A Guided Tour

An Exploration of CricInfo

When following this tour, after following a link, use the "Back" button of your browser to return to the tour.

With that out the way, let's get started! The introduction to CricInfo is the home page. This is really just the window dressing - although you will find short-cuts to important current games and tours there. Oh, I forgot - you may not know what cricket is - you can find several different explanations and definitions of cricket on CricInfo, including one specifically written for Americans. The main jumping off point for the database is the main index. Here you will find the main areas of CricInfo outlined. The best thing you can do is to start exploring on your own from here - but this is a tour I suppose, so we'll continue...

What's the score?

The most commonly visited areas of CricInfo are those that bring you the latest scores and news. For the most recent information available, try the NEW area. This contains mostly score cards, match reports, and competition tables. New information sits here for a couple of days before being placed in their final resting place (well, actually not their final resting place, but we'll go into that later). There's a couple of other things to look at here. If CricInfo is covering a match live, you'll find it here, by following the link to LIVE! We have been covering most International matches at best ball-by-ball, but often with at least hourly updates. For other rapidly breaking cricket news, a good place to check is the IRC channel #cricket (and if you have no idea what IRC stands for, we can fill you in!), where a brief summary of current scores and news is available.

How has my team been doing this season?

Where do cards go after they've been moved out of the NEW area? Well, they go to the part of CricInfo that contains information on current tours and seasons. There you will find summaries of tours and competitions, schedules, squads, and articles relating to current activities across the world of cricket.

Who are they playing next season?

CricInfo lists upcoming tours, schedules, and tour squads in the "forthcoming" area of the database, as well as a short listing of international games in the next week.

What's the latest news?

Articles related to a specific game or tour can be found in the same area as that tour. We archive many other articles from our supporting newspapers and contributors, and these can be found in the News and Articles sections of CricInfo. A quick summary of what's happening in the world of cricket can be found in the Headlines for the month.

But what about last year (or 1890 for that matter)?

As soon as a tour or season is over, cards and articles are moved to what really is their final resting place, the archives. This is divided in the same way as the Current area, with Seasons/Tours, News, and Articles. The archive is arranged by season, and at present you'll find the most complete information for the last few years (since CricInfo only came into existence in 1993). However, you will find scorecards for every test match ever played, and close to a complete first-class archive from 1993 onwards. Our one-day international archive will be complete in the near future. CricInfo aims ultimately to have as complete and accurate a first-class archive as possible. In the meantime you will find much of interest in cards contributed by our volunteers over the years, including these:-

• Reports, player profiles, statistics, and scorecards from the 1996 World Cup.
• The West Indies defeat by Ireland in 1969.
• The best bowling analysis ever in a First-class Match, and in a Test Match.
• How Hampshire won after being bowled out for the 4th lowest total in first class history.
• The First Test, and a batting record that still stands today.
• The first and the second tied Tests.
• The record Test and First-class individual score.
• Fiji's game against Otago in 1895 (with an unexpected connection to a modern Hampshire player)

• Mailey on Trumper, in my opinion the finest cricket essay written to date.
• Some articles written specifically for CricInfo, including unique eye-witness accounts of Hendren's last match, Bradman at Lords in 1934, and an unusual co-operative obituary of a rather obscure cricketer put together by a friend and a fan over the Internet.
• Some advice to cricketers from 1877.
• A varied listing of the artistic accomplishments of Test cricketers.

How many players have scored fewer runs than wickets taken (and other statistics)?

What would cricket be without statistics? You will find the above list as well as many other facts and figures in our statistics section. This includes areas for

• Players
• Countries
• Test Matches
• One-Day Internationals
• World Cup
• First Class
• Ratings

• Players who scored a duck in their first and last Test innings.
• The shortest lived Test players for each country.
• The three players who batted in every position from 1 to 11 in Tests.
• The evolution of the highest Test score from Bannerman to Lara.
• The chain of players who span Test history.
• Number elevens who top scored in a Test innings.
• BS Chandrasekar's 64 innings without being dismissed leg before wicket.

Who was Samuel Morris?

Our players area is constantly under development, and we hope to have statistics and profiles for all Test players at some time in the future. In the meantime, however, you can find out about Sam Morris, the first black Test cricketer in our list of Australian Test players, as well as more detailed information on players ranging from CB Fry to Shane Warne. You'll also find an interview with the Don, in which he describes SR Tendulkar as being most like him in batting style; and much more.

Want to go to a game?

Well, take a look at the grounds section. It's still under development, but soon we hope to have as much information for every ground as we have for the New Wanderers ground in South Africa- history, statistics, ticket prices, and even how to find the ground!

Want to write to the chair of selectors to complain?

Addresses of National bodies, details of National competitions and other information specific to a given country is found in our National area, with entries for every test playing country, as well as all the other cricket playing countries who are associate members of the International Cricket Council. We have details of various cricket organisations, available also, including the Internet home of the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians; and information about such varied groups as The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Scorers of India , The Wombwell Cricket Lovers Society, and The Royal Dutch Cricket Association.

What else?

Well there's the media section, with much requested information on short-wave frequencies, and as befits an Internet based group, a huge collection of links (did you know that CricInfo is linked from at least 2000 other world wide web sites?). There's also the humour section containing, among others, a collection of cricket jokes, and poetry, humorous and serious. We also aim to act as a clearing house for information, so have information on where North Americans can find such hard-to-find items as a cricket bat, or videos of the World Cup. We also have some downloadable software, including a number of freeware and shareware games.

Who on earth put all this together anyway?

To find out about us, and how CricInfo works, have a look at our Management section. You can also find out about the valuable contribution made by the organizations who support us and visit our Press Office.

Contributed by Dave Liverman, June 1996