International cricket

International cricket matches are played between the teams representing their nations, administrated by the International Cricket Council. The main forms are Test matches, ODI matches and T20I matches.
Most games are played as part of "tours" when one nation travels to another for a number of weeks or months and plays a number of matches of various sorts against the host nation. World Cups featuring several countries at once, are organized by the ICC. The ICC is also responsible for cricket games played at multi-sport events such as Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, African Games, Asian Games, South Asian Games and Pacific Games.
In addition to ICC's administration, there are also five regional bodies, Asian Cricket Council, Africa Cricket Association, ICC Europe, ICC Americas and ICC East Asia-Pacific which aim to promote the sport of cricket in their respective continents.
There was no formal structure for international cricket until the early 20th century. In 1744, the Laws of Cricket were codified for the first time and then amended with new additions such as lbw and middle stump. The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), founded in 1787; immediately became the custodian of the Laws and has made periodic revisions and recodifications subsequently. The first international match was contested in 1844 between teams representing the United States and Canada, at St George's Cricket Club in New York. The ICC founded in 1909 as the Imperial Cricket Conference, overtook the governance of international cricket since, although the Laws of Cricket have remained under the governance of the MCC.
Most Test, ODI and T20I matches take place in the form of "tours". Test series can last from two to six matches, but some tours consist of only a single Test. Six-match series were common in the 1970s and early 1980s, with the last six-match series to date taking place in 1997–98 season between the West Indies and England. The Ashes in England were six-match Test series between 1981 and 1997, but Australia reverted to five matches in its home series from 1982 to 1983. ODI series generally last from three to seven matches. T20I series last from one to five matches. Tours may include a multi-team one-day tournament, often referred to as a "triangular" or "quadrangular" tournament.
Sometimes, a perpetual trophy is awarded to the winning team. Some notable perpetual trophies include:
The ICC Future Tours Programme (abbreviated as ICC FTP) is a schedule of international cricket tours and tournaments which structure the programme of cricket events for ICC full members and associate members with ODI status, over a period of time.
The FTP schedules bilateral cricket tours with the objective of each team playing each other at least once at home and once away over a period of 10 years known as the "Ten Year Plan" since 2006. If the cricket boards of two individual countries reach an agreement, they can play more than two series. The FTP also schedules associate tri-nation series with the objective of each team playing each other at least once at home, once away and once at a neutral venue over a cycle of 4 years since 2019. If a team does not want to travel to a particular country for a bilateral or tri-nation series due to security reasons, then, by the mutual agreement of the respective boards, that series can be shifted to a neutral venue such as the UAE or any other country where the facilities are deemed adequate.
Additionally, it has also scheduled ICC tournaments over a period of 4 years known as an "ICC Events cycle" since 2024. Each cycle consists of one men's Cricket World Cup, one women's Cricket World Cup, one ICC Champions Trophy, one ICC Women's Champions Trophy, two men's T20 World Cups and two women's T20 World Cups.
The main international competitions organized by ICC are ICC World Test Championship, Cricket World Cup, ICC Champions Trophy and Men's T20 World Cup for men's, Women's Cricket World Cup, Women's T20 World Cup and ICC Women's Champions Trophy for women's, and Under-19 Men's Cricket World Cup and Under-19 Women's T20 World Cup for Under-19 teams.
Cricket was originally scheduled to be included in the inaugural Olympics in Athens but was cancelled due to insufficient entries. A men's cricket tournament was introduced as medal sport in the second Olympics but was cancelled in the following Olympics due to lack of entries. Both men's and women's cricket are to be reintroduced in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. A men's cricket tournament was played at the 1998 Commonwealth Games, a women's cricket tournament was played at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, and both tournaments were to be included in the 2026 Commonwealth Games but was cancelled following the announcement of a streamlined event.
Both men's and women's cricket were introduced in the 2010 Asian Games, were removed in the 2018 Asian Games, and were reintroduced in the 2022 Asian Games. Men's cricket was played in the Pacific Games (South Pacific Games until 2007) since 1979, and women's cricket was played since 2015, until 2019 and both tournaments were removed in 2023 as a result of the Pacific Games charter amendment in 2019. A men's cricket tournament was played at the 2010 South Asian Games, and both men's cricket and women's cricket were introduced in the 2019 South Asian Games. Both men's cricket and women's cricket have been played in the SEA Games since 2017. Both men's cricket and women's cricket have been played in the African Games since 2023.
The Men's and the Women's Asia Cup are the only two non-ICC competitions featured in the ICC Future Tours Programme.
In essence, after every Test series, the two teams involved receive points based on a mathematical formula. The total of each team's points total is divided by the total number of matches to give a 'rating', and the Test-playing teams are by order of rating (this can be shown in a table).
From 2002 to 2019, the top-ranked Test team was awarded with the ICC Test Championship mace and the top team at each 1 April cut-off (until 2019) was also awarded a cash prize, the winners of which are listed below. The mace is now awarded to the winners of the ICC World Test Championship.
The following table shows the test mace won by each team:
The ICC ODI Team Rankings were created, and are run, by the ICC for reasons similar to the Test Rankings. The rankings are simply an international ranking scheme overlaid on the regular ODI (One Day International) match schedule. After every ODI match, the two teams involved receive points based on a mathematical formula. The total of each team's points total is divided by the total number of matches to give a rating, and all teams are ranked on a table in order of rating. The ranking does not replace the World Cup; the latter still carries much more significance to most cricket fans.
The ranking consisted two separate tables until merged into a single table in 2018. The ten ICC Full Members that play Test cricket were automatically listed on the main table while the six Associate Members with One Day International status were listed on a secondary table, but are eligible for promotion to the main table by meeting certain criteria.
As with the Test and ODI Rankings, the ICC T20I Team Rankings are an international T20 ranking system run by the ICC. It is simply a ranking scheme overlaid on the regular T20I match schedule. After every T20I match, the two teams involved receive points based on a mathematical formula. The total of each team's points total is divided by the total number of matches to give a rating, and all teams are ranked on a table in order of rating. This ranking does not replace the ICC World Twenty20 competition.