India women's national cricket team
India Women's cricket team
The India women's national cricket team, also known as Women in Blue, represents India in international cricket. It is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, and is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test, ODI and T20I status. They are the reigning Asian Games gold medalists.
The team has played 41 Test matches, winning 8, losing 6 and drawing 27. They played their first international match on 31 October 1976 in a Test against the West Indies at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
The team has played 322 ODI matches, winning 176, losing 140, tying 2 and with 4 ending in a no-result. As of June 2024, India is ranked fourth in the ICC Women's ODI and T20I Team Rankings on 104 rating points. India has reached the Cricket World Cup final on two occasions, losing to Australia by 98 runs in 2005 and losing to England by 9 runs in 2017. They have won the ODI Asia Cup 4 times in 2004, 2005-06, 2006, 2008.
The team has played 199 T20I matches, winning 108, losing 84, tying 1 and with 6 ending in a no-result. As of June 2024, India is ranked third in the ICC Women's ODI and T20I Team Rankings on 263 rating points. India has reached the finals of the T20 World Cup once, losing to Australia by 85 runs in 2020. They have won the T20I Asia Cup 3 times in 2012, 2016, 2022. In addition, they have won a gold medal at the 2022 Asian Games, and a silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Smriti Mandhana is the present vice captain of the Indian Women's National Cricket Team.
History.
The British brought cricket to India in the early 1700s, with the first cricket match played in 1721. It was played and adopted by Kolis of Gujarat because they were sea pirates and outlaws who always looted the British ships, so the East India Company tried to manage the Kolis in cricket and been successful. The first Indian cricket club was established by the Parsi community in Bombay, in 1848; the club played their first match against the Europeans in 1877. In 1911, an Indian men's cricket team was formed and toured England, where they played English county teams. The India men's team made their Test debut against England in 1932. The first women's Test was played between England and Australia in 1934.
Women's cricket arrived in India much later; the Women's Cricket Association of India (WCAI) was formed in 1973. The Indian women's team played their first Test match in 1976, against the West Indies. India recorded its first-ever Test win in November 1978 against West Indies under Shantha Rangaswamy's captaincy at the Moin-ul-Haq Stadium in Patna.
The WCAI, the governing body for women's cricket, was affiliated to the International Women's Cricket Council. As part of the International Cricket Council's initiative to develop women's cricket, the Women's Cricket Association of India was merged with the Board of Control for Cricket in India in 2006/07.
In 2021, the BCCI announced that Ramesh Powar would become the Head Coach of the Indian Women's Cricket Team. In 2022, Indian Women script history by winning 1st series on England soil in 23 years.
Governing body.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the governing body for the Indian cricket team and first-class cricket in India. The Board has been operating since 1928 and represents India at the International Cricket Council. It is amongst the richest sporting organisations in the world. It sold media rights for India's matches from 2006 to 2010 for US$612,000,000. It manages the Indian team's sponsorships, its future tours and team selection. The International Cricket Council (ICC) determines India's upcoming matches through its future tours program.
Selection Committee.
On 26 September 2020, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the appointment of All-India Women's Selection Committee.
Neetu David, former left-arm spinner, heads the five-member selection committee.
Sponsorship.
The current sponsor of the team is Dream11 from July 2023. The team was sponsored by Byju's from September 2019 to March 2023. OPPO's sponsorship was to run from 2017 until 2022, but was handed over to BYJU's on 5 September 2019. Previously, the Indian team was sponsored by Star India from 2014 to 2017, Sahara India Pariwar from 2002 to 2013.
Nike had been a long time kit supplier to team India having acquired the contract in 2005, with two extensions for a period of five years each time; in 2011 and 2016 respectively. Nike ended its contract in September 2020 and MPL Sports Apparel & Accessories, a subsidiary of online gaming platform Mobile Premier League replaced Nike as the kit manufacturer in October 2020.
On 30 August 2019, following the conclusion of the Expression of Interest process for Official partners’ Rights, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced that Sporta Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (Dream11), LafargeHolcim (ACC Cement and Ambuja Cement) and Hyundai Motor India Ltd. have acquired the Official partners' Rights for the BCCI International and Domestic matches during 2019–23.
Paytm acquired the title sponsorship for all matches played by the team within India in 2015 and extended the same in 2019 until 2023. Star India and Airtel have been title sponsors previously.
International grounds.
All stadiums of india
Forthcoming fixtures.
The recent results and forthcoming fixtures of India in international cricket:
Captains.
Mithali Raj
Smriti Mandhana
Current squad.
This lists all the active players who played for India in the last 12 months or were named in the recent ODI or T20I squads. Uncapped players are listed in "italics". Updated on 29 October 2024
Players also receive a match fee of () per Test match, () per ODI, and () per T20I. The BCCI adopted a pay equity policy in match fees for men's and women's teams on 27 October 2022.
Statistics.
Test cricket.
Most Test runs for India
Most Test wickets for India
"Players in bold text are still active with India."
One Day Internationals.
Most ODI runs for India
Most ODI wickets for India
"Players in bold text are still active with India."
Twenty20 Internationals.
Most WT20I runs for India
Most WT20I wickets for India
"Players in bold text are still active with India."
• Highest team total: 201/5 v UAE, 21 July 2024 at Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, Sri Lanka
• Highest individual score: 103, Harmanpreet Kaur v New Zealand, 9 November 2018 at Providence Stadium, Guyana
• Best innings bowling: 5/11, Jhulan Goswami v Australia, 23 March 2012 at ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam
References.
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Bibliography.
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Women's cricket
Bat-and-ball game played by women
Women's cricket is the team sport of cricket when played by women. Its
rules are almost identical to those in the game played by men, the main change being the use of a smaller ball. Women's cricket is beginning to be played at professional level in 11 of the 12 full members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), and is played worldwide, especially in Commonwealth nations.
The first recorded cricket match between women was held in England on 26 July 1745. The game continued to be played socially by women until clubs for women were formed in the late 1800s. In 1926, the creation of the Women's Cricket Association (WCA) in England began the process of formalising the game and organising international matches. Like many women's sports, the further development of women's cricket was hampered by sexism and a lack of structural support.
Although women have historically played Test cricket and first class cricket, the focus of the women's game in the last 50 years has been mostly on limited overs cricket. The introduction of Twenty20 cricket (T20) in 2003 created more opportunities for the growth of the women's game. As well as competing against each other in tours, national teams also compete in several tournaments, including the Cricket World Cup and the T20 World Cup. Women's cricket has also been part of several multi-sport events.
In domestic cricket, many countries have T20 cricket and List A cricket competitions that are run either alongside or separately from men's competitions. Grass roots cricket is growing, especially in England and Australia, although many barriers still remain. Cricket boards often organise competitions that use new formats that are intended to appeal to women. Cricket for women with disabilities is also growing, especially in South Asia.
History.
The first recorded cricket match between women was reported in "The Reading Mercury" on 26 July 1745; the match was contested "between eleven maids of Bramley and eleven maids of Hambledon, all dressed in white". The first known women's cricket club the White Heather Club was formed in 1887 in Yorkshire. Three years later, a team known as the Original English Lady Cricketers toured England, reportedly making substantial profits before the manager absconded with the money.
In Australia, a women's cricket league was set up in 1894 and Port Elizabeth, South Africa, had a women's cricket team named the Pioneers Cricket Club. In Canada, a women's cricket team in Victoria played at Beacon Hill Park.
In India, cricket teams for women existed as early as the 1920s. Delhi Ladies Cricket Club beat the men's Marylebone Cricket Club in a half-day game on their 1926–27 tour of India, one of the only matches they lost on the tour. Because it was a women's team, the game is omitted from records of the tour. During the 1950s and 1960s, cricket was strongest in the urban centres Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. The most-notable club in this period is Albees in Mumbai; many Albees players were female family members of prominent men's Test cricketers.
In 1958, the International Women's Cricket Council (IWCC) was formed to co-ordinate women's cricket around the world, taking over from the English Women's Cricket Association (WCA), which had been working in a "de facto" role since its creation 32 years earlier. In 2005, the IWCC was merged with the International Cricket Council (ICC) to form a unified body to manage and develop cricket.
Laws and gameplay.
Language.
Much of the language of cricket is heavily gendered; terms such as maiden over, nightwatchman, and third man are not officially sanctioned but remain in colloquial use. In 2021, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) amended the rulebook, the "Laws of Cricket", to replace the term "batsman" with the term "batter" to better reflect the modern game. There was some derision in parts of the cricketing and wider press but others responded that the term "batter" had been in widespread use through much of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Rule modifications.
In "The Laws of Cricket", the only explicit difference between men's and women's cricket is the ball size. According to "The Laws of Cricket":
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />Clause 4.6.1 Women’s cricketWeight: from 4.94 ounces/140 g to 5.31 ounces/151 gCircumference: from 8.25 in/21.0 cm to 8.88 in/22.5 cm.
For comparison, the ball in the men's game should weigh between , and be between in circumference. Many tournaments and forms of cricket, however, have additional differences in rules between women's and men's games.
Test cricket.
In the 2023 ICC rules, the main differences from the men's games are:
One Day International cricket.
By the June 2023 ICC rules for One Day International (ODI) matches, the main differences are:
Twenty20 International cricket.
By the June 2023 ICC rules, the main differences are:
Clothing and equipment.
Initially, like men, women played cricket in clothes that were similar to their everyday wear. With changes in womenswear in the late Victorian period, clothes for middle-and-upper-class women to undertake physical activity became more available. The Rational Dress Society had an outfit for cricket in its 1883 catalogue.
During the interwar period, women's sportswear became more available and the Women's Cricket Association (WCA) encountered something they named "the clothing problem". The debate about what women should wear when playing cricket was intense; a debate about it can be found in the minutes of every Annual General Meeting of the WCA from its foundation until its last AGM before World War II. There was tension between the needs of female players who wished to wear comfortable, practical clothing, and the need to appear as "respectable" women to the public and to the male establishment who owned the cricket grounds. There was also anxiety about women cross-dressing and the need to maintain gender roles while playing sport.
Photographs in the British press in the early 20th century often showed women playing cricket with bare legs and in bathing costumes but most played in more-practical clothing. Rules about women playing in white dresses and skirts were imposed on high-level women's cricket but in local games, it was common to play in flannels of any colour.
Following England's first tour of Australia and New Zealand, the England, Australia and New Zealand teams adopted the white divided skirts as part of their uniforms. England continued to play in skirts until 1997. Diving for the ball in a skirt risked injury and friction burns. The move to trousers eliminated this danger for women players, and the tan lines between the bottom of the skirts and the socks. The New Zealand team were given a sewing pattern and fabric, and were expected to make their uniforms or have them made.
According to the 2023 ICC rules, the rules on men's and women's attire in international cricket are identical. The only gender-specific clothing rule allows cricketers to wear hijab in ICC events provided it does not obscure any logos and names on the playing uniform. For Test matches, scarves must be black or white but for ODIs and T20s, they can be black or the same colour as the team cap but they cannot be white.
Appropriate equipment has long been an issue for women in cricket. Players have often had to use poorly fitting small men's or juniors equipment, which impeded performance. England wicket keeper Betty Snowball avoided this problem by having her gloves and pads custom made. Many women players prefer smaller, lighter bats. Labeling of equipment has been exclusionary; equipment for children has been labelled as "boys" but this has begun to change. Present and former cricketers, such as Lydia Greenway, Ellyse Perry and Heather Knight, have been involved with leading changes in the design of equipment for women. The brands Kookaburra, SM Cricket, Viking, Gray-Nicolls and JPGavan all now produce equipment intended for women. The brands NEXX and Lacuna Sports have been launched in the UK to provide clothing and equipment to women who play cricket.
International cricket.
Women's cricket has been played internationally since the inaugural women's Test match between England's and Australia's women's teams in December 1934. The following year, New Zealand joined them. in 2007 Netherlands became the tenth women's Test nation in their debut against South Africa. A total of 145 women's Test matches have been played.
Women's One Day Internationals (ODIs) were introduced in 1973 at the inaugural Women's Cricket World Cup. The 1,000th women's ODI took place in 2016. Australia has dominated the format, having claimed the World Cup six times and won 80% of their matches.
In 2004, a shorter-still format, the Twenty20 International (T20I) was introduced; matches are restricted to twenty overs per side. Initially, women's T20 cricket was played little at international level; four matches were played by the end of 2006. The following three years saw a rapid growth in women's T20 Internationals; six matches were played in 2007, ten in 2008 and thirty in 2009, which also saw the first ICC Women's World Twenty20. In April 2018, the ICC granted its members full women's T20 International status.
In November 2021, the ICC retrospectively applied first-class and List A status to women's cricket, aligning it with the men's game.
In July 2023, the ICC announced equal prize money will be available for ICC global events, meaning future Women's Cricket World Cup and Women's T20 World Cup competitions will have the same prizes for winners and runners up as male competitions.
International rankings.
The ICC maintains rankings of the 13 teams with ODI status and all teams who play T20I matches. As of  2023[ [update]], Australia top both tables.
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The ICC also maintains individual player rankings in ODI and T20I based on batting, bowling and all-round performance.
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Series trophies.
The men's game has a long history of perpetual trophies but there are two only in women's cricket: The Women's Ashes and The Rose Bowl.
In 1998, the Women's Cricket Association (WCA) created a set of Ashes to be contested by Australia and England. The Australia and England men's teams play for their own set of Ashes. In 2013, it changed from being a Test series to a series of ODIs, T20Is and a Test to better reflect the formats of cricket women regularly play.
The Rose Bowl is an ODI series played between Australia and New Zealand, and has been contested since the 1984–85 season, the most-recent being in 2020.
Before the start of the 2023–24 series, the Pakistan captain Nida Dar and South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt revealed an as-yet-unnamed new trophy for their teams to contest.
Tournaments.
Asia Cup.
The Asia Cup began in 2004 as an ODI competition between members of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC). It initially ran every two years until 2008, then reformed in 2012 as a T20 tournament. The ACC intend to continue to run in it biannually, although on several occasions it has run every four years. The change to T20 cricket allowed the ACC to include more Associate nations in the tournament.
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Cricket World Cup.
The first ever Cricket World Cup was the Women's Cricket World Cup organised in 1973 by the WCA; it was based on an idea of cricketer Rachael Heyhoe Flint and businessman Jack Hayward. After the success of the Women's Cricket World Cup, the men's tournament took place two years later.
Seven teams competed in the inaugural tournament, which took place in England over five and a half weeks. Each ODI match was 60 overs and every team played each other in a round-robin league format. Subsequent tournaments were hampered by lack of funds for women's teams, meaning their scheduling was inconsistent for many years. The 1997 World Cup was the first to be played with 50 overs and a knock-out stage.
Since the inaugural tournament, there have been 12 World Cups with the 13th planned for 2025 in India.
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European Cricket Championship.
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Kwibuka T20 Tournament.
Originally called the "Kwibuka Cricket for Peace Women's T20 Tournament", the Kwibuka T20 Tournament is an annual T20 tournament that is played in Rwanda. It was founded in 2014 to mark the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide and to promote peace through cricket. It is unusual among women's tournaments because there is no male equivalent. African nations including Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda, and the hosts Rwanda compete in the tournament. The Brazilian and German teams have also taken part.
The word 'Kwibuka' means "to remember" in Kinyarwanda, the Rwandan national language, and is the title of annual commemorations of the genocide.
T20 World Cup.
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At multi-sport events.
Following the introduction of T20 cricket, cricket has been included at several multi-sport events; the women's game is often added after the successful establishment of a men's tournament. As of  2023[ [update]], five different major games have held women's cricket medal events; a sixth – the African Games – is scheduled for early 2024 and a seventh – the Olympics – is scheduled for 2028.
African Games.
The 2023 African Games in Accra, Ghana will mark the game's debut in the African Games.
Asian Games.
Cricket made its debut at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, with men's and women's T20 cricket matches. It returned for the 2014 Asian Games Cricket was removed from the 2018 Asian Games to reduce the burden on the Indonesian organisers.
The 2022 Asian Games were delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic but cricket returned when the Games were held in September 2023. Eight teams competed, including India who sent a team to the games for the first time and went home with their first gold medal.
Commonwealth Games.
In August 2019, the Commonwealth Games Foundation announced the addition of women's cricket to the 2022 Commonwealth Games. The matches were held at Edgbaston, and included eight teams competing in a T20 format during July and August 2022. Only a women's tournament was part of the Games.
Olympic Games.
Women's cricket has never been included in the Olympic Games. There was hope T20 cricket would be included in the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles. It was on the shortlist for inclusion but was not chosen for the 28-sport provisional list, making its inclusion unlikely. The ultimate decision was made in October 2023 at a meeting of the International Olympic Committee Executive board by the nod of inclusion of cricket in 2028.
With the 2032 Summer Olympic Games being hosted in Brisbane, Australia, the governing body Cricket Australia have also have noted their intention to have the game included.
Pacific Games.
Men's cricket has been part of the Pacific Games since 1979 and a women's competition was introduced for the 2015 Pacific Games in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. It appeared again at the 2019 Pacific Games but was dropped for the 2023 games.
South Asian Games.
Women's cricket made its debut at the 2019 South Asian Games in Pokhara, Nepal, in the T20 format. The Maldives set one of the lowest scores in International Women's Cricket, all out for 8 runs.
Southeast Asian Games.
Cricket made its debut at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It did not appear in another Southeast Asian Games until the 2023 Games.
Unusually among modern multi-sport events, the SEA Games do not keep to just the T20 format. For the 2017 tournament, women only played T20 but for the 2023 tournament they competed in 6s, T10, T20 and 50-over competitions and each had medals available.
Domestic.
The majority of high-level women's domestic cricket in ICC Full Member countries consists of 50-over and Twenty20 competitions.
Afghanistan.
Since the 2021 Taliban offensive and the Fall of Kabul in 2021, cricket for women is in practice banned due to the Taliban's policies on women.
Australia.
Eight state-based teams play 50-over cricket in the Women's National Cricket League, which has run since the 1996–97 season. Since the 2015–16 season, eight city-based franchises have played T20 cricket in the Women's Big Bash League.
Bangladesh.
The Bangladesh Women's National Cricket League has been played variously as a 50-over and a Twenty20 competition.
England.
Eight regional teams compete in the 50-over Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy and the Twenty20 Charlotte Edwards Cup, while eight city-based teams compete in The Hundred, a 100-ball cricket competition. The English counties play in the Women's Twenty20 Cup.
Previously, the English counties played in the Women's County Championship, while six semi-professional teams played in the Women's Cricket Super League.
To grow women's participation in the game, including those who have never played cricket, in 2017, the England and Wales Cricket Board created a format called softball cricket. It uses a modified scoring system, has 6-to-8 players per team and lasts just over an hour. It has a more-relaxed playing style than hardball cricket; for example underarm bowling is allowed and more-complicated rules such as leg before wicket are not included. Conventional cricket played by women is occasionally called "women's hardball cricket" to distinguish it from softball cricket.
India.
Several domestic women's cricket competitions exist in India. State teams play for the 50-over Women's Senior One Day Trophy and the Women's Senior T20 Trophy, while composite teams play for the 50-over Senior Women's Challenger Trophy and the Women's Senior T20 Challenger Trophy. Domestic first-class women's cricket was last played in India in the form of the Senior Women's Cricket Inter Zonal Three Day Game, which ended after the 2017–18 season. The domestic red-ball game for women has been revived in the 2023-24 season with the Senior Women's Inter-Zonal Multi-Day Trophy. A total of six zonal teams competed in a knockout format.
In 2018, women's franchise cricket in India began with the Women's T20 Challenge, which began as a two-team competition. The following year, the competition was expanded to a three-team tournament. The Women's Premier League, a five-team franchise T20 competition, was created in 2023 to replace the T20 Challenge.
Ireland.
The Women's Super Series in Ireland in contested by three teams. From 2021, the competition has been split into separate 50-over and Twenty20 sections.
New Zealand.
Six regional-based teams compete in the 50-over Hallyburton Johnstone Shield, which has existed since the 1935–36 season, and the Twenty20 Super Smash, which began in the 2007–08 season.
Pakistan.
The 50-over Pakistan Women's One Day Cup has run since the 2017–18 season while the PCB Women's Twenty20 Tournament began in the 2019–20 season. Previously, state and departmental teams competed in the National Women's Cricket Championship, the Women's Cricket Challenge Trophy and the Departmental T20 Women's Championship.
South Africa.
Provincial teams play in the 50-over CSA Women's Provincial Programme, previously the CSA Women's Provincial One-Day Tournament, which has run since the 1995–96 season, and in the CSA Women's Provincial T20 Competition. which began during the 2012–13 season. Since 2019, composite teams have played in the Women's T20 Super League.
In August 2023, Cricket South Africa announced a new structure for domestic cricket. It will be composed of six teams that will have increased funding to professionally contract more players and hire full-time coaching staff.
Sri Lanka.
The 50-over competition is the Sri Lanka Women's Division One Tournament. Several Twenty20 competitions have taken place, including the Super Provincial T20 Tournament and the Super 4 Twenty20 Competition.
West Indies.
The nations that make up the West Indies have competed in the Women's Super50 Cup since 1975 and in the Women's Twenty20 Blaze since 2012.
In 2022, Cricket West Indies and the Caribbean Premier League jointly launched two women's competitions: a T10 cricket competition called The 6ixty and the Women's Caribbean Premier League, both with three teams that are aligned with men's sides. The 6ixty was partly inspired by the women's exhibition T10 matches that were played just before the 2019 Caribbean Premier League playoff matches.
Zimbabwe.
The 50-over competition is the Fifty50 Challenge and the Twenty20 competition is the Women's T20 Cup, both of which are competed for by four teams that are aligned with men's sides.
Disability cricket.
Blind cricket.
Women are known to have been playing blind cricket in Australia since at least the 1940s, when they competed with and against men.
England and Nepal have had women's international teams since at least November 2014, when Nepal beat England 3-0 in a three game series. In 2018, England toured the West Indies and won the series 4–1.
The first international series played in Pakistan was held in January and February 2019. The Pakistan Blind Cricket Council formed a national women's team in 2018 that played the Nepalese blind women's team in five T20 games. The Pakistani team were publicly supported by Sana Mir and other professional cricketers. Nepal won the series 4–0.
In 2019, the Cricket Association for the Blind in India created a blind cricket league for women consisting of teams from seven states. Odisha won the inaugural tournament, beating Karnataka 218/8 (20.0) to Karnataka's 131/8 (20.0). The 2020 and 2021 tournaments were cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It expanded to 14 states for the 2022 tournament, which was won by Karnataka. The 2023 tournament had 18 teams. Odisha regained the title.
India formed a national team in 2020 but had to cancel its intended 2021 tour of England because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Their first tour was in Nepal in April 2023. Nepal won that series 3–1.
The 2023 IBSA World Games in Birmingham, England, included cricket for the first time and India was the first country to announce it would be sending a team. England and Australia also sent teams to the Games; it was the Australian team's international debut. The Pakistani team was unable to participate due to lack of funds. India was the first team to reach the finals by winning their first three matches and won all four matches of their group games. Australia won the other place with a higher net run rate than England. India beat Australia in the final and were publicly praised by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Records.
Cricket values records and statistics. Women's records have often been overlooked, especially when a women's record precedes or exceeds a men's record. For example, Belinda Clark made the first double century in ODI cricket in the 1997 World Cup, 23 years earlier than Sachin Tendulkar's 200* in 2010. Betty Wilson became the first player to score a century and take ten wickets in a Test match in 1958. Ian Botham did not achieve this until 1980.
Test cricket.
Among Test nations, Australia holds the record for the most wins, having won 21 of their 77 Test matches.
The all-time-leading women's Test batter is Denise Annetts of Australia with a Test batting average 81.90. As of 2023[ [update]], she is third behind Don Bradman's famous 99.94 and Saud Shakeel's current 87.50.
The player with the highest bowling average is Australian Betty Wilson with an average of 11.80. This puts her second to the 10.75 of George Lohmann.
Notes.
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References.
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History of women's cricket

The history of women's cricket can be traced back to a report in "The Reading Mercury" on 15 Aug 1745 and a match that took place between the villages of Bramley and Hambledon near Guildford in Surrey.
The "Mercury" reported:
"The greatest cricket match that was played in this part of England was on Friday, the 26th of last month, on Gosden Common, near Guildford, between eleven maids of Bramley and eleven maids of Hambledon, all dressed in white. The Bramley maids had blue ribbons and the Hambledon maids red ribbons on their heads. The Bramley girls got 119 notches and the Hambledon girls 127. There was of bothe sexes the greatest number that ever was seen on such an occasion. The girls bowled, batted, ran and catches as well as most men could do in that game."
Early years in England.
Early matches were not necessarily gentil affairs. A match, on 13 July 1747, held at the Artillery Ground between a team from Charlton and another from Westdean and Chilgrove in Sussex spilled over into the following day after it was interrupted by crowd trouble. Contemporary records show that women's matches were played on many occasions between villages in Sussex, Hampshire and Surrey. Other matches, often held in front of large crowds with heavy betting on the side, pitted single women against their married counterparts. Prizes ranged from barrels of ale to pairs of lace gloves. The first county match was held in 1811 between Surrey and Hampshire at Ball's Pond in Middlesex. Two noblemen underwrote the game with 1,000 guineas, and its participants ranged in age from 14 to 60.
Originally, cricket deliveries were bowled underarm. Legend has it that the roundarm bowling action was pioneered in the early 19th century by Christiana Willes, sister of John Willes, to avoid becoming ensnared in her skirts. In fact, roundarm was devised by Tom Walker in the 1790s.
The first women's cricket club was formed in 1887 at Nun Appleton in Yorkshire and named the White Heather Club. In 1890, a team known as the Original English Lady Cricketers, toured England, playing in exhibition matches to large crowds. The team was highly successful until its manager absconded with the profits, forcing the ladies to disband. James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual for 1890 has a photograph of the team and short article on women's cricket. "As an exercise, cricket is probably not so severe as lawn tennis, and it is certainly not so dangerous as hunting or skating; and if, therefore, the outcome of the present movement is to induce ladies more generally to play cricket, we shall consider that a good result has been attained."
The Women's Cricket Association was founded in 1926. The England team first played against The Rest at Leicester in 1933 and undertook the first international tour to Australia in 1934–35, playing the first Women's Test match between England and Australia in December 1934. After winning two tests and drawing one. England travelled on to New Zealand where Betty Snowball scored 189 in the first Test in Christchurch.
Early years in Australia.
The founding mother of women's cricket in Australia was the young Tasmanian, Lily Poulett-Harris, who captained the Oyster Cove team in the league she created in 1894. Lily's obituary, from her death a few years later in 1897, states that her team was almost certainly the first to be formed in the colonies  . Following this, the Victoria Women's Cricket Association was founded in 1905 and the Australian Women's Cricket Association in 1931. The current competition is run by the Women's National Cricket League.
The spread to other countries.
The International Women's Cricket Council was formed in 1958 to coordinate women's cricket which was now being played regularly in Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, the West Indies, Denmark and the Netherlands. Test cricket has now been played by Australia, England, India, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies. 131 women's Test matches have been played to date, the majority featuring England or Australia. Originally these were three-day matches, but since 1985 most have been played over four days. England have played 87 Test matches since their first in 1934, winning 19, losing 11 and drawing 57. Australia have played 67 in the same period, winning 18, losing nine and drawing 40.
The highest total is Australia's 569 for six declared against England Women in 1998, and the highest individual score is the 242 recorded by Kiran Baluch for Pakistan Women against West Indies Women at the National Stadium, Karachi in 2003/04. Five other women have scored double centuries. Neetu David of India took eight wickets in an innings against England in 1995/56 and seven wickets have fallen to the same bowler on ten occasions. The best match figures, 13 for 226 were recorded by Shaiza Khan for Pakistan Women against West Indies Women in Karachi in 2003/04. Three English batsmen, Janet Brittin with 1935 runs at 49.61, Charlotte Edwards, 1621 at 49.09 and Rachel Heyhoe-Flint with 1594 at 45.54, head the all-time run scoring lists while six other women have scored more than 1,000 Test runs. Mary Duggan of England took 77 Test wickets at 13.49 while Australia's Betty Wilson took 68 at 11.8. Seven other women have 50 or more victims to their name  .
Betty Wilson was the first player, male or female, to record a century and ten wickets in a Test match, against England at the MCG in 1958. In a remarkable match Australia were bowled out for 38 but gained a first innings lead of three in dismissing England for 35 in reply, with Wilson taking seven for seven. 35 remains the lowest total ever recorded in a women's Test. Australia, thanks to Wilson's century, set England 206 to win but the visitors held on for a draw. In 1985, Australia's Under-21 National Women's Cricket Championship was renamed the Betty Wilson Shield in her honour. Another phenomenal club performance saw right-hander Jan Molyneaux make a record 298 for Olympic v Northcote in Melbourne's A grade final in 1967. Molyneaux also made 252 not out on a separate occasion in a 477 run partnership with Dawn Rae, again for Olympic.
Women's cricket in the modern era.
Club and county cricket in England has undergone constant evolution. There is currently a National Knock-Out Cup and a league structure culminating in a Northern and Southern Premier league. The major county competition is the LV Women's County Championship, while Super Fours, featuring teams named after precious stones, bridges the gap for the elite players between domestic and international competition.
In April 1970, MCC's traditional Easter coaching classes at Lord's were attended by Sian Davies and Sally Slowe of Cheltenham Ladies' College (see photo in "Wisden at Lord's", page 129) breaking the 'gender barrier'. The first Women's Cricket World Cup was held in England in 1973, funded in part by businessman Jack Hayward, and won by the hosts at Lords in front of Princess Anne. Enid Bakewell and Lynne Thomas, making their international debuts for England, scored unbeaten hundreds against an International XI in Brighton in a stand of 246, a record which stood for a quarter of a century . Lord's staged its first women's Test match in 1979, between England and Australia.
One-Day International cricket has been played by Australia, Denmark, England, India, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand. Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies while Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and International XIs have played in World Cups. 707 ODIs have been played up to the end of the 2009 World Cup. The 455 for 5 smashed by New Zealand Women against Pakistan Women at Hagley Oval, Christchurch in 1996/97 remains the highest team score while the Netherlands Women were bowled out for just 22 against West Indies Women at Sportpark Het Schootsveld in Deventer in 2008.
The Women's Cricket Association handed over the running of women's cricket in England to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 1998. In 2005, after the eighth Women's World Cup, the International Women's Cricket Council was officially integrated under the umbrella of the International Cricket Council, and an ICC Women's Cricket Committee was formed to consider all matters relating to women's cricket. The 2009 World Cup, the first held under the auspices of the ICC was won by England, the first English team of either sex to win an ICC competition.
Women have beaten male teams to several milestones in one-day cricket. They were the first to play an international Twenty/20 match, England taking on New Zealand at Hove in 2004. The first tie in a one-day international was also between Women's teams, hosts New Zealand tying the first match of the World Cup in 1982 against England, who went on to record another tie against Australia in the same competition. Female wicket keepers were the first to record 6 dismissals in a one-day international, New Zealand's Sarah Illingworth and India's Venkatacher Kalpana both accounting for 6 batsman on the same day in the 1993 World Cup and Belinda Clark, the former Australian captain, is the only female player to have scored a double hundred in an ODI, recording an unbeaten 229 in the 1997 World Cup against Denmark. Pakistan's Sajjida Shah is the youngest player to appear in international cricket, playing against Ireland four months after her 12th birthday. She also holds the record for the best bowling figures in a one-day international, taking 7 wickets for just 4 runs against Japan Women at the Sportpark Drieburg in Amsterdam in 2003. Fast bowler Cathryn Fitzpatrick of Australia took 180 wickets in her one-day international career.
In 2009 England batsman Claire Taylor was named one of Wisden's five cricketers of the year , the first woman to be honoured with the award in its 120-year history.
Since at least 2017 the England and Wales Cricket Board has promoted a short-form variant known as women's softball cricket, which is played in several county leagues in England. The traditional game is sometimes referred to as "women's hardball cricket" where a distinction needs to be made.
Notes.
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Further reading.
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List of India women ODI cricketers
A One Day International (ODI) is an international cricket match between two teams, each having ODI status, as determined by the International Cricket Council. The women's variant of the game is similar to the men's version, with minor modifications to umpiring and pitch requirements. The first women's ODI was played in 1973, between England and Australia. The Indian women's team played their first ever ODI match in 1978, against England, after the Women's Cricket Association of India was formed. The Women's Cricket Association of India was merged with the Board of Control for Cricket in India in 2006 as part of the International Cricket Council's initiative to develop women's cricket.
Since the team was formed, 151 women have represented India in ODI cricket. This list includes all players who have played at least one ODI match and is arranged in the order of debut appearance. Where more than one player won their first cap in the same match, those players are listed alphabetically by last name at the time of debut.
Statistics are correct as of 15 January 2025.
References.
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Women's Cricket Association of India
Former sports governing body, 1973–2007
The Women's Cricket Association of India (WCAI) was the national governing body of women's cricket in India. It was founded in 1973 at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. The WCAI was merged into the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in November 2006.
Its team, the India women's national cricket team, represented India in women's international cricket. The team is now governed by the BCCI, following the merger.
History.
While women played cricket in various parts of India in the early 1970's, there was no organization governing women's cricket. The first women's cricket club in India, named The Albees, was founded in Mumbai in 1969 by Aloo Bamjee, a member of the Cricket Club of India. Until 1972, The Albees did not have any opponents and organised matches amongst its 60 members.
In Lucknow, Mahendra Kumar Sharma began organising softball and handball tournaments for school and college girls in the city. A team organised by Sharma played at a softball tournament in Hyderabad in 1973. Following the tournament, the girls began playing cricket with the softball bats after witnessing boys playing the sport. This gave Sharma the idea to organise a cricket tournament. He personally traveled around the city in an auto rickshaw with a microphone to promote the event. Around 200 people attended the tournament held at the Queen’s Anglo Sanskrit College in Lucknow in 1973. The attendance encouraged Sharma to establish a women's cricket association.
The Women's Cricket Association of India (WCAI) was registered in Lucknow in 1973 under the "Societies Act", with Sharma as the founder secretary. The first president of the WCAI was Hamida Habibullah. The WCAI organised the Women's Inter-State Nationals in Pune in April 1973. It was the first national-level, interstate women’s cricket competition in the country. Three teams - Mumbai, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh - participated in the inaugural edition of the tournament. The Mumbai team was captained by Diana Edulji. The second edition was held in Varanasi in December 1973 and featured eight teams. Following the tournament, the executive committee of the WCAI was reorganised. Chandra Tripathi and Premala Chavan became the chairperson and president of the WCAI respectively, alongside founder secretary Sharma. The third edition of the Women's Inter-State Nationals was held in Calcutta and featured 14 teams. Subsequent editions saw participation from all states in India.
The WCAI introduced new competitions in 1974. The Rani Jhansi Trophy, an inter-zonal limited overs tournament, was held at Kanpur, and an inter-university tournament was held at Rajkot. Sub-junior and junior tournaments were also introduced for under-15 and under-19 players. The WCAI was granted membership of the International Women's Cricket Council (IWCC) in 1973, and was recognized by the Government of India in 1978. The first international women's cricket match in India was held on 7 February 1975 against the touring Australian under-25 team. A series of three first-class matches were played in Pune, Delhi and Calcutta. Ujwala Nikam, Sudha Shah and Shreeroopa Bose captained the Indian team in the three matches respectively.
The first women's Test series in India was held in November 1976, when the West Indies toured the country. India played its first Test match on 31 October 1976 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. India won the fourth Test in Patna on 19 November in front of 25,000 spectators, recording its first ever Test match victory. The six Test series ended in a 1–1 draw. India went on its first tour in January 1977 playing Tests against New Zealand and Australia. Due to the international boycott of South Africa, the 1978 Women's Cricket World Cup was shifted to India. The WCAI made a successful bid, and served as the primary organiser, with the IWCC providing only limited oversight. Sharma was the WCAI secretary for the first five years of its existence and was responsible for organising the 1978 World Cup.
Following the merger of IWCC into the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2005, the WCAI was merged into the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in November 2006. Ranee Narah and Shubhangi Kulkarni were the president and secretary of the WCAI respectively before the merger. Nutan Gavaskar, the sister of Sunil Gavaskar, was an honorary general secretary of WCAI.
References.
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List of India women Test cricketers
Test cricket is the longest form of cricket. The women's variant of the game includes four innings to be completed over four days of play with eleven players in each side. The first women's Test was played between England and Australia in 1934. However, India did not play Test cricket until 1973 when the Women's Cricket Association of India was formed. The Indian women's team played their first Test match in 1976, against the West Indies. The Women's Cricket Association of India was merged with the Board of Control for Cricket in India in 2006 as part of the International Cricket Council's initiative to develop women's cricket.
India have played 41 Tests, starting with their first Test in 1976. They first won a Test in Patna (1976), in front of over 25,000 spectators, against the West Indies but did not win again until 2002, when they won against South Africa. The team has remained unbeaten since 2006, over the course of three Test matches.
Two of India's players, Diana Edulji and Sudha Shah, have featured in more than 20 Test matches. Ten other players have played in ten or more Test matches. Sandhya Agarwal is India's all-time leading run scorer, and is ranked sixth among players from all countries. Among the top ten run scorers of all time, she has the fourth-highest average. Sandhya Agarwal and Mithali Raj, with scores of 190 and 214 respectively, were record holders for the most runs scored in an innings. Former captains Diana Edulji and Shubhangi Kulkarni are third and sixth in terms of most wickets taken in a career while Neetu David has the best bowling figures in an innings, having taken 8 wickets, conceding 53 runs in England's second innings in the hundredth women's Test.
Since the team was formed, 94 women have represented India in Test cricket. This list includes all players who have played at least one Test match and is arranged in the order of debut appearance. Where more than one player won their first Test cap in the same Test match, those players are listed alphabetically by last name at the time of debut.
"Statistics are correct as of 1 July 2024."
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References.
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Chandigarh women's cricket team
Indian women's cricket team
The Chandigarh women's cricket team is a women's cricket team that represents the Indian union territory of Chandigarh. They played their first match in 1973, and joined the Indian domestic system in 2019–20, competing in the Women's Senior One Day Trophy and the Senior Women's T20 League.
History.
Chandigarh Women played their first recorded match in 1973, against Punjab. They went on to play in the Senior National Women's Cricket Championship in 1986–87 and the Indira Priyadarshini Champions Trophy in 1993–94, but full results are not recorded.
In 2019, the Union Territory Cricket Association, the governing body of cricket in Chandigarh, received affiliation from the BCCI, allowing Chandigarh to join the Indian women's domestic system. In the 2019–20 season, they competed in the Senior Women's One Day League and the Senior Women's T20 League. They finished 6th in their group in the T20 League, but won the Plate Competition in the One Day League, winning all 9 of their games to gain promotion to the Elite Competition.
The following season, 2020–21, with only the One Day competition going ahead, Chandigarh finished 5th out of 6 teams in Group C of the Elite Competition. The side won one match across the two competitions in 2021–22, beating Karnataka in the T20 Trophy. In 2022–23, Chandigarh won two matches in each of the two competitions.
Players.
Notable players.
Players who have played for Chandigarh and played internationally are listed below, in order of first international appearance (given in brackets):
References.
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Women's cricket in Australia
Overview of women's cricket in Australia
While not being urged to avoid competition, women had few opportunities to compete in sport in Australia until the 1880s. After that date, new sporting facilities were being built around the country and many new sport clubs were created.
Early history.
Organised cricket has been played by women in Australia since no later than 1874 when the first recorded match took place in Bendigo. The founding mother of women's cricket in Australia was the young Tasmanian, Lily Poulett-Harris, who captained the Oyster Cove team in the league she created in 1894. Lily's obituary, from her death a few years later in 1897, states that her team was almost certainly the first to be formed in the colonies.
During the 1890s, cricket and rowing were two of the most popular competitive sports for women in Australia. Another of the first all women's sport clubs founded in Australia was the Rockhampton Ladies' Club. They were fielding a women's cricket team in the mid-1890s. The team wore dresses with long skirts and long sleeves, sashes attached to their uniform, tight belts and straw boater hats.
Early Twentieth Century.
One location where cricket was being played was Bundaberg, where a ladies' town team had been established that was competing until as late as 1909. Cricket players, like other female athletes of this era, dressed in ankle length skirts, wore long sleeved blouses, and wore a hat and tie. The uniforms made it difficult to play as they did not allow a full range of movement. Another place where women played cricket on an all-women's team was in the Queensland town of Memerambi, southwest of Maryborough. In 1911, this team had several notable players including A. B. Postle, sister of the world champion sprinter at the time. By 1911, the skirts had changed to include fewer layers and allowed for greater movement of the legs. This improvement was offset by the need to wear wide-brimmed hats.
The Victorian Ladies' Cricket Association was founded in 1905 and disbanded in 1916 during the Great War. The Victorian Women's Cricket Association was formed in 1923. The Australian Women's Cricket Council was formed in 1931.
During the early part of the twentieth century, small towns in rural areas often lacked enough male players to have a full team. This problem was solved by allowing for mixed gendered teams. One town with a mixed gendered team was found in Croydon at the Croydon Villa Cricket Club. The lack of players was also a problem in the bush. Mixed gendered teams were created as part of informal games at locations such as the Cooroy Showgrounds. By the 1920s, women were playing cricket in outfits similar to men: Long white trousers, white sweaters and blouses. Batters had pads for their shins. The hats had smaller brims and were more fitted to their heads. This change in outfits allowed women a greater range of movement when they played the game. A female cricket team active during the 1920s was found in Toowoomba.
In 1922, a committee in Australia investigated the benefits of physical education for girls. They came up with several recommendations regarding what sports were and were not appropriate for girls to play based on the level of fitness required. It was determined that for some individual girls that for medical reasons, the girls should probably not be allowed to participate in tennis, netball, lacrosse, golf, hockey, and cricket. Soccer was completely medically inappropriate for girls to play. It was medically appropriate for all girls to be able to participate in, so long as they were not done in an overly competitive manner, swimming, rowing, cycling and horseback riding.
In 1933, the New South Wales Amateur Women's Sport Council was created by Gwendolen Game. The organisation brought together all the women's sporting bodies on the state level. Sports represented included New South Wales's women's field hockey, cricket, women's basketball, baseball, rowing and vigoro. A similar organisation covering similar sports had been created in Victoria in 1931.
In 1934, the Victorian Women's Centennial Sports Carnival was held. The event was organised by the Victorian Women's Amateur Sports Council and held at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds. The purpose was to increase women's interest in sport by providing them opportunities to play. Sports that were included on the programme included cricket, field hockey, women's basketball, bowls, rowing, swimming, athletics, rifle shooting, baseball, golf, tennis and badminton. There were over 1,000 bowlers involved over the course a week. Cricket featured a match versus a visiting English side. Women's basketball featured a Victorian side playing against a representative all Australian side. There was a day for watersports such as swimming and rowing. A tennis tournament was held. A field hockey tournament featuring Australian, Kiwi and Fijian teams was played.
In 1986, Lyn Larsen, at the age of 22, became the youngest captain ever of the Australian women's national cricket team. In 1988, the Australian women won the Cricket World Cup.
In 1940, a study of 314 women in New Zealand and Australia was done. Most of the women in the study were middle class, conservative, Protestant and white. The study found that 183 participated in sport. The nineteenth most popular sport that these women participated in was cricket, with 2 having played the sport. The sport was tied with cricket, mountaineering, rowing, and surfing.
Australian women's sports had an advantage over many other women's sport organisations around the world in the period after World War II. Women's sport organisations had largely remained intact and were holding competitions during the war period. This structure survived in the post war period. Women's sport were not hurt because of food rationing, petrol rationing, population disbursement, and other issues facing post-war Europe.
Twenty-First Century.
The current 50-over limited-over domestic tournament for Women in Australia is the Women's National Cricket League (WNCL). The competition has been held since the 1996–97 season. The league currently consists of seven teams: New South Wales Breakers, Queensland Fire, South Australian Scorpions, Tasmanian Roar, Victorian Spirit, Western Fury and ACT Meteors.
The 2013-2014 Australian National Cricket Census showed that female participation in the sport was up 39% to 247,000, with females making up 22% of total cricket participants in Australia.
A female Twenty20 league, the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL), has been aligned with the Mens Big Bash League (BBL) since the 2015–2016 season. The eight women's teams are: Perth Scorchers (WBBL), Hobart Hurricanes (WBBL), Brisbane Heat (WBBL), Adelaide Strikers (WBBL), Melbourne Stars (WBBL), Melbourne Renegades (WBBL), Sydney Sixers (WBBL) and Sydney Thunder (WBBL). Each team uses the same team name and colours as those of its male counterpart.
Important current day ambassadors for women's cricket in Australia include Ellyse Perry, Meg Lanning, Alex Blackwell and Alyssa Healy.
The Ashes.
The first ashes game, occurred in 1934. When the AWCC (Australian Women's Cricket Council) sent an invitation to the WCA (Women's Cricket Association), inviting England to tour in Australia. The tour consisted of 14, 3-day test matches, in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. The first game being was played in Brisbane with a crowd of 1,500. England won the game by 9 wickets after a stunning performance from England's spinning allrounder Myrtle Maclagan who took 7 wickets for 10 runs.
International Short-Form Competition.
Not only do Australian women compete in cricket domestically, but also on the international stage. The Australian Women's Cricket Team (The Southern Stars) have competed at an international level in the short forms of the game since the first World Cup in 1973, in England. They won their first world cup in 1978 and then claiming the title on another five occasions in 1982, 1988, 1997, 2005 and 2013.
Since their first match in the 1973 World Cup the Southern Stars have played 254 ODIs (One Day Internationals), having 122 women represent Australia in the ODI team.
Another short form of the game that the Stars are very competitive in is the Twenty20 competition. The Australian Women's Team have taken home the top trophy for the past three consecutive years at the Women's Twenty20 World Cup. And resulting from their efforts this the Southern Stars received a pay rise making them the highest paid women's sporting team in Australia.
References.
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Bibliography.
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History of cricket in India to 1918
Historical account
The sport of cricket was introduced to the Indian subcontinent by sailors and traders of the English East India Company in the 17th and 18th centuries. The earliest known record of cricket in India dates from 1721 and the first club had been founded by 1792. In the 1886 and 1888 summer seasons, the Parsees cricket team toured England. In the winter of 1889–90, a team of English players was the first to tour India, followed by another in the 1892–93 season. That tour coincided with the beginning of competitive cricket in the country as the Parsees won the prestigious Bombay Presidency Match against the Europeans cricket team. By 1912–13, the tournament had become the Bombay Quadrangular with the addition of the Hindus cricket team and the Muslims cricket team. Similar tournaments began soon afterwards in Calcutta and Madras. By the end of 1918, first-class cricket was established in India.
Early developments.
The entire history of cricket in the subcontinent (including modern-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka) as a whole is based on the existence and development of the British Raj via the East India Company. On 31 December 1600, Queen Elizabeth I granted a Royal Charter to the English East India Company, often colloquially referred to as "John Company". It was initially a joint-stock company that sought trading privileges in India and the East Indies, but the Royal Charter effectively gave it a 21-year monopoly on all trade in the region. In time, the East India Company transformed from a commercial trading venture to one which virtually ruled India as it acquired auxiliary governmental and military functions, until its dissolution in 1858 following the Indian Mutiny. The East India Company was the means by which cricket was introduced into India.
In 1639, the Company effectively founded the city of Madras (now Chennai), and in 1661 acquired Portuguese territory on the west coast of India that included Bombay (now Mumbai). In 1690, an Anglo-Mughal treaty allowed English merchants to establish a trading settlement on the Hooghly River, which became Calcutta (now Kolkata). All of these places became leading centres of cricket as the popularity of the game grew among the native population.
The British had brought cricket to India by the early 1700s, and the first documented instance of cricket being played anywhere in the sub-continent is a report of English sailors of the East India Company written in 1737. It refers to cricket being played at Cambay, near Baroda in 1721. It was played and adopted by the Kolis of Gujarat. Sea pirates among the Kolis had looted British ships. The East India Company tried to befriend them and, among other things, introduced them to cricket.
The Calcutta Cricket and Football Club was known to be in existence by 1792, but was possibly founded more than a decade earlier. In 1799, another club was formed at Seringapatam in south India after the successful British siege and the defeat of Tipu Sultan.
Beginning of first-class cricket.
In 1864, a Madras v. Calcutta match was arguably the start of first-class cricket in India. Indian elites quickly adopted the game, both playing with British teams and with one another.
The most important fixture in the 19th century was the Bombay Presidency Match which evolved, first, into the Bombay Triangular and then into the Bombay Quadrangular. The match was first played in 1877 and then intermittently for several seasons until finally being given first-class status in 1892–93.
An English team led by George Vernon in 1889–90 was the first foreign team to tour India but none of the matches that it played are considered first-class.
The first Indian community which started playing cricket were the Parsees in 1848. By 1892, they became proficient enough to play the Presidency matches against the Europeans.
First-class cricket definitely began in the 1892–93 season with two Europeans v Parsees matches, at Bombay (match drawn) and Poona (Parsees won by 3 wickets). In the same season, Lord Hawke captained an English team that played four first-class matches including a game against "All India" on 26–28 January 1893.
Gradually, with the passage of time other communities also started playing cricket. The Hindus started playing first-class cricket in 1907. The tournament became the Triangular tournament. In 1912, the Muslims also entered the arena of first-class cricket. The tournament was then called the Quadrangular Tournament, with four teams – the Europeans, the Parsees, The Hindus and the Muslims – playing each other.
International cricket.
The first Indian ventures into international cricket were by the Parsees cricket team which toured England twice in the 1880s. English amateur teams visited India in 1889–90 and 1892–93.
G. F. Vernon's XI in India, 1889–90.
An English cricket team led by G. F. Vernon toured Ceylon and India in the winter of 1889–90. The team played no first-class matches but it was a pioneering tour being the first visit by an English team to India and the second to Ceylon. In all, the team played 13 matches of which 10 were won, 1 was lost and 2 drawn.
References.
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Arunachal Pradesh women's cricket team
Indian women's cricket team
The Arunachal Pradesh women's cricket team is a women's cricket team that represents the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. They were formed in 2012, and have competed in the Indian women's domestic system since the 2018–19 season, in the Women's Senior One Day Trophy and the Women's Senior T20 Trophy.
History.
Arunachal Pradesh Women first played in 2012, in the BCCI Associate Members Women's Tournament, playing four matches, losing three with one match abandoned. The team joined the full Indian domestic system ahead of the 2018–19 season, after an expansion of teams in Indian domestic cricket. In their first season, they competed in the Senior Women's One Day League, finishing 8th out of 9 in the Plate competition, and in the Senior Women's T20 League, finishing bottom of their group.
The following season, 2019–20, Arunachal Pradesh finished bottom of the table in both the Plate competition of the Senior Women's One Day League and Group E of the Senior Women's T20 League. The following season, 2020–21, with only the One Day League going ahead, Arunachal Pradesh again finished bottom of their group, losing all seven of their matches. They finished bottom of their group in both tournaments in 2021–22 as well as 2022–23. Arunachal Pradesh have only ever won one match to date, a 34-run victory over Sikkim in the 2018–19 One Day League.
References.
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List of international cricket grounds in India
This is a list of international cricket grounds in India that have hosted at least one international cricket match. A cricket ground is a large grass field on which the game of cricket is played which are generally oval in shape with no fixed dimensions. A boundary rope usually demarcates the perimeter of the field and a cricket pitch, an area close to the centre of the field is where the batter hits the bowled ball and run between the wickets to score runs, while the fielding team tries to return the ball to either wicket to prevent this.
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the national governing body