10 Cricket Facts: History, Test Feats and Scorecard Surprises

The first international cricket match was not a Test, the first Cricket World Cup was a women’s tournament, and a batting average is not simply runs per innings. These ten cricket facts combine historical firsts, extraordinary Test performances and scorecard details that are easy to misread.

Historical firsts

1. The first international cricket match was USA vs Canada

The USA and Canada played in New York in 1844, at St George’s Cricket Club. That was 33 years before the Australia–England matches now recognised as the first Tests, in 1877. “First international” and “first Test” therefore answer different questions. Source: ICC’s nineteenth-century history.

2. One batter supplied more than two-thirds of the first Test’s opening total

Charles Bannerman scored 165 before retiring hurt in Australia’s first innings of the inaugural men’s Test at Melbourne in March 1877. Australia made 245, so his share was 165 ÷ 245 × 100 = 67.35%, rounded to two decimal places. Australia went on to beat England by 45 runs. Source: match scorecard.

That percentage measures his contribution to the team total—including extras—not just his share of runs scored by batters.

3. Women played cricket’s first World Cup

The first Cricket World Cup of any kind was the 1973 Women’s World Cup, hosted and won by England under Rachel Heyhoe-Flint. The first men’s tournament followed in 1975. Women’s Test cricket was already established: England and Australia played the first women’s Test in 1934. Source: ICC’s twentieth-century history.

4. The first ODI came from a rain-abandoned Test

The first one-day international took place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1971, after heavy rain forced the abandonment of a Test. A limited-overs international was arranged as a replacement attraction. It was not the beginning of limited-overs cricket itself: English counties had introduced a one-innings, maximum-overs competition in 1963. Source: ICC history.

For the wider sequence of changes, see our history of cricket’s evolution.

Extraordinary Test performances

5. Bradman’s 99.94 average came from 70 dismissals, not 80 innings

Don Bradman scored 6,996 runs in 80 Test innings, with ten not-outs. Batting average divides runs by dismissals:

6,996 ÷ (80 − 10) = 99.94, rounded to two decimal places.

Dividing by all 80 innings would produce 87.45—his runs per innings, not his batting average. Source: Cricbuzz career table.

Four runs in his final Test innings, followed by dismissal, would have left Bradman with exactly 7,000 runs from 70 dismissals: an average of 100. Instead, he was dismissed for zero. Source: ICC Hall of Fame biography. Our batting-average calculation guide explains how not-outs affect the denominator.

6. Lara scored 400 not out—and the match was drawn

Brian Lara’s 400 not out against England at St John’s in April 2004 occupied 582 balls. West Indies declared at 751/5, bowled England out for 285 and enforced the follow-on. England then reached 422/5 in their second innings, and the match ended in a draw. Source: match scorecard.

A monumental individual score does not guarantee a team victory: West Indies still needed the remaining England wickets.

7. Jim Laker took 19 wickets in one Test

Against Australia at Old Trafford in 1956, England off-spinner Jim Laker finished with 19 wickets for 90 runs across the match, including all ten second-innings wickets for 53 runs. Teammate Tony Lock took the other wicket, finishing with 1/106. Source: Cricinfo’s historical account.

The distinction matters: 19/90 is a match return; 10/53 is an innings return. Comparing them as if they describe the same amount of bowling would be misleading.

Scorecard surprises

8. “10.4 overs” is not a decimal

In a six-ball over, 10.4 means ten completed overs plus four valid balls: 64 balls, not 10.4 multiplied by six. Wides and no-balls do not count towards the six valid deliveries. Source: MCC Law 17.

For a worked example, 64 runs from 10.4 overs gives a run rate of 64 ÷ (64/6) = 6.00 runs per over, not 6.15.

9. Not every team run is charged to a bowler

Byes and leg-byes increase the batting side’s total but are not debited to the bowler. Runs scored by the striker, no-ball extras and wides are charged to the bowler. Source: MCC Law 18.10.

That is why adding the bowlers’ runs conceded need not reproduce the innings total. It also matters when calculating bowling average: use the runs charged to the bowler, not every run scored while they were bowling.

10. MCC writes cricket’s Laws; the ICC applies international playing conditions

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) writes and interprets the Laws of Cricket. The ICC is the sport’s global governing body and applies playing conditions at international level, which can differ from the underlying Laws. Source: MCC’s explanation.

When checking a rule for a Test, ODI or T20I, the relevant playing conditions matter alongside the Laws—not just the format’s familiar name.