The England cricket team is the national cricket team which represents England and Wales. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) having been previously governed by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) from 1903 until the end of 1996.

England and Australia were the first teams to be granted Test status on 15 March 1877 and they gained full membership to the International Cricket Council (ICC) on 15 June 1909. England also took part in the first One Day International (ODI) - against Australia on 5 January 1971 - while their first Twenty20 match occurred on 13 June 2005, with their opponents being Australia.

As of 3 February 2008 the England team have won 301 of the 867 Test matches they have played and of 9 June are ranked third in the ICC Test Championship. They have finished runners-up in three Cricket World Cups (1979, 1987 and 1992) and are currently ranked seventh in the ICC ODI rankings.

Peter Moores was given the job of Head Coach on 1 May 2007 following the resignation of Duncan Fletcher after a poor 2007 Cricket World Cup campaign. He subsequently employed Andy Flower as assistant coach.

History

The first recorded incidence of a team with a claim to represent England comes from 9 July 1739 when an "All-England" team which consisted of eleven gentlemen from any part of England, exclusive of Kent. This team played against 'the Unconquerable County' of Kent and lost by a 'very few notches'. Such matches were repeated on numerous occasions for the best part of the century.

In 1846 William Clarke formed the All-England Eleven, this team would eventually compete against a United All-England Eleven with annual matches occurring between 1857 to 1866. These matches were arguably the most important contest of the English season, if judged by the quality of the players.

The first overseas tour occurred in September 1859 with England going to North America. This team had six players from the All-England Eleven and six from the United All-England Eleven, and was captained by George Parr. With the outbreak of the American Civil War, attention turned to Australia and New Zealand with the inaugural tour of Australia taking place in 1861-2. England would visit New Zealand in 1863–64 with the tour being the first to be organised by the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC). Most tours prior to 1877 were played "against odds", meaning the opposing team was permitted to have more than 11 players (usually 22) in order to make for a more even contest. As a result these matches were not considered first-class matches and were organised purely for commercial reasons.

James Lillywhite led the England team which sailed on the P&O steamship Poonah on 21 September 1876. They would play a combined Australian XI, for once on even terms of 11 a side. The match, starting on 15 March 1877 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground came to be regarded as the first Test match. The combined Australian XI won this Test match by 45 runs with Charles Bannerman of Australia scoring the first Test century. At the time this match carried little significance and was classed as another tour match and was labelled as the James Lillywhite's XI v South Australia and New South Wales. The first Test match on English soil occurred in 1880 with England winning this series 1–0. The series was also the first for England to field a fully representative side with W.G. Grace being present in the team. England would lose their first home series 1–0 in 1882 with The Sporting Times famously printing an obituary on English cricket:

In Affectionate Remembrance of ENGLISH CRICKET, which died at the Oval on 29th AUGUST, 1882, Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances R.I.P. N.B. - The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.

As a result of this loss the tour of 1882–83 was dubbed by England captain Ivo Bligh as "the quest to regain the ashes". England with a mixture of amateurs and professionals won the series 2–1. Bligh was presented with an urn that contained some ashes, which have variously been said to be of a bail, ball or even a woman's veil and so The Ashes was born. A fourth match was then played which Australia won by 4 wickets but the match was not considered part of the Ashes series. England would dominate many of these early contests with England winning the Ashes series 10 times between 1884–98. During this period England also played their first Test match against South Africa in 1889 at Port Elizabeth.

The 1899 Ashes series was the first tour where the MCC and the counties appointed a selection committee. There were three active players: Lord Hawke, W.G. Grace and HW Bainbridge who was the captain of Warwickshire. Prior to this, England teams for home Tests had been chosen by the club on whose ground the match was to be played.

The turn of the century saw mixed results for England as they lost four of the eight Ashes series between 1900 and 1914. During this period England would lose their first series against South Africa in the 1905/06 season 4–1 as their batting faltered. The 1912 season saw England take part in a unique experiment. A nine Test triangular tournament involving England, South Africa and Australia was set-up. The series was hampered by a very wet summer and player disputes however and the tournament was considered a failure with The Daily Telegraph stating:

Nine Tests provide a surfeit of cricket, and contests between Australia and South Africa are not a great attraction to the British public.

With Australia sending a weakened team and the South African bowlers being ineffective England dominated the tournament winning four of their six matches. The Australia v South Africa match, at Lord's, was notable for a visit by King George V, the first time a reigning monarch had watched Test cricket. England would go on one more tour against South Africa before the outbreak of World War I.

England's first match after the war was in the 1920–21 season against Australia. Still feeling the effects of the war England went down to a series of crushing defeats, and suffered their first whitewash losing the series 5–0. Six Australians scored hundreds while Mailey spun out 36 English batsmen. Things were no better in the next few Ashes series losing the 1921 Ashes series 3–0 and the 1924–5 Ashes 4–1. England's fortunes were to change in 1926 as they regained the Ashes and were a formidable team during this period dispatching Australia 4–1 in the 1928–29 Ashes tour.

On the same year the West Indies became the fourth nation to be granted Test status and played their first game against England. England won each of these three Tests by an innings, and a view was expressed in the press that their elevation had proved a mistake although Learie Constantine did the double on the tour. In the 1929–30 season England went on two concurrent tours with one team going to New Zealand (who were granted Test status earlier that year) and the other to the West Indies. Despite sending two separate teams England won both tours beating New Zealand 1–0 and the West Indies 2–1.

The 1930 Ashes series saw a young Don Bradman dominate the tour, scoring 974 runs in his seven Test innings. He scored 254 at Lord's, 334 at Headingley and 232 at the Oval. Australia regained the Ashes winning the series 3–1. As a result of Bradman's prolific run-scoring the England captain Douglas Jardine chose to develop the already existing leg theory into fast leg theory, or bodyline, as a tactic to stop Bradman. Fast leg theory involved bowling fast balls directly at the batsman's body. The batsman would need to defend himself, and if he touched the ball with the bat, he risked being caught by one of a large number of fielders placed on the leg side.

Using his fast leg theory England won the next Ashes series 4–1. But complaints about the Bodyline tactic caused crowd disruption on the tour, and threats of diplomatic action from the Australian Cricket Board, which during the tour sent the following cable to the MCC in London:

Bodyline bowling assumed such proportions as to menace best interests of game, making protection of body by batsmen the main consideration. Causing intensely bitter feeling between players as well as injury. In our opinion is unsportsmanlike. Unless stopped at once likely to upset friendly relations existing between Australia and England.

Later, Jardine was removed from the captaincy and the laws of cricket changed so that no more than one fast ball aimed at the body was permitted per over, and having more than two fielders behind square leg were banned.

England's following tour of India in the 1933–34 season was the first Test match to be staged in the subcontinent. The series was also notable for Morris Nichols and Nobby Clark bowling so many bouncers that the Indian batsman wore solar topees instead of caps to protect themselves.

Australia won the 1934 Ashes series 2–1 and would keep the urn for the following 19 years. Many of the wickets of the time were friendly to batsmen resulting in a large proportion of matches ending in high scoring draws and many batting records being set.

The 1938–39 tour of South Africa saw another experiment with the deciding Test being a timeless Test that was played to a finish. England lead 1–0 going into the final timeless match at Durban. Despite the final Test being ‘timeless’ the game ended in a draw, after 10 days as England had to catch the train to catch the boat home. A record 1981 runs were scored, and the concept of timeless Tests was abandoned. England would go in one final tour of the West Indies in 1939 before the World War II, although a team for an MCC tour of India was selected more in hope than expectation of the matches being played.

After World War II, England fell under difficult times suffering a heavy defeat 3–0 to Australia. This followed by a 4–0 loss to Bradman's 'invincibles' and a stunning 2–0 loss to the West Indies. These loses were tempered by victories against India and South Africa.

Their fortunes would change in the 1953 Ashes tour as they won the series 1–0. England would not lose a series for five years and secured famous victories in the 1954–55 and 1956 Ashes series. The 1956 series was remembered for the bowling of Jim Laker who took 46 wickets at 9.62 which included bowling figures of 19/90 at Old Trafford. After drawing to South Africa, England defeated the West Indies and New Zealand comfortably. The England team would then leave for Australia in the 1958–59 season with a team that had been hailed as the strongest ever to leave on an Ashes tour but lost the series 4–0 as Richie Benaud's revitalised Australians were too strong.

The early and middle 1960's were poor periods for English cricket. Despite England's strength on paper, Australia held the Ashes for the entire decade and the West Indies dominated England in the early part of the decade. England would the end the 60's on a high however regaining the Wisden Trophy in 1968 and drawing the Ashes series in the same year 1–1.

England carried their good form from the late 60's into the 70's regaining the Ashes in 1970 but then suffered a loss of form losing to India and a rising West Indian side. This culminated in a 4–1 defeat in the 1974 Ashes series. The inaugural 1975 Cricket World Cup saw England reach the semi-finals and was to be the turning point in England's fortunes. The results of the Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket were felt in Test cricket with Australia and Pakistan losing many of its star players. England replaced captain Tony Greig who had joined the league with Mike Brearley while Geoffrey Boycott returned from his England exile. England would defeat a divided Australian side 3–1 in the centenary Ashes series. This was followed by a comfortable 4–0 win against Pakistan and a World Cup final appearance against the West Indies.

With Ian Botham and Bob Willis at their peak with the ball, Boycott and Graham Gooch opening the batting, and a young David Gower in the middle order, England were a formidable team. Their results were initially promising narrowly losing to the West Indies who were the unofficial champions at the time. England would then fight back to win the 1981 Ashes series, often referred to as "Botham's Ashes" 2–1. The third Test at Headingley saw a revitalised Botham perform well with bat and ball taking 6/95 and then scoring a unbeaten 149. England won by 18 runs after following-on, only the second time in the history of England v Australia Tests that this has been achieved. England suffered their second whitewash series against the West Indies in 1984 but continued to produce good results defeating India 2–1 and regained the Ashes in the 1985 season with a comfortable 3–1 victory. Hopes that this victory could see a challenge mounted on the 1985–86 tour of the West Indies were dashed as England were soundly defeated 5–0. A shocked England team never really recovered from this defeat, and although England managed to retain the 1986–87 Ashes they would only win one further Test series in the 80’s against a relatively weak Sri Lankan team and suffered heavy defeats to Australia and the West Indies.

England continued their decline during the 1990s. This was not helped by squabbles between key players and the chairman of selectors, Raymond Illingworth. Another reason for their poor performances were the demands of County Cricket teams on their players, meaning that England could rarely lead a full strength team on their tours. This would eventually lead to the ECB taking over the MCC as the governing body of England and the implementation of central contracts.

In the early 90's players such as Botham, Gower and Allan Lamb all came to the end of their international careers and specifically in the case of Botham, England had trouble replacing these players. This lead to a string of disappointing results as England did not win a Test match for two and half years. England’s performance in ODI cricket was still good however as they defeated Australia, the West Indies and South Africa to reach the final of the 1992 Cricket World Cup. Shortly after the world cup Mike Atherton replaced Gooch as England captain but his captaincy was regarded as a failure with England winning only one Test series under his captaincy. A win against South Africa in 1998 was England’s first five series since 1986–87 this would be a false dawn as they were eliminated in the first round of the 1999 Cricket World Cup and lost a Test series against New Zealand 2–1 resulting in England being officially ranked as the worst Test nation.

With the appointment of Duncan Fletcher as coach and Nasser Hussain as captain England began to rebuild their team. They won four consecutive Test series which included impressive wins against West Indies (a first in 32 years) and Pakistan. England were still left wanting against Australia however and lost the 2001 Ashes 4–1. Promising results against India and Sri Lanka gave England some positive sentiments towards their chances against Australia in 2002-2003, yet a 4–1 defeat showed that they were still falling short. This setback did not stop England’s resurgence however as they defeated the West Indies 3–0 and followed this up by whitewashes over New Zealand and the West Indies at home. A victory in the first Test against South Africa at Port Elizabeth meant England had won their eighth successive Test, their best sequence of Test match wins for 75 years. In 2005 England, under Michael Vaughan's captaincy and aided by Kevin Pietersen's batting contributions in his maiden series (most notably 158 at the Oval), and Andrew Flintoff's superb allround performances, defeated Australia 2–1 to regain the Ashes for the first time in 18 years.

Recent form

The team's form in ODIs had been consistently poor, they are currently ranked 7th the world and have won only 38% of their matches against major test nations since 1992. They only narrowly avoided the ignominy of having the play in the qualifying rounds of the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy, and were humiliatingly defeated 5–0 by Sri Lanka in June-July 2006. Steve Harmison now holds the unwanted record of the worst bowling figures for England in ODI history (0/97 in the match at Headingley) and retired from ODIs during the 2006/7 Ashes tour. There was some improvement in the latest one-day series against Pakistan in England, when England won the last two matches to record a 2–2 draw. A similar story unveiled in the one-day triangular in Australia, where England lost Kevin Pietersen to injury, and had won one and lost five of their first six games. Then, England won their next four games, scraping into the finals series before winning both finals and their first ODI tournament overseas since 1997. In the English summer of 2007, England lost to the West Indies 2-1 in a three match series despite outclassing them in the Test matches, whilst they beat India 4-3 in a seven game series after being outplayed in the Test matches. The ODI tour of October saw England beat Sri Lanka 3-2 away, in a series in which they were expected to struggle.

In the 2007 Cricket World Cup, England lost to most of the Test playing nations they faced, beating only the West Indies and Bangladesh, although they also avoided defeat by any of the non-Test playing nations. However, the unimpressive nature of most of their victories in the tournament, combined with their heavy defeats to New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, left many commentators criticising the manner in which the England team approached the one day game. Coach Duncan Fletcher resigned after eight years in the job as a result, and was succeeded by former Sussex coach Peter Moores.

The following summer, England faced the West Indies at home for four tests, two Twenty20s and three one-day internationals. They convincingly won the Test series 3-0. Then, skipper Michael Vaughan announced he would no longer captain the side in one-day cricket. The job went to Durham's Paul Collingwood. England drew 1-1 in the Twenty20 series, but lost the ODI series 2-1 after winning the first game. In the latter part of the summer, India toured the country. Despite good performances from the bowlers, England lost the three-test series 1-0, the first time they had been defeated at home in the long form of the game for six years. In the second test at Trent Bridge, there was a major incident when, as an act of 'sledging', an England player (they have never been identified) threw jelly beans at the wicket. This infuriated the Indian batsman Zaheer Khan, who reported the incident to the umpires. All senior members of the England team denied any wrongdoing. However, England bounced back by triumphing 4-3 over India in the one-day series, their first series victory in that form of the game since 2004.

In the winter of 2007, England toured Sri Lanka. They won the ODI series 3-2, their second win in a row, but again lost the test series 1-0, giving them no win in six. This heaped pressure on fledgling coach Peter Moores to deliver.

After the loss to Sri Lanka, England toured New Zealand. They lost the ODI series but won the Test series despite losing the first Test in Hamilton 2-1. This eased the pressure on Peter Moores slightly.

Since returning from their tour to New Zealand in early 2008 they completed a three test tour back home against New Zealand. The first match was at Lords in London in which a weather affected game ended in a draw. The second test was at Old Trafford in Manchester in which England won chasing down a large score with Andrew Strauss scoring a century to help the run chase. At Trent Bridge, England wrapped up the series with a convincing win by an innings and nine runs: England's only innings was anchored by Kevin Pietersen who scored a test century, and superior swing bowling from Anderson (including a career best 7/43), Sidebottom (including 6/67) and Broad ultimately proved too much for New Zealand.

Upcoming fixtures

England will travel to Scotland to play a one-off ODI match in June 2008.

England will host South Africa for four Test matches and five ODI matches from July until September 2008.

England will tour India from November to December 2008. There will be two Test matches and seven ODI matches.

England will tour the West Indies from February to March 2009. There will be four Test matches and five ODI matches.

England will no longer host Zimbabwe from May to June 2009. Two Test matches and three ODI matches were scheduled however the tour was cancelled due to political reasons.

England will host Australia from June till September 2009. The teams will contest the five match Ashes Test series and also play seven ODI matches.

England will host the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in 2009

England will host India in 2011. The teams will contest four Test matches, five ODI matches and a Twenty20 match.

Performances

England has traditionally been one of the stronger teams in international cricket, fielding a competitive side for most of cricket's history. Up to the end of 2007 England had played 867 test matches, winning 301 (34.72%), losing 252 (29.06%), and drawing 314 (36.22%) 639 players had been capped for their country. Up to the Super 8 World Cup match against Australia on April 8, 2007, England had played 464 ODIs, winning 224 (48.28%), losing 221 (47.63%), tying 4 (0.86%) and having 15 (3.23%) with no result. 203 players had played for England in ODIs up to that date.

After Australia won The Ashes for the first time in 1881–82 England had to fight with them for primacy and one of the fiercest rivalries in sport dominated the cricket world for seventy years. In 1963 this duopoly of cricket dominance began to fall away with the emergence of a strong West Indies team.

England failed to win a series against the West Indies between 1969 and 2000. England similarly failed to compete with Australia for a long period and the The Ashes stayed in Australian hands between 1989 and 2005. England struggled against other nations over this period as well and after a series loss to New Zealand in 1999 they were ranked at the bottom of the ICC Test cricket ratings. From 2000, English cricket had a resurgence and England reached the final of the ICC Champions Trophy in 2004 and regained The Ashes in 2005. The team was recently ranked second behind Australia in the Test rankings, but ODI performances have been very poor with England falling to 7th place in the ICC rankings.

In the 2006/07 tour of Australia The Ashes were lost in a 0–5 "whitewash" (see 2006-07 Ashes series) but England did succeed in clinching victory in the Commonwealth bank ODI Tri-series against Australia and New Zealand. The loss of The Ashes prompted the announcement by the England and Wales Cricket Board of an official review of English cricket amid much criticism from the media, former players and fans. England failed to reach the semi finals of the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies after defeats against New Zealand, Sri Lanka and South Africa.

Governing body

Prior to 1997 the Test and County Cricket Board (TCCB) was the governing body for the English team. Apart from in Test matches, when touring abroad the England team officially played as MCC up to and including the 1976-77 tour of Australia, reflecting the time when MCC had been responsible for selecting the touring party. The last time the England touring team wore the bacon-and-egg colours of the MCC was on the 1996-97 tour of New Zealand.

Team colours

The team kit, of 18th April 2008, is now manufactured by Adidas, instead of the old manufacturer, Admiral.

When playing Test match cricket, England’s cricket whites contain red piping across the front and sleeves while the three lion badge is on the left and the sponsor Vodafone on the right. English fielders may wear a navy cap or sun hat with the ECB logo in the middle of the cap/sun hat. Helmets are coloured similarly.

England's ODI team wears a new navy coloured shirt and trousers. The shirt sleeves are red with the three lion badge on the left and the kit sponsor adidas on the right. The name and logo of their main sponsor Vodafone is at the centre of the shirt. The one-day cap is also union blue with the ECB logo on the front. In Twenty20 cricket England wear the same colour new navy trousers but their shirt is red with white stripes on the sleeves. This kit is also sponsored by Vodafone: with the logo and company's name in the centre of the shirt.

International grounds

Test and ODI

• Lord's
• Old Trafford
• Edgbaston
• The Oval
• Headingley
• Trent Bridge
• Riverside
• Sophia Gardens (From Summer 2009 for 1st Ashes test vs Australia)

ODI only

• Bristol
• Rose Bowl

Statistics and records

Tournament History

World Cup

• 1975: Semi-Finals
• 1979: Runners up
• 1983: Semi-Finals
• 1987: Runners up
• 1992: Runners up
• 1996: Quarter-Finals
• 1999: First round
• 2003: First round
• 2007: Super-8 stage (5th Place)

ICC Champions Trophy

• 1998: Quarter-Finals
• 2000: Quarter-Finals
• 2002: Pool Stage
• 2004: Runners up
• 2006: Pool Stage

ICC World Twenty20

• 2007: Super-8 stage (7th place)

England Record in Test Matches

Team records

• Highest team total: 903-7 dec v Australia at The Oval in 1938
• Lowest team total: 45 v Australia at Sydney in 1886/87

Individual records

• Most matches: 133 - Alec Stewart
• Longest Serving Captain: 54 tests - Michael Atherton

Batting

• Most runs: 8900 - Graham Gooch
• Best average: 60.73 - Herbert Sutcliffe
• Highest individual score: 364 - Len Hutton v Australia at The Oval in 1938
• Record partnership: 411 - Colin Cowdrey and Peter May v West Indies at Birmingham in 1957
• Most centuries: 22 - Wally Hammond, Colin Cowdrey and Geoffrey Boycott
• England's most prolific opening partnership was Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe. In 38 innings they averaged 87.81 for the first wicket, with 15 century partnerships and 10 others of 50 or more.

Bowling

• Most wickets: 383 - Sir Ian Botham
• Best average: 10.75 - George Lohmann
• Best innings bowling: 10/53 - Jim Laker v Australia at Manchester in 1956
• Best match bowling: 19/90 - Jim Laker v Australia at Manchester in 1956
• Best strike rate: 34.1 - George Lohmann
• Best economy rate: 1.31 - William Attewell
• 5 England bowlers have taken 4 wickets in an over, 3 of these at Headingley. Maurice Allom for England v New Zealand at Christchurch in 1929-30, Kenneth Cranston for England v South Africa at Headingley in 1947, Fred Titmus for England v New Zealand at Headingley in 1965, Chris Old for England v Pakistan at Edgbaston in 1978 and Andy Caddick for England v West Indies at Headingley in 2000.

Fielding

• Most dismissals: 277 - Alec Stewart
• Most dismissals in an innings: 7 - Bob Taylor v India at Bombay in 1979/80
• Most dismissals in a match: 11 - Jack Russell v South Africa at Johannesburg in 1995/96

England Record in One Day Internationals

Team records

• Highest team total: 391-4 (50 overs) v Bangladesh at Nottingham in 2005
• Lowest team total: 86-10 (32.4 overs) v Australia at Manchester in 2001

Individual records

• Most matches: 170 - Alec Stewart
• England is one of only two Test-playing nations (the other being Bangladesh) to have no players over the 200-cap milestone in ODIs
• Longest Serving Captain: 56 matches - Nasser Hussain

Batting

• Most runs: 4677 - Alec Stewart
• Best average: 59.05 - Kevin Pietersen (as of 12 June 2007)
• Highest individual score: 167* - Robin Smith v Australia at Birmingham in 1993
• Record partnership: 226 - Andrew Flintoff and Andrew Strauss v West Indies at Lord's in 2004
• Most centuries: 12 - Marcus Trescothick

Bowling

• Most wickets: 234 - Darren Gough
• Best average: 19.45 - Mike Hendrick
• Best bowling: 6/31 - Paul Collingwood v Bangladesh at Nottingham in 2005
• Best strike rate: 32.2 - James Anderson
• Best economy rate: 3.27 - Mike Hendrick

Wicketkeeping

• Most dismissals: 184 - Alec Stewart
• Most dismissals in a match: 6 - Alec Stewart v Zimbabwe at Manchester in 2000

Most England Test Caps

• 133 Alec Stewart
• 118 Graham Gooch
• 117 David Gower
• 115 Mike Atherton
• 114 Colin Cowdrey
• 108 Geoff Boycott
• 102 Ian Botham
• 100 Graham Thorpe
• 96 Nasser Hussain
• 95 Alan Knott
• 91 Godfrey Evans
• 90 Bob Willis
• 86 Derek Underwood
• 85 Wally Hammond
• 82 Ken Barrington
• 81 Michael Vaughan
• 79 Mike Gatting
• 79 Allan Lamb
• 79 Tom Graveney
• 79 Len Hutton
• 78 Denis Compton
• 77 John Edrich
• 76 Marcus Trescothick

Current Squad