Cricket was established as a sport in England during the first half of the 18th century. The Laws of Cricket were first written by the London Club in 1744 as the batsmen used to stop the ball from pounding the wicket with the help of their legs and feet. The first ever international cricket game was played between USA and Canada in 1844.

The ICC was founded in 1909 and England, Australia & South Africa were its only members at that time period. In 1958, the International Women’s Cricket Council was formed by the women’s cricket associations of several countries. In 1968, Sir Garfield Sobers became the first player to strike six sixes in an over. Cricket was first televised by BBC in 1938.

The 5th ODI world cup was held in Australia and New Zealand in 1992 where Pakistan was able to win the title of the tournament. The 1996 World Cup Tournament was hosted by Pakistan and India where Sri Lankans emerged as the proud champions of the tournament that year.

Australia was able to win the championship of the ODI Cricket World Cup tournaments in 1999, 2003 and 2007. Australia won the championship of the 9th ODI world cup held in 2007 by defeating Sri Lanka. The 1st T 20 World Cup was won by India. Pakistan and England won the championship of the 2009 and 2010 T20 World Cup respectively. Further, 2012- T20 World Cup was hosted by SriLanka where West Indies won the championship and Sri Lankans emerged as the Runners-up of the tournament. Thereafter, the trophy of the T20 World Cup held in 2014 was won by Sri Lanka. West Indies and Australia won the championship of the T20 World Cup tournaments held in 2016 and 2021 respectively. ICC World Test Championship was won by New Zealand in 2021.

~ Written by: Rtr. K.A. Madhusha Prasadini ~