positions. Each switch of positions is worth one run. The batsmen may attempt multiple runs or they may attempt no runs. By attempting runs, the batsmen risk dismissal, which can happen if the fielding team retrieves the ball and hits a wicket with the ball before a batsman has reached that end of the pitch.

If the batsman hits the bowled ball over the field boundary without the ball touching the field, the batting team scores six runs and may not attempt more. If the ball touches the ground and then goes over the boundary, the batting team scores four runs and may not attempt more. When the batsmen have finished attempting their runs, the ball is returned to the bowler to be bowled again. The bowler continues to bowl toward the same wicket, regardless of any switch of the batsmen's positions.

After a bowler has bowled six times (an ''over''), another member of the fielding team is designated as the new bowler. The new bowler bowls to the opposite wicket, and play continues. Fielding team members may bowl multiple times during an innings, but may not bowl two overs in succession.

The innings is complete when 10 of the 11 members of the batting team have been dismissed or a set number of overs has been played. The number of innings and the number of overs per innings vary depending on the match.

Objectives

The objective of each team is to score more runs than the other team and to completely dismiss the other team. In limited overs cricket, winning the game is achieved by scoring the most runs, even if the opposition has not been completely dismissed. In Test cricket, it is necessary to score the most runs and dismiss the opposition twice in order to win the match, which would otherwise be drawn.

Pitch, wickets and creases

At either end of the pitch, apart, are placed the wickets. These serve as a target for the bowling (''aka'' fielding) side and are defended by the batting side which seeks to accumulate runs. The pitch is or one chain in length between the wickets and is wide. It is a flat surface and has very short grass that tends to be worn away as the game progresses. The "condition" of the pitch has a significant bearing on the match and team tactics are always determined with the state of the pitch, both current and anticipated, as a deciding factor.

Each wicket consists of three wooden stumps placed in a straight line and surmounted by two wooden crosspieces called bails; the total height of the wicket including bails is and the combined width of the three stumps is . Four lines, known as creases, are painted onto the pitch around the wicket areas to define the batsman's "safe territory" and to determine the limit of the bowler's approach. These are called the "popping" (or batting) crease, the bowling crease and two "return" creases.

The stumps are placed in line on the bowling creases and so these must be apart. A bowling crease is long with the middle stump placed dead centre. The popping crease has the same length, is parallel to the bowling crease and is in front of the wicket. The return creases are perpendicular to the other two; they are adjoined to the ends of the popping crease and are drawn through the ends of the bowling crease to a length of at least .

When bowling the ball, the bowler's back foot in his "delivery stride" must land within the two return creases while his front foot must land on or behind the popping crease. If the bowler breaks this rule, the umpire calls "No ball".

The importance of the popping crease to the batsman is that it marks the limit of his safe territory for he can be stumped or run out (see Dismissals below) if the wicket is broken while he is "out of his ground".

Bat and ball

The essence of the sport is that a bowler delivers the ball from his end of the pitch towards the batsman who, armed with a bat is "on strike" at the other end.

The bat is made of wood (usually White Willow) and has the shape of a blade topped by a cylindrical handle. The blade must not be more than wide and the total length of the bat not more than .

The ball is a hard leather-seamed spheroid with a circumference of . The hardness of the ball, which can be delivered at speeds of more than , is a matter for concern and batsmen wear protective clothing including pads (designed to protect the knees and shins), batting gloves for the hands, a helmet for the head and a box inside the trousers (to protect the crotch area). Some batsmen wear additional padding inside their shirts and trousers such as thigh pads, arm pads, rib protectors and shoulder pads.

Umpires and scorers

The game on the field is regulated by two umpires, one of whom stands behind the wicket at the bowler's end, the other in a position called "square leg", a position 15–20 metres to the side of the "on strike" batsman. When the bowler delivers the ball, the umpire at the wicket is between the bowler and the non-striker. The umpires confer if there is doubt about playing conditions and can postpone the match by taking the players off the field if necessary, for example rain or deterioration of the light. Off the field and in televised matches, there is often a third umpire who can make decisions on certain incidents with the aid of video evidence. The third umpire is mandatory under the playing conditions for Test matches and limited overs internationals played between two ICC full members. These matches also have a match referee whose job is to ensure that play is within the Laws of cricket and the spirit of the game.

Off the field, the match details including runs and dismissals are recorded by two official scorers, one representing each team. The scorers are directed by the hand signals of an umpire. For example, the umpire raises a forefinger to signal that the batsman is out (has been dismissed); he raises both arms above his head if the batsman has hit the ball for six runs. The scorers are required by the Laws of cricket to record all runs scored, wickets taken and overs bowled. In practice, they accumulate much additional data such as bowling analyses and run rates.

Innings

The innings (ending with 's' in both singular and plural form) is the term used for the collective performance of the batting side. In theory, all eleven members of the batting side take a turn to bat but, for various reasons, an "innings" can end before they all do so.

Depending on the type of match being played, each team has one or two innings apiece. The term "innings" is also sometimes used to describe an individual batsman's contribution ("he played a fine innings").

The main aim of the bowler, supported by his fielders, is to dismiss the batsman. A batsman when dismissed is said to be "out" and that means he must leave the field of play and be replaced by the next batsman on his team. When ten batsmen have been dismissed (i.e., are out), then the whole team is dismissed and the innings is over. The last batsman, the one who has not been dismissed, is not allowed to continue alone as there must always be two batsmen "in". This batsman is termed "not out".

An innings can end early for three reasons: because the batting side's captain has chosen to "declare" the innings closed (which is a tactical decision), or because the batting side has achieved its target and won the game, or because the game has ended prematurely due to bad weather or running out of time. In each of these cases the team's innings ends with two "not out" batsmen, unless the innings is declared closed at the fall of a wicket and the next batsman has not joined in the play.

In limited overs cricket, there might be two batsmen still "not out" when the last of the allotted overs has been bowled.

Overs

The bowler bowls the ball in sets of six deliveries (or "balls") and each set of six balls is called an over. This name came about because the umpire calls "Over!" when six balls have been bowled. At this point, another bowler is deployed at the other end, and the fielding side changes ends while the batsmen do not. A bowler cannot bowl two successive overs, although a bowler can bowl unchanged at the same end for several overs. The batsmen do not change ends and so the one who was non-striker is now the striker and vice-versa. The umpires also change positions so that the one who was at square leg now stands behind the wicket at the non-striker's end and ''vice-versa''.

Team structure

A team consists of eleven players. Depending on his or her primary skills, a player may be classified as a specialist batsman or bowler. A well-balanced team usually has five or six specialist batsmen and four or five specialist bowlers. Teams nearly always include a specialist wicket-keeper because of the importance of this fielding position. Each team is headed by a captain who is responsible for making tactical decisions such as determining the batting order, the placement of fielders and the rotation of bowlers.

A player who excels in both batting and bowling is known as an all-rounder. One who excels as a batsman and wicket-keeper is known as a "wicket-keeper/batsman", sometimes regarded as a type of all-rounder. True all-rounders are rare as most players focus on either batting or bowling skills.

Bowling

right|thumb|Sri Lankan bowler Muttiah Muralitharan, the highest wicket taker in both [[Test Cricket|Test and ODI forms of cricket bowls to Adam Gilchrist.]]The bowler reaches his delivery stride by means of a "run-up", although some bowlers with a very slow delivery take no more than a couple of steps before bowling. A fast bowler needs momentum and takes quite a long run-up, running very fast as he does so.

The fastest bowlers can deliver the ball at a speed of over and they sometimes rely on sheer speed to try and defeat the batsman, who is forced to react very quickly. Other fast bowlers rely on a mixture of speed and guile. Some fast bowlers make use of the seam of the ball so that it "curves" or "swings" in flight. This type of delivery can deceive a batsman into mistiming his shot so that the ball touches the edge of the bat and can then be "caught behind" by the wicketkeeper or a slip fielder.

At the other end of the bowling scale is the "spinner" who bowls at a relatively slow pace and relies entirely on guile to deceive the batsman. A spinner will often "buy his wicket" by "tossing one up" (in a slower, higher parabolic path) to lure the batsman into making a poor shot. The batsman has to be very wary of such deliveries as they are often "flighted" or spun so that the ball will not behave quite as he expects and he could be "trapped" into getting himself out.

In between the pacemen and the spinners are the "medium pacers" who rely on persistent accuracy to try and contain the rate of scoring and wear down the batsman's concentration.

All bowlers are classified according to their looks or style. The classifications, as with much cricket terminology, can be very confusing. Hence, a bowler could be classified as LF, meaning he is a left arm fast bowler; or as LBG, meaning he is a right arm spin bowler who bowls deliveries that are called a "leg break" and a "Googly".

During the bowling action the elbow may be held at any angle and may bend further, but may not straighten out. If the elbow straightens illegally then the square-leg umpire may call no-ball: this is known as "throwing" or "chucking", and can be difficult to detect. The current laws allow a bowler to straighten his arm 15 degrees or less.

Fielding

All eleven players on the fielding side take the field together. One of them is the wicket-keeper ''aka'' "keeper" who operates behind the wicket being defended by the batsman on strike. Wicket-keeping is normally a specialist occupation and his primary job is to gather deliveries that the batsman does not hit, so that the batsmen cannot run byes. He wears special gloves (he is the only fielder allowed to do so), a box over the groin, and pads to cover his lower legs. Owing to his position directly behind the striker, the wicket-keeper has a good chance of getting a batsman out caught off a fine edge from the bat. He is the only player who can get a batsman out stumped.

Apart from the one currently bowling, the other nine fielders are tactically deployed by the team captain in chosen positions around the field. These positions are not fixed but they are known by specific and sometimes colourful names such as "slip", "third man", "silly mid on" and "long leg". There are always many unprotected areas.

The captain is the most important member of the fielding side as he determines all the tactics including who should bowl (and how); and he is responsible for "setting the field", though usually in consultation with the bowler.

In all forms of cricket, if a fielder gets injured or becomes ill during a match, a substitute is allowed to field instead of him. The substitute cannot bowl, act as a captain or keep wicket. The substitute leaves the field when the injured player is fit to return.

Batting

At any one time, there are two batsmen in the playing area. One takes station at the striker's end to defend the wicket as above and to score runs if possible. His partner, the non-striker, is at the end where the bowler is operating.

Batsmen come in to bat in a batting order, decided by the team captain. The first two batsmen – the "openers" – usually face the hostile bowling from fresh fast bowlers with a new ball. The top batting positions are usually given to the most competent batsmen in the team, and the non-batsmen typically bat last. The pre-announced batting order is not mandatory and when a wicket falls any player who has not yet batted may be sent in next.

If a batsman "retires" (usually due to injury) and cannot return, he is actually "not out" and his retirement does not count as a dismissal, though in effect he has been dismissed because his innings is over. Substitute batsmen are not allowed.

A skilled batsman can use a wide array of "shots" or "strokes" in both defensive and attacking mode. The idea is to hit the ball to best effect with the flat surface of the bat's blade. If the ball touches the side of the bat it is called an "edge". Batsmen do not always seek to hit the ball as hard as possible, and a good player can score runs just by making a deft stroke with a turn of the wrists or by simply "blocking" the ball but directing it away from fielders so that he has time to take a run.

There is a wide variety of shots played in cricket. The batsman's repertoire includes strokes named according to the style of swing and the direction aimed: e.g., "cut", "drive", "hook", "pull".

Note that a batsman does not have to play a shot and can "leave" the ball to go through to the wicketkeeper, providing he thinks it will not hit his wicket. Equally, he does not have to attempt a run when he hits the ball with his bat. He can deliberately use his leg to block the ball and thereby "pad it away" but this is risky because of the leg before wicket rule.

In the event of an injured batsman being fit to bat but not to run, the umpires and the fielding captain may allow another member of the batting side to be a runner. The runner's only task is to run between the wickets instead of the injured batsman. The runner is required to wear and carry exactly the same equipment as the incapacitated batsman. It is possible for both batsmen to have runners.

Runs

The primary concern of the batsman on strike (i.e., the "striker") is to prevent the ball hitting the wicket and secondarily to score runs by hitting the ball with his bat so that he and his partner have time to run from one end of the pitch to the other before the fielding side can return the ball. To register a run, both runners must touch the ground behind the crease with either their bats or their bodies (the batsmen carry their bats as they run). Each completed run increments the score.

More than one run can be scored from a single hit; but, while hits worth one to three runs are common, the size of the field is such that it is usually difficult to run four or more. To compensate for this, hits that reach the boundary of the field are automatically awarded four runs if the ball touches the ground ''en route'' to the boundary or six runs if the ball clears the boundary on the full. The batsmen do not need to run if the ball reaches or crosses the boundary.

Hits for five are unusual and generally rely on the help of "overthrows" by a fielder returning the ball. If an odd number of runs is scored by the striker, the two batsmen have changed ends, and the one who was non-striker is now the striker. Only the striker can score individual runs, but all runs are added to the team's total.

The decision to attempt a run is ideally made by the batsman who has the better view of the ball's progress, and this is communicated by calling: "yes", "no" and "wait" are often heard.

Running is a calculated risk because if a fielder breaks the wicket with the ball while the nearest batsman is out of his ground (i.e., he does not have part of his body or bat in contact with the ground behind the popping crease), the batsman is run out.

A team's score is reported in terms of the number of runs scored and the number of batsmen that have been dismissed. For example, if five batsmen are out and the team has scored 224 runs, they are said to have scored 224 for the loss of 5 wickets (commonly shortened to "224 for five" and written 224/5 or, in Australia, "five for 224" and 5/224).

Extras

Additional runs can be gained by the batting team as extras (called "sundries" in Australia) due to errors made by the fielding side. This is achieved in four ways: #No ball: a penalty of one extra that is conceded by the bowler if he breaks the rules of bowling either by (a) using an inappropriate arm action; (b) overstepping the popping crease; (c) having a foot outside the return crease. In addition, the bowler has to re-bowl the ball. In limited overs matches, a no ball is called if the bowling team's field setting fails to comply with the restrictions. In shorter formats of the game (20–20, ODI) the free hit rule has been introduced. The ball following a front foot no-ball will be a free-hit for the batsman, whereby he is safe from losing his wicket except for being run-out. #Wide: a penalty of one extra that is conceded by the bowler if he bowls so that the ball is out of the batsman's reach; as with a no ball, a wide must be re-bowled. #Bye: extra(s) awarded if the batsman misses the ball and it goes past the wicketkeeper to give the batsmen time to run in the conventional way (note that one mark of a good wicketkeeper is one who restricts the tally of byes to a minimum). #Leg bye: extra(s) awarded if the ball hits the batsman's body, but not his bat, while attempting a legitimate shot, and it goes away from the fielders to give the batsmen time to run in the conventional way.

When the bowler has bowled a no ball or a wide, his team incurs an additional penalty because that ball (i.e., delivery) has to be bowled again and hence the batting side has the opportunity to score more runs from this extra ball. The batsmen have to run (i.e., unless the ball goes to the boundary for four) to claim byes and leg byes but these only count towards the team total, not to the striker's individual total for which runs must be scored off the bat.

Dismissals (outs)

There are ten ways in which a batsman can be dismissed and some are so unusual that only a few instances of them exist in the whole history of the game. The common forms of dismissal are "bowled", "caught", "leg before wicket" (lbw), "run out", and "stumped". The unusual methods are "hit wicket", "hit the ball twice", "obstructed the field", "handled the ball" and "timed out".

Before the umpire will award a dismissal and declare the batsman to be out, a member of the fielding side (generally the bowler) must "appeal". This is invariably done by asking (or shouting) the term "Howzat?" which means, simply enough, "How is that?" If the umpire agrees with the appeal, he will raise a forefinger and say "Out!". Otherwise he will shake his head and say "Not out". Appeals are particularly loud when the circumstances of the claimed dismissal are unclear, as is always the case with lbw and often with run outs and stumpings.

#Bowled: the bowler has hit the wicket with the ball and the wicket has "broken" with at least one bail being dislodged (note that if the ball hits the wicket without dislodging a bail it is not out). #Caught: the batsman has hit the ball with his bat, or with his hand which was holding the bat, and the ball has been caught before it has touched the ground by a member of the fielding side. #Leg before wicket (lbw): first and foremost, the ball must, in the opinion of the on-field umpire, be going on to hit the stumps if the ball had not hit the pad of the batsman first. If the batsman plays an attempted shot to the delivery, then the ball must hit the batsman's pad in line with the stumps and be going on to hit the stumps for the batsman to be given out. If the batsman does not attempt to play a shot, then the ball does not have to hit the pad in line with the stumps but it still must be going on to hit the stumps. If the ball pitches outside the leg stump, then the batsman cannot be given out under any circumstances. #Run out: a member of the fielding side has broken or "put down" the wicket with the ball while a batsman was out of his ground; this usually occurs by means of an accurate throw to the wicket while the batsmen are attempting a run. #Stumped is similar except that it is done by the wicketkeeper after the batsman has missed the bowled ball and has stepped out of his ground, and is not attempting a run. #Hit wicket: a batsman is out hit wicket, if he dislodges one or both bails with his bat, person, clothing or equipment in the act of receiving a ball, or in setting off for a run having just received a ball. #Hit the ball twice is very unusual and was introduced as a safety measure to counter dangerous play and protect the fielders. The batsman may legally play the ball a second time only to stop the ball hitting the wicket after he has already played it. #Obstructed the field: another unusual dismissal which tends to involve a batsman deliberately getting in the way of a fielder. #Handled the ball: a batsman must not ''deliberately'' touch the ball with his hand, for example to protect his wicket. Note that the batsman's hand or glove counts as part of the bat while the hand is holding the bat, so batsmen are frequently caught off their gloves. #Timed out usually means that the next batsman did not arrive at the wicket within three minutes of the previous one being dismissed.

In the vast majority of cases, it is the striker who is out when a dismissal occurs. If the non-striker is dismissed it is usually by being run out, but he could also be dismissed for obstructing the field, handling the ball or being timed out.

A batsman may leave the field without being dismissed. If injured or taken ill the batsman may temporarily retire, and be replaced by the next batsman. This is recorded as ''retired hurt'' or ''retired ill''. The retiring batsman is not out, and may resume the innings later. An unimpaired batsman may retire, and this is treated as being dismissed retired out; no player is credited with the dismissal. Batsmen cannot be out ''bowled'', ''caught'', ''leg before wicket'', ''stumped'' or ''hit wicket'' off a ''no ball''. They cannot be out ''bowled'', ''caught'', ''leg before wicket'', or ''hit the ball twice'' off a ''wide''. Some of these modes of dismissal can occur without the bowler bowling a delivery. The batsman who is not on strike may be run out by the bowler if he leaves his crease before the bowler bowls, and a batsman can be out ''obstructing the field'' or ''retired out'' at any time. ''Timed out'' is, by its nature, a dismissal without a delivery. With all other modes of dismissal, only one batsman can be dismissed per ball bowled.

Innings closed

An innings is closed when: # Ten of the eleven batsmen are out (have been dismissed); in this case, the team is said to be "all out" # The team has only one batsman left who can bat, one or more of the remaining players being unavailable owing to injury, illness or absence; again, the team is said to be "all out" # The team batting last reaches the score required to win the match # The predetermined number of overs has been bowled (in a one-day match only, commonly 50 overs; or 20 in Twenty20) # A captain declares his team's innings closed while at least two of his batsmen are not out (this does not apply in one-day limited over matches)

Results

If the team that bats last is all out having scored fewer runs than their opponents, the team is said to have "lost by ''n'' runs" (where ''n'' is the difference between the number of runs scored by the teams). If the team that bats last scores enough runs to win, it is said to have "won by ''n'' wickets", where ''n'' is the number of wickets left to fall. For instance a team that passes its opponents' score having only lost six wickets would have won "by four wickets".

In a two-innings-a-side match, one team's combined first and second innings total may be less than the other side's first innings total. The team with the greater score is then said to have ''won by an innings and ''n'' runs'', and does not need to bat again: ''n'' is the difference between the two teams' aggregate scores.

If the team batting last is all out, and both sides have scored the same number of runs, then the match is a tie; this result is quite rare in matches of two innings a side. In the traditional form of the game, if the time allotted for the match expires before either side can win, then the game is declared a draw.

If the match has only a single innings per side, then a maximum number of deliveries for each innings is often imposed. Such a match is called a "limited overs" or "one-day" match, and the side scoring more runs wins regardless of the number of wickets lost, so that a draw cannot occur. If this kind of match is temporarily interrupted by bad weather, then a complex mathematical formula, known as the Duckworth-Lewis method after its developers, is often used to recalculate a new target score. A one-day match can also be declared a "no-result" if fewer than a previously agreed number of overs have been bowled by either team, in circumstances that make normal resumption of play impossible; for example, wet weather.

Distinctive elements

Individual focus

For a team sport, cricket places individual players under unusual scrutiny and pressure. Bowler, Batsman, and fielder all act essentially independent of each other. While team managements can signal bowler or batsman to pursue certain tactics, the execution of the play itself is a series of solitary acts. Cricket is more similar to baseball than many other team sports in this regard: while the individual focus in cricket is slightly mitigated by the importance of the batting partnership and the practicalities of running, it is enhanced by the fact that a batsman may occupy the wicket for a long time.

Spirit of the Game

Cricket is a unique game where in addition to the laws, the players have to abide by Spirit of the Game. The standard of sportsmanship has historically been considered so high that the phrase "it's just not cricket" was coined in the 19th Century to describe unfair or underhanded behaviour in any walk of life. In the last few decades though, cricket has become increasingly fast-paced and competitive, increasing the use of appealing and sledging, although players are still expected to abide by the umpires' rulings without argument, and for the most part they do. Even in the modern game fielders are known to signal to the umpire that a boundary was hit, despite what could have been considered a spectacular save (though they might be found out by the TV replays anyway). In addition to this, some cricket batsmen, like Sachin Tendulkar and Adam Gilchrist have been known to "walk" when they think they are out even if the umpire does not declare them out. This is a high level of sportsmanship, as a batsman can easily take advantage of incorrect umpiring decisions.

Influence of weather

Cricket is a sport played predominantly in the drier periods of the year. But, even so, the weather is a major factor in all cricket matches.

A scheduled game of cricket cannot be played in wet weather. Dampness affects the bounce of the ball on the wicket and is a risk to all players involved in the game. Many grounds have facilities to cover the cricket pitch (or the wicket). Covers can be in the form of sheets being laid over the wicket to elevated covers on wheels (using the same concept as an umbrella) to even hover covers which form an airtight seal around the wicket. However, most grounds do not have the facilities to cover the outfield. This means that in the event of heavy bouts of bad weather, games may be cancelled, abandoned or suspended due to an unsafe outfield.

Another factor in cricket is the amount of light available. At grounds without floodlights (or in game formats which disallow the use of floodlights), umpires can stop play in the event of bad light as it becomes too difficult for the batsmen to be able to see the ball coming at them, (and in extreme cases, members of the fielding team).

On the other hand, in instances of good light, batsmen can utilize sight-screens which enable batsmen to have a white background against which they can pick out the red ball (or black background for white ball) with greater ease.

The umpires always have the final decision on weather related issues.

Uniqueness of each field

Unlike those of most sports, cricket playing fields can vary significantly in size and shape. While the dimensions of the pitch and infield are specifically regulated, the Laws of Cricket do not specify the size or shape of the field.

Welsh players are eligible to play for England, which is in effect an England and Wales team. The West Indies team comprises players from numerous states in the Caribbean, notably Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, the Leeward Islands and the Windward Islands.

Test matches between two teams are usually played in a group of matches called a "series". Matches last up to five days and a series normally consists of three to five matches. Test matches that are not finished within the allotted time are drawn. In the case of Test and first-class cricket: the possibility of a draw often encourages a team that is batting last and well behind to bat defensively, giving up any faint chance at a win to avoid a loss.

Since 1882, most Test series between England and Australia have been played for a trophy known as The Ashes. Some other bilateral series have individual trophies too: for example, the Wisden Trophy is contested by England and West Indies; the Frank Worrell Trophy by Australia and West Indies and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia.

Limited overs

Standard limited overs cricket was introduced in England in the 1963 season in the form of a knockout cup contested by the first-class county clubs. In 1969, a national league competition was established. The concept was gradually introduced to the other major cricket countries and the first limited overs international was played in 1971. In 1975, the first Cricket World Cup took place in England. Limited overs cricket has seen various innovations including the use of multi-coloured kit and floodlit matches using a white ball.

A "one day match", named so because each match is scheduled for completion in a single day, is the common form of limited overs cricket played on an international level. In practice, matches sometimes continue on a second day if they have been interrupted or postponed by bad weather. The main objective of a limited overs match is to produce a definite result and so a conventional draw is not possible, but matches can be undecided if the scores are tied or if bad weather prevents a result. Each team plays one innings only and faces a limited number of overs, usually a maximum of 50. The Cricket World Cup is held in one day format and the last World Cup in 2011 was won by the co-hosts, India. The next World Cup will hosted by Australia and New Zealand in 2015.

Twenty20 is a new variant of limited overs itself with the purpose being to complete the match within about three hours, usually in an evening session. The original idea, when the concept was introduced in England in 2003, was to provide workers with an evening entertainment. It was commercially successful and has been adopted internationally. The inaugural Twenty20 World Championship was held in 2007 and won by India. 2009's Twenty20 World Championship was staged in England and won by Pakistan. The next Twenty20 World Championship will be held in the West Indies. After the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 many domestic Twenty20 leagues were born. First of them was Indian Cricket League which is a rebel league since it is unauthorized by BCCI and led to form an official league called the Indian Premier League. Both these leagues are cash rich and attracted players and audience around the globe. Recently Twenty20 Champions League was formed as a tournament for domestic clubs of various countries.

National championships

First-class cricket includes Test cricket but the term is generally used to refer to the highest level of domestic cricket in those countries with full ICC membership, although there are exceptions to this. First-class cricket in England is played for the most part by the 18 county clubs which contest the County Championship. The concept of a champion county has existed since the 18th century but the official competition was not established until 1890. The most successful club has been Yorkshire County Cricket Club with 30 official titles.

Australia established its national first-class championship in 1892–93 when the Sheffield Shield was introduced. In Australia, the first-class teams represent the various states. New South Wales has won the maximum number of titles with 45 to 2008.

National championship trophies to be established elsewhere included the Ranji Trophy (India), Plunket Shield (New Zealand), Currie Cup (South Africa) and Shell Shield (West Indies). Some of these competitions have been updated and renamed in recent years.

Domestic limited overs competitions began with England's Gillette Cup knockout in 1963. Countries usually stage seasonal limited overs competitions in both knockout and league format. In recent years, national Twenty20 competitions have been introduced, usually in knockout form though some incorporate mini-leagues.

Other types of matches

There are numerous variations of the sport played throughout the world that include indoor cricket, French cricket, beach cricket, Kwik cricket and all sorts of card games and board games that have been inspired by cricket. In these variants, the rules are often changed to make the game playable with limited resources or to render it more convenient and enjoyable for the participants.

Indoor cricket is played in a netted, indoor arena, and is quite formal but many of the outdoor variants are very informal.

Families and teenagers play backyard cricket in suburban yards or driveways, and the cities of India and Pakistan play host to countless games of "Gully Cricket" or "tapeball" in their long narrow streets. Sometimes the rules are improvised: e.g. it may be agreed that fielders can catch the ball with one hand after one bounce and claim a wicket; or if only a few people are available then everyone may field while the players take it in turns to bat and bowl. Tennis balls and homemade bats are often used, and a variety of objects may serve as wickets: for example, the batter's legs as in French cricket, which did not in fact originate in France, and is usually played by small children.

In Kwik cricket, the bowler does not have to wait for the batsman to be ready before a delivery, leading to a faster, more exhausting game designed to appeal to children, which is often used PE lessons at English schools. Another modification to increase the pace of the game is the "Tip and Run", "Tipity" Run, "Tipsy Run" or "Tippy-Go" rule, in which the batter must run when the ball touches the bat, even if it the contact is unintentional or minor. This rule, seen only in impromptu games, speeds the match up by removing the batsman's right to block the ball.

In Samoa a form of cricket called Kilikiti is played in which hockey stick-shaped bats are used. In original English cricket, the hockey stick shape was replaced by the modern straight bat in the 1760s after bowlers began to pitch the ball instead of rolling or skimming it. In Estonia, teams gather over the winter for the annual Ice Cricket tournament. The game juxtaposes the normal summer pursuit with harsh, wintry conditions. Rules are otherwise similar to those for the six-a-side game.

International structure

The International Cricket Council (ICC), which has its headquarters in Dubai, is the international governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name in 1989.

The ICC has 104 members: 10 Full Members that play official Test matches, 34 Associate Members, and 60 Affiliate Members. The ICC is responsible for the organisation and governance of cricket's major international tournaments, notably the Cricket World Cup. It also appoints the umpires and referees that officiate at all sanctioned Test matches, One Day International and Twenty20 Internationals. Each nation has a national cricket board which regulates cricket matches played in its country. The cricket board also selects the national squad and organises home and away tours for the national team. In the West Indies these matters are addressed by the West Indies Cricket Board which consists of members appointed by four national boards and two multi-national boards.

Members

Full Members

Full Members are the governing bodies for cricket in a country or associated countries. Full Members may also represent a geographical area. All Full Members have a right to send one representative team to play official Test matches. Also, all Full Member nations are automatically qualified to play ODIs and Twenty20 Internationals. West Indies cricket team does not represent one country instead an amalgamation of over 20 countries from the Caribbean. The English Cricket team represents both England and Wales.

!Nation	!Governing body	!Member since	ICC Test Championship>Test Rankings	ICC ODI Championship>ODI Rankings	Twenty20 International>T20 Rankings B
	Cricket Australia		5	1	5
	Bangladesh Cricket Board		9	9	10
	England and Wales Cricket Board		1	5	6
	Board of Control for Cricket in India		3	3	2
	New Zealand Cricket		8	7	7
	Pakistan Cricket Board		6	6	4
	Cricket South Africa	A	2	4	1
	Sri Lanka Cricket		4	2	3
	West Indies Cricket Board		7	8	8
	Zimbabwe Cricket Union			10	9

^AResigned May 1961, readmitted 10 July 1991.

^BT20 Rankings are solely based on the Win Percentage of all T20 matches played amongst Full Members.

Top Associate/Affiliate Members

All the associate and affiliate members are not qualified to play Test Cricket, however ICC grants One Day International status to its associate and affiliate members based on their success in the World Cricket League. The top six teams will be awarded One day international and Twenty20 International status, which will allow the associate and affiliate teams to be eligible to play the full members and play official ODI cricket.

The associate and affiliate teams who currently hold ODI and T20I status:

Nation	Governing body	Member since	!width="300pt"	!width="300pt"
	Afghanistan Cricket Board		14	14
	Cricket Canada		16	13
	Cricket Ireland		10	12
	Cricket Kenya		13	15
	Koninklijke Nederlandse Cricket Bond		12	11
	Cricket Scotland		15	16

^AT20 Rankings are based on Win Percentage of all International T20 matches played, including matches played against Full Members.

Statistics

Organized cricket lends itself to statistics to a greater degree than many other sports. Each play is discrete and has a relatively small number of possible outcomes. At the professional level, statistics for Test cricket, one-day internationals, and first-class cricket are recorded separately. However, since Test matches are a form of first-class cricket, a player's first-class statistics will include his Test match statistics—but not vice versa. ''The Guide to Cricketers'' was a cricket annual edited by Fred Lillywhite between 1849 and his death in 1866. ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'' was founded in 1864 by the English cricketer John Wisden (1826–1884) as a competitor to ''The Guide to Cricketers''. Its annual publication has continued uninterrupted to the present day, making it the longest running sports annual in history.

Certain traditional statistics are familiar to most cricket fans. The basic batting statistics include:

Innings (I): The number of innings in which the batsman actually batted.

Not outs (NO): The number of times the batsman was not out at the conclusion of an innings they batted in.¹

Runs (R): The number of runs scored.

Highest Score (HS/Best): The highest score ever made by the batsman.

Batting Average (Ave): The total number of runs divided by the total number of innings in which the batsman was out. Ave = Runs/[I - NO] (also Avge or Avg.)

Centuries (100): The number of innings in which the batsman scored one hundred runs or more.

Half-centuries (50): The number of innings in which the batsman scored fifty to ninety-nine runs (centuries do not count as half-centuries as well).

Balls Faced (BF): The total number of balls received, including no balls but not including wides.

Strike Rate (SR): The number of runs scored per 100 balls faced. (SR = [100 * Runs]/BF)

Run Rate (RR): Is the number of runs a batsman (or the batting side) scores in an over of six balls.

The basic bowling statistics include:

Overs (O): The number of overs bowled.

Balls (B): The number of balls bowled. Overs is more traditional, but balls is a more useful statistic because the number of balls per over has varied historically.

Maiden Overs (M): The number of maiden overs (overs in which the bowler conceded zero runs) bowled.

Runs (R): The number of runs conceded.

Wickets (W): The number of wickets taken.

No balls (Nb): The number of no balls bowled.

Wides (Wd): The number of wides bowled.

Bowling Average (Ave): The average number of runs conceded per wicket. (Ave = Runs/W)

'Economy Rate (Econ): The average number of runs conceded per over. (Econ = Runs/overs bowled).

In popular culture

Cricket has had a broad impact on popular culture, both in the Commonwealth of Nations and elsewhere. Cricket has had an influence on the lexicon of these nations, especially the English language, with such phrases as "that's not cricket" (unfair), "had a good innings", "sticky wicket", and "bowled over". There have been many cricket films. The term "Bradmanesque" from Don Bradman's name has become a generic term for outstanding excellence, both within cricket and in the wider world. The amateur game has also been spread further afield by expatriates from the Test-playing nations. In the late 19th century, a former cricket player, English-born Henry Chadwick of Brooklyn, New York, was responsible for the "development of the box score, tabular standings, the annual baseball guide, the batting average, and most of the common statistics and tables used to describe baseball". The statistical record is so central to the game's "historical essence" that Chadwick came to be known as Father Baseball.

See also

ICC ODI Championship

ICC Player Rankings

ICC Test Championship

List of cricket terms

Blind Cricket

Comparison of cricket and baseball

Outline of cricket

Women's cricket

References

;Notes

External links

International Cricket Council (ICC)

MCC – the official Laws of Cricket

Category:Team sports Category:Ball games Category:Ball and bat games Category:Olympic sports Category:Sports originating in England

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Coordinates	12°2′36″N77°1′42″N
name	Charles Hartwell
birth date	December 19, 1825
birth place	Lincoln, Massachusetts, United States
death date	January 30, 1905
death place	Foochow, China }}

|- |} Rev. Charles Hartwell (; Pinyin: ''Xià Chálǐ''; Foochow Romanized: ''Hâ Chák-lī''; December 19, 1825 - January 30, 1905) was an American Board missionary to Foochow, China in the second half of the 19th century.

Life and work

Charles Hartwell was born in Lincoln, Massachusetts on December 19, 1825, and was fitted for college at Westford Academy in Westford, Massachusetts. After teaching several months at West Killingly, Hartwell studied theology at Amherst College in 1849, and received the degree of Master of Arts from the same institution three years later. He was ordained at Lincoln, Massachusetts on October 13, 1852, entered the service of the ABCFM, embarked for China on November 3, and reached Hong Kong on April 16, 1853. Hartwell was located at Foochow (today Fuzhou) on June 9, 1853, and was engaged in missionary work there for the rest of his life, with only three visits to the United States: 1865 - 1867, 1877 - 1878, and 1890 - 1891, in all, four years.

Charles Hartwell ranked high as a Sinologist. He spoke the Foochow dialect with fluency, and was one of the proposers of the romanization of that dialect. In addition to preaching the Gospel, he translated one fourth of the New Testament into the Foochow colloquial, composed the Three Character and the Four Character Classics in the same dialect, and various tracts and books (including the 2nd edition of the ''Dictionary of the Foochow Dialect''). He also prepared many textbooks for schools (including one series of the so-called ''Hongkong Readers''), wrote a book on Meteorology, and contributed articles on temperance to English and American journals.

The fiftieth anniversary of the arrival at Foochow of Charles Hartwell was celebrated on May 26, 1903, a full account of which was issued from the Foochow Mission Press in February, 1904, in a volume entitled ''Jubilee Notes''.

Rev. Charles Hartwell was married twice during his life. On September 6, 1852 he married his first wife Lucy E. Stearns, who died July 10, 1883 in Foochow. In 1885 he married his second wife Hannah Louisa Plimpton Peet Hartwell. Hartwell died of heart failure in Foochow on January 30, 1905. At the time of his death he was the senior missionary of the American Board in China. His wife died 3 years afterwards. His daughter, Emily Susan Hartwell, remained in the field until 1937.

Notes

Category:Christian missionaries in China Category:Christian missionaries in Fujian Category:Christian writers Category:1825 births Category:1905 deaths Category:American sinologists

cdo:Hâ Chák-lī zh:夏察理