Today, it is a popular sport in England, Australia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, South Africa, New Zealand, the West Indies and several other countries such as Afghanistan, Ireland, Kenya, Scotland, the Netherlands, and Zimbabwe.
There are two teams: The team bowling has 11 players on the field. The team batting has two players, one at each end of the pitch (also sometimes called the wicket).
The captain of the bowling team chooses a bowler from his team; the other players are called 'fielders'.
The bowler runs towards his wicket, and bowls towards the batsman at the other wicket.
The batsman is trying to defend the wicket from getting hit with the ball. He does this with a bat. When he hits the ball with his bat, he may run toward the other wicket.
There are different ways that a batsman can get out. The most common ways are:
When a batsman is out, another comes onto the field to take his place. The innings is over when ten wickets are taken (i.e. ten of the eleven batsmen are out). After this, the team which was the 'fielding' team becomes the 'batting' team. They now have to score more runs than the other team managed to score. If they score more runs before ten wickets are taken, they win. If they do not, the other team wins.
In a one-day game, each side has one innings, and innings are limited to a certain number of overs. In longer formats each side has two innings, and there is no specific limit to the number of overs in an innings.
Cricket is popular in many countries, mostly in Commonwealth countries.
The countries where cricket is most popular compete in international matches (games between countries) that last up to 5 days, which are called Test matches. Those countries are England, Australia, West Indies, South Africa, New Zealand, India, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Ireland, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. The West Indies are a group of Caribbean countries that play together as a team. Several other countries have more junior status. The test match idea was invented by teams from England and Australia in the 19th century.Ireland and Afghanistan are the new teams which can play Test cricket.
Cricket is also played in Kenya, Canada, Bermuda, Scotland, Holland and Namibia; the national teams of those countries can play one-day international matches, but do not play test matches.
A cricket field is where cricket is played. It is circular or oval-shaped grassy ground. There are no fixed dimensions for the field. Its diameter usually varies between 450 feet (137 m) to 500 feet (100 m).
Test matches are the top international matches played between countries. The main point of test cricket is to test young players. The countries permitted to play test matches are accredited by the ICC: the International Cricket Council. The ten countries are listed below, with 'West Indies','England' counting for this purpose as a country. Tests last for up to five days (This is why many also call it "5 day cricket.") and can still end in a draw match : it is the longest format of cricket.
Test Playing Nations "in order of first dates":
Called counties in England, and states in Australia and islands in the West Indies. These are three or four day matches.
In these games, the length is determined by the number of overs, and each side has one innings only. A special formula, known as the 'Duckworth–Lewis method' is applied if rain reduces the time for play. It calculates the target score for the team batting second in a limited overs match interrupted by weather or other circumstance.
ODIs are usually restricted to 50 overs batting for each side and each bowler can bowl up to 10 overs maximum. The highest team score is England 481-6 against Australia in June 19, 2018. The highest individual score is 264 off 173 balls by Rohit Sharma for India against Sri Lanka.
Twenty20 cricket has 20 overs for each side and each bowler can bowl up to 4 overs maximum unlike 10 overs in an ODI match. The highest team score is 263/5 by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) against Pune Warriors India (PWI) in the 2013 IPL season. The highest individual score is 175* off 69 balls by Chris Gayle for RCB in the same match.
In cricket there are two special kinds of average, used to measure how good a player is:
There is a separate set of averages for each type of cricket listed above.
Track and field athletics
Track and field is part of the sport of athletics. Athletics is a collection of sport events that includes running, jumping and "throwing". Track and field events take place in a sports stadium, either on the running track, or on the field inside the running track. These tracks are generally made up of synthetic rubber – rubber particles bound with latex or polyurethane. Other athletics events that are not track and field, include cross country running, road running, marathon running, and race-walking - these events take place outside a sports stadium.
Athletics is a very common sporting event over the world. Athletics is a combination of different sports, generally running, jumping and throwing events. Running events include marathons, hurdle races, long distance and short distance events. Some jumping events are high jump, long jump, triple jump and pole vault. Throwing events involve javelin throw, discus throw, hammer throw and shot put.
There are also events that combine parts of running, jumping, and throwing. One of these is the "decathlon", which includes two short-distance races, a mile run, a hurdles race, javelin, discus, shot-put, high jump and pole vault.
All participants are timed or have a distance measured and this is their end result. Participants train hard for an event and always aim to better their results.
Athletics is a sport that people take part in all over the world. It is a sport that is most common between young children up to younger adults. Athletics can be played for enjoyment, but it can also be a competitive sport. Athletics is also an event in the Olympic games.
Badminton
Badminton is a sport for two or four( "singles" or "doubles") people. The game is either one player against one player or a team of two players against another team of two players. Players use rackets to hit a shuttlecock over a net but if it goes too far it will be an out.
The aim of the game is to hit the shuttlecock over the net in a way that the other player or pair cannot hit it back properly before it hits the floor. Every time this is done, the player or pair gets one point. They also get to serve. The first player or pair to reach 21 points wins a game.
The winner of the match is the first to win 2 sets.
Badminton traces its history to a game called George Cajoles, which was played in Pune, India in the 19th century by the British military officers stationed there. This game was taken by retired officers back to England where it developed and quickly grew in popularity.
In 1877, the first set of written rules were arranged by the newly formed Bath Badminton Club. The All England Open Badminton Championships, the first badminton competition in the world, was held in 1899.
Badminton has been an Olympic sport since 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.
Although badminton originated in England, it is mainly played in countries of Asia such as China, Nepal, Indonesia and the Republic of Korea that now dominates this sport.
The first Indian to win the All England Badminton Championship was Prakash Padukone in the year 1980
Chemical warfare
Chemical warfare means using chemical compounds in war to injure or kill people. The chemicals used for chemical warfare are poisonous.
Chemical warfare has been used since the Stone Age. Since 1899, several international laws have said that using chemical weapons is illegal. But chemical weapons have still been used in wars since then.