Cricket

Cricketer W.G. Grace was the most celebrated British sportsman of the 19th century.

The early reference to the separate national identities in the UK is perhaps best illustrated by the
game of cricket. Cricket is claimed to have been invented in England. The national sport of England
is cricket, and although there is no UK team, the English team also represents Wales. The England
cricket team, controlled by the England and Wales Cricket Board, is the only national team in the
UK with Test status. Each summer two foreign national teams visit England to play seven test
matches and numerous one-day internationals. In the British winter the England team tours abroad.
The highest profile rival of the England cricket team is the Australian team, with which it competes
for The Ashes, one of the most famous trophies in British sport.

There are eighteen professional county clubs, seventeen of

them in England and one in Wales. Each summer the
county clubs compete in the first class County
Championship, which consists of two leagues of nine
teams and in which matches are played over four days.
The same teams also play the one day National League,
a one day knock out competition called the
Friends Provident Trophy, and the short-form Twenty20
Cup. English cricket grounds include Lords, The Oval,
Headingley, Old Trafford, Edgbaston and Trent
Bridge. Cardiff's Sophia Gardens ground has also become increasingly popular in recent years.
Team members are drawn from the main county sides, and include both English and Welsh players.
It is by no means equal to football in finance, attendance or coverage, but it has a high profile
nonetheless. It is probably the second most widely covered sport, and the fortunes of the England
team are closely followed by many people who never attend a live game.

Scotland also has a cricket team, but they aren't as successful as the England Cricket Team and don't
play Tests. Northern Ireland cricket players play for the Ireland team, which occasionally causes a
problem in the Anthem played at the start of Cricket matches. Due to the fact neither Scotland or
Ireland plays test matches, and both have only recently started to play in One Day Internationals,
Irish and Scottish players have played for England, Scotland, England (and Wales), and Ireland
(including Northern Ireland) have competed at the Cricket World Cup, with England reaching the
Final three times. There is a professional league championship in which clubs representing 17
English counties and 1 Welsh county compete.
 QUESTIONS
1. Who was the most important sportsman in the 19th century?

2. What is the rival cricket team of the British one?

3. How many leagues of cricket are there in the UK?

4. Is the Scottish team as successful as the Bristish one?

5. How many English clubs compete in the professional league

championship of cricket?

6. Do you like cricket?

7. Do you like a special sport?

8. What do you think about the activities of this didactic unit?