Sports Notes for SSB Interview: Cricket

SSB interview is an important part of the selection process in the Armed Forces as a Grade-A Officer. In the interview, many questions are asked from the sport you fill in the PIQ form. We will help you to know all about sports. Read the article and download the PDF given below.

Important Notes for SSB Interview: Cricket

Rightly referred to as ‘the Gentleman’s Game’, Cricket has emerged as one of the most played and watched sport around the globe. The story and growth of Cricket as an international sport is quite fascinating. The first reference to cricket being played as an adult sport comes from England in 1611. The Game developed in southern England and the first English “county teams” were formed in the second half of the 17^th century.

• In 1744, the first Laws of Cricket were written and subsequently amended to include innovations such as lbw, a third stump, the middle stump and a maximum bat width.
• The rules and codes of the game were drawn up by the “Star and Garter Club” whose members ultimately founded the famous Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) at Lord's in 1787.
• The game’s rules were formalised by the MCC in 1797.

The spread of Cricket to other parts of the world:

• Cricket was introduced to North America via the English colonies as early as the 17th century.
• It was introduced to the West Indies by colonists and to India by British East India Company mariners.
• It arrived in Australia almost as soon as colonisation began in 1788 and the sport reached New Zealand and South Africa in the early years of the 19th century.

Evolution of the Game:

• The first-ever international cricket game was played between the USA and Canada in 1844 at the St George's Cricket Club in New York and in 1859 a team of leading English professionals visited North America on the first-ever overseas tour.
• It is played by 11 players on both sides, with two umpires on-field and third empire off-field. A team may also have 4-5 players as substitutes.
• At the beginning of the game, a coin toss between the two captains decides who will bat/ bowl first. The team batting first sends two players, commonly referred to as openers to bat first. When the required numbers of overs are bowled / the team batting first loses all its wickets, its innings came to close and the other team is given a chance to bat and outscore the target achieved by the team batting first. At the end of the game, the team which scores most runs wins the game.
• The ICC implemented a Concussion Substitute rule, after the unfortunate death of Phillip Hughes on the field. The rule, implemented since August 1, 2019, says that following a medical determination by a team representative in the case of an on-field concussion, the injured player will be substituted by a like-for-like replacement approved by the match referee.

Prominent Men’s Cricketers:

Legends of Men's Cricket

 Women’s Cricket:

• Women’s cricket played a significant role in the development of sport in the 19th century.
• The first women’s county match was played in 1811.
• Women’s cricket also took its first significant international steps at the start of the 20th century and the first-ever Women’s Test Match was played between England and Australia in 1934.
• The founding of the International Women’s Cricket Council in 1958 (since merged with ICC in 2005), further developed the Women’s game and it was in 1973 that the first Cricket World Cup of any kind took place.
• The Women’s World Cup 1973 was hosted by England who went on to claim the inaugural cup.

Prominent Women Players:

Legends of Women's Cricket

Ground Dimensions:

• The ground has no set dimensions. It may be circular or oval and must be limited to a maximum of 75 yards (69 meters) in any direction from its centre.
• The edges of the field are referred to as boundary and are used for calculating runs.
• The Pitch of the Cricket field is where the maximum action takes place.
  • Length of pitch: 22 yards (20 m) and
  • Width of the pitch: 3 metres (9.8 ft) wide

2.1 Field Positions:

Equipment:

1. Cricket Bat:

• Length- not more than 38 inches (965 mm)
• Width- not more than four and one-quarter inches (108 mm).
• The wood used is traditionally English willow, but willow grown elsewhere is increasingly commonly used. The handle is usually covered with a rubber grip.

2. Cricket Ball:

• Circumference of 22.9 centimetres (9.0 in).
• After 80 overs have been bowled with the ball, the captain of the fielding side may demand a new ball. He does not have to and may continue using the old ball for as long as he wishes.
• If the ball becomes damaged and unfit to play with or lost, the ball must be replaced by a used ball which, in the opinion of the umpires, is in a similar state of wear to the ball being replaced.

3. Wickets:

• Three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch
• The stumps are 28 inches (71.12 cm) tall.
• The bails must not project more than 0.5 inches (1.27
  cm) above the stumps, and must, for cricket, be 4.31 inches (10.95 cm) long.

4. Protective Gears:

• Batting Pads, Batting Gloves, Batting Helmet, Forearm Guards, Thigh Pads, and Chest Pad

Terms associated with Cricket:

• Run, Wicket, Pitch, Stump, Bails, Crease, Pavilion, Gloves, Wicket Keeper, Over, Follow-on, Rubber, Spin, Ashes, Catch, Bowled, Stump out, Runout.
• LBW, Hit Wicket, Googly, Not out, No ball, Wide ball, Dead ball, Maiden over, Over Throw, Bye, Leg by, Cover drive, Late cut, Hook, Glance, Stroke, Shot, Pull, Sixes, Follow-through, Turn.
• Bouncer, Hatt-rick, Round the wicket, Over the wicket, Seamer, Boundary line, Slip, Square leg, Runner, Cover, Yorker, Gully, Long on, Silly point, Midwicket, Mid-on, Forward short leg, Third Umpire, DRS.

Different Formats of the Game:

International cricket is played in three different formats: Test Matches, One Day Internationals and T-20s.

1. Test Matches:

• Test cricket is the traditional form of the game, which has been played since 1877 and now settled in a five-day format which comprises.
• A Test match is a game of two innings for each side, played over five days, of six hours play each. Each day of play consists of:
  • A two-hour session of play - the morning session.
  • A 40-minute interval - lunch.
  • A two-hour session of play - the afternoon session.
  • A 20-minute interval - tea.
  • A two-hour session of play - the evening session.
• On each day of play, the fielding side/s must together bowl a minimum of 90 overs and on the last day a minimum of 75 overs must be bowled.
• This format is considered the pinnacle form of this game because it tests teams over a longer period of time. Teams and players need to exhibit endurance, technique and temperament in different conditions to do well in this format.
• The Test matches are played in traditional white clothes and usually with a red ball. Pink ball is also used in full day/night Tests.
• The first officially recognised Test match took place between 15 and 19 March 1877 and was played between England and Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
• South Africa subsequently became the third Test nation in 1889.

2. One Day Internationals:

• Limited overs (50 overs) cricket match that finishes within the day.
• The first limited-overs international match took place at Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1971 as a time-filler after a Test match had been abandoned because of heavy rain on the opening days.
• A typical one-day match is scheduled as follows:
  • The first 50-over innings - scheduled for 3.5 hours of play.
  • A 45-minute meal break.
  • The second 50-over innings - another 3.5 hours.

• The International Cricket Conference (as it was then) reacted to this development by organising the first Men’s Cricket World Cup in England in 1975, with all the Test-playing nations of the time taking part and West Indies triumphing at Lord’s in the final.

3. T20 Internationals:

• Newest, shortest and fastest form of the game.
• Each team gets to play 20-over aside. Since it is the shortest format of the game, it is played under floodlights.
• Batting first, team A sets a target for team B in 20 overs. Team B has to achieve the target in their stipulated number of overs while batting second.
• The first Twenty20 International took place on 17 February 2005 when Australia defeated New Zealand.
• The ICC introduced the T20 World Cup in 2007.
• In the opening match of the 2007 World Twenty20, Chris Gayle scored the first century in a T20 Internationals.
• India won the inaugural T20 World Cup.

International tournaments:

• ICC U19 Cricket World Cup
• ICC World Test Championship
• ICC T20 World Cup
  • First T20 World Cup (2007); Winners- India
  • Most wins: West Indies (2)
• ICC Cricket World Cup
  • First World cup 1975; winner: West Indies
  • Most World Cup wins: Australia (5)
  • India won World Cups in 1983 and 2011
• ICC Women's Cricket World Cup
  • First World Cup (1973) Winners: England
  • Most World cup Wins: Australia (6)
• ICC Champions Trophy
• ICC Women's Championship
• The Ashes (played between England and Australia)

Cricket in India:

Diverse India is bound together through several socio-cultural-economic factors but nothing holds it together like a game of Cricket. The game has carved a niche among several generations of Indians and people follow the men in blue religiously. Cricket was brought to Indian Sub-Continent by British.

• The first-ever match of first-class cricket played in India was in 1864 between Madras and Calcutta.
• India became the sixth test matched playing nation alongside England, Australia, South Africa, the West Indies and New Zealand in June 1932.
  • India played its first match against England at the Lord’s in 1932.
  • First Test Captain: CK Nayudu
  • India recorded its first Test victory in 1952, beating England by an innings in Madras.
• India played their first-ever ODI against England in 1974 at Headingley in Leeds.
  • First ODI Captain: Ajit Wadekar
• India played its first T20 Internationals against South Africa in 2006.
  • First T20 Captain: Virender Sehwag

India women's national cricket team:

• Indian Women’s team played its first Test Match in 1976 against the West Indies and first One Day International (ODI) in 1978 World Cup.
  • Indian Women’s team recorded the first Test win in November 1978 against West Indies.
  • First Test Captain: Shantha Rangaswamy
• Indian Women’s team played its first ODI match against England on 1 January 1978 at Eden Gardens, Calcutta.
  • First ODI Captain: Diana Edulji
• Indian Women’s team played its first T20 Internationals against England in 2006.
  • First T20 Captain: Mithali Raj

Most Runs for Indian Women’s Cricket team (ODIs):

Most Wickets for Indian Women’s Cricket team (ODIs):

2. Domestic Tournaments of India:

• Ranji Trophy
• Duleep Trophy
• Vijay Hazare Trophy
• Deodhar Trophy
• Irani Trophy
• NKP Salve Challenger Trophy

Prominent Cricket Stadiums of the World:

• Sardar Patel Stadium or Motera Cricket Stadium, Gujarat
• Melbourne Cricket Ground, Lords
• Eden Gardens, Kolkata, India
• Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium
• Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad, India
• Greenfield International Stadium, Trivandrum, India
• DY Patil Sports Stadium, Navi Mumbai, India
• Adelaide Oval, Australia
• Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi
• Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
• Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
• The Oval, London

Apart from these please reading newspapers and update yourself with the recent tournaments and records achieved by the teams and players. The list of upcoming tournaments:

• ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021 in New Zealand
• ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 in India
• ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2022 in West Indies
• ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 in India

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