cricket

The England cricket team has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board, having been previously governed by the Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end of 1996. England, along with Australia, was the first team to be granted Test status in 1877 and gained full membership to the International Cricket Council in 1909. It also took part in the first ever One-Day international against Australia in 1971. England have been the birthplace of cricket. Ironically, though, they have faltered when it comes to the big occasions. Runners-up in three World Cups; 1979, 1987 and 1992, England have had a distinguished roster of cricketers over the years. The likes of WG Grace, Geoffrey Boycott, Mike Brearley, Tony Greig, Ian Botham, Bob Willis, David Gower, Graham Gooch and Nasser Hussain among others, have given English cricket its own classic flavour, followed by an even better generation of shining stars such as Alec Stewart, Matthew Hoggard, Michael Vaughan, Andrew Flintoff, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen, Alastair Cook, James Anderson and many more. It was in the year 2010 that the Englishmen achieved their first-ever World Cup win, when they won the ICC World Twenty20 tournament, under the captaincy of Paul Collingwood. Despite a successful Ashes stint in 2010-11 in Australia that showed a promising start to the year, the team failed to impress in the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup and was defeated by Sri Lanka in the quarterfinals. However, in the summer that followed, England completed a whitewash as they beat India in all three formats when they hosted them for four Tests, one T20I and five ODIs. In the process, they also achieved the number one ranking in Tests, overtaking India who were the previous holders of the mace. The English team had a troubled run in the 2015 World Cup but post that, they have transformed their approach under the leadership of Eoin Morgan in the limited-overs format. They are a balanced, attacking unit with little-to-no flaws. They also became the no.1 ODI side in the world. Their Test side has seen a change at the helm too as Joe Root took over the captaincy from Alastair Cook. That transformation worked wonders as England adopted the 'hit-every-ball-of-the-park' approach. They eventually won the 2019 ODI World Cup, a trophy which has been missing from their cabinet, ever since the concept was finalized in 1975.