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1727 |
Articles of Agreement drawn up for the conduct of matches between the teams of the Duke of Richmond and Mr Alan Brodrick. |
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1730 |
First recorded match at the Artillery Ground in London, home of the Honourable Artillery Company. |
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1744 |
George Smith charges spectators to see Kent v an All England XI at the Artillery Ground. |
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First known version of the Laws of Cricket, in which the length of the pitch is set at 22 yards, there are two stumps and an over consists of four balls. |
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1745 |
Publication of James Love’s Cricket: An Heroic Poem. |
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1769 |
First individual century, by John Minshull for the Duke of Dorset’s XI v Wrotham. |
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1771 |
Width of bat limited to 4¼ inches, still the official maximum. |
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1774 |
The lbw law introduced. |
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1775 |
Three-stump wicket introduced (though not specified in the Laws until 1838). |
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1780 |
Cricket ball manufactured by Duke’s of Penshurst, Kent, presented to the Prince of Wales. |
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1787 |
Formation of Marylebone Cricket Club. |
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1788 |
First revision of the Laws of Cricket by MCC. |
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1806 |
First Gentlemen v Players match at Lord’s. |
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1807 |
First mention of round-arm bowling, by John Willes of Kent. |
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1820 |
First individual double century (278), by William Ward for MCC v Norfolk at Lord’s. |
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1828 |
Bowlers authorised by MCC to raise their hands level with their elbows. |
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1833 |
Publication of John Nyren’s The Young Cricketer’s Tutor and The Cricketers of My Time. |
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1841 |
General Lord Hill issues a General Order that every military barracks should have a cricket ground. |
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1844 |
First official international match: Canada v United States. |
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c. 1850 |
First use of wicketkeeping gloves. |
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1851 |
In The Cricket Field, James Pycroft uses the phrase ‘not cricket’. |
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1864 |
MCC authorises ‘overhand bowling’. |
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1868 |
Tour of England by an Australian Aboriginal team. |
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1873 |
W.G. Grace becomes the first player to record 1000 runs and 100 wickets in a first-class season. |
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1876 |
W.G. Grace makes the first two triple centuries in the course of scoring 839 runs in three consecutive innings, against Kent, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire. |
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1876–77 |
First Test match: Australia defeat England by 45 runs at Melbourne. |
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1878 |
An Australian touring XI beats MCC by 9 wickets at Lord’s. |
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1880 |
First Test in England: England beat Australia by 5 wickets at the Oval. |
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1882 |
England’s first Test defeat in England – by Australia at the Oval – prompts an ‘obituary notice’ for English cricket in the Sporting Times. |
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1882–83 |
Ivo Bligh leads an England team on a tour of Australia, during which the tradition of the Ashes begins, and Willie Bates of England takes the first Test hat-trick. |
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1888–89 |
South Africa’s first Test match, v England at Port Elizabeth. |
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1889 |
In England, five-ball overs introduced. |
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1889–90 |
Parsis beat G.F. Vernon’s XI by 4 wickets at Bombay. |
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1890 |
County Championship officially constituted. |
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1895 |
W.G. Grace scores 1000 runs in May, and reaches his 100th hundred. |
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Archie MacLaren makes 424 for Lancashire v Somerset at Taunton. |
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1896 |
K.S. Ranjitsinhji plays his first Test for England, v Australia at Old Trafford. |
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1900 |
In England, six-ball overs become the norm. |
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First West Indian tour of England (not first-class). |
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1906 |
Second West Indian tour of England, from which Tommy Burton is sent home. |
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1909 |
Formation of the Imperial Cricket Conference (ICC – now the International Cricket Council), with England, Australia and South Africa the original members. |
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1910 |
Six runs awarded for any hit over the boundary, rather than only for a hit out of the ground. |
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1922–23 |
Bill Ponsford makes 429 for Victoria v Tasmania at Melbourne. |
|
1927–28 |
Bill Ponsford makes 437 for Victoria v Queensland at Melbourne. |
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1928 |
West Indies’ first Test match, v England at Lord’s. |
|
1928–29 |
Herbert Fishwick photographs Wally Hammond batting for MCC v NSW. |
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1929–30 |
Donald Bradman makes 452* for NSW v Queensland at Sydney. |
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New Zealand’s first Test match, v England at Christchurch. |
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1930 |
On his first tour of England, Don Bradman scores 974 runs in the five Ashes Tests, still a record for any Test series. |
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1932 |
India’s first Test match, v England at Lord’s. |
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1932–33 |
The Bodyline Ashes series in Australia. |
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1948 |
First five-day Tests in England. |
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1950 |
Cambridge University v West Indies, highest-scoring first-class match in terms of runs per wicket. |
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1952–53 |
Pakistan’s first Test match, v India at Delhi. |
|
1953 |
Under Len Hutton, England win the final Test at the Oval to take the series 1–0, regaining the Ashes after 19 years. |
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1954–55 |
After losing the 1st Test at Brisbane, Len Hutton leads England to a 3–1 Ashes victory in Australia. |
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1958–59 |
Hanif Mohammad makes 499, for Karachi v Bahawalpur at Karachi. |
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1963 |
Publication of C.L.R. James’s Beyond a Boundary. |
|
1964–65 |
In Lahore, Railways defeat D.I. Khan by an innings and 851 runs. |
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1966 |
Basil D’Oliveira plays his first Test for England, v West Indies at Lord’s. |
|
1970 |
South Africa have their tour of England cancelled, and are excluded from international cricket because of their government’s apartheid policies. |
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1970–71 |
Under Ray Illingworth, England regain the Ashes in Australia, winning the final Test at Sydney to take the series 2–0. |
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First one-day international: Australia v England at Melbourne. |
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1973 |
Final cricket match at Bramall Lane, Sheffield. |
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1974–75 |
Viv Richards plays first Test for West Indies, v India at Bangalore. |
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1975 |
First World Cup: West Indies beat Australia in the final at Lord’s by 17 runs. |
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1977–78 |
Kerry Packer launches World Series Cricket. |
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Australia’s Graham Yallop becomes the first batsman to wear a helmet in a Test, v West Indies at Barbados. |
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1981 |
Ian Botham’s 149* and Bob Willis’s 8–43 help Mike Brearley’s England to an unlikely victory over Australia in the Headingley Test, after following on. |
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1981–82 |
Sri Lanka’s first Test match, v England at Colombo. |
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1985–86 |
Under David Gower, England lose all 5 Tests in the West Indies. |
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Viv Richards scores fastest Test hundred by balls faced (56), v England at St John’s, Antigua. |
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1987–88 |
England captain Mike Gatting and umpire Shakoor Rana clash in 2nd Test at Faisalabad. |
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1992–93 |
Zimbabwe’s first Test match, v India at Harare. |
|
1993 |
The ICC becomes an independent organisation, no longer administered by MCC. |
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1995–96 |
Captain Mike Atherton scores 185* to help England draw the 2nd Test v South Africa at Johannesburg. |
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2000 |
Revised Laws of Cricket include a definition of the Spirit of Cricket. |
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South Africa’s captain Hansie Cronje banned from cricket by the ICC after admitting receiving bribes from bookmakers. |
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2000–01 |
Bangladesh’s first Test match, v India at Dhaka. |
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2003 |
Twenty20 Cup inaugurated in England. |
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2002–03 |
Under Nasser Hussain, England lose the Ashes in Australia 4–1. |
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England refuse to play in Zimbabwe, leading to an early exit from the World Cup. |
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2005 |
Under Michael Vaughan, England regain the Ashes in England after 16 years. |
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2006 |
Pakistan become the first team to forfeit a Test, for refusing to resume at the Oval. |
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2006–07 |
Under Andrew Flintoff, England lose the Ashes in Australia 5–0. |
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2008 |
Indian Premier League launched. |
|
2010 |
Three Pakistan players are banned by the ICC for bowling deliberate no-balls in the 4th Test at Lord’s. |
|
2010–11 |
Under Andrew Strauss, England complete a 3–1 Ashes win in Australia. |
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2011 |
England beat India 4–0 to go top of the ICC Test rankings for the first time. |
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2012 |
After England lose the home Test series v South Africa 2–0, Andrew Strauss retires from professional cricket. |
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2013 |
Under Alastair Cook, England win the Ashes series in England 3–0. |
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2013–14 |
England lose the Ashes series in Australia 5–0. |
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2014 |
Changes to the governance of the ICC are pushed through by Australia, England and India. |
|
2015 |
Australia beat New Zealand in the eleventh World Cup final in Melbourne. |